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THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM SATURDAY EDITION | SEPTEMBER 19, 2020 | $1.00
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AT I N G 1 30 Y
A fresh start
for Siuslaw’s
new school
year — Pt. II
As of yesterday, Siuslaw School District
officially has its first week of the 2020-21
By Chantelle Meyer school year
under its belt.
Siuslaw News
For the 14 new
staff members
in the district, it has marked the first
time many of them got to meet with
students and families. The district is in
comprehensive distance learning (CDL),
making this year’s return to school a
unique experience for all.
Below, meet the remaining eight new
staff members and see what they have to
say about their new roles and joining the
Florence community. From kindergarten
to woodshop and from administration to
counseling, these new faces will certain-
ly make a difference in the lives of this
community.
See STAFF page 5A
EMAC restarts
with debate over
agenda, focus
Jessica Ackerman
Dave Goetz
Nathan Green
Cody Kiesling
Jennifer Lindell
Parma Roe
Port postpones appointment, moves Mapleton meeting to Florence
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
The Port of Siuslaw Board of
Commissioners held its regular
monthly meeting on Sept. 16.
The meeting took place imme-
diately after commissioners met
at 6 p.m. to consider and discuss
the qualifications of candidates for
a vacant position on the commis-
sion.
The regular meeting began with
a roll call taken by Commission
President Terry Duman. All cur-
rently seated members were in at-
tendance.
The first item scheduled to be
discussed was the appointment
of a commissioner to Position 2.
However, the decision on which
candidate to select was postponed
after Commission Vice President
Bill Meyer requested additional
time to review the information
shared in the prior working ses-
sion.
“I want a chance to think about
the input we had today and I am
just not ready to act on this to-
night,” he said. “I would like to re-
quest from the other commission-
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
ers that we postpone this item to
the October meeting.”
Meyer’s request was verbally
agreed to, with the item planned
for discussion at the Oct. 21 port
commission meeting.
Next, Commissioner Craig
Zolezzi talked about audio issues.
The ongoing COVID-19 pan-
demic and social distancing re-
quirements has resulted in some
commissioners attending meetings
remotely, with only audio available
for discussion between commis-
sioners and the public.
See PORT page 6A
The Florence Environmental
Management Advisory Committee
(EMAC) met for the first time since
February on Tuesday, Sept. 15, with
new members and an agenda that
created tensions almost immediately.
The membership of EMAC has
shifted dramatically since last spring
and the onset of the COVID-19 Pan-
demic. Current membership consists
of Dale Barnett, Daniel Berry, Josh
Haring, Britte Kirsch, Ronelle Kuert,
Sherry Harvey, Liat Meller, Vicki
Philben, Chairperson Katie Prosser,
Ray Sherrill and Vice Chair Michael
Titmus, with ex-officio members
City Councilor Ron Preisler, Flor-
ence Planning Director Wendy Farley
Campbell, Brian Enochian of Coun-
ty Transfer & Recycling and David
Twombly of Central Coast Disposal.
As the new chairperson, Prosser
brought the meeting to order, intro-
duced those in virtual attendance
and proceeded to agenda discussion
items.
City Recorder Kelli Weese first
provided the committee with an
overall introduction to EMAC re-
sponsibilities and how they intersect-
ed with the process of creating a City
Work Plan.
In her presentation, she talked
about what the city hoped to receive
from EMAC, which was a list of ob-
jectives regarding the issues board
members felt were the most import-
ant over the next two years.
“We are at the stage of putting to-
gether the work plan and what we
are looking for from our commit-
tees is feedback for the city council
See EMAC page 6A
Making fertile ground
for partisan roots – Pt. III
A continuation of Siuslaw News’ investigation into the impacts of partisanship on local government
By Siuslaw News
Editorial Staff
(Note: This installment in
Siuslaw News’ investigative series
on the impacts of partisanship on
local government looks at how the
rule change within Florence City
Council regarding the mayor’s
ability to choose FURA members
went relatively unnoticed as social
media fueled the divide over the
Quince Street mural project and
public art — and how emboldened
partisanship on both sides began
dividing the community further
and in ways not seen before.)
ey and attorneys’ fees do you want
to spend?” Henry said. “So, I say
to you, if you really want to push
it, you could bring it back to the
council. But do you think anybody
is going to change their vote?”
Greene stated he believed that
committee appointments should
go through a larger process, but
that he was running out of energy.
“I am done with this fight,”
Greene said. “As a member of this
community, I can no longer work
and volunteer my time in all the
ways I do for this city, and walk
around feeling frustrated and an-
gry. It’s no fun. This used to be fun.
This is no longer a joy.”
While the issues surrounding
FURA and the newly codified may-
oral selection process were largely
ignored publicly, discussion sur-
rounding the Quince Street Mural
project from the Public Art Com-
mittee (PAC) was becoming heat-
ed, particularly in local Letters to
the Editor and on the Facebook
page “Florence, Oregon.”
It didn’t go unnoticed by the
councilors, who discussed the issue
during an April 1, 2019, Florence
City Council meeting.
“Since this [mural] application
became official, during that time,
all of us were bombarded with
personal contact, public contact,
phone calls, emails, texts, social
media, all over the place,” Henry
said. “It’s tough to stay off of social
media and not see things that say
vote for or against the mural. … I
don’t know how many other coun-
cilors haven’t had ex parte com-
munications, but they’re deceiving
themselves.”
Preisler agreed, saying, “It’s al-
most impossible not to have heard
communication. But I don’t think it
will affect our decision.”
The councilors were tasked with
deciding what was essentially a
land use issue. The decision on
the mural design had already been
reached in January by FURA. The
latest decision regarding the mural
was to be based solely on meeting
the physical requirements, includ-
ing durability, maintenance and if it
were a traffic or safety hazard.
See FURA page 8A
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
VOL. 130, NO. 75
F LORENCE , O REGON
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“I am done with this fight”
“This is no longer a joy,” Coun-
cilor Joshua Greene said during a
March 27, 2019, FURA meeting. It
was held after the council had vot-
ed 3-2 to allow the City of Florence
mayors the final decisions over
FURA applicants, resulting in two
changes.
First, two sitting FURA mem-
bers had to be voted on again.
“We have two positions that we
know expired January 2019,” City
Manager Erin Reynolds said. “And
now that the appointment process
has been clarified, and with the
new knowledge gained, we under-
stand the Urban Renewal Board
didn’t have the authority to tempo-
rarily accept and appoint the two
open positions that are current-
ly held by Dave Braley and Mike
Webb to the positions that we did
at the last Urban Renewal meet-
ing. The city council, at their next
meeting, will begin the process to
fill those positions following the
appointment process that has been
adopted and very thoroughly ex-
plained.”
Second, FURA had to work to
clarify its bylaws that differ with
the newly clarified laws to ensure
they were in sync with city code.
Again, councilors Ron Preisler
and Greene attempted to argue
their case to require a full council
vote for the appointments rath-
er than a single decision made
by a mayor, but Mayor Joe Henry
pointed out it was futile.
“How much staff time and mon-
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