june19 2014
VERNONIA’S
volume8 issue12
reflecting the spirit of our community
www.vernoniasvoice.com
Cox Ends Tenure
as School Superintendent
Dr. Kenneth Cox has ended
his time as the Superintendent of the
Vernonia School District. Cox took
part in his last School Board meeting
on Thursday, June 12, 2014, leaving
behind a legacy of service that went
beyond the call of duty.
Cox,
who
has
been
Superintendent of the Vernonia School
District since 2006, has accepted
a position as Superintendent of the
Minidoka County Joint School District
#331, located in Rupert, Idaho.
The Minidoka district serves 4,000
students in four elementary schools,
two middle schools, and a high school,
as well as alternative middle and high
schools.
Vernonia Elementary School
Principal Aaron Miller succeeds Cox
as the Superintendent.
“Thank you Ken for your years of
service and for being a friend to all of us
and for being a friend to Vernonia, and
a friend to the students and staff of this
school and to the whole community,”
said School Board Chairman Bill
Langmaid at the conclusion of
Cox’s final meeting. “This [new
school] wouldn’t have happened
without you. We owe you a great
debt of gratitude.”
Cox
was
the
new
Superintendent in Vernonia when
the community was devastated by
the December 3, 2007 flood which
damaged the Washington Grade
School, the Vernonia Middle
School and the Vernonia High
School buildings.
Cox has worked tirelessly
since that day in 2007, helping
perform the herculean task of
rebuilding the entire school district
and constructing a brand new K-12
school campus that is outside the
flood plain in less than five years.
He managed the initial demolition
of part of the Vernonia High School
and arranged for modular classrooms
to be brought in to serve students and
faculty on an interim basis.
In 2009 he helped orchestrate
a $13 million bond campaign that
raised the initial funds for the new
school construction, setting the
stage for the community to leverage
additional private, philanthropic, state
and federal funding sources.
Cox served on the Oregon
Solutions Team, designated by then
Governor Ted Kulongoski, to secure a
suitable location for the new campus
and raise the funds to build it. He
inside
4
9
10
11
19
summer
reading program
mist-birkenfeld
fire chief
run!
lessons of a
clueless gardener
my fair lady
free
continued on page 12
Council Moves Forward
with City Administrator Search
The Vernonia City Council met in
a special work session on Saturday, June
7 to screen applicants for the permanent
City Administrator position.
City Councilors reviewed thirteen
applications for the position and decided
to invite five applicants to be interviewed.
The City Administrator position
has been vacant since the City Council
voted to terminate their contract with Bill
Haack in December of 2013. Mayor Jo-
sette Mitchell has been serving as a volun-
teer Interim City Administrator. Mitchell
had stated previously that she intended to
apply for the permanent position. Coun-
cil did not announce the names of any of
the applicants.
Interviews are scheduled for July
th
12 . The interview process will include
interviews by three separate panels: a
panel of citizen representatives and one
representative from each of the city com-
mittees, staff panel made up of depart-
ment heads, and the City Council.
Portland Community College
has begun plans to develop an education
center in Columbia County.
The campus will be built with
funding already secured from a bond
measure passed by voters in 2008.
PCC hosted a working breakfast
with local business leaders on Thursday,
June 5 in St. Helens to discuss what
programs and services to provide at the
new center. The breakfast was moderated
by new PCC Rock Creek Campus
President Sandra Fowler-Hill.
“This is no longer hypothetical,”
said State Senator Betsy Johnson at the
breakfast meeting. “We are starting
this partnership.” Over 50 local
leaders attended the meeting which
featured small group discussions.
Many public and business sectors were
represented including energy production,
manufacturing,
natural
resources,
construction, law enforcement, public
education, public administration, and
media.
PCC also hosted two public
forums to discuss the new campus, one
on June 10 at Scappoose High School and
one on June 11 at St. Helens High School.
According to information made
available at the meetings, and re-iterated
by Fowler-Hill, PCC is committed to
building a physical center in South
Columbia County where they will
provide more comprehensive programing
including credit courses, community
education courses, student services and
career technical programing.
Senator Johnson was very
upbeat when discussing the potential
regional benefits of constructing a local
campus. Johnson noted that when PCC
was considering building the Rock Creek
campus in Washington County people
did not visualize the regional growth
that would be associated with the new
campus. “The opportunity to have PCC
in Columbia County will be a catalyst for
this county,” said Johnson.
No specific site for the new
campus in Columbia County has yet been
finalized. Construction is expected to be
completed prior to 2017.
PCC to Build Campus
in Columbia County
Bonamici Holds Town Hall in Vernonia
US Congresswoman Su-
zanne Bonamici held a Town Hall
meeting at the Vernonia Schools
Commons on Saturday, June 7, 2014.
Bonamici, who represents
Oregon’s 1 st Congressional House
District, which includes all of Co-
lumbia, Clatsop, Washington and
Yamhill and parts of Multnomah
Counties, met with local constituents
for over an hour. Bonamici, who is
running for re-election in November,
discussed current issues she is work-
ing on as well as concerns raised by
attendees.
In her opening remarks Bon-
amici noted that she represents a very
diverse district which includes urban,
suburban, rural and coastal commu-
nities as well as forestry, fishing, ag-
riculture and high tech. “That’s what
makes it wonderful and that’s what
always inspires me to look at things
from every different perspective,”
said Bonamici
Bonamici, who is earning a
reputation as a collaborator in con-
gress who is willing to work across
party lines, told the audience that
since the government shutdown last
October she has seen a willingness of
congressional leaders to try to work
together. “That shutdown was a big
wake up call,” said Bonamici. Bon-
amici noted that since the shutdown,
congress was able to pass a budget
and the Omnibus Appropriations Act
to fund agencies.
Bonamici, who serves on
the Science Committee and Eduction
Committee, noted that she supported
the Farm Bill, which was passed but
cut funding for food stamps benefits,
because, “...it had so much good in
it for Oregon.” Bonamici said the
Farm Bill provided benefits for Or-
egon’s specialty crops, organic farm-
ers, food banks, and pesticide re-
search.
expedite funding for marine debris
Bonamici told the audience emergency clean-up and the other
that the House just passed two bills would allow communities to be re-
that she introduced, one that would
continued on page 3
