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community news
august16
2018
On the Shelves
By Shannon Romtvedt
While there have been many new faces working
at the Library over the past several years, most
patrons and community members recognize
Nancy Burch. Nancy Burch became the new
Librarian at the Vernonia Public Library back in
late Summer of 1988. Congratulations, Nancy, to
30 years of service!
in the school library in Newport before taking on
the present assignment. She is spending most
of her time getting acquainted with the library’s
inventory and is planning to complete that before
she makes any decisions concerning directions
her management will take.”
Since her appointment as Librarian, Nancy
steered the Library through two major floods and
the construction of a new building (our current
location at 701 Weed Avenue). She has worked
hard over the years to secure a strong place for
the Library in the community.
So please, raise a book in honor of Nancy
Burch and her 30 years with the Library!
Now take a seat and read.
Upcoming Events
Family Movie Night
Thursday, August 23, 6 pm
Featuring Mr. Popper’s Penguins (PG, 1 hr. 34 min.)
Relax and get out of the heat for a free movie and
popcorn at the Library.
Looking back through Library Board
minutes, there was a special meeting called on
July 20, 1988.
“A special meeting was called to order
at 1:09 pm by Karen Jaques at the Library. The
reason for this meeting was because of the
resignation of Sandy Nimz as Librarian. The
board will need a new chairman to supervise
the hiring of a new Librarian. Sandy will be
moving to Gladstone at the end of August. She
would like to stop working on August 15 th . The
new chairwoman will be Claudine East. We will
hire early in August to allow a training period.
September will be set as a goal setting meeting
with the new Librarian. Meeting adjourned at
2:15”
A regular article in The Independent
called “Between the Bookends” in October 1988
highlights Nancy Burch as the new Vernonia City
Librarian.
“Nancy Burch, Vernonia’s new Librarian,
is also a new resident of Vernonia, moving here
from Newport with husband Errold who, for some
time, has worked as butcher department head at
Sentry Market. Burch had worked as media aid
Ongoing Programs
Writer’s Group
No meeting in August. Next meeting Thursday,
September 20, 6-7:30 pm. 3 rd Thursday of every
month. For writers with all levels of experience.
Book Discussion Group
Last Monday of every month, 5:30 pm. Discussion
for August 27: The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck
Storytimes
Summer Family Storytime
Wednesdays, 10:45 am, June 20 – August 22.
Snack served at 10:45 am provided by the
Summer Meals Program. Followed by stories and
a craft at 11 am. Monday and Friday 10:30 am
Storytimes will resume September 10 th
Did You Know?
Vernonia Newspaper Project
For the past year, the Library and volunteers
have been working on a grant project to make
historic and current newspapers available on the
Historic Oregon Newspapers site. The initial grant
was awarded by the Columbia County Cultural
Coalition, with matching funds contributed by
R&S Market, Fall Creek Woodworking, Vernonia’s
Voice, Vernonia Pioneer Museum, Cedar Ridge
Retreat Center, and individual donors. We are
finally starting to see results! Preview some
issues of The Independent on the website https://
oregonnews.uoregon.edu/.
Once we have more issues of The
Independent and Vernonia’s Voice on the site,
the Library and the Museum will be looking to
publicize and fundraise for the next phase of the
project, starting with the earliest issues of The
Eagle. If interested in donating or would like more
information about this project, contact Shannon
Romtvedt (503) 429-1818 or shannonr@vernonia-
or.gov.
Featured Titles:
Refreshing Youth Collections Grant
The Vernonia Library received a $3,000 grant to
purchase new, notable or award winning books
(and audiobooks) for children and teens. Books
are coming in and slowly being added to the
collection. So far, favorites from staff have been…
Princess Cora and the Crocodile by Laura Amy
Schlitz, illustrated by Brian Floca. Hilarious early
chapter book.
Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh. Haunted story and the
beginning of a series for upper elementary and
middle school.
I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty, illustrated
by Mike Boldt. Humorous early reader/picture
book and a first book in a series.
My Kite is Stuck! And Other Stories by Salina Yoon.
Early reader for fans of the Elephant and Piggie
Series.
