SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2017
cleaning and maintenance of the
facility, in addition to the proper
placement and display of required
state permits.
Florence Public Information
Officer Megan Messmer responded
to inquires from the Siuslaw News
by providing a statement that high-
lighted the city’s concern for its
employees and its willingness to
make any necessary changes to
ensure employee safety.
“The city immediately corrected
and paid fines regarding any issues
which our professional staff
believed could possibly pose a safe-
ty hazard or violated OSHA regula-
tions. However, we believe that
some of the issues were wrongly
Lunches
from 1A
The group hits all the hotspots:
the Mapleton School District cam-
pus on East Mapleton Road, where a
volunteer hands out food; Mapleton
Food Share, 10718 Highway 126;
and the Deadwood Market, 14699
Highway 36.
On their way to these places, the
volunteers keep a look out for chil-
dren and offer them lunches.
“Do you have friends?” they ask.
“Take some more lunches to give to
them.”
The women also bring the lunch-
es directly to homes if necessary.
There’s an entire network of peo-
ple in Mapleton who help out in
these ways, going grocery shopping
for neighbors with disabilities or no
money for gas.
But geography isn’t just a barrier
for getting the isolated assistance.
It’s one of the driving factors as to
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cited,” Messmer said in the state-
ment. “City staff is working with
OSHA to correct the record regard-
ing these issues.”
While Florence decided to chal-
lenge some of the fines that were
assessed, staff immediately took
action to remedy any situation that
might harm city workers.
“The city disagreed with the
method by which OSHA processed
the fines associated with the cita-
tion and appealed fines associated
with the overall citation,” Messmer
said in her statement. “Please note
that the city does not disagree with
taking the corrective action needed
to ensure employee safety and the
city has taken immediate corrective
action and is in the process of con-
structing a long-term solution
for entry to the Ivy Street Sewer
Pump Station.”
One of the measures the city took
to address violations was to ensure
that there is an approved way of
entering the facility’s “wet well,”
where wastewater is collected.
Messmer said this project is well
underway.
“City staff and the city’s contract
engineer met with the OSHA
inspector for a closing conference
related to his inspection,” Messmer
wrote. “At that time, the engineer
was able to discuss possible alterna-
tive methods for entry to the wet
well that would remove the confined
space designation.
“We have received the final engi-
neered plans to construct a concrete
staircase into the wet well. The city
is currently requesting bids for con-
struction and that project will be
completed by the end of
September.”
According to Messmer, OSHA
concerns regarding the placement of
railings and walkways to protect
workers from slipping or falling
have been addressed and the major-
ity of required upgrades have been
made or are in the process of being
completed.
When asked if the citizens in the
vicinity of the treatment plant were
at risk in any way in relation to the
citation, Corvin said, “Looking at
the nature of the violations at the
plant, there is nothing to reasonably
suggest there is such a problem.”
In addition, Florence’s appeal to
OSHA regarding the assessed fines
was partially successful, with the
initial amount of the penalty being
reduced, Messmer said.
“The city requested that OSHA
bundle several of the citations as
they related to the same violation.
OSHA staff declined to bundle those
citations, but they did reduce the
City’s fine by 36.4 percent to a total
fine of $5,000,” Messmer said.
OSHA has submitted the adjust-
ed citation to the Administrative
Law Judge for final approval.
Florence has already paid $1,560
of that total and will pay the remain-
ing $3,440 once the invoice is
received.
“The city fully supports worker
safety and has a very positive histo-
ry of strong OSHA compliance,”
Messmer said. “Florence is commit-
ted to providing not only our
employees with a safe and healthy
work environment, but the commu-
nity in general.”
why parents are in need for pro-
grams like Sack Lunches in the first
place.
Brown moved to Mapleton a few
years ago with her daughter. Money
was tight so she went to the SOS
program to get assistance. She had
lived in Hawaii and Portland, but
they were expensive and she felt
unsafe.
Mapleton seemed to quell those
fears. The rent was cheap and she
felt comfortable walking around the
streets with her child at night.
