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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2017)
WATERLINE Crews work to contain the water from a line break which fl owed onto streets and into yards at a rate of 10,712 gallons per minute. Photo by Katie Hayes. Katie Hayes also saw entrance to our drive- damage to her property way so that we can use and addressed the coun- it and hand shoveling cil on Monday, praising the debris. Since that day Stewart for his action on though, it's been a night- Oct. 22 but questioning mare," Hayes told the the city's actions since council that her home- that day. owners' insurance would "Faye did the right not cover the damage. thing," she said. "Since According to Cottage that day, Faye has done Grove City Manager the right thing, fi xing the Richard Meyers, neither COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL NOVEMBER 15, 2017 7A No home rule Continued from A1 will the city. Meyers told the coun- cil that the city is not liable for the damage if there was no negligence on the part of the city. And according to City/ County Insurance Ser- vices (CIS) there was no negligence. "As a board you can say you want to pay for this," Meyers said. "But once you start down that road, there's no backing off of it. You will be set- ting precident." Meyers warned councilors that if they offered to pay for the damages on S. 14th St. they would opening themselves up to a legal can of worms and the city could end up on the hook for damages caused by other 'no-fault' acci- dents or disasters. According to Stew- art, the time it took for the city to shut the wa- ter off is directly related to redundancies within the city's system. Mey- ers supported Stewart's assessment by noting that, "When you turn these valves you're turn- ing them 32 times to get them to move an inch." He also informed the council that turning the water off for the entire city was not an option on Oct. 22. Six crew men and Stewart were able to get the system back online a little after 9 p.m. the same day. "CIS performed an investigation of the wa- terline break/repair and found the city not to be at fault or liable for the incident," Stewart wrote in a report to the council. "Since CIS is a pool owned by cities and counties, the Board of Trustees set a policy to compensate home- owners for reasonable expenses incurred to re- move the water and dry out the fl ooded buildings provided the owner signs a release to conclude the claim." Hunter said it took 10 days of high pow- ered fans and heaters to dry out her home while Hayes said the money offered by the city's in- surance was "pittance" to what it cost to repair her home. "It was informa- tive to hear how long it took to turn the water off but that doesn't mitigate my damages," she told the council. "Most of us don't have thousands of dollars in the bank to pay for this. Our only re- course is to take the city to court which is more money we don't have." Councilor Jake Boone spent his time during council member com- ments to question Mey- ers and the city attorney on what the board could do to help homeowners affected by the incident. "This sucks," he said after Meyers informed him that the city could not obtain better insur- ance without tripling water bills and that any move by the board to cover the costs would be seen as precident for future incidents which could lead to the city's bankruptcy in the event of a natural disaster. Oregon gets $2.6 million in road repair Today, the Ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR) an- nounced that the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded $2.6 million in emergency relief grants to rebuild and repair roads in Oregon . “Two weeks ago, I urged the Secre- tary of Transporta- tion to immediately Stoc k up befo r they e ’re gone ! Clean Burn Wood Pellets South Lane Physical Therapy LLC Did you know? WE DELIVER ! LANDSCAPE AND BUILDING MATERIALS W. STU HOGG PT, OCS, COMT We have a rapid access program and can see new patients within 2 business days for an acute injury. Orthopedic • Sport • Spine Open 7 days a week! 7919 N. River Road 541-942-4664 sign critical Emergency Relief grants that have been inexplicably stuck in the DOT bureaucracy for months. These non-con- troversial grants will help states and federal land management agencies rebuild roads impacted by severe storms, fl ooding, and wildfi res. I am happy to announce that these grants have fi nally been signed." For com- plete story head to cgsentinel.com. MARIE WILLIAMSON PTA 303 Main Street, Cottage Grove OR Phone: 541.942.6482 Fax: 541.942.6483 Douglas voters say no By Caitlyn May cmay@cgsentinel.com Douglas County will continue to operate under state rule after 76.33 percent of the vote to move towards home rule came back as a resounding, 'no.' Voters were tasked with deciding whether or not to implement a local constitution that would come with a slew of changes for Douglas County government. The fi rst and most distinguishable from the current system was the potential change to county gov- ernment. The board of county commissioners would go from a three-mem- ber board to a fi ve-member board. Those fi ve members would no longer be "at-large" commissioners but districts would be formed and each commissioner would represent a certain district. Commis- sioners would also give up their salaries in exchange for a monthly payment--reported at $500--that would be dependent on their atten- dance at public meetings. They would also be considered part-time rather than full-time. The county would have also seen the installation of a county manager who would oversee the day-to-day operations of the local government, in much the same way city managers work with city councils to handle the business of the city. However, just over 23 percent of the vote saw a 'yes' on the ballot to create a home rule charter in Douglas. In total, nine counties around the state of Oregon have passed a home rule charter in the form of a ballot measure. Nearly 20 other Oregon counties have voted the issue down. The issue, like many others this election cycle, found a footing on social media with both sides of the vote casting stones before set- ting out to cast ballots. Back-and-forth between the groups included talk over monetary contributions, arguments against status-quo and the enormity of the change to adopting a home rule charter. Dutch Bros. raises money for cancer research In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all Dutch Bros lo- cations partnered with their communities to raise $220,000 for the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and Albie Aware in support of the advancement of breast cancer research and services for patients. “We’re stoked to be able to contribute to the continued research and services that these wonderful organizations provide,” said Tra- vis Boersma, Co-founder Dutch Bros Coffee. During the entire month of October, Dutch Bros locations donat- ed $5 from the sale of each specialty “Be Aware” travel mug to raise funds. The sales were in conjunction with Breast Cancer Aware- ness month, and each purchase provided an opportunity to increase awareness of this disease and its impact on those fi ghting it. “We’d like to thank Dutch Bros and the Dutch Bros community for their continued support of our effort to fi ght breast cancer,” said Arpana Naik, M.D., associate professor for surgery in the OHSU School of Medicine and breast surgical oncologist for the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. “Raising over $200,000 in just one month is an impressive feat, and those dollars will support the research and treatment underway here to make a difference for our patients across the state affected by this disease.” Dutch Bros locations across seven states raised $203,800 for the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. The funds donated will support their research into treatment and preventative methods for breast cancer detection. They take an individual, personalized approach with each patient’s care, utilizing cutting-edge technologies, includ- ing DNA specifi c drugs and radiation therapies. Dutch Bros locations in Sacramento raised $16,200 for Albie Aware, a local non-profi t organization that works to bring aware- ness, while also focusing on support services for breast cancer pa- tients. Funds raised will directly benefi t Albie Aware as they provide life-saving education, testing, patient advocacy and compassionate care for individuals facing or fi ghting breast cancer. Wish Week Nov. 19 – Nov. 22 shop Black Friday deals early With a $5 donation to Make-A-Wish ® you will be able to shop our Black Friday deals early. Family is very important to all of us, so take the time over Thanksgiving to spend time with them, and shop early with us while helping out a great cause that will support deserving kids like Harper in your local community. Harper, 5 leukemia I wish to go to ski school We’ve teamed up again with Make-A-Wish ® this holiday season to help grant life-changing wishes. This year, our goal is to raise $1 million and grant another 100 wishes for deserving kids like Harper. Eligible wish kids, right here in your community, are waiting for their one true wish. Donate this holiday season and help us grant more transformational wishes. Between Nov. 2 – Dec. 31, Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores will donate 100% of customer donations to Make-A-Wish, with a minimum guarantee of $200,000.
