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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 2016)
❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS SATURDAY EDITION COAST CENTRAL LCC FALL CLASS SCHEDULE A&E — INSIDE INSIDE THIS ISSUE 126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 71 ❘ SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 ❘ $1.00 SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION A few of their favorite things City focuses on housing needs in area Florence leaders attend Coastal Caucus, continue push for economic development B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News COURTESY PHOTOS Florence Events Center names volunteers of the year at alpine-themed event F lorence Events Center (FEC) honored its volunteer base dur- ing an appreciation lunch Aug. 17, recognizing 50 volunteers who donate their time at events held throughout the year at the events center. The theme of the event was taken B Y J ENNIFER C ONNOR from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Special to Siuslaw News __________________________ “The Sound of Music,” with rain- drops on roses centerpieces, brown paper packages tied up in string and schnitzel with noodles for lunch, catered by Pavillion Catering, who also served jam and shortbread and apple strudel. Most of all, FEC staff members celebrated “a few of their favorite things”: the volunteers. “We want to celebrate all that you do for us,” Kevin Rhodes, events center director, said. “We really appreciate it.” Florence Events Center celebrated its volunteers at a special “favorite things” lunch in August. Bob and Bonnie MacDuffee (above) won the Volunteers of the Year Award, and Dusty and Trish Rhodes (pictured at right with their son, FEC Director Kevin Rhodes) won the General Manager’s Award. NOTICE District taxpayers also receive break on tax rate for school bond measure B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News will join other area business- es by being closed Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5. Deadlines for submit- ted articles and press releases for the follow- ing Wednesday’s issue will be noon Monday. Have a happy and safe holiday! INSIDE FEC 7A See CAUCUS 7A MAPLETON SCHOOLS BEGIN RENOVATIONS LABOR DAY WEEKEND DEADLINES Ambulance . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coastal Events . . . . . . . . . . . Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . See Dignitaries and officials of the central Oregon coast recently attended Sen. Arnie Roblan’s fifth annual Oregon Coastal Caucus Economic Summit in North Bend. Florence City Council, Florence Area Chamber of Commerce and city committees are still reviewing the take-aways from the Coastal Caucus, especially in regards to housing and eco- nomic development. At the work session on Aug. 24, city coun- cilors met with Bob Teter, who works in hous- ing assistance at Siuslaw Outreach Services (SOS), to discuss housing needs in the area, particularly regarding multi-family units and market-rate housing. “We had a good conversation in our meeting this morning about this very subject for an hour, and we could have talked for three hours,” Mayor Joe Henry said afterward. “In the last 30 days, we have met with at least four new poten- tial developers who seem fairly serious about building in our community — all different types of housing, including high-density apart- ments and mid-level housing.” Housing, however, has been on the council’s radar for a lot longer than 30 days. “Right now, the housing market is tight in Florence. There’s a major demand that’s almost crisis proportion. And that’s both coast-wide and all over the state of Oregon,” Henry said. The work session allowed Teter to explain SOS’s increased housing assistance requests, especially since rental properties are scarce. Henry said that housing was discussed in length at the Economic Summit. “Up and down the coast, we’re trying to get employers and help schools develop qualified trained workers,” Henry said. “One of the obstacles we keep running into is, if we keep bringing these people into town, where are they going to live?” City Manager Erin Reynolds said, “We’re a city and we’re in the business of providing basic city services, a foundation and opportuni- ty. It’s one of the toughest things about our eco- nomic development initiative.” The Economic Summit, held Aug. 8 and 9 at The Mill Casino in North Bend, had more than 550 people in attendance. This included most of the members of the Coastal Caucus: Roblan, Rep. Caddy McKeown, Rep. Deborah Boone, Sen. Jeff Kruse, Rep. Wayne Krieger, Sen. Betsy Johnson and Rep. David Gomberg, Siuslaw News Mapleton School District will begin a multi-year $8 million renovation project this month — the first major remodel of the district’s high school and grade school, originally built in 1948 and 1957, respectively. “One of the things we are doing this year is replacing the school sep- tic tank,” district Superintendent Jodi O’Mara said. “That will happen this A2 B9 A9 A4 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 SideShow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B8 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Word on the Street . . . . . . . A6 month. Also this month, hopefully before the weather turns, we will be resurfacing our track.” The district also plans to replace the high school bleachers during win- ter break. “They haven’t been up to code for a while,” O’Mara said. “We will be salvaging the wood and keeping it for school projects. We are also looking at a way of displaying some of the wood because it is a piece of Mapleton history. They are the origi- THIS WEEK ’ S nal bleachers that were built in the 1950s. It is all grade-A wood and holds some great memories.” O’Mara said the majority of the projects will be spread out between the summer of 2017 and the summer of 2018. District taxpayers received some good news from school business manager Maria McEldowney regard- ing the rate being charged for the bond. The district sold the $4 million bond at a premium rate that will give district taxpayers a break in the tax rate, dropping the rate from a project- ed $1.59 per $1,000 of estimated TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 65 51 64 50 65 51 65 51 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 property value to $1.31 per $1,000. For a home valued at $200,000, the new rate will mean an annual savings of $56. “We also sold it on a day when interest rates were low,” O’Mara said. Mapleton district voters approved the $4 million bond measure during the May 17 primary election. In addition to the $4 million from the bond measure, Mapleton received an additional $4 million grant from the state of Oregon that was triggered by the passage of the bond. S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS ❘ 24 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2016 See SCHOOL 7A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
