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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017
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Douglas libraries to close June 1 Tiny houses back
All branches will cease operations due to budget shortfall
T h e
D
ouglas
cmay@cgsentinel.com
County
Board
of
Commissioners has ordered the
closure of the county’s library
system, citing budgetary con-
straints.
Branches in Canyonville,
Drain, Glendale, Myrtle Creek,
Oakland, Reedsport, Riddle,
Sutherlin, Winston and Yoncol-
la will no longer be operational
as of April 1. The main Rose-
burg branch will close June 1.
“As a result of declining tim-
ber receipts and dwindling re-
serve funds, the board is tasked
with making very diffi cult deci-
sions to ensure that basic public
safety needs and other essen-
tial services for the community
are met,” said Douglas County
Commissioner Chris Boice of
the closures.
The 2017 budget for the li-
brary was set at $1,354,398
which included a general fund
contribution of $625,048. How-
ever, the county opted to spend
the majority of the budget in the
fi rst half of the fi scal year with
the hope that voters would ap-
prove a bond measure to create
a special tax district to fund the
libraries. Ballot Measure 10-
145 would have mandated 44
cents per $1,000 of assessed
value. That measure was voted
down by over 50 percent of vot-
ers.
According to the county, eight
By Caitlyn May
Residents protest against library closures. Photo submitted by Joe Ross.
full-time employees, along with
18 part-time and 12 on-call
positions were notifi ed of the
pending closures on Jan. 9.
Residents have been aware of
the possibility of the closures
since the failure of the ballot
measure and have addressed the
county commission at several
public meetings.
Under Oregon Revised Stat-
ute 357.621, the commission
must hold public hearings prior
to abolishing or withdrawing
support from public libraries.
During the Jan. 9 meeting
of the commission, Boice told
concerned residents, "Know
this: We as your commissioners
know the benefi t of a library in
the community. We understand
who uses it and what they use it
for. This has never been a ques-
tion of the libraries’ importance.
It’s always been a question of
funding.”
At the time, Boice had made
public three possible plans for
the future of the libraries.
The fi rst plan would have the
county operate the library sys-
tem under the current budget
and see an immediate decline
in library services as a result.
The second option, dubbed the
ಯ90 day planರwould call for the
libraries to continue offering
the same level of service for
90 days before slowly reducing
services. The third plan would
call for additional funds to be
transferred to the library from
Please see LIBRARIES PG. 6A
on the table for
E. Madison Ave.
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
“How can you be transparent
when you hide things?” That
was the question asked at the
March 2 meeting of the Cottage
Village Coalition and the ques-
tion buzzing around the neigh-
borhood of Madison Ave.
The street houses the prop-
erty proposed for a “tiny home
village” aimed at alleviating the
affordable housing shortage in
Cottage Grove. However, due to
what the coalition cites as “legal
reasons,” some of the neighbors
say they have been left out of
the loop and questions regard-
ing the logistics of the planned
community have gone unan-
swered.
The latest confusion stems
from the location of the village
with the coalition sending an
email to neighbors on Feb. 27
saying, “Dear Madison Street
neighbors, we want to thank you
for your input and interest in
the Cottage Village Coalition's
plans to create an affordable
housing village in our commu-
nity. At this time, we have de-
cided to broaden our search for
property in which to construct
the village and are not pursuing
Please see HOMES PG. 6A
RYLA kids report
to Rotary Club
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
On Friday, March 3, children from Aprovecho took to the streets of Cottage Grove to protest in favor of enviromental health, equality and other issues. The
group was lead by Heather Greene of Aprovecho who teaches an after-school program for elementary school children. The group started at Backstage
Bakery on Main St. before heading to All America City Sqaure Park, better known as Opal Park for a sit-in.
EDUCATION
School board meets
As Cottage Grove heads
towards a population of
10,000, see where we
started. PAGE A8
Career classes make the
diff erence for students.
PAGE A11
INDEX
HISTORY
Sentinel's new column
Calendar ...................................... B11
Channel Guide ............................... B5
Classifieds ...................................... B7
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
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developing the property at 1430
E. Madison.” The email was
sent by coalition member Va-
leria Clarke, whose own home
borders the Madison property.
On March 1, Clarke told The
Sentinel the reason for no lon-
ger moving forward on Madi-
son could not be disclosed but
that the group, was in fact, not
moving forward on the prop-
erty. However, a press release
sent by coalition member Allan
Jones noted that the group had
received a $200,000 grant and
that, “The Cottage Village Co-
alition has not yet chosen a site
for this project. They are look-
ing at sites of approximately
one acre for 14 tiny homes. A
site on Madison Ave. has been
under consideration but the
group has decided to keep the
search open.”
At Thursday’s meeting, when
asked about the confusion over
the Madison property, the group
said it had not “abandoned” the
property, but instead, had tried
to “phrase” the message in the
press release in a way that still
included the property as being
on the table. As of March 2, the
contract for Madison was still
open and the closing date had
been moved to March 8.
The Rotary Club in Cottage
Grove has sent more students
to RYLA than any other club in
the district.
The camp, also known as Ro-
tary Youth Leadership Awards,
works to introduce young lead-
ers of the community to the
task of service and community
engagement, developing the
leaders of tomorrow. According
to Rotary, the camp's mission is
to teach students how to build
communication, develop strate-
gies to become a strong leader,
learn from community lead-
ers and peers and form lasting
friendships.
On Thursday, March 2, the
students selected for this year's
RYLA camp reported back to
the local Rotary club to discuss
their experiences and thank the
club for their efforts in sending
them. No student pays the high
fees associated with the sleep-
away experience. Instead, the
local Rotary club handles the
bill.
For more than an hour, stu-
dents shared the day-to-day
happenings of RYLA camp with
Cottage Grove's service club.
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VOLUME 129 • NUMBER 34
They spoke of being separated
into "species groups" and learn-
ing to work with students they
had not met prior to arriving at
camp. Each group was respon-
sible for pitching a service proj-
ect and for the local students,
the projects ranged from a new
take on food donation to tradi-
tional means of fundraising.
Each student commented on
the camp's ability to coax them
from their shell, expand their
understanding of leadership and
overcome their fears of public
speaking.
The group told Rotary of
nightly talent shows, team
building exercises and other ac-
tivities meant to examine lead-
ership.