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❘ JUNE 20, 2015 ❘ $1.00
FATHER’S DAY
LETTERS
INSIDE — C
SPORTS — B
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Storage
damage
swells
to $5M
FLORENCE, OREGON
Port
adopts
budget
amid
concerns
C OAST G UARD C EREMONY
Lack of adequate
capital reserves
discussed
Cause still under
investigation in Tuesday’s
fire at Pacific Pines
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue (SVFR)
Fire Marshal Sean Barrett increased his
estimate of damage from the June 16 fire
at Pacific Pines RV Park and Storage from
$500,000 to nearly $5 million.
Damage to the 32-unit, 25,000-square-
foot storage building owned by Brian and
Linda Stent included 20 garage doors, up
to eight completely destroyed units, smoke
and heat damage to another seven units
and fire, smoke and heat damage to prop-
erty, including vehicles and an extensive
doll collection.
Barrett confirmed that the building own-
ers are insured as well as most of the
units’ contents by the individual occupants.
The cause of the fire is still under inves-
tigation, but Barrett said the area of origin
has been determined to be in Unit No. 11,
near the back of a 2014 Chevrolet box van,
owned by a local construction company.
SVFR reports show that the first call to
911 came in by 6:34 a.m. Tuesday, and the
fire was under control by 7:22 a.m.
SVFR responded with three engines,
one ladder truck, one rescue and six sup-
port units.
Due to the intense fire conditions, the
incident commander requested mutual aid
from North Bend Fire Department and
Lane Fire Authority in Veneta.
North Bend sent two engines and nine
firefighters.
Lane Fire Authority sent one engine
with three firefighters.
The crews were able to stand by to
assist SVFR at the site and back at the
Florence fire station.
“If we were in a larger area, this would
have been classified as a ‘four-alarm
fire,’” said Barrett.
One civilian received treatment for
smoke inhalation and was released.
No firefighter injuries were reported.
Tregoning
takes over Station
Siuslaw River
A CHANGE
OF COMMAND
P HOTOS BY C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
U.S. Coast Guard Station Siuslaw River
changed command Friday morning
from Senior Chief Boatswain’s Mate
James Greenlief to Senior Chief
Boatswain’s Mate Timothy Tregoning.
Sector North Bend Commanding
Officer Captain Michael Trimpert
presided. Tregoning, his wife Amy and
their children Jon, 10, and Berkley, 8,
(above) last served at Station Apra
Harbor in Guam. Greenlief (at right
with Trimpert) will now serve at Station
Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco, Wash.
Before the Port of Siuslaw
commissioners voted to
adopt the 2015 fiscal year
budget, which begins July 1,
during Wednesday’s meeting,
former commissioner Bill
Fleenor spoke to the board
about his concerns for the
lack of long-term capital
improvement planning.
Fleenor, who resigned as
commissioner in March, for
potential business conflict of
interest, spoke to the lack of
capital reserves for future
projects and repairs reflected
in the budget approved by the
board on May 26.
“While I was a port com-
missioner,” Fleenor said, “I
always represented that the
port should be looking at how
to deal with the $20 million
worth of assets that we have
that continue to deteriorate,
that require maintenance; cap-
ital reserves that have not been
addressed by the board.”
Commission
president
Ron Caputo told Fleenor the
port had a five-year strategic
plan. Fleenor made reference
to a projected $1.2 million
estimate to repair a rock
bulkhead that runs along the
south side of the port camp-
ground.
Fleenor asked, “Where is
the money being stored for
the bulkhead repairs?”
“We have put that off and
we are trying to save up
money in reserves to address
that when the time comes,”
Caputo said. “It won’t wash
out before we get the reserve
account.”
See
PORT 7A
FLORENCE ADJUSTS FEES, APPROVES SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET
City council makes changes to next year’s
budget as fiscal year ends
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
Florence City Council approved two
budget-based resolutions at its June 15
meeting. According to the staff report,
the 2015-16 fiscal year budget, adopted
June 1, included inflationary adjust-
ments to its water, wastewater and
stormwater utility rates.
Resolution No. 14, Series 2015,
approved a fee increase of 1.7 percent
for water, wastewater and stormwater
Ambulance . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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A5
B7
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utility rates.
Additionally, street fees were
increased 50 cents per equivalent
dwelling unit. Now, each residence
will pay $5.50, a 10 percent increase,
and the trip rate increased 10 percent.
Interim finance director Andy Parks
said, “Those fees were identified as
necessary to continue the maintenance
and operation of those respective sys-
tems from at a five-year financial fore-
cast.”
The increased utility rates are antic-
In Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A9
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Word on the Street . . . . . . . . A7
ipated to provide the city $33,900
from the water fee, $50,600 from
wastewater, $8,700 from stormwater
and $31,800 from the street fee.
The anticipated additional cost to a
single family home using an average
of 700 cubic feet of water per month
will be $1.97.
“Though I’m not usually in favor of
fee increases,” Mayor Joe Henry said,
“this is one of the lower increases in
utility fees that we’ve had for several
years.”
Parks also said that the allocations
had yet to be decided between system
development charges and fees.
“As we’ve talked about, we’ll also
THIS WEEK ’ S
be looking at this in more detail during
the next several weeks,” Parks said.
“Whether this means a change in the
makeup of the fee schedule or whether
fixed cost or variable cost would be
appropriate.”
City staff is reviewing the current
system and plans to present a consoli-
dated fee schedule to the council by
the end of August.
The
second
budget
issue,
Resolution No. 15, Series 2015,
approved a budget adjustment to
reflect a projected increase to revenues
from the Transient Room Tax (TRT).
Florence Area Chamber of
Commerce has a contract with the City
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
64 48
61 50
63 50
64 49
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
of Florence to handle tourism and
marketing. According to the three-year
contract, the chamber receives 40 per-
cent of funds generated by the TRT.
“This happens to be a ‘good news’
type budget adjustment,” said Parks.
“The expenditure that was originally
budgeted for Transient Room Tax
marketing services was budgeted
based on a given, forecasted amount
of revenue. The city’s TRT collections
for fiscal 2015 are over that particular
number, which necessitates an adjust-
ment to the budget to be able to fund
the contractual amount.”
S IUSLAW N EWS
125 TH Y EAR ❘ I SSUE N O . 49
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