city news
january1
City Department Updates: December 15-28
Administration / Utility Billing
• Utility Clerk sent out 54 shut off notices.
• Just a small “follow up” to our billing problem
earlier this month when, because of a hiccup
in the system, the water consumption portion
of the bill was doubled for every account….
and the problem was not discovered until
after all of the bills were mailed out. We would
like to inform those of you who paid your bill
in full, before a correction was made, that
your account will be credited the outstanding
amount you paid. Thank you very much for
your assistance.
Police Department - VPD
• December 13th, 2014 – December 19th,
2014 – The total number of Calls for Service
and Officer initiated activity was “61.” Details
of the weekly activities will be outlined in a
monthly report. Statistics are compiled at
the end of the month and the official data
is not available until the following month.
Therefore, the monthly reporting will always
be for the previous month.
• Coming Soon: Vernonia Police Department
Super Citizen Awards Program
The purpose of the VPD Super
Citizen Award is to promote good behavior
in children and young adults. Through this
award the Officers of the Vernonia Police
Dept. will be able to interact with the town’s
youth in a positive manner and reward those
that go above and beyond to better our city.
The project is fully funded by local business
donations both monetarily and in goods.
To be nominated for the Award children/
young adults must:
• Display safe habits and attitudes
• Be kind to others
• Have no school and/or legal referrals
• Strive to make the community a better place
through their actions
• Be referred by the school, a parent, regular
citizen, or by an officer
The Award includes:
• Ride to and from school in a Police Car
• Super Citizen T-Shirt
• Certificate
• Lunch with an Officer
• Picture in Vernonia’s Voice
• Staff has prepared for the possibility of
heavy rains by fueling up of all generators,
making sure that backup fuel is available,
test fitting of the flood barriers for sewer
pump station #1, and will be prepared to
work overtime if needed.
• Finance Director has successfully submitted
the interim financing application for project
funding to DEQ. The interim financing will be
paid off with the USDA funds once the project
has been completed.
• Finance Director spent several hours
assessing the Library computer issue and
researching different options for addressing
the problem.
• First day for the new Library Director,
Shannon Romtvedt, was Tuesday, December
16. Thank you to staff and community
members for the warm welcome.
• Library staff is happy to announce that all
books from the “Adopt-A-Book” event have
been adopted and will be added to the
library’s collection. Thank you to our patrons
for supporting the library by adopting books
and to the Friends for sponsoring. Special
thanks to Barbara Ward for all her hard work
coordinating the event.
• Circulation Statistics: 529 items were
checked out December 10 – 18.
Finance
Public Works
• Public Works replaced floats at pump
station # 3. The floats are backup to the level
transducer that controls the level at which the
pumps turn on and off.
• Work is almost complete on the modifications
to raw water pump #1 at the water plant. We
are waiting for one more part to finish the
modifications. These modifications are due
to parts that are no longer available for this
pump. Once #1 raw water pump is put back
in service the modifications will be duplicated
on #2 raw water pump.
• Generator repair was made at pump station
#2 as it was found to not function properly
last week when power was out. The problem
was found to be a faulty fuel priming pump.
This put the generator in alarm mode which
meant staff had to override the alarms with
jumper wires during power outage.
IT’S TAX TIME
Planning / Building
• Jeff Goodman was appointed by the Mayor,
with Council approval, to continue another
term on the Planning Commission.
Library
City Clerk / Administration
• Thank you Donna Webb and Bruce McNair
for your commitment of time and hard work
these last two years serving on the Council.
Your work will not be forgotten.
• Welcome Jill Hult and Mike Seager as you
begin your commitment of time and work as
a Council member. Welcome back Mayor
Josette Mitchell and Thank You for all of your
commitment of time and hard work.
• City Recorder wishes everyone Happy
Holidays and Happy New Year!
• City Hall Closed:
December 31 – Noon
New Year’s Day
January 2, 2015
• Next City Council Meeting January 5, 2015
7 pm.
2015
5
City Administrator / Administration
• The City Administrator attended the League
of Oregon Cities sponsored, “Small Cities
Support Network” meeting. Thirty City
Managers and Administrators from Portland
Metro Region 2 attend this quarterly meeting.
A presentation about a recap of the
November election and the successful Ballot
Measures was given by Craig Honeyman
(Legislative Director, League of Oregon
Cities).
The next quarter meeting will be
replaced by a combination of the Elected
Essential Training, Regional and Small City
Meetings. Full agenda and more information
to come.
• The City Administrator and City Planner
(Carole Connell) discussed the need to
create a specific code language to implement
the Marijuana initiative (and medical
marijuana should the City decide to treat
that separately). The City has, in the past,
adopted an ordinance putting a moratorium
on medical marijuana dispensaries while
waiting to see what would happen with
Measure 91. Now that we know the results of
the election, it would be advisable to start the
process of putting some regulations in place
for dispensaries, even though the legislative
landscape is about to get complicated. The
City Administrator anticipates, early in the
next year, (2015) a conversation with the
City Attorney (Ruben Cleaveland) and City
Planner about the possibility to remove the
moratorium and developing an ordinance.
A recommendation would be presented to
the City Council for review and direction
on a preferred option. Possibly (should the
Council direct) a joint planning Commission/
City Council meeting could review the
ordinance proposed language.
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Vernonia Police Blotter December 13-29, 2014
• December 14, 2014 Report of Theft and
Unlawful Entry into a Motor Vehicle in the
600 Block of Bridge St.
• December 14, 2014 Report of Theft and
Trespass in the 200 Block of E North St.
• December 20, 2014 Report of Theft and
Unlawful Entry into a Motor Vehicle in the
500 Block of Madison Ave.
• December 15, 2014 Report of Theft in the
400 Block of Rose Ave.
• December 26, 2014 Arrest on Warrant in
the 900 Block of Texas Ave.
• December 16, 2014 Report of Theft in the
800 Block of Bridge St.
Vernonia Police Department responds
to calls that do not always end in Arrest,
Report, or Citation.
The IRS does not endorse any particular individual tax return preparer. For more information
on tax return preparers, go to www.IRS.gov.
Vernonia City Council
Meetings and Closures
City Council Meetings
are scheduled for 7 PM:
Monday, January 5, 2014
Tuesday, January 20, 2014
City Closures are scheduled for:
Monday, January 19, 2014
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Dates and times subject to change
due to conflicts of schedules
The
• December 20, 2014 Report of Theft and
Trespass on East B Street.
Birk
the old house of music
Terry’s
Gym
“it’s not that far”
www.thebirk.com
JOIN
THE TEAM!
503-901-1705
16720 Noakes Rd. Vernonia