But then the problem of geogra-
phy hit. She had planned to get a job
in Florence, but the market was tight.
There was Eugene, but the commute
would have taken her from her fam-
ily for too long for a single mother.
The Mapleton School District
was hiring bus drivers. It was per-
fect, a wage of $20 an hour. It’s not
as high as one would think.
Because there’s no industry in
Mapleton, the school is forced to pay
that rate.
Brown explained: “If you have a
split shift, you’re not going to drive
all the way here from Florence to
work for $10 an hour to work as a
bus driver. So we’ve negotiated the
union wage high enough to get
someone like me.”
She loves the job, but her take
home pay is less than $1,000 a
month. She works a split shift —
pick up the kids in the morning,
bring them home in the afternoon —
so finding another part time job mid-
day is impossible.
She hustles for small gigs.
“I try and get extra money,”
Brown said. “I try and clean houses
or I work in town with a lady doing
garage sales. Nothing is guaranteed
income. It’s what you can get, when
you can get it.”
Brown was on the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), but she described an unfor-
tunate rule in the system that slashed
her benefits.
As a bus driver, there’s certain
times a year where she makes more
money, like driving the track team to
another town. It’s a rare occurrence,
and never happens in the summer.
SNAP bases eligibility on a single
monthly paycheck. That is, they
don’t look at the year’s average
income, but on the last month’s pay.
Brown had just got a few field trip
jobs when the SNAP audit came,
temporarily inflating her monthly
worth. Her payout was slashed and
she did not have enough assistance
to last her two weeks.
Like many others, Brown went to
Food Share for help. Soon, she was
volunteering there full time.
The program has saved her life,
she believes, but times are always
rough.
“It’s constantly in the forefront of
my mind. Turn the light switches off.
Conserve, conserve, conserve. You
don’t run fans and air conditioners
because it costs too much. You don’t
water the lawns because of the water
bills. I don’t do a lot of trips to town
because there’s just no gas money,”
she said.
But Brown has no self-pity in her
voice. She feels strong, hopeful that
her daughter will go to college and
make a better life for herself.
Others who grew up and stayed
Upriver are in an even direr situa-
tion.
Harden explained it this way,
“The logging is gone. It was a gener-
ational thing. By the time the log-
ging went away, those people were
not trained to do anything else. It had
always been their life.”
The reasons people stay are vari-
ous, even with the low job market.
Most don’t have the money to pick
up and move, or the support system.
Those who do go would leave
behind their family, their homes and
their sense of community, an aspect
that can be absent in larger towns.
“It’s like the difference between
Eugene and Florence,” Harden said.
“Florence feels it is different than
Eugene. We feel the same way here
about Florence. It’s just different
here.”
When asked what current moves
toward revitalizing Mapleton’s econ-
omy people are making, Harden
tripped for words.
“Oregon State Sen. Arnie Roblan
came to the Food Share in August,”
she offered.
One person said Lane County
Commissioner Jay Bozievich comes
to the Riverview Market from time
to time.
Port of Siuslaw Commissioner
Terry Duman rebuilt the gas station.
And Mapleton School District
received several grants to fund
much-needed school renovations.
But a plan that brings well paying
jobs to the area?
Everyone interviewed did not
know if one existed.
Whether or not widespread revi-
talization of the economic outlook of
Mapleton will ever occur, the people
at Mapleton Food Share, along with
other community organizations, will
always try and revitalize each other.
Despite the seemingly insur-
mountable cost of the program,
Sack Lunches is looking to expand.
Three meals a day, every day. More
advertising. Dinner during the
school year.
This, the organizers believe, is
why Mapleton will never fade
away.
The people believe that saving
this jewel in the forest is something
that just needs to happen.
So they’re making it happen.
Contact Mapleton Food Share
at
541-268-2919
or
visit
www.mapletonfoodshare.org.
To donate to Sack Lunches, visit
www.gofundme.com/sack-lunches-
for-mapleton-kids.
Mapleton Food Share also has
an account set up at Banner Bank.
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