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SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2018
District
from 1A
After
that
discussion,
Grzeskowiak said that building
tours will be available for those
interested in seeing the issues
of the high school firsthand.
“Lastly, while people are on
tours, the steering committee
will peel off to prepare the
final recommendation lan-
guage to present to the board
on Wednesday, Feb. 14,” he
added.
The meeting will also be the
first opportunity for communi-
ty members to review the
results from a survey conduct-
ed by phone and on-line which
gathered opinions related to
the need for district upgrades.
Grzeskowiak said the phone
survey brought in 372 respons-
es and the web survey brought
in another 262 responses
“Both surveys are synchro-
nous,” he said. “The communi-
ty is generally supportive of a
new high school rather than
Port
from 1A
Port Commissioner Bill
Meyer, who lives in an apart-
ment building adjacent to the
docks, said he was sure that all
of these things had occurred at
one point.
“As a neighborhood we had
issues with certain miscreants,
primarily youth, who were
giving our neighbors a hard
time,” he said.
He invited the moorage cus-
tomers to join the neighbor-
hood watch program that was
active in Historic Old Town.
“We worked in cooperation
with the police department,
and as far as I know in the last
two years we haven’t had a
problem,” he said.
The commission said they
realized that the port needed
more proactive measures to
prevent incidents from hap-
pening in the first place.
McClure suggested looking
into grant funding for a securi-
ty gate at the docks.
“I would also like to move
up on that project,” McClure
said. “The moorage customers
would have access between
dusk and dawn. They would
have the ability to go in and
out of the gates, they would
just be closed to the public.
The gates would only be
unlocked during daylight
hours.”
Beyond security, the letter
also stated that there were
problems with dock sanita-
tion, citing “unsightly and
offensive beer/wine bottles,
cardboard and lunch contain-
ers, paper cups, diapers,
seabird droppings, dog mess-
es, discarded immature crab
and small fish carcasses and
fish guts.”
Commissioner
Mike
Buckwald took umbrage with
the characterization.
“I’m reading this and it
makes me think we don’t do
anything. I’m trying to under-
stand the legitimacy of the
complaint. Sure, I’ve seen
trash after events and things
laying around. But I have not
observed this kind of mess.”
Port Harbormaster Tracey
David stated that the kind of
sanitation issues the letter
characterized were “freak
occurrences.”
“During the summer you
get your paper plates,” he said.
“Fish carcasses from people
crabbing. A chicken leg here
or there. All the chicken bones
that come up are from the
seagulls vomiting on the
docks. Yes, you get the occa-
sional dog walker who lets
their dog defecate on the dock,
and they keep walking, but the
way this makes it sound, the
docks are covered in crap. And
I’m sorry, but this is complete-
ly out of line.”
While McClure agreed that
trash can accumulate, particu-
larly during the summer
months, she stated that the
staff does wash and clean the
docks frequently throughout
the day.
However, the commission-
ers did say that there were
remodeling the old building,
and the community is general-
ly supportive of the total bond
amount to include the elemen-
tary and middle school proj-
ects.”
The majority of the other
work that will not be at the
high school will be at Siuslaw
elementary. This could include
rebuilding the south end, seis-
mically securing the north end
and rerouting the bus and car
travel lanes.
“The goal is to reset the
clock on our buildings to make
sure they are future ready for
weather and operations here
along the coast,” Grzeskowiak
said.
Decisions as to the final
projects to be included in the
bond proposal will be made in
the next few weeks.
Siuslaw School District
Board of Directors will select
the projects for which they
will
recommend
voters
approve funding at the Feb. 14
meeting.
issues with seagull droppings,
an issue they have been trying
to work on for some time. At a
meeting last month, commis-
sioners discussed multiple
ways of scaring off the birds
in a responsible manner,
including loud noises and
drones. They are continuing to
work on a solution.
After the letter was dis-
cussed, Eugene artist Bayne
Gardner addressed the com-
mission about doing a mural
on the blue building on port
property,
which
houses
Vintage Blue Warehouse
Estate Sales.
“I’m an artist from Eugene
and I specialize in murals.
Last week I did a mural in
Junction City of sockeye
salmon (as a donation), and
after completing that, I had an
idea to do a chinook salmon. I
thought Florence would be
another great place,” he said.
Gardner was willing to do
the mural for free, but found
that he had to go through the
Florence Public Art committee
first, which does not allow
artists to paint murals for free,
nor create a mural without
committee approval.
Public Art Committee
Chairman Harlen Springer,
who regularly attends port
meetings, explained the rea-
soning behind the decision.
“If artists can come into
town, go up to an owner, and
say, ‘I want to put a mural on
the side of your building
today,’ then you can sort of
imagine what that can lead
to,” Springer said. “Another
thing is a fairness issue. If we
let Bayne put up a free piece
of public art here, then the
other artists around town will
call me and say, ‘What’s up
with that? I thought we had a
process here that we all got a
chance? How is it fair that you
let one artist put up art here
and we didn’t even know
about it?’”
