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Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
WEDNESDAY EDITION | MAY 5, 2021 | $1.00
THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
997-5973
‘Extreme risk’ doesn’t deter crowds from Florence
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
VOL. 131, NO. 36
M AY 5, 2021
F LORENCE , O REGON
WEATHER
By Mark Brennan
& Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
Mostly cloudy
with a high of 66
and a low of 49.
Full forecast on A3
COMMUNITY
PHOTOS BY
MARK BRENNAN/
SIUSLAW NEWS
Ladies of the Elks
donate books
INSIDE — A5
SPORTS
Visitors to Historic Old Town Florence had the chance to dine in a new outdoor eating lane thanks to high-visibility barriers the City of
Florence placed in front of six restaurants, including (clockwise from top left) 1285 Restobar, Beachcomber and Nosh Eatery. Additionally,
uptown restaurant Fresh Harvest Café (courtesy photo) completed paving a 1,500-square-foot patio in time for reduced dining options
under Lane County’s current designation of “extreme risk” for community spread of COVID-19, which the county reentered on April 30.
Restaurants adapt L
to restrictions in
time for sunny
weekend
Vikings compete at
track meet
INSIDE — B
RECORDS
Obituaries &
response logs
Inside — A2-A3
TV GUIDE
Activities for kids
Inside — B5
CLASSIFIEDS
Listings & notices
Inside — B6
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ties. Under extreme risk, restaurants
are unable to seat patrons inside and
must therefore limit their service to
outdoor dining or takeout.
Despite concerns presented by
a workplace where many are un-
masked while eating, Historic Old
Town Florence was inundated by
visitors. Many seemed undeterred
Mapleton elects to have families
opt in to standardized testing
City cancels Reverse Rhody Days Parade
April meeting updates March resolution
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2021
The Florence City Council was
busy on Monday, May 3, as coun-
cilors participated in three meet-
ings during the day. Two of the
meetings were related to a Solid
Waste Haulers Rate Review process
undertaken annually to determine
what, if any, increase in rates paid
would be appropriate to pass on to
customers, effective July 1.
The first meeting took the form
of a work session, led primarily by
Planning Director Wendy Farley-
Campbell, the city staff ex-officio
representative for the Environmen-
tal Management Advisory Com-
mittee (EMAC), which has adviso-
ry responsibilities for the council.
The meeting was held that
morning and, as most city meet-
ings are, was shown on a livestream
available to the public.
Councilors were welcomed by
City Manager Erin Reynolds, who
provided a brief overview of the
work to be accomplished and then
turned the presentation over to
FarleyCampbell.
The city’s planning director first
reviewed the history of the rate
review process as well as the dif-
ferent types of solid waste and the
different size and holding capacity
of containers used by haulers to re-
move and transfer solid waste.
The financial materials scruti-
nized were provided by the two
solid waste haulers authorized to
operate in Florence: Central Coast
Disposal and County Transfer and
Recycling.
Chris Bell from Bell and Asso-
ciates, hired as a consultant by the
city in auditing and interpreting
the financial date submitted by the
two private haulers, assisted with
the explanation of the process un-
dertaken by FarleyCampbell.
“I am very thankful that over
the last few years Wendy has asked
me to assist the city with the rate
review for the haulers. I’ll say this,
you guys have two haulers that pro-
vide great services and they have
See CITY page 7A
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
The Mapleton School District
Board of Directors met for its
monthly meeting on April 21. Be-
sides updates on Lane County’s
elevated risk level for community
spread of COVID-19, the board
discussed high school graduation,
the return of preschool in-person
instruction and standardized test-
ing.
Mapleton Superintendent Jodi
O’Mara informed the board that
graduation is planned for Satur-
day, June 12, for Mapleton High
School seniors. Whether or not
the ceremony is held in person
will depend on Lane County’s
COVID-19 risk levels.
“If we remain in high risk, or even
go down to moderate or low, we be-
lieve we could still have in-person
graduation,” O’Mara said.
Oregon Department of Educa-
tion (ODE) has been communicat-
ing with Mapleton and other Lane
County school districts about grad-
Enroll in the right Medicare plan for your needs.
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by the governor’s latest announce-
ment reducing indoor restaurant
seating, among other restrictions.
The changing nature of the
COVID situation has been a chal-
lenge for workers, in some cases
making it nearly impossible for
them to pay their bills and keep their
See EATERIES page 6A
Florence council deliberates on
Solid Waste Haulers Rate Review
Inside — B3-B4
KIDS CORNER
ast Friday, Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown again raised the danger
level in Lane County from high risk
to extreme risk of community spread
of COVID-19. This shift has creat-
ed numerous difficulties for local
restaurateurs and their employees,
which have borne the brunt of dras-
tic fluctuations in allowable activi-
Gain an understanding of how Medicare works.
Learn ƚŚĞĚŝīĞƌĞŶĐĞďĞƚǁĞĞŶDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞĚǀĂŶƚĂŐĞĂŶĚDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞ^ƵƉƉůĞŵĞŶƚƉůĂŶƐ͘
ŝƐĐŽǀĞƌŚŽǁDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞWƌĞƐĐƌŝƉƟŽŶƌƵŐWůĂŶƐǁŽƌŬ͘
uation ceremonies and where they
fall in county health metrics.
“What we’re planning is to have
a graduation ceremony in person;
whether that’s outside or inside will
be dependent upon our county risk
level,” O’Mara said.
ODE recommends planning
to hold graduations outside. This
would allow for greater site occu-
pancy, with numbers determined
by the county’s risk level as deter-
mined by the Oregon Health Au-
thority.
According to O’Mara, Mapleton
will plan for outdoors, with an in-
door ceremony option dependent
on weather.
“It’s a lot safer,” she added. “We
would be able to do that and have
more people on site and in person if
we did it outside.”
On the other side of the spec-
trum of Mapleton students, the
district was able to bring preschool
students back to campus for the
first time since the COVID-19 pan-
demic began more than a year ago.
See MAPLETON page 6A
Helping Oregonians Since 1996
1932 Pine St Suite B-6
Florence, OR. 97439
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