SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2019 | 7A
FURA from page 1A
Greene explained his
reasoning for the in-
clusion of the item and
brought up his belief that
the process for funding
art had been truncated
by the budgetary actions
taken earlier this year by
the Florence City Coun-
cil.
Henry answered by re-
minding Greene the city
council had not included
the PAC on its list of pri-
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ority objectives during
the next budgetary cy-
cle and was no longer
an appropriate topic for
FURA to consider.
Henry’s motion to re-
move item No. 6 was
passed on a roll call vote
of 5 to 4. However, that
did not prevent the issue
from dominating the re-
mainder of the meeting.
Coincidentally,
the
main presentation made
to FURA was an update
and recap of the work
done by the PAC.
Springer shared little
new information as he
reiterated the history
and public outreach ef-
forts undertaken by the
PAC, as well as the ben-
efits brought to the com-
munity by tourists view-
ing public art.
Henry then made a
statement that was di-
rected at the manner and
words used by Greene
in the most recent PAC
committee meeting and
at Springer, criticizing
comments that aired on
local television.
“I am speaking to you
first as your mayor but
also as only one mem-
ber of the city council.
So many of the things
I say may be my own
opinion, but there are
certain things that need
to be said between the
City of Florence, urban
renewal and the PAC,”
Henry said. “Councilor
Greene was appointed
and is supposed to be the
liaison from the council
to communicate council
goals and provide guid-
ance on behalf of the city
council. How is scream-
ing, ‘We got defunded
and we got screwed’ by
your council liaison ac-
ceptable?”
Springer’s recent ap-
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pearance on a Eugene
news report was another
point of contention for
Henry, who pressed him
on the truthfulness of his
comments during the in-
terview.
“Harlen, you going on
television and saying the
city council defunded
public art, number one
it’s not true and second,
I’m not sure that you
were within our guide-
lines to actually go out
and speak on behalf of
the PAC without their
approval and without
stating it was your opin-
ion,” Henry said. “These
things reflect poorly on
the city, the PAC and
FURA, since you funded
them.”
Springer denied mak-
ing the comments at-
tributed to him by the
mayor, eventually re-
sponding with, “Some-
how we (the PAC) have
gotten caught in a cross-
fire of a personality or
political conflict, what-
ever it is, and we seem to
be the victims of that in
spite of the fact that we
have done what we were
tasked to do.”
Following this, the dis-
cussion went to social
media use and attacks
against city councilors,
including, said Henry,
“accusing two members
of the council, by name,
of being financially sup-
ported by right-wing ex-
tremists.”
The mayor concluded
that there are other op-
tions available to those
wishing to separate PAC
from the city’s processes.
“The council could
theoretically disband the
PAC so it could form a
501(c)3 and be indepen-
dent of the city council,
or you could become a
committee of the urban
renewal agency,” he sug-
gested. “Or you could
behave like our other
committees and then you
would get the support of
the city council.”
FURA directors Pa-
tricia Riley, John Scott
and Ron Preisler, also a
Florence City Councilor,
expressed confusion sur-
rounding the budgetary
process that had resulted
in the defacto defunding
of the PAC in the 2019-
21 City of Florence Bi-
ennial Budget. All three
directors insisted the re-
sult had never been their
intent.
Director Ron Capu-
to attempted to end the
heated discussion.
“Can we move on?” he
asked. “We thank Harlen
very much and I think
the art committee is on
the right track. They are
going after grants and
they are looking forward
to having more public
art in our community,
and we can let you two
argue together privately
and away from the peo-
ple in the chamber.”
Greene took a moment
to compose himself be-
fore responding to Hen-
ry’s words and Caputo’s
request.
“You may not be happy
with my actions or my
activities and I under-
stand that, but that’s not
the issue. … The council
is against having public
art funded and the way
we did it was by chang-
ing the priorities as op-
posed to coming out and
voting on it. This is why
this whole thing has gone
south,” he said. “The is-
sue is that now that pub-
lic art has finally gotten
up to speed, did the job
it was meant to do and
is ready to throw down
four to six new projects
that would happen in the
next two years, … and
there is no funding and
no opportunity to have a
grant writer.”
Greene concluded his
remarks by saying, “I am
going to stay on as coun-
cilor for a period of time,
but I am probably going
to resign. Before I do,
I am going to do some
housekeeping and take
care of some things that
I need to do so that I feel
comfortable with step-
ping down.”
This
announcement
was met with silence.
Afterwards,
Greene
thanked those in atten-
dance for their support
and adjourned the meet-
ing.
Earlier in the meet-
ing, there were some
house-keeping actions
taken that were unani-
mously approved by the
FURA directors.
City
Administrative
Services Director Anne
Baker asked for Council
approval of Resolution
No. 2, Series 2019, which
requested adopting the
2017-2019 Supplemental
Budget. Baker’s request
was approved after a
brief discussion. Min-
utes from the previous
FURA meeting were ap-
proved and City Projects
Manager and Public In-
formation Officer Me-
gan Messmer provided
an update on the ReVi-
sion Florence Streetscap-
ing Project.
The next Florence City
Council meeting will
be held at Florence City
Hall on Monday, July 15.
For more information,
visit ci.florence.or.us.
Fireworks from page 1A Tens of thousands of vis-
itors and residents attend
While other fireworks the holiday in Florence
shows along the coast each summer.
This year, the show will
have disappeared in recent
years, the Florence cham- be launched from the Port
ber is dedicated to main- of Siuslaw RV & Camp-
ground at dusk, with view-
taining tradition.
“We’ll have fireworks ing sites available near the
thanks to our sponsors, Boardwalk and in the east
which I’m very grateful side of Old Town.
for,” Hannigan said. “We’re
“The fireworks are shot
still about $4,000 under over the river. The reflec-
our budget, so if anyone tions on the water makes
wants to help out, we’re them extra beautiful,”
still receiving donations.”
Hannigan said.
Individuals and busi-
People are invited to
nesses can both pitch in bring chairs and blankets
through the donation form to watch the event.
on FlorenceChamber.com
Hannigan also encour-
or by stopping by the Flor- aged people to turn to
ence Visitor’s Center, 290 KCST Coast Radio at 10
Highway 101.
p.m. to hear patriotic mu-
Hannigan encouraged sic synchronized to the
people who live, work and fireworks.
play in Florence, especially
The holiday festivities
in the Old Town district, start much earlier. The
to pitch in to the fireworks day’s “old-fashioned family
show that all can enjoy. fun” includes games, food
and music beginning at
noon. All events are open
to the public.
“Everyone loves it and
it’s so fun,” Hannigan said
of the day-long celebra-
tion. “This year, Habitat
for Humanity is sponsor-
ing the watermelon and
pie eating contests.”
Habitat volunteers will
lead the contests, which
are open to people of all
ages, at the Port of Siuslaw
Boardwalk. Sign-ups are at
noon, followed by the con-
tests at 1 p.m.
“Come out for the fourth
and have some fun!” Han-
nigan said.
In addition, the Fourth
is a good lead-in to the
weekend’s festivities, in-
cluding Wings & Wheels
Fly-In and Car Show at the
Florence Municipal Air-
port, Oregon Coast Mili-
tary Museum’s fourth an-
niversary celebration and
Sparkle on the Siltcoos,
Darlings Marina & RV Re-
sort’s fireworks show over
Siltcoos Lake.
For more information,
visit
FlorenceChamber.
com.
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