10A | MAY 13, 2021 |
BUDGET from A 1
the proposed budget:
• “Protect our ability to
provide the essential ser-
vices — police, water, sew-
er, street operations and
the support functions that
make sure those services
can be provided.
• “Participate in jump-
starting our local economy
by assisting our local busi-
nesses in restarting, having
projects that will bring jobs
and activity to the commu-
nity and supporting proj-
ects funded with grants
and loans.
• “Be conservative in
our guestimates — not
too drastic — not too op-
timistic. Leave some room
for potential adjustments
during the year.”
Under the proposed
budget, the city’s perma-
nent rate would continue
at $7.2087 per $1,000 of
assessed value, which is es-
timated to generate slight-
ly more than $5 million of
collectable tax revenue.
A 2-percent taxable val-
ue increase has been fac-
tored into the budget.
Th e 2021-22 budget also
proposes to restore near-
ly all city positions which
were laid-off , with some
changes.
Talks with the Lane
Council of Governments
DIRECTOR from A 1
telehealth, which caused a
fi nancial hit as they were
providing services they
couldn’t bill for.
“So, like any nonprofi t,
you know, money was kind
of tight there,” Zepeda said.
Despite the hardship,
SLMH continued to serve.
“I think there is a big
misnomer going around
Cottage Grove that we
are completely closed to
in-person services,” said
Zepeda. “Th roughout the
pandemic we have and
will continue to see clients
in-person based on the dis-
cretion of their therapist.”
SLMH’s ACT (Assertive
Community Treatment)
Program has remained a
constant service through-
out the restrictions. Th e
ACT team helps people
with severe and persistence
mental illness to imple-
ment individualized plans.
“We just fi nished our
ACT fi delity review and
we were the only ACT pro-
gram in the state that has
been seeing their clients
in-person throughout the
pandemic,” Zepeda said,
adding, “Our residential
home has been staff ed with
in-person providers also
throughout the pandemic.
Our nurse practitioners
have also been providing
the majority of their pre-
scribing services in-per-
son.”
Th ough doors are cur-
rently closed to the public,
appointments can be made
to come into the buildings.
With a deep rural back-
ground, Zepeda is also
aiming to refi ne the non-
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
has resulted in an agree-
ment to move its Senior
and Disability Services into
the Cottage Grove Com-
munity Center when it re-
opens, possibly this fall.
Th e Cottage Grove Ge-
nealogical Society will be
moving to a remodeled
space within the center
and South Valley Athletics
is taking the old Chamber
of Commerce offi ce.
Th e proposed budget
is including $15,000 to
enter into a partnership
with South Valley Athlet-
ics to expand recreation
programs throughout the
community,
including
youth summer day camp
activities at the library and
multi-generational activi-
ties to involve seniors.
Plans are also in the
works to move South Lane
County Fire and Rescue
dispatch back to Cottage
Grove by creating posi-
tions for four new com-
munication specialists and
the designation of a com-
munications specialist lead
position within the police
department.
It is hoped the change
will dramatically reduce
response times and im-
prove safety.
As previously reported
on in Th e Sentinel, sewer
rates are set to rise by an
average of about $6.45 on
July 1.
Th e move to raise rates
was voted on unanimously
by the Cottage Grove City
Council on April 12, based
on a fi ve-year fi nancial
plan presented on Feb. 22
from the city’s consulting
fi rm FCS Group.
While FCS Group re-
ported that customer
growth alone would be suf-
fi cient to provide for rising
operating expenses in both
water and stormwater, cap-
ital plans and operating
expenses for sewer caused
the need for the rate in-
creases.
Th e report recommend-
ed three years of 12 percent
rate increases.
During the fi rst day of the
budget committee meeting
on May 6, Councilor Mike
Fleck asked city staff to ex-
plain the steep increase in
personnel costs which saw
a jump from $634,568 in
the 2018-19 fi scal year to
$999,365 in this proposed
budget for 2021-22.
Fleck worried that this
increase is unsustainable
and would be passed on to
the ratepayer.
Staff pointed out that
these numbers had already
been factored into the FCS
Group fi ve-year plan and
that it would actually save
money in the long run as
infrastructure projects will
be done in-house rather
than through a third party.
“Caution should be tak-
en when comparing actual
expenditure numbers to
proposed budget num-
bers,” stated a memo to the
committee on Tuesday.
Succession planning is
also a signifi cant factor
in planning the budget as
several personnel will be
retiring.
Meyers summed up
the proposed budget as
way to segue easily into
a post-pandemic world
should restrictions ease.
