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S PECIAL S ECTION I NSIDE
How does your garden grow?
Committee tours treatment plant to learn about FloGro
VOL. 131, NO. 37
M AY 8, 2021
F LORENCE , O REGON
‘Today, we have
news to be
thankful for’
Governor lowers risk
levels due to vaccines,
people’s choices
WEATHER
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Partly sunny
with a high of 58
and a low of 45.
Full forecast on A3
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Mother’s Day
Greetings
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City cancels
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Mapleton throws PRs
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The Florence Wastewater Treatment Plant is
home to the city’s FloGro composting opera-
tion. Members of the Environmental
Management Advisory Committee toured the
site to learn how to grow the program.
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
Four members of Florence’s
Environmental Management Ad-
visory Committee (EMAC), fol-
lowed up on the committee’s April
decision to provide initial funding
for a home composting program
by touring the city’s Wastewater
Treatment Plant.
The small group was there to
learn about the city’s composting
process, which produces materials
distributed as part of the popular
FloGro program.
EMAC members Vickie Phil-
ben, Ray Sherrill, Laurie Green
and Eric Oshel met with Waste-
water Treatment Plant Supervisor
August Murphy on Wednesday to
walk through some of the steps
required to produce the usable
soil. The tour included a site visit
which allowed EMAC members to
see for themselves the mixing of
landscaping debris, dirt and other
biomatter.
City of Florence
reviews budget for
next biennium
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 20 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2021
Members of the City of Florence
Budget Committee met for the first
time this year virtually, on May 5.
The meeting was brought to order
by Mayor Joe Henry.
“It is my pleasure to call this May
5, preliminary budget meeting to
order,” he said. “It should be a fun
process and is one that is very im-
portant to the City and an integral
part of the operation of our city.”
After greeting the committee,
Henry nominated Brittany Horning
for the position of chairperson of
the group. The nomination was ap-
proved by consensus.
Leonard Larson was then selected
to be vice chair.
Next, Henry turned the meeting
over to Florence City Manager Erin
Reynolds, who reviewed the pro-
posed budget for the fiscal period
beginning July 1, 2021, through June
30, 2023.
See BUDGET page 5A
The
pro-
gram incor-
porates Public
Works land-
scaping ma-
terials, such
as brush, tree
trimmings, leaves and more with
treated bio-matter into a mixture
which produces rich, usable soil
for plants and trees.
In April, EMAC accepted Phil-
ben’s recommendation that the
Florence City Council fund a pilot
program for residents who wish to
start a home composting system.
Her observations of the process
will help to inform the full com-
mittee of the current status of the
program.
“The FloGro program, which
composts the biosolids from the
wastewater treatment plant with
chipped yard waste to produce a
soil amendment (FloGro), has been
a great success as a pilot program.
Although it is much more efficient
now than when it started, the pro-
gram has not really been able to ex-
pand,” Philben said. “The aerated
FloGro compost piles are located
right at the wastewater treatment
plant and there is not enough space
to have more piles.”
In order to expand the program,
more space needs to be found. But
even if more space was secured,
more personnel and better equip-
ment would be needed to expand
the program.
One of the main challenges and
goals of the program is to reduce
the amount of biomatter that is ul-
timately dumped in the landfill and
a reduction of the non-solid waste,
which must be filtered and sani-
tized before it can be redirected to
other “grey” water usages.
See FLOGRO page 5A
Pop of
color
H
istoric Old Town
and other parts of
Florence got a pop of
color this week as
Florence Public Works
employees installed sea-
sonal flower baskets. The
popular flower baskets
are sponsored by busi-
nesses and the Florence
Area Chamber of
Commerce. People can
spot the bright flowers,
which bloom until
autumn, throughout
town, including in new
locations on Highway 101
and at the Port of Siuslaw
Boardwalk. Since starting
the project, the flower
baskets have become an
integral part of the over-
all festive ambiance of
the spring and summer
seasons.
MARK BRENNAN/
SIUSLAW NEWS
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Starting yesterday, Lane Coun-
ty and 14 other counties left the
“extreme risk” designation of
COVID-19 and shifted down to
“high risk.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown made the
announcement on Tuesday. She fol-
lowed up with a statement on Friday.
“After weeks of surging cases and
hospitalizations in Oregon, today,
we have news to be thankful for,” she
said. “This latest wave of COVID-19
seems to be cresting and 15 counites
will be moving out of our extreme
risk category.”
In addition, Oregon Health Au-
thority (OHA) updated its Sector
Risk Level Guidance Chart. The 24
counties at high risk will be able to
operate a little differently than they
were able to previously:
• Indoor Social and At-Home
Gatherings: maximum 6 people, 2
households
• Outdoor Social and At-Home
Gatherings: maximum 8 people
• Eating and Drinking Establish-
ments: indoor dining allowed, take-
out recommended; indoor capacity
not to exceed 25 percent maximum
occupancy or 50 people, whichever
is smaller; Indoor and outdoor seat-
ing: 6 people per party and per table
maximum, limit 2 households
See UPDATE page 6A