Vernonia's voice., February 07, 2013, Page 6, Image 6

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city news
february7
2013
City Administrator Report continued from page 5
savings to the project, over importing gravel
and engineered fill from our closest quarry.
HEADWORKS REPAIR & PIPING PROJ-
ECT
DEQ acknowledges that the City’s open
Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan
may be used to fund the repair of the Head-
works and the installation of an upsized pipe
from the Headworks to Lagoon One. In the
course of reviewing the 2006 construction
drawings it was determined that the Parshall
Flume should have been built to a width of 9
inches. To fix this problem, DEQ will review
two options prepared by OTAK. The con-
struction contract will be between <$100,000
to $250,000 +/- based on the options se-
lected and DEQ requirements attached to
this project element. This project may be
published as a standalone procurement or it
may be included in the WWTP contract as a
new work element – but in all cases it will be
competitively bid.
FLOW METERS
The City public works staff and OTAK met
with Branom Instruments (BI) to recalibrate
and upgrade the Flow meters for the sewer
pump stations. This is a part of the work that
we are pursuing to have an accurate read
on the effluent moving through the collection
system – thus allowing DEQ to fully rely on
our wastewater treatment plant operations
log. Public works staff will replace sensors,
reconnect wire connections, and with BI,
install gel compound in the shaft housings.
This project will require a small contract (un-
der $1,000) to bring BI in to work with Public
Works.
PACIFIC HABITAT ENVIRONMENTAL AS-
SESSMENT
Pacific Habitat completed a review of the
proposed WWTP development project and
compared that to the wetland delineation that
was completed a little over 6 years ago to
confirm that the proposed project is not likely
to impact wetlands. PH will issue construc-
tion standards for staging and conducting the
construction project for bid specifications.
PH will initiate the cross-cutting Federal
regulatory overview that will lead to a biologi-
cal opinion from Environmental Protection
Agency.
QUALIFIED POOL AND PRESELECTION
OF MATERIALS
OTAK and Tetra Tech are developing a pro-
cess to select a qualified pool of contractors
and vendors. This process will inform our
decision on bidding the project as a new con-
struction and a repair project or as a single
construction project.
OTHER PUBLIC WORKS ACTIV-
ITY
PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS COMMIT-
TEE – MASTER CAPITAL PLAN
Parks and Public Works Committee along
with members of City Council met with the
consultant team of Dan Heffernan and Tom
Wood to review the Master Capital Plan.
Progress was made looking primarily at high
priority projects that have access to funding.
Parks, Sewer and Water had clear high prior-
ity projects. Storm and Streets need more
work to create a plan of action. The MCP
Budget Committee Position Open
The Budget Committee
consists of the members of the local
governing body and an equal number
of citizens at large. The citizens are
appointed by the governing body and
serve terms of three years. Terms are
staggered so that about one-third of
the appointed terms end each year.
This fiscal year 2013-2014 has one
(1) volunteer opening for citizens for
the Budget Committee. Please fill
out an Application for Appointment
(found on the web page City Info/
forms & documents) or you may pick
up a form at City Hall, 1001 Bridge
Street, Vernonia OR 97064. The
Budget Committee Meetings will
begin March 2013.
Questions please contact
Angie
Handegard,
Administrator
503-429-5291 ext. 107
Finance
HOW TO APPLY
Please complete a volunteer
Application for Appointment and
return it to City Hall, 1001 Bridge
Street, Vernonia OR 97064 or Fax
to 503-429-4232. The Volunteer
Application is available on the cities
web page at www.vernonia-or.gov
City Info/Forms and documents or
you may pick up an application at
City Hall.
A copy of the Ordinance for
Committees is available at City Hall.
Questions please contact Joann Glass,
City Recorder 503-429-5291 ext. 106.
• Kitchen & Bathroom Remodels • Finish Carpentry
• Ceramic Tile Work • Custom Home Construction 
• Additions • Commercial Tenant Improvements
Jim Morrison, Jr.
General Contractor
CCB# 112057
Ph: (503) 429-0154
MorrisonRemodeling@hughes.net
Vernonia, OR 97064
• Licensed • Bonded • Insured
process will be useful in part during the an-
nual budget process.
REFINIANCING OPTION FOR WATER AND
SEWER RURAL UTILITY LOANS
In recent weeks both FCS Group and the
MCP consultants pointed out that the City
may wish to analyze the two sewer and
one water loan issued by USDA Rural Util-
ity Services, to determine if the cost savings
are worth the cost of negotiating an alternate
debt instrument. The City initiated a conver-
sation with Wedbush, a specialty investment
financing firm that works with cities and coun-
ties in Oregon to assist them refinance debt.
STREETS DEPARTMENT
WOEC STREET LIGHT INVENTORY
City staff recently met with the WOEC direc-
tor to review various projects. We learned in
that meeting that WOEC had under counted
the street lights in Vernonia that the City pays
for. The City’s records show that we are re-
sponsible for 91 lights, as of July 1, 2013, the
City will begin paying for our full inventory of
169 lights. City staff are meeting with WOEC
to affirm that the count is accurate and that
the billing that comes with this is planned for
in the FY2013-2014 budget.
PARKS DEPARTMENT
OREGON PARK AND RECREATION DE-
PARTMENT
The City received informal approval that both
requests to repurpose the unused Vernonia
Bicycle Skills Park funding were approved in
concept in early January 2013. The Master
Park Plan “agreement” is on this week’s coun-
cil agenda for approval. The City contacted
MacKay & Sposito and they are prepared to
sign their contract with the City with the ap-
proval of the “agreement” by council on 1-22-
13. The second “agreement” requires con-
currence with OPRD decision by the Oregon
Attorney General’s office because the con-
tract amount exceeds $150,000. The City
will see this agreement in February 2013.
This second agreement will allow the City to
purchase and install a large restroom at the
New Spencer Park in the area generally east
of the existing basketball facility and to install
a picnic shelter in the area immediately to the
west of the same community facility.
GENERAL CITY ADMINISTRATION
WOEC ELECTRIC RATES
The City received word from WOEC that both
the Base Rate and Consumption Rate tier
model would likely change in October 2013.
Marc Farmer informed the City that in their
recently completed Cost of Service Analy-
sis they were informed that the base rate of
$35/account is significantly below where it
needs to be set. To assure WOEC’s ability
to maintain operations an adjustment will be
proposed to members. In addition, BPA is
projecting that their transmission costs will
increase. WOEC membership will review the
options in February or March 2013. The City
will watch this closely as it has implications
in our utility rate structure that is now under
review as well as the general cost of using
power in all city enterprises.
Vernonia’s Voice has changed publication dates!
We now publish on the 1st and 3rd Thursday
Our next issues will be February 21 and March 7