“Th e 2021-22 proposed
budget lets us hit the re-
set button and be ready
to restart programs and
activities,” he wrote. “We
don’t quite know when
that restart will be, but
this proposed budget gets
us ready to move forward
quickly and recover from
the pandemic even better
prepared.”
Th e city council may
vote to adopt the proposed
budget as early as May 24,
when its next meeting is
scheduled at 7 p.m.
Due
to
continuing
COVID-related
restric-
tions, the public is encour-
aged to attend meetings
virtually by visiting the
city’s website, accessing the
relevant agenda and using
the corresponding GoTo-
Meetings link on the agen-
da page.
profi t’s focus for an area
like Cottage Grove.
“One of my values is
really understanding the
culture of poverty and
making sure that every-
body here is getting train-
ing on the culture of pov-
erty,” he explained.
Th e United State Census
Bureau estimated Cottage
Grove’s poverty rate to be
nearly 20 percent in 2019.
For a family of four, that
meant living on less than
$25,750 for the year.
Rural areas also have
higher rates of trauma
victims and substance
abuse, said Zepeda. Th ese
troubles can be multiplied
when public transporta-
tion is sparse.
“I really want to strive
to meet people and serve
them where we can,” he
said. “We do send clini-
cians to foster homes, re-
tirement homes, nursing
homes, just depending on
what the client needs. We
really want to break down
that transportation barri-
er.”
Since taking the helm of
the organization, Zepeda
hopes to put SLMH’s full
menu of services to use
and expand others.
“So we have a full range
of services that you can
get here in Cottage Grove,”
he said. “We’re kind of a
one-stop shop. Whether
you’re prescribing here, or
you can go to a group, you
can go to see a therapist
one-on-one and you can
get case management. …
I think that’s something
that’s really special to our
agency that we can pro-
vide these wrap-around
services to really have a lot
better mental health out-
comes.”
As a bilingual leader of
the organization, Zepeda
is also well-positioned to
communicate to a wider
client base.
Th e agency recently
started its ALAS Program,
which provides services to
the Spanish-speaking com-
munity
“We’re really trying to
provide more services in
Spanish in the schools,” he
said.
SLMH is also connected
with the upcoming Com-
munity Health Center,
which is slated to begin
construction this year.
In a recent move, the
nonprofi t announced its
move to make use of solar
energy with a grant from
Pacifi c Power’s Blue Sky
program. With a solar ar-
ray now installed, SLMH
hopes to save on energy
costs and dedicate more
of its budget to off ering
mental health care services
as the community slowly
emerges from the pandem-
ic.
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Administrative Aide at LCOG
(Spanish bilingual preferred)
Lane Council of Governments (LCOG)
seeks an Administrative Aide for its Senior &
Disability Services (S&DS) Division. Provides
administrative support to various programs.
Greets and assists the public, staff, and others
by phone or in person, providing information
of a general nature as authorized. Spanish
bilingual preferred. Full time, with full benefits
package. This position is expected to start on
June 28, 2021. Full job description and re-
quired application are available online at www.
lcog.org or by calling LCOG at (541) 682-4283.
DEADLINE: May 18, 2021 at 4 p.m. EOE/AA
Case Manager at LCOG
Lane Council of Governments (LCOG)
seeks a Case Manager for the Senior &
Disability Services (S&DS) Division. This
position manages a caseload comprised
of adults with disabilities 18-64 years of
age and/or senior citizens. The caseload
includes clients newly admitted to service,
as well as clients who have been receiving
services from S&DS for a period of time
(i.e., on-going clients). Full time, with full
benefits package. This position is expected
to start on June 28, 2021. Full job descrip-
tion and required application are available
online at www.lcog.org or by calling LCOG
at (541) 682-4283. DEADLINE: May 18,
2021 at 4 p.m. EOE/AA
Contracts Manager at
LCOG
Lane Council of Governments (LCOG)
seeks a Contracts Manager for its Senior &
Disability Services (S&DS) Division. This
position will support and develop Older
Americans Act (OAA) programs, Oregon
Project Independence (OPI), and other
Senior & Disability Services community
programs. This includes development and
monitoring of related contract agreements
and requests for proposals, new program
and service implementation, and supervi-
sion of program staff as assigned. Full time,
with full benefits package. This position is
expected to start on June 28, 2021. Full job
description and required application are
available online at www.lcog.org or by call-
ing LCOG at (541) 682-4283. DEADLINE:
May 18, 2021 at 4 p.m. EOE/AA
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who help our
community’s
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create a
better future!
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