COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 8, 2015
9A
B OND
Continued from page 1A
If a replacement of Harrison is the
widely agreed-upon entrée of the pro-
spective bond, then the committee of
stakeholders has before it a list of equally
worthy à la carte side dishes, which were
also discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.
The meeting began with a tour of the
Warren H. Daugherty Aquatics Center,
one of higher-priority issues for the Dis-
trict.
Originally built as an outdoor facility in
1955, the pool was covered 10 years later
and began hosting school swimming les-
sons. Prior to that time, the area — with
its many waterways — saw a high rate
of youth drowning. But since then, not
one South Lane student who has gone
through the program has drowned.
The pool currently works with several
facility issues: the drains in both locker
rooms regularly back up; the women’s
locker room is not ADA compliant, and
the mens locker room only meets those
standards because there are no stalls
around the toilets; the boiler is also con-
stantly threatening to fail, and with that
would come a $75,000 repair bill.
Additionally, the pool lags as a com-
petitive facility. With a length of 33
yards, it is signifi cantly longer than stan-
dard 25-meter pools, and because of that,
many teams decline invitations to com-
pete there.
The most recent estimate for a reno-
vation, which would effectively replace
everything except the structure, is $2.8
photo by Jon Stinnett
A network of pipes populates the bowels of the Warren H. Daugherty
Aquatic Center.
million.
In the mid 2000s, several renderings
were produced for a new pool, which
would be located in the northwest quad-
rant of the high school’s campus. These
designs offer a wide range of features
and amenities, and the associated cost
estimates for those projects span from
$6.7 million to $15.1 million.
However, the operational costs of the
pool are signifi cant. The city currently
contributes $50,000 per year, which ac-
counts for one-third of the pool’s annual
budget. But the City has not yet deter-
mined if it will continue with its sup-
port.
“What we offer as far as programming
precedes the design of a new or remod-
eled pool,” said pool manager Carrie Mc-
Casline. “We need to maximize revenue
and reduce costs where we can.”
McCasline mentioned a therapy pool
and a fi tness room as two amenities that
could bring in the most outside dollars.
And some committee members queried
about a long-term partnership with the
City.
Other items that were discussed at
Tuesday’s meeting included the comple-
tion of the high school’s baseball fi eld or
pursuing a community recreation com-
plex, which would add three turf athletic
fi elds to the high school’s facilities; de-
ferred maintenance projects, such as new
roofs at Lincoln and Bohemia; a new
auditorium/theatre at CGHS; additional
classroom modulars; a turf athletic fi eld
at Lincoln and upgrades to computer
hardware and network connectivity and
safety and security measures throughout
the district.
While it is unlikely that all of the proj-
ects are attainable through the bond mea-
sure — at least at their full-priced options
— the bond committee was tasked with
determining which, if any, would add the
most value to the proposal.
However, before that question is an-
swered, the committee must fi rst decide
on the amount of the bond levy. They
could pursue a 20-year, $23.2 million
bond levy or a 25-year, $29.8 million
bond levy — neither of which would in-
crease local tax rates.
The difference between the two op-
tions is an additional $6.6 million to ad-
dress projects beyond a new elementary
school.
At their next meeting on April 8, com-
mittee members will offer recommenda-
tions between the two bonds and priori-
tize the list of projects.
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C HAPEL
Continued from page 1A
able to keep up Sunset Hills’
operations.
Smith-Lund-Mills had already
been digging graves at Sunset
Hills for about a year, Lund
said, and he said that those who
had purchased prepaid funeral
services through Sunset Hills
were in danger of not being able
to access those services.
“Sunset Hills is a fi xture in
the Eugene community, and it
needed to be saved,” Lund said.
“We felt like our company could
be part of the solution and are
pleased to be helping.”
In the process of fi lling in, the
Lunds say they began to realize
what kind of opportunity the
business offered.
