city news
january19
2017
5
Vernonia City News...
At the January 17, 2017 City Council Meeting:
Council Agrees on New Planner – Council agreed
with a recommendation from City staff and will ex-
tend an agreement offer to Carole Connell to provide
planning services for the City. The agreement would
state a per hour rate not to exceed $20,000 annually.
Connell had previously served as the City Planner for
several years and brings extensive experience and is
familiar with Vernonia’s planning codes. According
to staff and Councilor Susan Wagner, who previously
served on the Planning Commission, Connell will be
welcomed back enthusiastically.
Council Discusses Need to Clear Vegetation Around
9-1-1 Tower – Council discussed a request from Co-
lumbia 9-1-1 to clear vegetation and trees from around
the 9-1-1 transmission tower located on City property
above the cemetery. Vegetation and trees outside the
fenced area that surrounds the tower are encroaching
and interfering with the signal. City Administrator Jo-
sette Mitchell explained that there is a need for a taller
tower since the City is managing trees in the area to be
harvested for profi t at some future date, but there are no
current resources to upgrade the current tower. Mitch-
ell said that the City Public Works crew will take care
of the work and fall two trees that are creating interfer-
ence. Councilor Bruce McNair suggested those trees
could be included in an additional logging project this
spring.
City Approves Resolution for Extended Enterprise
Zone Benefi ts for Cascade Tissue – Council passed
Resolution 01-17 authorizing the extension of
Enterprise Zone Benefi ts for a fourth and fi fth year to
Cascasdes Tissue Group - Oregon. The resolution was
requested by the Columbia County Economic Team
(CCET) as part of the City of Vernonia’s membership
in the South Columbia County Enterprise Zone. As
part of the extension of the benefi ts Cascades Tissue
has agreed to invest $53.6 million in the facilities in
Scappoose and St. Helens and agrees to create 71 new
jobs paying average wage and benefi t packages of no
less than $55,346 per year for fi ve years. Taxes for
Cascade Tissue that are being abated for fi ve years
as part of the agreement are estimated at $877,512
annually, but betterment funds will be paid annually
by Cascade Tissue to CCET in the amount of $87,751
which will be shared with the local jurisdictions of
Scappoose and St. Helens.
Council Members Adjust Committee Liaisons –
Council discussed revising some Committee Liaisons.
Councilor Bruce McNair suggested that the liaison po-
sition to the Senior Center was redundant and that City
staff, who are already regularly attending Senior Center
Board meetings, could keep the Council informed of
issues that involved the seniors. The rest of the Council
agreed with McNair. Mayor Mario Leonetti and Coun-
cilor Susan Wagner agreed to change Committee Lia-
sisons; Leonetti will now be liaison to the Cemetery
Committee and Wagner will now be the liaison to the
Library Board.
Council Schedules Work Session – Council discussed
the need to hold upcoming work sessions and sched-
uled to meet to discuss City Goals/Priorities on Mon-
day, February 13 at 6:30 pm. Other topics that were
suggested for potential workshops included streets and
continued on page 6
City Addresses Emergency Shelter Concerns
During the recent power out-
age that affected all West Oregon Elec-
tric Cooperative (WOEC) customers on
January 9-10, questions were raised on
social media about why an emergency
shelter was not opened in the commu-
nity.
When questioned, City of Ver-
nonia offi cials stated that there was not
a need for an emergency shelter.
“There has to be a need and peo-
ple that are going to come and use it,”
said Vernonia Police Chief Michael Con-
ner. “We didn’t get any offi cial requests
or people telling us they were cold, they
needed supplies, or they needed shelter.
That’s what we base the decision to open
up a shelter on, and make those resourc-
es available, if there is a real need.”
Conner said there are several
options for shelters if needed within the
community, including the school build-
ing and several area churches have vol-
unteered to open as shelters if the need
arises, but noted that if school is sched-
uled to be in session, that needs to be
considered.
That is exactly the scenario
which occurred during this most recent
power outage, when power was lost due
to downed transmission lines that feed
WOEC from Bonneville Power Admin-
istration. Power went out around 4:00
pm on Monday, January 9 and was re-
stored starting around 6:00 am on Tues-
day, January 10, and was brought back
on-line in stages over the next several
hours. The Vernonia Schools were
opened to students that day on a two-
hour delay.
