city news
march7
Vernonia City News...
At the March 4, 2013 City Council Meeting:
Council Appoints Three to Committees-Council ap-
pointed Sally Harrison to serve on the Budget Com-
mittee, Jeffrey Goodman to the Planning Commission
and Marie Williams to the Parks Committee.
Council Receives Memo on Kay Arbitration-Coun-
cil received a memo from Ruben D. Cleaveland, the
Assistant City Attorney, informing them that the City
had prevailed in the personnel matter involving former
police officer Michael Kay. Kay had been terminated
by the City, had filed a grievance and the matter pro-
ceeded to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled that the City
had just cause to terminate Kay.
WASTEWATER
TREATMENT
PLANT PROJECT
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
COST ESTIMATE
The wastewater treatment plant cost esti-
mate is still rough, but is in the range of $5.25
to $6.0 million. As discussed at the joint Pub-
lic Works Committee and City Council work
session, the cost of the project is composed
of three parts: (1) Flume Improvements -
$300,000 to $350,000 which includes Otak
engineering project management and DEQ
fee, (2) Biosolids Removal, $600,000 to
$800,000, and (3) WWTP Construction and
overall Project/Construction Management,
$4,500,000. There will be additional costs
for testing and monitoring (e.g. Shannon
and Wilson geotechnical, and Pacific Habitat
for wetland and erosion). There will also be
Vernonia School District for review by a third party.
The School District is responsible for the construction
of a baseball field and two soccer fields which will be
turned over to the City of Vernonia.
Council Approves Request to Review Park Plan-
Council approved a request from the Parks Commit-
tee and directed staff to request design specifications
for the construction of the New Spencer Park from the
City Declares Surplus Property-Council approved
resolution 5-13 declaring a 1988 Liberty Manufac-
tured Home owned by the City to be surplus property
to be disposed of.
project management costs that will include
Otak project management and City staff
clerking the draws, maintaining records and
writing reports. Using City staff will be a least
cost approach rather than using staff of the
city engineering firm.
COUNCIL AND PUBLIC WORKS
COMMITTEE JOINT MEETING
City Council and the Public Works Commit-
tee held a joint meeting to discuss details
of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Project.
Council and the committee were updated on
Building Improvements, Dike Elevation Im-
provements, Pipe Gallery Installation, head-
works, parshall flume and related improve-
ments.
WWTP FINANCING PLAN
We will firm up the use of DEQ Clean Water
State Revolving Fund and what options are
available to close any gap. As discussed at
the joint Public Works Committee and City
Council work session, the City will likely pur-
NOTICE OF BUDGET
COMMITTEE MEETING
A public meeting of the Budget
Committee of the City of Vernonia,
Columbia County, State of Oregon,
to discuss the budget for the fiscal
year July 1, 2013 to June 2014, will
be held at the Vernonia Learning
Center,
939
Bridge
Street,
Vernonia, OR 97064. The meeting
will take place on March 19, 2013
at 6:00 PM.
the Budget Committee will be held
to take public comment. Any person
may appear at that meeting and
discuss the proposed programs
with the Budget Committee. The
meeting for public comment will be
held on: April 2, 2013 at 6:00 PM
at the Vernonia Learning Center,
939 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR
97064.
The purpose of the meeting is
to receive the budget message.
This is a public meeting where
deliberations of the Budget
Committee will take place.
A copy of the budget document
may be inspected or obtained on
or after March 20, 2013 at City
Hall, 1001 Bridge Street between
9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday-
Friday.
For fast
cash!
010412
An additional, separate meeting of
Mayor Authorized to Sign IGA-Council authorized
the Mayor to sign an intergovernmental agreement
with Clean Water Services for assistance with ele-
ments of the City’s biosolids plan in relation to sludge
removal.
sue a refinancing of existing USDA bond in-
debtedness, and may include an additional
line of credit in that issue if warranted to
close the financing gap above DEQ CWSRF.
WWTP ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Staff will meet with DEQ to review the envi-
ronmental assessment options. Pacific Hab-
itat will have met with Otak, Tetra Tech and
Shannon and Wilson to come to agreement
on the temperature model that National Ma-
rine Fisheries Services requires to model the
subsurface release of water into the ground-
water table. This is the single issue that is
unknown at this time.
BIOSOLIDS PLAN
Otak secured approval from DEQ on our Bio-
solids Plan. The City engineer is negotiating
with DEQ on the testing protocol that will be
required. The City Engineer is using infor-
mal procurement process to identify a test-
ing firm to use for this test assessment. The
city public works staff will be used to secure
samples based on a predetermined sampling
grid. The results of the depth of the lagoons
biosolids and chemistry of the samples will
dictate the cost for removal, processing,
trucking and land application of the removed
materials as described during our joint meet-
ing.
HEADWORKS PARSHALL FLUME &
RELATED IMPROVEMENTS
As discussed at the joint Public Works Com-
mittee and City Council work session, staff
responded to all questions that the combined
group requested at that time.
OTHER PUBLIC WORKS
ACTIVITY
MASTER CAPITAL PLAN & SEWER &
WATER RATE STUDIES
The Public Works Committee will review the
third revision of the Master Capital Plan in
March 2013.
State Licensed PB-0388
STREETS DEPARTMENT
CALIFORNIA AVENUE BUSINESS PARK
The City continues to work with Brad Curtis
(owner of Photo Solutions) and Casey Mitch-
ell (owner of land along undeveloped Califor-
nia Avenue) and has submitted an Industrial
Lands Certification Intake form to Business
Oregon. This is the requisite first step that
will lead to a City application for Special Pub-
lic Works Fund and Immediate Opportunity
Fund.
PARKS DEPARTMENT
OPRD SPENCER PARK DEVELOPMENT
The City met with OPRD this past week.
OPRD MASTER PARK PLAN
MacKay and Sposito has started a review of
the background materials to create a Master
Park Plan.
GENERAL CITY ADMINTRATION
ROSE AVENUE PROJECT
The City GIS consultant provided Scott Ed-
wards architects with maps and legal de-
scriptions to assist their project planning.
The City met with OPRD last week and dis-
cussed the land adjacent to the project that
abuts the Linear Trail. They may be inter-
ested in creating a primitive parking area in
this space.
Time to get your MOWERS tuned up
Family owned & operated for over 40 years
2245 Baseline St., Cornelius
503-530-8119
POTENTIAL CONTRACT TO UPDATE SDC
The consultants recommend using the MCP
when adopted to form the basis of a review
of the SDC schedule. Based on discussions
with Dan Heffernan, the SDC schedule for
at least streets, storm, and parks should be
reviewed, and then the entire SDC schedule
should be indexed. This will be brought for-
ward in FY 2013-2014.
START RIGHT. START HERE. SM
Oil Change • Sharpen Blades
Filters • Cables • Pull Ropes
We pick up & deliver!
(Across from Fred Meyer)
5
CC Rider Reduction Presentation Rescheduled-A
presentation to explain proposed CCRider Transporta-
tion service reductions was rescheduled for March 18.
CCRider is proposing to reduce its service in many ar-
eas including the Nehalem Valley Route which serves
Vernonia. Reductions include reducing Dial-A-Ride
service to Tuesday and Thursday, five hours each day
and reducing the Nehalem Valley service to Monday,
Wednesday and Friday and eliminating the midday
loop.
City Administrator Report
By Bill Haack
2013
Open
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834 Bridge St., Vernonia (503) 429-6364
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