““We feel like Sunset Hills
has so much to offer the com-
munity,” said Christina Lund,
Marc’s wife and co-owner, via
a recent release. “The funeral
home and crematorium, hav-
ing been recently constructed
in 2009, feature a modern facil-
ity to hold memorial services,
funerals and receptions, with
vaulted ceilings, large windows
and a warm, comfortable north-
west feel.”
“Sunset Hills is a natural fi t
with our existing businesses,”
Marc Lund said. “We intend to
operate Sunset Hills in much
the same way we do at our other
locations, with an emphasis on
providing personalized service
options to the community, cou-
pled with caring, professional
staff to assist families.”
The Lunds say they’ll defi -
nitely be making changes in the
operations at Sunset Hills and
that the acquisition will provide
“operational synergies” with the
infrastructure of a functioning
business already in place. In the
process of acquainting them-
selves with the community in
South Eugene served by Sunset
Hills, they say they’ve also come
to appreciate practices such as
“green” burials that can also be
offered in Cottage Grove.
Marc Lund is a second-gen-
eration funeral practitioner who
followed in his father, Douglas
Lund’s, footsteps. He has been
with the company for 20 years,
and he and his wife both stressed
that Cottage Grove remains their
headquarters.
S UIT
Continued from page 1A
Yarnall told the Eugene Reg-
ister-Guard via email last week
that Wendy Cooper fi led the
lawsuit to “ensure that what
happened to her son Nathan
does not happen to anyone else,”
adding that she hoped the City
would choose to adequately
staff the jail and provide proper
training to its staff.
Yarnall said funding at the jail
was “another major issue” in the
incident, adding that the budget
for the jail’s operations was
$25,750 for the year that Coo-
per was incarcerated there. In a
denial of a motion for summary
judgment fi led by the City’s at-
torneys last July, Judge Thomas
Coffi n stated that a jury could
fi nd that “the lack of a full-time
employee at the jail to supervise
and monitor inmates contributed
to Cooper’s death.”
On Monday, City Manager
Richard Meyers said the City’s
insurance company will coor-
dinate settlement payments. He
said the incident has not prompt-
ed the City to alter policies or
procedures but added that such
changes may yet occur.
““We haven’t made any
changes yet,” Meyers said.
“We’re going to meet with our
attorneys and see what can be
done. We’re constantly chang-
ing to match new technologies,
and there may be some things
we could do that could make a
signifi cant difference with re-
gard to monitoring and holding
people accountable.”
Meyers called Cooper’s death
a “tragedy on a whole mess of
scales.”
“Here’s somebody who was
24 years old, and his life was
ruined,” he said. “It was ruined
because of drugs.”
Meyers said that, had Cooper
faced felony drug charges, he
would likely have had access
to “other programs and treat-
ment options” available through
either Lane County or the state
prison system. Meyers said the
City instead frequently charges
offenders with misdemeanors
in an attempt to hold them ac-
countable locally, as the City
does not believe the Lane Coun-
ty Jail will do so.
“The whole system is just not
working, and nobody wants to
pay to fi x it,” he said.
Police Chief Mike Grover
said Monday that the City’s pol-
icies are “inspected periodically
by the state department of cor-
rections,” and that CGPD has
passed those inspections. Gro-
ver said his department is “see-
ing more and more” that “heroin
is the drug of choice in Cottage
Grove now.”
“It is very important that our
families in South Lane County
know that we are not leaving
Cottage Grove in any way,”
Christina Lund said. “We are
very committed to the commu-
nity and funeral service.”
SOUTH LANE COUNTY
FIRE & RESCUE
The Only Emergency Medical
Transport Service
in South Lane County
Community Public Education:
• CPR/AED
• Heart Attack Recognition
• Fall Prevention • Stroke Prevention
• Fire Prevention • Fire Extinguishers
• Fire-Med Membership
Call 541-942-4493 for info.
FOR EMERGENCY DIAL 911
South Lane County Fire & Rescue
@southlanefi re
www.southlanefi re.org
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