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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2015)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL December 23, 2015 City meets with third-party building inspectors Socks thrown for charity at Armory YAC's fi rst ever sockball fi ght helps those in need and promotes local businesses downtown BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel In an effort to help the less fortunate and to promote more business later in the day down- town, the Cottage Grove Youth Advisory Council hosted its fi rst ever sockball fi ght Friday night. Dozens of pairs of socks were donated and collected at schools around town, and before the socks serve their actual pur- pose, they were the subjects of a mock snowball fi ght. The festiv- ity took place in the Armory and played out more like a game of dodgeball than anything else. “We’re not only trying to do- nate socks for people who need them, but we’re trying to get local businesses to stay open late in the hopes that this would bring more people downtown later in the day or evening,” said City Manager Richard Meyers. The socks will be donated to or- ganizations such as Community Sharing and Beds for Freezing Nights. BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A photo by Sam Wright Duane Taddei and his daughter Shelby strategize with friend Samantha Hernandez on how to win the new sockball game. Police believe truck theft was a 'malicious act' BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel O n Monday morning, dis- patchers with the Cottage Grove Police Department said they were still fi elding numerous calls about a silver GMC pickup in the rushing waters of the Row River just southeast of Cottage Grove. Police say the 2008 pickup was stolen from one of their offi cers on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 16, though Interim Police Chief Scott Shepherd declined to name the offi cer due to safety concerns. The offi cer discovered the vehicle missing when departing for a 4 a.m. shift the next morning, and a report of the truck being located in the river subsequently came in to CGPD at about 8 a.m. Commander Conrad Gagner said police believe the truck was stolen from the offi cer’s home as a “malicious act,” possibly because the thieves knew it belonged to a cop. “It was only driven a short dis- tance,” Gagner said. “We’ve had cars in the river before, and we’ve had stolen cars in the river, but typically they’re stolen elsewhere and driven for a while before be- ing dumped there. There was no photo by Jon Stinnett indication that anything was sto- len out of this truck, and it wasn’t This GMC pickup was discovered in the Row River Thurs- stripped. What other purpose day morning. could there be?” bend by mid-afternoon Thursday. fi ce did not respond to calls for Police say the keys were left Removal of the truck will report- more information on efforts to in the truck and that the thieves edly be the work of the Lane remove the vehicle, though depu- most likely deposited the truck in County Sheriff’s Offi ce, as that ties did reportedly break out the the river at the boat ramp near the part of the Row River is located truck’ windows to ensure that no BMX track, though the truck had outside the City Limits. Repre- one was trapped inside. drifted downstream and around a sentatives from the Sheriff’s Of- “The water is too high,” Gagner said. “We called the Sheriff’s Of- fi ce for the recovery, but the water is too high.” Has Your Home Seen Better Days? recent meeting that brought together representatives of Cottage Grove’s Community Development Depart- ment and the company that conducts building inspections on its behalf functioned as a review of the relationship between the two groups. Back in March, the City contracted with the Clair Com- pany, a third-party plan review and inspection agency located in Corvallis, for local building inspections, in the process ending its contract with Mortier Engineering for those ser- vices. Cottage Grove’s Community Development Director, Howard Schesser, City Planner Amanda Ferguson and Cindy Blacksmith recently met with Building Offi cial David Flem- ings and Building Inspector David Willard of Clair Company to review the City’s building inspection program. Schesser said the meeting was the “fi rst time we’ve really sat down” with Clair representatives since the company began conduct- ing inspections here. The City contracts with a third party for inspections, Schesser said, because it does not have the vol- ume in building permit requests that could support the City employing someone for the purpose. Clair Company sends a representative to Cottage Grove to conduct reviews and in- spections three days a week as needed. Schesser said a main point of the discussion concerned conditional permit approvals. “We wanted them to be a little more specifi c with how much more information may be needed,” he said. “Once is- sued, these permits often allow people to get to work, though they still need additional information from the inspector. We wanted to clarify at what point they will be receiving informa- tion for their next project.” According to the City’s Friday Update publication on Dec. 11, Clair and the City also discussed changing to the state of Oregon’s permit tracking software from the D14 model the City currently uses. “Once that process is completed, staff will also be able to track planning applications, and eventually the system will be connected to our fi nancing software, as they are both owned by the same company,” City Manager Richard Mey- ers wrote. Schesser said that Clair Company requires a lot of informa- tion from applicants at the start of the review process, though providing that information up-front often pays off in the end. “If everybody reads the information they provide, they know where they stand,” he said.” This fi rm defi nitely re- quires more information up-front, but it makes for a much cleaner application in the end.” You may qualify for a 3% interest No-monthly-payment Rehab loan with help from St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, Inc. Call Andy Clay TODAY NMLS 791356 541-687-5820 (541) 942-1301 6RXWKWK&RWWDJH*URYH & & Equipment Rental Happy Holidays from our family to yours! (541) 895-4166 6RXWK0LOO6W&UHVZHOO 0RQ6DWDPSP6XQGD\DPSP Visit our Website for photos and more information: www.yossteamrealestate.com Yoss Team Real Estate Professionals 914 N. 9th Street, Cottage Grove 97424 Sherry Yoss 541-729-9797 Tawny Lowrey 541-554-2044 Cascade Home Center Thanks our veterans who are away from their families this Holiday Season! 3A Happy Holidays to our friends and neighbors around town! Wishing you and your family the very best. Love, Health and Happiness in the New Year. Hamilton Auto Sales Bob, Mary Ann & David Serving Cottage Grove for 33 years 101 9th Street Cottage Grove • 541-942-8888
