SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021 | 5A
ence Planning Commission-
er Brian Jagoe — a former city
councilor himself; recent coun-
cil candidate Maggie Bagon;
who finished third in November
with 25.6 percent of the vote;
and Florence resident Dianne
Allison.
Councilor Meyer was positive
in his assessment of Marks but
mentioned that Wisniewski was
“a close second” in his mind.
Both Woodbury and Henry
shared their reasons for select-
ing Wisniewski, focusing pri-
marily on her stated expertise in
previous financial and manage-
ment situations.
“Maggie has a varied range
of experience. She also brings
the diversity we are looking for.
Although she is not in the same
age group as Miss Beaudreau,
she brings many years of expe-
rience — especially in the area
of financial analysis,” Woodbury
explained.
Wantz responded by asking if
the three other councilors had
financial expertise, to which
they all expressed they did. This
led Wantz to suggest that per-
haps another financial expert
wasn’t most needed at this time
and someone who was younger,
COUNCIL from page 1A
During the discussion period,
Wantz explained her reasoning
for her support of Beaudreau,
who lost to Henry in the mayor-
al race by just over 100 votes in
November.
“Jo brings youth to the group.
I’m looking around and we are
all in our 70s. We need a youth-
ful voice and youthful energy.
And although it can never be
perfectly balanced, she’d be an-
other female to help bring gen-
der diversity as well,” Wantz
reasoned. “Jo is a small business
owner, not a landowner like the
four of us. She brings her expe-
rience of running a small busi-
ness, with all of its trials and
tribulations, and she would be
an advocate for businesses like
her own that might be strug-
gling. And she is keenly aware
what it means to run a store-
front business. She is tech smart
and will help with the new wave
of technology needed to attract
new businesses to town.”
The discussion following the
first polling of the council was
brief, with no mention or dis-
cussion of the other candidates,
which included current Flor-
RADIO from page 1A
“As a volunteer orga-
nization, we have many
volunteers that are in the
higher risk categories,”
Kello said. “When the
pandemic struck, we had
many volunteers — right-
ly so — who were not able
to volunteer. And we are
still struggling with this
issue. People were start-
ing to return until we had
the latest restrictions. We
are still dealing with that,
but we have a few of us
going in and doing what
we can. Those of us who
do less programming do
other types of things, and
we have been able to keep
things going.”
He said that Station
Manager Larry Bloom-
field “has done an amaz-
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with a different life experience,
could add perspective to the
council.
However, Meyer joined Hen-
ry and Woodbury in voting for
Wisniewski a short time later,
with Wantz remaining in sup-
port of Beaudreau and closing
the door to a unanimous deci-
sion.
The selected future councilor
Wisniewski was able to say a few
words, thanks to Meyer, who
had contacted Wisniewski on
his cell phone.
“I’ve got Maggie on the phone
so we can give her a welcome,”
said Meyer as he held the phone
up to his computer mic.
“Good evening council,”
Wisniewski said. “Thank you so
much. I’m so honored and can’t
wait to get started.”
With the vote finalized, the
council then moved on to other
matters.
Wantz addressed Florence
City Manager Erin Reynolds
and Henry, asking what, if any,
contingencies were in place to
deal with possible outbreaks of
violence locally in light of the
riots in Washington D.C. last
week.
“If you are looking at the na-
tional news and the reports of
maybe take-overs of state cap-
itals around the country, there
is some really bad stuff happen-
ing,” Wantz said. “I wonder what
precautions we might be need-
ing to take here in Florence.”
Reynolds brought Florence
Police Chief Tom Turner into
the discussion at that point, and
Turner was quick to reassure
Wantz and other council mem-
bers that the Florence Police
Department was aware of the
national situation and was pre-
pared to respond to any illegal
events in Florence.
“We don’t have any events
planned in Florence and that’s a
good thing. And we don’t have
anything going on that would
attract a good deal of attention,”
Turner said. “I do want to ad-
vise people that if they travel to
events — say to the state capitol
or beyond — that they do need
to be really cautious of partici-
pating in events because they
have obviously been tumultu-
ous.”
He added, “Because of the
events that have occurred,
you can certainly anticipate
over-planning on the part of any
police department response in
Florence and elsewhere around
the country.”
Turner also suggested that
anyone traveling to these types
of events should consider calling
him for more extensive advice
related to the trip.
Then, towards the end of the
meeting, Henry relayed to the
council a brief conversation he
had with a Eugene news outlet
regarding restaurants in Flor-
ence.
