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community
march20
2014
Town Hall Held to Discuss Impending Jail Closure continued from front page
voters approved and built a new $13 mil-
lion dollar, state-of-the-art jail in 1999,
the intention was to return to the voters
with a bond for operations. According
to both Hyde and Heimuller, the original
intention of the citizens committee that
worked on the jail project was to operate
the jail for a few years to establish
costs and bed rental potential before
returning to the citizens for an op-
erating levy. Commissioner Hyde
explained that, instead, the County
received an additional $2.4 million
in discretionary budget funding
through the “Secure Rural Schools”
bill, which made it unnecessary to
go back to the voters for more fund-
ing.
Hyde said that the hope of
“Secure Rural Schools” was that
timber harvests would increase
throughout the northwest, and pro-
vide funding for local counties. The bill
provided a declining scale of funding
over six years. Hyde says that when ad-
ditional timber harvests didn’t happen,
discretionary funding began shrinking.
The bill was extended but has now sun-
set. The County only received $400,000
last year from the program and will re-
ceive no funding this coming year.
Hyde went on to say that in
2008 the County discretionary fund was
$12.5 million; this past year it was $6.2
million. “Our discretionary revenue
has been cut in half,” said Hyde. “And
the Sheriff’s Department is still getting
26%, but the General Fund discretionary
revenue is 26% of a lot less money than
it was.”
Vernonia Weather
February 2014
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HIGH
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LOW
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Ave/Tot
43.8
28.9
PRECIP
0
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0
0
.25
.23
.55
T
.37
.27
.15
.52
.05
.95
1.49
.42
1.05
.22
.15
0
0
T
.05
0
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.04
0
6.76
Weather data is collected at the
U.S. Weather station at the
Vernonia Water Plant
When asked, Hyde told the au-
dience that the current jail still has nine
years until it has been completely paid
for.
Commissioner Fisher told the
audience that the jail is being run as effi-
ciently as possible but needs to add sev-
mental choice we face is to close the jail
and live within our budget or find some
additional revenues. The solution to our
problem is growth; economic develop-
ment that will bring jobs and with that
a tax base that will allow us to have the
things we need.”
Undersheriff Andy Moyer and County Commissioners Earl Fisher, Tony Hyde and
Henry Heimuller were in Vernonia for a Town Hall March 12.
en employees to remain safe and within
state and federal guidelines and regula-
tions. “We have run on this thin ice for
about as long as we can,” said Fisher.
“The costs are going up because we
need to get back to where we are fully
staffed.” Hyde later noted that employ-
ees of the jail are currently looking for
employment elsewhere because of the
reality of the closure, and that it doesn’t
make sense to replace lost employees at
this point.
Fisher went on to say, “There
simply is no more money. The funda-
When asked about the cost for
the levy to property owners, Heimuller
handed out a flyer which showed the
cost for a property assessed at $150,000
would be $87 per year; for a property
valued at $350,000 the levy would be
$203 per year. The levy is temporary
and only set to run for four years; voters
would need to reauthorize it to keep it
going.
An audience member asked if the
jail could be downsized and operated on
a smaller scale in order to reduce costs.
Moyer, who is the jail commander and
oversees jail operations, told the audi-
ence that currently the jail has four posts
they fill on a twenty-four hour basis: an
officer in booking, a control room officer
who opens all doors and moves inmates
anywhere they need to go, and two rov-
ing deputies who control, manage, check
on and count, and serve meals to all
inmates. “No matter how many in-
mates we have, we need a minimum
of that many people,” explained
Moyer. Right now we fill those
posts with sixteen people and if you
do the math on eight hour shifts we
are already down to minimum staff-
ing. Studies have shown we need
twenty-four to twenty-five staff just
for the level we are at now.”
Heimuller noted that the old jail,
which could house thirty-nine in-
mates, took more staff to operate the
facility. “It took more people to run
the jail in the old, archaic style, where
you had to physically move people with
deputies, than in this new, high tech jail.
It’s really impressive when you see the
numbers and what is being done with
such a limited number of staff.”
Moyer responded, when asked
what it would cost the County to rent
ten beds in Polk County, that they were
budgeting $1.2 million dollars. Moyer
noted that costs include the Department
keeping two employees to manage pris-
oners, the cost to transport prisoners to
Register Now for the
Vital Vernonia Community Forum
The Vernonia community is invited to attend a
Community Forum to learn about the recently completed
Vital Vernonia Indicator Project and discuss opportunities to
strengthen Vernonia’s vitality.
This Community Forum will be held on April 5 from
9:00 AM to 2:30 PM at the Vernonia Schools, in the Library.
A light breakfast will be served at 8:30. Lunch is included.
This is a free event. Registration is required by March 31.
The forum, sponsored by The Ford Family Foundation
and The Ford Institute for Community Building, is an exciting
opportunity to gather with fellow community members to
HOW TO SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Vernonia’s Voice welcomes and requests your thoughts,
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Vernonia’s Voice reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or
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each month. Email: scott@vernoniasvoice.com or mail to:
Letters, PO Box 55, Vernonia, OR 97064.
continued on page 14
share ideas and dialog about the future of Vernonia.
Participants will learn about the Vital Vernonia
Indicator Project results in the five targeted areas of study:
economy, health and well-being, youth and education,
livability and community engagement, and environment and
natural resources.
The forum will include time for networking and
dialog to build a shared understanding of what the results of
the Indicator Project mean for Vernonia as well as identify
individual and collective opportunities to strengthen
Vernonia’s vitality.
The Vital Vernonia Indicator Project is a collaboration
between Oregon State University Extension Service and the
community of Vernonia and was designed to quantify and
measure the well being of the Vernonia community. By
examining, recording and tracking indicators of vitality over
time the community can now measure progress towards
goals to improve well being and identify areas for targeted
community action or investment.
For more information contact Alexis at amillett@
nonprofitoregon.org or call 503-239-4001, ext 115. Register
online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VitalVernonia.
Need
body
work?
Time to call
Meyer’s
Auto Body
Meyer’s Auto Body 493 Bridge Street, Vernonia. 503-429-0248
Get all your
Garden Essentials
at the 1st Annual
Vernonia Community Garden
Fair & Plant Sale
May 10th 9am-4pm
at the Vernonia School Commons
1,000 Tomato Plants,
vegie & flower starts plus
many gifts for Mother’s Day
Interested in being a vendor?
Contact Penny Costley
503-429-0196