Port Commissioner Nancy
Rickard asked if the commit-
tee looks for a specific theme
when choosing a project.
“We specifically don’t want
He also wanted to clarify his
position on the issue of climate
change as it relates to work the
committee has done and will
do in the future.
“I want you to know how
much I appreciate the work you
are involved in and the positive
impact your work has on our
community,” Henry said. “I
really think your contributions
are an important part of our
city’s team effort and I really
value your contributions and
hard work.”
Committee
members
thanked him for taking the time
to speak with them and said
they appreciated the positive
words spoken on their behalf.
Greene was the second and
final public speaker of the
evening.
He began by reiterating
Henry’s words concerning the
importance of the work EMAC
was doing. He than went on to
suggest a larger role for the
group as the city addresses a
growing number of environ-
mentally-related issues.
Greene spoke specifically
about the recent setbacks in
recycling in the Pacific
Northwest, particularly as
regards to plastics.
The councilor spoke about
the possibility of turning a
statewide problem into a long-
term opportunity for local resi-
dents.
According to Greene, the
lack of recycling options avail-
able to Oregonians might best
be addressed by a concerted
effort to create an industrial
solution to the plastics issue,
saying there is an opportunity
to turn a currently negative sit-
uation into one that might ulti-
mately provide good jobs for
local residents.
“The vision I am sharing is
to have a facility here that takes
everybody’s plastic, whoever
wants to bring it to us, and cre-
ate a business with however
many employees it needs to
take plastic from it’s original
form, break it down to the
appropriate form and turn it
into usable products that can
then be sold,” Greene said.
He provided handouts to
EMAC members with exam-
ples of recycled plastic prod-
ucts and companies that are
currently involved in turning
waste products into saleable
merchandise.
The committee said it was
interested in the possibility of
addressing the plastics situa-
tion in Florence and discussion
commenced immediately on
how and when the process sug-
gested by Greene could begin.
Following the discussion,
the 2018 committee members
were formally introduced.
Maureen Miltenberger was ele-
vated to chairperson and Linda
Serbus was voted in as vice-
chair. Both votes were unani-
mous.
Miltenberger was enthusias-
tic about the issues awaiting
EMAC.
“My first year on EMAC
was wonderful and this year
looks to be even better. Who
knew that meeting monthly to
talk about garbage and recy-
cling could be interesting and
even exciting?” she asked.
“Although I am a little appre-
hensive about being the chair-
person, mostly because I will
be attempting to fill the shoes
of David Lloyd, our past chair,
with the support of Linda
Serbus our vice chair, and the
rest of our group I am sure
things will go smoothly.”
The group then discussed the
issues to be considered by
EMAC this year, creating a
work plan that included sched-
uling discussions on waste rate
collection fees, plastic bags and
potential changes to the
upcoming Black and White
waste collection event.
The meeting was adjourned
after scheduling the next
EMAC meeting for March 6.
a theme,” Springer answered.
“Some people would like us to
have a theme all over town,
but we decided as a committee
we don’t want to do that. We
want artists to express them-
selves. That gives you a differ-
ent look all around town.”
“But you’re still going to
exert control over the art,”
Meyer said.
“To the point that it’s not
some obscene swastika,”
Springer said. “I’m always
concerned about the word
‘control.’ And somebody
needs to do that. We just want
to make it fair, so art doesn’t
become a free for all and go
crazy.”
To allow artists local artists
like Gardner to do murals for
free, Springer suggested an
alternative approach.
“What we talked about
today was maybe we pick 10
or 12 spots around town and
put that out to local artists and
say, ‘We will waive the fee for
you, and we’ll let each of you
paint one of these buildings,’”
Springer said. “That way it’s
fair, and everybody has the
opportunity in getting art
around town. We are trying to
get art in the community.”
Springer stated that he had
reviewed Gardner’s work and
was impressed.
“He’s on the same wave-
length as we are about our
desire to do public art,” he
said. “We support his think-
ing.”
Gardner also agreed with
the public art committee, say-
ing he fully agreed with the
rules.
“My point in coming here is
to make you aware of the
potential of that as well,”
Gardner said. “It would work
well with my ideas for paint-
ing it. People don’t really
come down to the dock, but
with public art, it can really
pull people down this way. It
gets more people out and
makes a landmark.”
After the meeting, the com-
missioners held an executive
session, returning afterwards
with an announcement on the
port manager position.
Originally, the open posi-
tion was to be closed at the
end of January and the appli-
cants reviewed. However, the
commission opted to extend
the time period for the recruit-
ment of the port manager
“until filled.”
The job description and
application form can be found
at portofisuslaw.com under
the Port News section.
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