Deadliest! 20 Dangerous Animals by Steve Jenkins.
Great non-fiction series for young children.
Also available at the Library: Trickiest!, Stinkiest!,
and Speediest!
Library Closures
Monday, September 3 for Labor Day
Hours & Contact Info
Mon, Wed, Fri 10 am - 5 pm
Tues & Thurs 1 pm - 7pm
Sat 10 am - 4 pm
Closed Sundays
Phone: (503) 429-1818
E-mail: library@vernonia-or.gov
Understanding How WOEC Operates continued from page 3
budgeted to pay each year. Having these
funds set aside assures payment in the
event of a bad year for the co-op. Those
loans are how the co-op is able to build
and maintain the infrastructure required
to operate the utility. A bad year for the
co-op might include weather related
events like, snow, wind or flooding, or
even an especially warm winter like
occurred in 2015-16, which led to a
decrease in expected revenues.
The margin acts as insurance
against those unexpected weather relat-
ed incidents that can cost the utility extra
money when they occur and are difficult
to budget for. “As stewards of the com-
pany, we try to forecast on a year-to-year
basis and make sure we have reserves to
help us cover those unexpected occur-
rences,” says Finance Manager Huggett
Perry notes that WOEC current-
ly shows a capital investment of approx-
imately $40 million, minus depreciation.
“What would it cost to put in this infra-
structure today if we had to start from
scratch? Probably in the hundreds of
millions of dollars. The membership put
in the infrastructure and the service ter-
ritory protects that investment so we can
continue to serve it.”
Maintaining the wide ranging
WOEC service territory and all that in-
frastructure is time consuming and ex-
pensive. Since Perry became General
Manger about four years ago, his goal,
along with Operations Manager Don
Rose, has been to improve reliability
of the system by keeping trees trimmed
along power lines, replacing aging pow-
er poles, and replacing overhead lines
with underground infrastructure.
“It’s been our focus to reduce
outages and improve service for our
members,” says Perry.
Along with replacing several
of the trucks in WOEC’s fleet, and up-
grading tools (“You can’t do the job if
you don’t have the tools,” says Rose),
WOEC added a small Peterson CAT
excavator to their fleet, in addition to
the larger backhoe they already owned.
“The mini excavator is good because it
has hard traction on slopes and hillsides,
which we have a lot of around here,”
says Rose.
Tree exposure is always the ene-
my of power lines and is especially prev-
alent in our service territory. Rose says
WOEC has increased their tree trimming
budget and now has two to three crews
of tree trimmers working year round,
continually visiting different areas and,
“...making a big difference.”
All the work WOEC crews have
been doing is having a real and measur-
able impact. Rose says tree related out-
ages within WOEC’s right of way have
decreased by 67% in the last three years.
“It’s been a team effort by all
of us involved in the co-op,” says Perry.
“The Board of Directors, management,
and our staff and crew have all made re-
liability a priority.”
With increased reliability comes
increased costs to members. The WOEC
Board recently passed a rate increase,
effective in August 2018, with the Base
Charge for Class 1 Residential increas-
ing by $3.00 to $42.00 a month. The
Distribution charge will also increase by
¼ cent per kWh (0.0025/kWh). There
will be an additional increase of ¼ cent
per kWh to all classes with the revenues
generated by this general increase used
to fund a Patronage Capital Retirement
Fund, allowing WOEC to retire and
pay the patronage capital going back to
1970. The total increase to residential
members will be $0.005 per kWh.
Capital credits, also known as
“patronage capital,” reflects each mem-
bers ownership in WOEC. According
to the co-ops bylaws, WOEC is required
to keep track of each member’s contri-
butions, “in excess of operating costs
and expenses,” in a capital account that
clearly reflects the amount of capital
furnished by each member at the end of
each fiscal year.
“We receive the income, we
pay the bills, and if we have anything
left over, that margin is then allocated
to the members, based upon what they
purchased,” explains Finance Manager
Huggett.
According to the bylaws, if the
Board of Directors determines that the
financial condition of the co-op would
not be impaired, then those accumulated
capital credits can be “retired” in full
or partially, and are returned to the
continued on page 17