August17 2017
www.vernoniasvoice.com
Wyden Announces
Disaster Relief for
Columbia County
Oregon Senator Ron
Wyden announced during a
Town Hall meeting in Verno-
nia on August 9, 2017 that
Columbia County will receive
previously denied disaster re-
lief funds from the Federal
governement.
Wyden said the White
House will grant a partial fed-
eral disaster declaration for a
few days of winter weather-
related losses across the state
this January.
The decision is a re-
versal of an earlier denial of
federal disaster relief for the
state. The disaster declaration
will allow local governments
to seek much-needed federal
relief for damage caused by
winter storms from January
7-10.
But the disaster funds
are likely to fall far short of
the more than $17 million in
damages from flooding, mud-
slides and structures that col-
lapsed during winter storms
that impacted a wide swath of
Oregon from January 7-20.
Oregon’s seven fed-
eral lawmakers wrote to the
White House in March in
support of Governor Kate
Brown’s request for a state-
wide disaster declaration for
significant
weather-related
costs, as well as more target-
ed help in the form of public
assistance grants for Baker,
Columbia, Curry, Deschutes,
Hood River, Josephine, Mal-
heur, Multnomah, Union and
Washington counties.
Under the new de-
cision the entire state will
be eligible for some level
of federal relief. Columbia,
Deschutes, Hood River and
Josephine counties will be
eligible for public assistance
grants, and the rest of the state
will be eligible for hazard
mitigation grants. Approval
of public assistance grants for
Malheur, Multnomah, Union,
and Washington counties are
still pending, and will be de-
termined at a later date.
“This partial disaster
declaration is a good first step
toward providing desperately
needed relief from the costly
damage caused by the massive
winter event that hit our state
in January,” the delegation
said in a joint statement. “As
lawmakers, we understand
the Oregon communities af-
fected by these prolonged and
historic winter storms still
need more resources and we
will keep working to direct
federal aid to help in their re-
covery.”
After the initial de-
nial of the state’s request for a
federal disaster declaration in
March, the lawmakers wrote
to the administration in sup-
port of the state’s appeal.
Additionally, in a
May letter, Wyden, Senator
Jeff Merkley and Represen-
tative Greg Walden pushed
the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency (FEMA)
for more transparency in the
agency’s process for granting
federal disaster declarations.
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VERNONIA’S
volume11 issue16
reflecting the spirit of our community
New Lake Pump is Operational
A project to upgrade the pump
system at Vernonia Lake has been installed
and is now operational.
The project was a collaboration
between the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife (ODFW), the Vernonia Lions
Çlub and the City of Vernonia.
Robert Bradley of ODFW was in
Vernonia on August 2, 2017 to celebrate
the completion of the project. “This proj-
ect was initiated by the Vernonia Lions
Club and brought to our attention, and then
we worked together over the last two and
half years to get to this point,” said Brad-
ley.
The project consisted of the instal-
lation of three new pumps, plus a concrete
pump house, that will allow the City to
maintain the water level of the lake.
Bradley assisted the Lions Club
and the City in making the application for
grant funding through ODFW’s Restora-
tion and Enhancement Program. Those
grants are funded through surcharges on
license fees with ODFW. “The idea is that
those fees go back into projects that ben-
efit anglers, which is what we expect to
happen with this project with the ability to
control the lake level better,” explained
Robert Bradley of ODFW with Vernonia Lions Club
members Randal Harvey and Don Webb.
Bradley.
Bradley said the grant from
The new system allows the City to use one, two or
ODFW was for $69,000. The Lions Club contrib- three pumps as needed to maintain the level of the
uted $960 in cash to the project and also contrib- Lake. The City Public Works crew should be able
uted time to act as the administrator for the grant. to reduce the time they spend down here monitor-
The City of Vernonia contributed labor and use of ing it.”
heavy equipment to install the pump house and
Vernonia Lions Club member Don Webb,
pump system.
who has helped maintain the Lake over many
“This is a replacement for the old single years, thanked ODFW and Bradley for their help.
pump system that the City can operate on an an- “Robert has been a lot of help and we couldn’t
nual basis,” said Bradley. Bradley explained that have done this without him,” said Webb. Webb
while the old system could pump 1,200 gallons noted ODFW previously assisted the City in the
of water per minute from the Nehalem River, the installation of the two fishing docks and recently
new three pump system pumps less water and used another ODFW grant to install the safety
draws less from the Nehalem.
rails on the docks.
“The old system pumped too much water
“This really was a cooperative effort,”
and had to be turned on and off as the Lake would said Bradley. “It’s good to know that we could do
get full,” explained Bradley. “The pump also our part.”
needed to be removed from the river each winter.
Citizen Files Pending
Tort Claim Against City of Vernonia
David Sterner, a citizen of Ver-
nonia, has filed a Formal Notice of a
Tort Claim against the City of Verno-
nia, the Mayor, City Administrator and
the rest of the Vernonia City Council.
Sterner sent notice of his claim
to the City on August 4, 2017. He also
notified Vernonia’s Voice of his claim,
as well as posting the entire claim to
Facebook. The claim names Vernonia
Mayor Mario Leonetti, City Adminis-
trator Josette Mitchell, City Councilors
Bruce McNair, Jill Hult, Mike Seager
and Susan Wagner, and the City of
Vernonia, and seeks compensation of
$180,000 and attorney’s fees for “ dam-
age to his personal and professional
reputation, intentional interference in
prospective economic relations, and the
resultant lack of economic opportuni-
ties thereafter.”
Sterner had sought approval
from the Vernonia City Council on
February 13, 2017 to place a retail
food trailer at a city-owned location.
Council met in a workshop on March
13 to specifically discuss food vendor
carts. The development of Food Cart
Vendor Site was on the agenda for the
City Council meeting on April 3 when
Sterner abruptly withdrew his request
and began the process of filing several
ethics complaints against members of
the City Council with the Oregon Eth-
ics Commission (OEC).
Sterner filed an ethics com-
plaint against Mayor Mario Leonetti,
which claimed that Mayor Leonetti had
failed to identify a personal “conflict of
interest” in the discussion. That com-
plaint was initially found to have “no
merit,” by the OEC, but the OEC did
later open a preliminary investigation
which is currently pending. Councilor
Susan Wagner has confirmed that Stern-
er has also filed a complaint against her
on which the OEC has not yet taken any
official action.
In his notice of intent to file
a tort claim Sterner contends that the
City’s refusal to allow him to place his
food cart on public property, “consti-
tuted discrimination against him, as
well as defaming his personal and busi-
ness reputation, and that it occurred - in
part - because of the Mayor’s improper
attempts to discredit Claimant and his
business proposal - not because of any
legitimate public policy purposes - but
in attempt to curtail and in fact prevent
direct competition, which might ad-
versely impact his own, personal, busi-
ness interests.”
continued on page 5