10 A
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2017
Coast
from 9A
have just said, ‘Where do I sign up,
I’ll be there.’ The co-chair came to
me and said, ‘Hey, will you do this
for us?’ And I said, ‘Sure, why
not.’ That gave me the buy-in and
made me want to be more
involved.
“Just because somebody’s new
to the community or younger in the
community, doesn’t mean they
can’t be great for the community.”
When people are working sever-
al jobs just to feed their family, it
can be hard to volunteer, but that
doesn’t mean they don’t want to,
Erickson believes. While they
might not be able to put the full-
Public
from 1A
could begin in January.
“We’re seeing a two-year plan,”
Miller said. “Once all the projects
are complete and everything is
moved out, then we’d be talking
about demolition of the facility. …
It needs to go away. It’s served its
purpose.”
Miller explained that the neigh-
boring Gallagher’s Park will
encompass the Spruce Street loca-
tion.
“We’ll go through a planning
process to develop it as a park. It is
deed restricted to be used as a park
once police and public works
move out,” he said.
During that planning process,
Toys
from 1A
distributed 18 million toys in 792
communities in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands in
2017.
Marine Staff Sergeant Opetaia
Sitafine is the Toys for Tots coor-
dinator for Lane County and he is
glad to have the opportunity to
time commitment in for a board,
they can still help out. And in time,
they could perhaps grow into larg-
er positions, like on a board.
“I’m always looking to see who
would be a good fit,” she said. “As
a service club, you should be look-
ing for people to join, because in
turn those people are going to look
for more, who in turn are going to
look for more.”
Getting people who traditionally
aren’t considered for these types of
positions involved can create a bet-
ter community.
“Volunteering is very important
because you’re giving back to your
community. I see all those organi-
zations in Florence and what
they’ve done, and how many peo-
ple they help. To me, that’s amaz-
“Hey, lookie”
Volunteering is the foundation
for a community, Mealer and
Erickson believe. It’s a bedrock
that holds the foundation of every-
thing that makes people feel con-
nected. And it’s not just working
for an organization.
What gets Mealer excited about
solving the problems the region is
facing?
the City of Florence will look at
the needs of the area and usage of
the park. This could mean an
expansion
of
the
park’s
Rhododendron
Garden,
an
increased presence of the Salmon
Trout Enhancement Program on
Munsel Creek or even courts for
tennis, pickleball or basketball.
Another unused aspect of the
Spruce Street site is the old water
tower, which Miller said “will
never” be brought back in use.
“It’s at the wrong elevation -
too low. It doesn’t match the other
reservoirs,” he said. “There’s a lot
of talk about what to do with the
tank. It’s going to cost money to
take it down.”
It would take $80-100,000 to
remove the tower and gain “scrap
value” from any metal, after the
removal of lead paint and the cold
tar lining.
“It is pretty iconic to come into
town and see the structure. The
Public Art Committee is very
interested in it, and they know
what it would cost to renovate it,”
Miller said. “It would probably be
a $350,000 to $500,000 prospect
to paint the tank. That includes
taking care of the ladder climbs,
metal loss, repairs and safety.”
He said he hopes the city looks
into unique ways of repurposing
the tank, just as he hopes
Gallagher’s Park can add some-
thing by expanding into the prop-
erty.
“There’s definitely something
there to look at, and not just say,
‘It needs to come down,’” he said.
As for the City Hall remodel,
include Florence in the Marine's
nationwide toy distribution effort.
“Florence is an important part
of Lane County and, until now, we
haven’t been able to establish a
place to do distribution from. This
year we were able to work with
the fire department and they let us
know they had a great site for us
to use, so we were happy to be
able to include this location as a
distribution site,” Sitafine said.
ing. And nobody knows when
they’re going to need that help. I
can always say I gave back to my
community. And if I need help
from an organization, I can say, ‘I
know there were people that I
helped at that point, and now it’s
time for me. Maybe I need that
help.’”
He pointed to the Neighborhood
Economic Development Corp-
oration (NEDCO), a program he
found out about in October.
Based in Springfield, the organ-
ization helps with a wide variety of
issues that the Siuslaw region is
facing. It trains people how to save
money, matching their savings by a
2:1 ratio. It helps people get into
affordable housing.
Mealer discovered about the
program at a seminar and became
elated.
“Nobody in this area has been a
part of this program. It shocked
me,” he said. “I didn’t know about
this either. Now that I know about
this, I can go to the SOS board and
say, ‘Hey, lookie.’”
Programs like that can make
Florence City Council is expected
to look at bids during the Dec. 18
council meeting.
“We’ll know then where we
stand, and then hopefully every-
thing is placed, they accept the
bids, award the contract and give
notice to proceed. The contractor
should get started toward the end
of January, which just gives
enough time to get people moved
out of City Hall and get everyone
settled again,” Miller said.
During the City Hall remodel,
the new Public Works facility will
also
house
the
Planning
Department and customer service.
City Hall’s other functions will go
the Florence Justice Center.
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Buying or Selling? I can help.
Florence a better place, he
believes. And if programs are
implemented, organizations like
SOS and Florence Food Share
would no longer be needed.
“If our client list was going
down every month and the job
market was going well, that’s the
best of both worlds,” Mealer said.
“If we were out of business, that
would be great.”
According to Mealer and
Erickson, volunteerism isn’t just an
organization like Rotary or
Kiwanis or the Elks. It’s not just
special programs like Siuslaw
Vision 2025.
It’s small groups of people tak-
ing the initiative to help, organized
or not. It’s the person looking for
different ideas and bringing them
to the community. It’s the people
who can set aside differences and
notions and work together. It’s the
person who can find their passion
and make it a reality. It’s the person
who shares their experiences of the
good work that they’ve done, and
it’s the person who asks if they can
help, too. It’s all of these things,
and so much more.
“To help your community does-
n’t mean you have to have money,”
Erickson said. “Help means time.
It means your energy. Your
thoughts. Your ideas.
“It can mean so many things.”
Those things, they believe, can
make the region a better place. Not
just for the problems it faces now,
but for the betterment of genera-
tions to come.
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