“I had a phone call this evening
from KEZI in Eugene, wanting
comments — by the mayor —
on restaurants in our communi-
ty that are open in violation of
the governor’s guidelines,” said
Henry, who explained that the
news station wanted to know if
he, as mayor, condoned that due
to some discussion on social
media. “I informed them that I
categorically did not encourage
anyone to keep their restaurant
open and that we were following
the guidelines of the state and
county.”
There were no additional com-
ments from councilors, who will
meet again on Jan. 25 for a regu-
larly scheduled virtual meeting,
during which Wisniewski will
be formally sworn in.
ment the station has en-
tered into with longtime
supporter Durst has also
changed the fortunes of
the organization for the
better.
“Now we are sure that
we have a location that we
own, for about the same
amount of money as we
paid in rent — so we are
really appreciative of Bill.
He has been a good friend
to the station since we be-
gan,” Kello said.
One of the station’s
most listened to shows
is the “Community Con-
versations” series, which
focuses on issues and in-
dividuals involved in var-
ious ways in the commu-
nity. Bloomfield hosts the
show, which is the type
of show Kello and Lassan
look to as a model for fu-
ture locally produced pro-
gramming.
A good example of this
occurred during the last
election cycle, when all
of the candidates for lo-
cal offices were provided
the opportunity to discuss
their positions on relevant
issues, along with what
new initiatives they might
put forward if elected.
The shows were well re-
ceived and added another
opportunity to educate
residents prior to the elec-
tions.
There are a number of
considerations facing the
station as the change to
a more digital world has
led the board to focus on
upgrading the station’s
equipment. The funding
to accomplish this task
has yet to materialize, but
Kello remains hopeful.
“We have a wish list that
includes a mixing board
— the one we have now
is analog — and a gener-
ator to power the station
in case of an emergen-
cy. Funding is always a
challenge and the lack of
money is a big obstacle
with the changes in tech-
nology. So, it is very dif-
ficult to keep up,” he said.
Lassan, always optimis-
tic, said she looks forward
to talking with individu-
als or companies wishing
to find out more about
the work being done at
KXCR.
“Our board has been
working very hard the
last few months and we
are very pleased with the
few changes and improve-
ments we have made and
certainly would love to
share this with the com-
munity,” she said.
In addition, KXCR is
starting a membership
campaign.
For more information
contact Lassan or Kello at
KXCR 90.7 FM. Commu-
nity Radio, P.O. Box 127,
Florence, Ore. 97439, or
call the station at 541-997-
5252. Station office hours
are Monday through Fri-
day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
PROGRAM from page 1A ing as much had access
to that training,” Pierson
After the program had said. “So, the city began
been in existence for a providing scholarships for
few months, the City of people to enter either pro-
Florence, which had just gram.”
Those who take the
received a block devel-
opment grant provid- course will receive PPE
ing Personal Protective and new training.
“The city has a rating
Equipment (PPE) to lo-
cal businesses, partnered system based on the per-
centage of a business staff
with LCC.
“We’re a hospitali- in the program,” said Pier-
ty-oriented economy, and son. “If businesses have
it would be great if our a certain percentage of
businesses or employees trained employees, they
who haven’t been work- can put that information
in the window to help
assure guests and clients
that the employees know
how things should be
done.”
Pierson believes that the
course is applicable to any
business, but particularly
those that interact with
the public.
“People care how you’re
cleaning these days and
keeping them safe,” Pier-
son said.
The class provides the
latest information for
the Centers for Disease
Control and the Oregon
Health Authority. It will
explain how the virus
is transmitted and how
business can help to slow
the spread of infection
through proper cleaning
and disinfection.
“What products you
want to use, what prod-
ucts you want to avoid,”
Pierson explained. “You
would learn how to don
and doff PPE, and there
is a way to do it. You can
actually infect yourself if
you take it off the wrong
way, so it’s very import-
ant.”
All classes are online
and recorded, allowing
participants to take the
course at their own pace.
Applications for the schol-
arships through the city,
as well as more informa-
tion on the courses, can be
found at www.ci.florence.
or.us/economicdevelop
ment/environmental-
ser vices-scholarship-
program-0.
ing job, always fixing
things and figuring out
how to make all of this old
equipment work. He has
done a great job for us.”
Located in a small, re-
furbished house at 1509
Ninth Street which has
been converted gradually
into a functioning radio
station, KXCR has been
streaming its program-
ming for more than a year
now. This ability to reach
listeners not only local-
ly, but around the world,
has broadened both the
demographics of the lis-
tening audience and the
programming selected or
created at KXCR.
Underwriting oppor-
tunities and radio mem-
berships are available to
support the nonprofit,
and the time people spend
listening has increased ac-
cording to lifestyle data
gathered since the onset
of the pandemic.
The purchase agree-
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