city news
february7
Vernonia City News...
At the February 4, 2013 City Council Meeting:
Council Authorizes Spending for Park Develop-
ment-Council authorized the City Administrator to
sign Agreement LGP0252-1 Spencer Park Develop-
ment which will allow the City to draw funds from the
grant for proposed improvements that will be part of
the park replacement project at the former school cam-
pus. The agreement for funds is for $175,432 and will
be used to install a restroom facility and picnic shelter
in conjunction with the Vernonia School District re-
placement park construction process.
City Administrator Updates Council on Projects-
City Administrator Bill Haack updated Council on
several ongoing projects that the City is working on.
Haack and Council discussed the options for removal
of the biosolids from the wastewater lagoons by Clean
Water Services. Haack also spent time explaining the
details of the wastewater headworks repair project.
Haack also introduced the idea that the Library is run-
ning out of storage space and may need to construct
a 200 square foot building using grant funds. Haack
also discussed that City Building and Grounds Main-
tenance staff will be completing an assessment of City
owned buildings and developing a maintenance plan.
Council Authorizes Parks Master Plan-Council au-
thorized the City Administrator to sign an agreement
with Oregon Parks and Recreation to draw down funds
on Agreement LGP0252-2 and allow the City to enter
into a contract with Mackay & Sposito for work on the
Master Park Plan. The contract is for $46,874.
Council Authorizes Contract for Environmental As-
sessment-Council authorized the City Administrator to
negotiate a contract with Pacific Habitat Services (PHS)
to complete an environmental assessment required by
the Oregon DEQ. The assessment is a required ele-
ment of the approval process for the use of Clean Wa-
ter State Revolving Funds to finance the City’s Waste
Water Treatment Plant facility upgrade project. The
proposed cost of the work is $32,962 and will be paid
with funds available through EPA State and Tribal As-
sistance Grant.
Council Approves Funds for Design of Repair-Coun-
cil authorized the City Administrator to fund engineer-
ing services with HLB OTAK, to complete the design
work for emergency repairs to the Waste Water Treat-
ment Plant Headworks. It was discovered in December
of 2012 that the headworks and its discharge piping is
unable to handle high flows during winter months. The
At the January 22, 2013 City Council Meeting:
City now needs to modify the headworks. Total cost is
estimated to be $300,000 and will be paid for through a
Public Works Committee Recommends No Rate DEQ CWSRF Loan that is available to the City.
Increases-The Public Works Committee made a rec-
ommendation to City Council that the City Council/ Council Approves Contract for Final Design-Coun-
Budget Committee refrain from raising water or sewer cil authorized the City Administrator to negotiate a
rates and budgets by holding or lowering operational contract with Tetra Tech Engineering and Architecture
costs. The recommendation, which was passed by the Services to complete the Waste Water Improvement
Committee by majority vote at their December 19, Project design engineering. Tetra Tech Engineering
2012 meeting, was given to Council at the January 22, was chosen for the project based on a recommendation
2013 meeting.
from the Public Works Committee.
City Administrator Report
By Bill Haack
The City of Vernonia is currently
working on many complicated projects with
many moving parts. As the City Adminis-
trator I believe it is important to keep our
citizens informed about the details of these
projects and will be providing these brief re-
ports that will include updates and some spe-
cific details on what we are working on. If you
have questions about any of the information
in these reports please feel free to contact
either your City Councilors or myself.
WASTEWATER
PLANT PROJECT
TREATMENT
DEQ APPROVES FINAL PLAN SUBMIT-
TED BY TETRA TECH
Oregon Department of Environmental Qual-
ity conditionally approved the wastewater
treatment plan facility improvements that will
lead the City to build a hyporheic discharge
infiltration model to handle wastewater year
round. The project cost estimate is at $5.5
million, including a modification to the Head-
works and the removal of bio solids required
due to the elevation of the lagoons dyke
system. OTAK, the City Engineer, will value
engineering cost estimates and project ele-
ments to ensure that we bid the best project
that we are able to design.
BIO SOLIDS PLAN
In discussion with OTAK and Tetra Tech, we
continue to carry on discussions with Clean
Water Services to assess their ability to serve
the City as a bio solids contractor to manage
dredging and processing two lagoons. The
current thinking is to extract the water turn-
ing the bio solids into a “cake” which reduces
the trucking costs significantly. OTAK is also
looking at other options. Our geotechnical
engineer (Shannon & Wilson) will review
2013
5
OLCC Renewals Given OK By Chief-Vernonia Po-
lice Chief Mike Connor told Council he was giving a
favorable recommendation for all OLCC License re-
newals in Vernonia. License renewals were received
from the following businesses: All In Pub & Eatery,
Black Bear Coffee Co. & Bear Creek Pub, Blue House
Cafe, Bridge Street Mini Mart, Cedar Side Inn, La Ca-
bana Mexican Restaurant, New Hong Kong Restau-
rant, Vernonia Sentry Market.
Council Hears Update on Rose Avenue Project-
Council heard an update from City Administrator Bill
Haack on the current status of the Rose Avenue Project.
The City has been working with the Vernonia Health
Board, Vernonia Cares Food Bank, and Vernonia
Senior Center since 2008 to relocate the three enti-
ties which were all damaged in the 2007 flood. City
Council previously approved an exchange of land with
Oregon Parks and Recreation and accepted the land for
the proposed site.
Haack informed Council that
the Health Board is working with an architect and are
considering options for construction of a new facility.
Haack says he will discuss with the Health Board the
layout of the overall property and how much space
they will need for their building, how much parking
they will need, space needed to allow ambulance ac-
cess to their building, approaches to Cougar and Weed
Avenues and how much sidewalk, curb, gutters and
street improvements the project will entail.
A workshop with Council and all the parties
involved in the project was scheduled for Friday Febru-
ary 1, 2013.
Mayor Appoints Two Citizens-Mayor Josette Mitch-
ell, with approval of Council, appointed Lynn Fulgham
to the Library Board and appointed Kathy Larsen to
serve on the Planning Commission.
these proposals. Costs for this project are
eligible under the DEQ CWSRF loan. How-
ever, if neither of these two options works,
we may still have a hefty removal and pro-
cessing costs if we are moving bio solids as
liquids, as a land applied solution is costly.
In all cases, the selected scope of work for
removal and processing will be late Spring/
Summer 2013.
Vernonia City
Council Meetings
and Closures
DYKE ROCK & ENGINEERED FILL MATE-
RIALS
The City Engineer had an informal discussion
with Trails End Recycling and Custom Exca-
vating, asking them to provide an estimate of
the amount of gravel and rock the school de-
molition site will yield. Shannon & Wilson will
conduct an onsite review of the materials to
provide a geotechnical assessment of these
building materials. If this source of rock and
gravel can be used, it should provide a cost
City Closures are scheduled for:
Monday, February 18
City Council Meetings are
scheduled for 7 PM:
Tuesday, February 19
Monday, March 4
Monday, March 18
Dates and times subject to change
due to conflicts of schedules
continued on page 6
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