S ERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF C OTTAGE G ROVE , C RESWELL , D ORENA , D RAIN , E LKTON , L ORANE AND Y ONCALLA
C ottage G rove
THURSDAY EDITION | MAY 13, 2021 | $1.00
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VOL. 132, NO. 19 •
Est. 1889
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Proposed budget approved for council
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.
com
(541) 942-0555
WEATHER
Chance of showers
with a high of 79 and
a low tonight of 46.
Full forecast on A5
The Cottage Grove Bud-
get Committee approved
the city’s proposed budget
for the 2021-22 fiscal year
Tuesday night.
The proposed budget
comes after a year of deep
financial uncertainty, a
year which also saw the
city launch a Small Busi-
ness Emergency Loan
program to offset local
economic woes while tak-
ing advantage of CARES
(Coronavirus Aid, Relief,
and Economic Securi-
ty) Act reimbursements
through the Coronavirus
Relief Fund to invest in a
number of pandemic-re-
lated relief items for the
community.
Conservative
budget-
ing and a number of other
partnerships and projects
helped the city navigate
a fiscal year which essen-
tially forced it to fly blind.
Though vaccines have pro-
vided a silver lining this
year, city staff created for
the 2021-22 year a budget
which assumes higher risk
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.
com
On Monday, the Cot-
tage Grove City Council
adopted a resolution ac-
knowledging the North Re-
gional Park Master Plan as
the guiding document for
maintenance and develop-
ment of the city’s underuti-
lized North Regional Park.
“I think it’ll be an ex-
cellent first step to spark
the imagination of the
community,” said John
Larson-Friend, who has
interned with the city and
worked on the master plan
project for the past year.
North Regional Park en-
compasses an area sand-
wiched between the Coast
Fork of the Willamette Riv-
er and I-5, covering 58.7
acres, making it the largest
park in Cottage Grove.
It’s gun-like shape places
it in a unique position to
connect several points of
the interest including the
Cottage Grove Disc Golf
Course, Middlefield Golf
Course, the city’s wastewa-
ter treatment plant, Cottage
Grove Speedway, Western
Oregon Exhibition, some
northern residential neigh-
borhoods and a strip of un-
developed natural area.
The master plan proposes
to explore the various ways
in which the space could be
Mary Ellen —
Pet Tips ‘N’ Tales
A5
LEISURE
CG Speedway to host
“Wallbanger”
B1
COURTESY PHOTO
Obituaries
Official releases
A2
• LORANE NEWS
levels will continue to bog
down the economy.
“Because of this contin-
ued uncertainty, we have
again prepared a flexible
budget that will allow some
ability to adapt,” said City
Manager Richard Meyers
in his introduction to the
budget committee.
At $39,855,653, the pro-
posed budget is $371,467
less than the previous
year’s.
The proposed number
does not include expect-
ed revenues from feder-
al packages as rules and
disbursement
schedules
have not yet been released.
Meyers’ introduction listed
three guiding principles of
See
BUDGET on A10
City adopts North Regional
Park Master Plan
Celebrating a Century
COLUMNIST
• RECORDS
May 15, 2021
Lola “Mickey” Maxine Partney, a long-time resident of Cottage Grove, was
greeted by many longtime friends as well as family from Idaho and North
Carolina to celebrate her 100th birthday on May 8. Around 75 people in all
showed up for the three-hour open house birthday party. “[I’m] just
amazed at how well she gets around,” said granddaughter Jenn Caldwell.
“I call her my Energizer bunny.”
used.
“It has a high level of
potential for being a really
great park in Cottage Grove
park system,” said Lar-
son-Friend during his pre-
sentation to the city council
Monday night.
Last summer, the two
surveys revealed public
sentiment about the park
space. Disc golf and gener-
al nature walks emerged as
the most popular use of the
space, though the park did
not appear to be among res-
idents’ favorites.
Survey respondents dis-
played a desire to see more
infrastructure such as trails,
bathrooms, benches and
better access points.
People also were inter-
ested in seeing some kind
of safety measures. Several
suggestions for improve-
ments and use of the park
appear in the master plan.
For example, while there
is already a paved bike path
which runs throughout
most of the park, the plan
supports expanding the
trail system and placing
waypoints.
“The park itself is has a
lot of potential for having
various types of educa-
tional spaces. It’s a great
space for the local history,
art installations looking at
See
PLAN on A9
A5
• CLASSIFIEDS
Listings and public
notices
B5-B6
SLMH welcomes new executive director
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.
com
follow us for the
latest news:
/CGSentinel
@CGSentinel
541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax
P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
After weathering a chal-
lenging year, South Lane
Mental Health (SLMH)
is embracing a new phase
as it welcomes its newest
executive director, Noah
Zepeda.
Zepeda was born and
raised in Oakridge, a rural
upbringing he draws upon
in framing his approach to
the new position.
“I’ve always lived and
worked in rural Ore-
gon, especially rural Lane
County, so I think I really
bring to the table that I un-
derstand what rural com-
munities are dealing with
… and what the issues are,”
he said.
Zepeda has an under-
graduate degree in busi-
ness administration and a
Master of Science Manage-
ment from Southern Ore-
gon University. He began
working at SLMH eight
years ago as the director of
finance and operations and
held that position until the
executive director position
opened up.
After previous Executive
Director Damien Sands
stepped down at the end of
September last year, Zepe-
da and Director of Quality
Terry Mastin filled in the
Rotary members are making an impact
in the fi ght against COVID-19 in our community.
Rotary members around the world persevere.
No challenge is so big that we can’t
make a diff erence.
Rotary Club of Cott age Grove
541-554-6946
Noah Zepeda was cho-
sen to fill the SLMH exec-
utive director seat last
month.
position as co-interim ex-
ecutive directors.
“And all this was hap-
pening in the middle of the
pandemic,” Zepeda noted.
“So it was challenging. It
was a lot of work for both
of us. But we were able to
make it through.”
COVID-19 created a
unique barrier to dealing
with those who need men-
tal health services by forc-
ing the work and services
to be conducted remotely.
“It was a real challenge
for us to navigate going
completely telehealth –
teletherapy and telemedi-
cine, doing tele-prescrib-
ing – it was something
that we haven’t ever done
before,” said Zepeda.
Since the beginning of
the pandemic, the organi-
zation has seen a 40 per-
cent uptick in requests for
services. Near the begin-
ning of lockdowns, SLMH
received a grant through
Lane County which helped
them create a system for
video conferencing and be
able to purchase tablets for
clients who might not have
access otherwise.
Still, Zepeda recalled
that some clients weren’t
interested in telehealth as
a service.
On top of that, insurance
companies had to come
around to allowing the
nonprofit to even bill for
See
DIRECTOR on A10
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