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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2016)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL May 4, 2016 'Oregon Beauty' kicks off Art Walk season Friday marked the year's fi rst Art Walk in the his- toric downtown district of Cottage Grove. The walk featured a variety of art- ists such as Springfi eld resident Sarah Bast (right), who moved to Oregon in 2007 from New Hampshire and fell in love with the beauty of the state. Bast focuses on acrylic paint- ings of farm animals, as she is very enthusiastic about the agricultural industry. Other art featured medi- ums such as sterling and copper jewlery, yarn art, pine needle basketry, pho- tography, pencil drawings and even tattoo art from Studio Tattoo. BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel L New city website (still at cottagegrove.org) goes live T he City of Cottage Grove’s online presence underwent a signifi cant trans- formation last week, as a new city webpage went live on Tues- day, April 26. City Manager Richard Mey- ers wrote in the City’s Friday Update publication (which itself has a new look on the new web- site and will now be managed by subscription) that the site, which is still located at www. County offi cials present plan to collaborate with rural communities Talk of a liaison with rural governments is presented photo by Sam Wright BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel 3A cottagegrove.org, went live with “only a few issues.” The new site brings all of the City’s pages — including city functions, police, the Cottage Grove Library and Middlefi eld Golf Course — to- gether in one location. “It is designed to easily be edited and modifi ed so it will always be a work in progress,” Meyers wrote, adding that much of the information that needs to be transferred from the old site has already been moved. Last month, Meyers an- nounced that the City would be “going to Google” for its new site and email services. The new page was designed by Lake Os- wego-based Aha Consulting and was expected to cost between $6800 and $8000. The City’s in- ternet technologies services will be handled through the Lane Council of Governments, which has facilitated the move to the new website. The transition ends the City’s relationship with locally based Oregon Internet Properties for these services. Meyers said he expects cloud- based storage to benefi t the City, which must keep track of emails and other public documents for long periods. Information can be added to the new site by any- one, which means that Meyers no longer has to code informa- tion for the site himself. At its April 25 meeting, the City Council was advised that its members’ email accounts would be down during the tran- sition and that they would soon receive new tablets to access their email. House fi re damages rural home N o injuries were reported by South Lane County Fire and Rescue as the result of a house fi re that displaced a family on Adams Road Thursday. The department was called to a report of a structure fi re in the 78000 block of Adams just before 11 a.m. Thursday, where crews fi rst on scene discovered heavy smoke and fl ames coming from the second fl oor of the home. According to a press release, crews were able to extinguish the fi re and contain it to the home’s second fl oor, though the fi rst fl oor did sustain moderate smoke and water damage. The home was reportedly occupied by two adults and two courtesy photo children, though no injuries were reported. The cause of the Fire crews battled a blaze on Adams Road Thursday. fi re is still under investigation. CAN A WEBSITE PROVIDE PERSONALIZED INSURANCE ADVICE? ane County offi cials ap- proached the Cottage Grove City Council at its April 25 meeting with a promise to bolster relations between the two governments and work to- ward common goals. County Administrator Steve Mohrisky and two Hatfi eld fel- lows tasked with analyzing the relationship between communi- ties like Cottage Grove and the County presented a plan aimed at greater collaboration, a plan that featured the possibility of a liaison position to act as a bridge between the County and rural governments. “We have some work to do in continuing to partner with rural communities in helping to sup- port vibrant local economies,” Mohrisky told the Council, sev- eral members of which were not shy in later sharing their skepti- cism that much attention would be paid to concerns outside the Eugene/Springfi eld area. First, though, Mohrisky and the Hatfi eld fellows, Stephen Dobrinich and Aniko Drlik- Muehleck, told of a plan that was developed “as a result of the listening we’ve tried to do” with a focus on support and advo- cacy for rural communities. He said that lottery funds had been set aside during the County’s upcoming budget process for a liaison position in an extension of a pilot project begun in Flor- ence. A Power Point presentation helped detail what the County sees as a collaborative effort at economic development that in- cludes more than just efforts to recruit new businesses, includ- ing work to foster education and a thriving Main Street. The challenges to such a re- lationship included the lack of time and resources dedicated to such efforts, as well as a lack of communication and coordina- tion. “Communities were not feel- ing connected to the County,” said Drlik-Muehleck. “They had no idea what was going on, and the communities didn’t know what each other were doing.” She said that another shortage involved capacity and exper- tise, pointing out that most rural communities cannot afford to fund staff dedicated to econom- ic development efforts. Infra- structure shortcomings includ- ing deteriorating roads and lack of access to high-speed Internet service were also noted as barri- ers to stronger rural economies. Further, Drlik-Muehleck said that Lane County lacks a coor- dinated strategy for economic development, adding that rural towns harbor a “perception of invisibility” that makes them feel that they are consistently overlooked. During their time to provide reactions to the County’s pre- sentation, several Councilors agreed with that statement. “We’re the third-largest com- munity in Lane County,” Mayor Tom Munroe said. “You’ve got to get more towns involved; it can’t just be Eugene and Spring- fi eld.” “Lane County is an arm of Eugene and Springfi eld,” said Councilor Garland Burback. “Whatever Eugene/Springfi eld wants is what Lane County does. Unless they can prove different, I don’t see anything changing.” Please see COUNTY, Page 10A WE HAVE THE PERFECT GIFTS FOR MOTHER’S DAY! No, it can’t–-but sitting down with an independent, PayneWest advisor will. We know insurance, understand local issues and offer coverage from many different providers. 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