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community bulletin board
august14
2012
United Way of Columbia County is proud to announce their
Seventh “Stuff the Bus” school supply drive, all donations
collected in Vernonia stay in Vernonia!!!
“Help United Way Stuff the Bus”
Donations of school supplies will be accepted from:
August 15 through August 31, 2012
at the following Vernonia donation sites:
Vernonia School District Office
Community Lunch Program
Wauna Federal Credit Union
Vernonia True Value Hardware
Look for the “Stuff the Bus” yers and help us gather school
supplies so our children can begin school ready to learn.
School Supply Wish List:
#2 Pencils
Colored Pencils
Erasers
Pocket Folders
Glue Sticks
Back Packs
Blunt scissors
Composition Books
Rulers
Dual power calculators
Notebook paper
Hand Sanitizer
Facial Tissue
Spiral note books 70 pages
Blunt Scissors
Pointed Scissors
Washable Markers (10)
Notebook dividers
3 Ring Notebooks 1” or 1.5”
Pencil Boxes
End Cap Erasers
Pens, black or blue
Pencil pouches
Upcoming Events
Vernonia Schools Grand Opening
Celebration, August 21 Begins at
10:00 AM Join the Vernonia School
District, the Catalyst campaign and
the rest of the community to celebrate
the opening of the new school and
community center. Lunch will be
served at 12:00 PM and there will
be tours of the building all day. A
community open house will begin at
5:30 PM.
Salmon Festival, October 6, 10
AM - 6 PM at Hawkins Park. Come
on out and help welcome home our
salmon friends and take part in an
old time harvest festival. Pumpkin
Annual Community Wide Garage carving, scarecrow building, trout
Sale, August 25, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM. pond, salmon viewing, food, music,
All residents & businesses wanting vendors and more.
to be included on the maps can sign
Upcoming WOEC Member Meetings
Annual Meeting
Saturday August 18, 2012, 11:00 AM at the Vernonia Scout Cabin
To elect Directors, hear reports from officers and directors, and
transact other membership business.
Member Meeting
Tuesday August 21, 6:00 PM in the WOEC Boardroom,
652 Rose Avenue
To provide information and discuss a proposed rate increase
to begin October 1, 2012.
Additional Member Meeting
Tuesday August 28, 6:00 PM in the WOEC Boardroom,
652 Rose Avenue
To provide information and discuss a proposed rate increase
to begin October 1, 2012.
WOEC Rate Change Meeting Information
By Marc Farmer
There are a couple of key points that I need
to make regarding the upcoming member meeting to
discuss a rate change in this article. First is the date of
the meeting. It’s been brought to our attention that there
is a scheduling conflict in the community of Vernonia
with the open house for the new school building on the
evening of the 21 st of August.
When we set the date for the member meeting
we were unaware of any conflict and set that meeting
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date as in past practice and is prior to our regularly
scheduled Board Meeting, which is the 3 rd Tuesday of
every month. We’ve always combined the meetings in
an effort to save time and money. Our August meeting
just happened to fall on the same evening as the school
open house.
We want to make sure our Vernonia members
are able to attend the member meeting, so we will hold
a second meeting in Vernonia on Tuesday, August 28 th
in the WOEC building at 6:00 PM. This will provide
an opportunity for members in the community to attend
both the school event and our WOEC member
meeting.
The second point is to provide the
reason behind the rate meeting and how it
came about. Going into 2012 we did not have
a rate increase planned or anticipated. We
knew we would be receiving a substantial rate
increase in our power rates in October of 2013
from BPA and would have to pass that one
through when it comes. Our 2012 budget was
set, approved, and we were moving forward
with that plan in mind.
Then came the fourth FEMA event
in five and a half years with the snow storm
early this year. This event cost the Co-op over
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503-429-6203, last day to sign up is
August 21st. Maps of all participating
locations will be available Friday
before the sale. In the past years over
45 locations have held a sale.
$700,000. Because only one of the four counties we
incurred damages in was declared a FEMA event, we
were only reimbursed about a third of the expenses we
incurred. The budget we approved was so lean, there
was no way to absorb the cost and still continue to
cover our normal costs. Our reserve account had been
decimated by the other three FEMA events without
sufficient time and resources to rebuild it. We also have
been absorbing so much of the past three rate increases
from BPA in an effort to keep rates as low as possible,
that we have not kept ahead of cost increases.
At our strategic planning meeting in June 2012,
it became very apparent that we had no options left but
to do an emergency change in our rates to cover the
cost from the storm event and the board directed me to
move forward with a rate increase.
There is some public perception that the
increase still has something to do with the new building.
I want to assure you that the building has nothing to do
with this rate increase, it is driven by the high costs of
the snow storm event earlier this year.
The building is what I have said it is - $3 per
meter per month for the next 30 years to build the
building. Some have the perception that the “facility”
charge on our bill statement means facility as in the
“new” building. The name of the charge means “all”
of the facilities we have which
includes all lines, substations,
equipment, transformers, etc…
HOW TO SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
throughout the entire system.
Vernonia’s Voice welcomes and requests your thoughts, To clarify this name, starting
opinions and ideas. Please include your name, address with the September bills we will
and phone number, limit your letters to 300 words or less. be changing the name on the
Vernonia’s Voice reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or statement to “base” charge.
ask for a response to letters submitted. We will print letters We look forward to seeing you
space permitting. Deadline is the 1st and 3rd Monday of at one of our member meetings
each month. Email: scott@vernoniasvoice.com or mail to: to discuss the proposed rate
Letters, PO Box 55, Vernonia, OR 97064.
changes.