Vernonia City Administrator
The Vernonia
Transfer Station
is open on the
2nd and 4th Saturday
from 8am-2pm
January 21 & 28
(January 21 is a change in schedule)
Josette Mitchell agreed with Conner’s
assessment. “There is a number of
factors that go into the decision to open
a local shelter,” explained Mitchell.
“Usually the decision is made by either
our police or fi re personnel and it is
necessitated by the number of calls
received. We also consider if it looks
like the situation is going to be for over
24 hours. In this instance, the police
or the dispatch had received zero calls
about anyone needing assistance. We
monitored local Facebook pages and
we did check on two people who were
mentioned as vulnerable on social media
– one 93 year old woman had a generator
and warm blankets and was fi ne, and we
checked on another person who was
mentioned who was also fi ne.”
According to both Conner and
Mitchell, the City mostly relies on Red
Cross to provide supplies if they were to
open an emergency shelter. “They know
what needs to be done when they get
here,” explained Conner. “They have the
cots and blankets. They have the food
and supplies. They have the proper ad-
vertising to let people know the resource
is available. We have a small amount of
supplies in the Red Cross trailer at the
Fire Station, but we don’t have enough
to support a large array of people. We’re
not going to bring Red Cross out if it’s
just for a couple people.”
“We also have a shelter avail-
able in St. Helens, so if we did have two
or three people telling us they needed
assistance, we would fi nd transportation
and get them over there, rather than open
our own,” added Conner.
Vernonia City Council
Meetings and Closures
City Council Meetings
are scheduled for 7:00 pm:
Monday, February 6, 2017
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
City Closures
are scheduled for:
February 11 & 25
Monday, February 20, 2017
Presidents’ Day Holiday
Dates and times are subject
to change due to weather
Dates and times subject to change
Mitchell noted that opening a
shelter is somewhat complex and would
require monitoring. “If the shelter was
at the school, the school would have
to have an employee on duty and the
City would also have to have someone
on site,” said Mitchell. “Then you also
have to consider provisions, and who is
responsible for paying for those.”
Mitchell added all the local
agencies involved were in contact dur-
ing the power outage and were monitor-
ing the situation.
Conner said that if an outage
looks like it is going to be longer than
12 hours, they will open a local shelter.
“We just didn’t have any request or a
real need,” said Conner about the recent
power outage.
Mitchell did say that this most
recent situation did identify some logis-
tic issues between the City, Fire Depart-
ment, School and other resource groups
that need to be addressed. She specifi -
cally noted how an emergency shel-
ter would deal with pets as a concern.
“Maybe there is a group in the commu-
nity that would like to work with us, and
help us deal with that in the event of a
big emergency,” said Mitchell.
Both Conner and Mitchell em-
phasized that anyone that is concerned
about their safety or the safety of some-
one else in the community during winter
weather events should contact the Ver-
nonia Police through the non-emergency
police dispatch, (503) 397-1521. “Call
us,” said Conner. “We’ll let you know
what the resources are that are available.
If we hear from enough people, we’ll
open a local shelter.”
Police Blotter • January 1-16, 2017
ARRESTS/REPORTS TAKEN
• January 3, 2017 Arrest on a Warrant
near Keasey Rd.
• January 4, 2017 Arrest for Disorderly
Conduct and Harassment near Rose Ave
• January 11, 2017 Arrest on a Warrant
near Nehalem HWY S
• January 14, 2017 Arrest on a Warrant
near Bridge St.
CITATIONS/OTHER
• January 14, 2017 Cited for Driving While
Suspended near Bridge St.
• January 14, 2017 Cited for Failure to
Obey a Traffi c Control Device near Bridge
St.
Vernonia Police Department responds to calls that do not always end in Arrest,
Report, or Citation. 01/01/2017 through 01/16/2017 VPD had 158 calls for service.
Need more room?
See us for the lowest prices GUARANTEED!
Debit/Credit now accepted
5x10 $39
10x10 $69
10x20 $99
RV Storage $149
Outside storage available
Totally fenced and gated
Padlocks available
58605 Nehalem Hwy South • P.O. Box 292
Vernonia, Oregon 97064
(503) 429-7867
10-5 Tue-Sat
12-4 Sun