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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1997)
County Surveyor fee handling under investigation P h W e w e ^ s CundeM nv«faar ™ tion for failure to submit fees collected in the manner pre scribed by county ordinance. The county ordinance says that all surveyor fees “shall be turned over to the Columbia County Treasurer. All such fees shall be credited to the Colum bia County General Fund and no such fees shall go to the County Surveyor personally.” Starting last October, fe Z s V .h S n° ' ' 7 mem° ' ° DeWey TO,in9 ,hal y! 7 * 7 7 . 7 R 7 ™ 7 8 831,8 he has S e a te d the “ - 'V °< - y money and until ordered to do so by the were far lower this year than has accurately accounted for Board of Commissioners. He for the same period last year. the money. was initially given a deadline of The surveyor, an elective A complaint has been filed June 6, at which time he paid position, is reimbursed for his with the state Government $1,950. That represented only services, less certain deduc Standards and Practices Com the amount of surveying fees tions. He is also allowed to mission by a Warren resjdent. Dewey had collected from the continue his private surveying A preliminary review will be end of April to the beginning of business while serving as completed with 90 days of the June, according to county Fi county surveyor. time the complaint was filed. At nance Director Paul Downey. Dewey has acknowledged that time, a decision will be The situation came to light his failure to submit the full made to determine whether a in May, when Downey sent a amount of fees collected, but full investigation is warranted. INSIDE: Banks scholars named.... see pg. 10 A great welcome sign.........see pg. 11 VHS graduation photos.... see pg. 12 A day at the races— see pg. 13 BULK RATE U.S. Postage PakJ Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 Voi. 12, No. 12 Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” Blue Heron Hollow makes a difference Community Action Team (CAT) and Columbia County Housing Authority (CCHA) have made a difference in Vernonia. They have provided twenty-six apartments at blue Heron Hollow with rents that are intended to be affordable to individuals and families earn ing approximately half of area median income, or $22,000 for a family of four. The apartments rent for $352, $421, and $513, for the one, two and three bedroom apartments, respectively. People residing or working in Vernonia...and flood victims ...received priority for apart ments, most of which have been leased. With the exception of the one bedroom apartments, all units are townhouses, mean ing they have two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The kitchen and living areas are downstairs, plus a bedroom and bath in the three bed room units. Two of the one bedroom apartments are on the gound floor. These apart ments are completely acces sible to wheelchairs. Five of the three bedroom apart ments are either accessible to wheelchairs or adaptable for their use. The project includes an area for a community garden and a covered picnic area where a community barbecue will be installed. Since commencement of the Blue Heron project, the City of Vernonia and Commu nity Action Team have suc cessfully collaborated to raise funds for construction of a Multi-Service Center on a site adjacent to Blue Heron Hollow. A number of CAT programs will be made available to the public from the Center and it will contain completely new Head Start classrooms. A community meeting room is also planned for the center. The project was made pos sible through a combination of public/private funds, including the Social Investment Corpora tion (ESIC) which provided seed money. The Bank of America Federal Savings Bank (BofA FSB) provided both construc tion and long term financing for the project.. Grant and loan assistance has been provided by the Oregon Housing and Com munity Services Department (OHCSD), the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle (FHLB) and the City of Vernonia. The OHCSD funnels state and federal rersources into loan and grant programs to meet the housing needs of low in come Oregonians. OHCSD provided $523,000 in grant funding to make Blue Heron possible. Tax credit projects such as Blue Heron are the flagship of the department’s efforts to help very low income Oregonians achieve self-suffi ciency. The FHLB, a private sec tor, wholesale bank serving more than 270 financial insti tutions in nine western states, dedicates 10-percent of its annual profits to affordable housing. Blue Heron received a $102,800 AHP grant. FHLB assisted Blue Heron as part of a national initiative The City of Vernonia made a low-interest loan to Community Action Team to help with the project. According to County Commissioner and former Mayor Tony Hyde, the project came at a critical time for Vernonia, following the devas tating floods of 1996. FREE June 18, 1997 Quo vadis... The Banks chapter of Friends of the Banks/Vernonia Linear Park gathered at the Anderson Park trailhead for a social gathering. Chris Friend, interpretive program coor dinator for the state Department of Forestry, presented a display of flora and fauna (hides) representing the park’s ecology. Also present were B-V Park Ranger Scott Green and Dan Johnson, president of the Friends group. Vernonia RFPD There will be a vacancy on the Vernonia Rural Fire Dis trict Board of Directors as of July 1. At that time, newly elected board member David Coffin was scheduled to be sworn in but, in the meantime, he has been transferred to the southeastern part United States. Though the remaining di- oard has a vacancy rectors have not specified how the vacancy is to be filled, a common practice in such situations would allow interested community mem bers to send letters of appli cation. Anyone interested in more information about the vacancy, should inquire at the next board meeting on July 8. Lyle Barker, who was also scheduled to assume a board position on July 1, has been sworn in early to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Marv Meyers, who has moved to Canada. Meyers term of office would have ended on June 30. The board will hold a Bud get Hearing June 26, at 7:00 p.m., in the Fire Hall. Open Forum will consider plans for development An open forum will be held Monday, June 30, at 6:30 p.m. in the Vernonia Senior Center, to view and discuss a design study of the railroad grade property bounded by Rose and Weed Avenues, Bridge and Cougar Streets. The study will look at both designs and land use issues as a component of downtown revitalization. The proposed construction of the Vernonia Municipal Building, plans for a new Sentry Market, and State provided parking for the Lin ear Trail will be part of the study. Considerations will include compatibility with adjacent businesses, residents, the de velopment of an overall de sign theme for the downtown, traffic patterns and pedestrian ways. The work is being facil itated with funding from the Department of Land Conser vation and Development un der their “Quick Response" program, following a request from Gordon Smith and Chuck Hendryx, owners of Vernonia Sentry. The firm contracted for the work is Lennertz-Coyle & As sociates, the same organiza tion retained for the Vernonia Building preliminary design. The Vernonia Downtown Business Association will act as project manager. All inter ested residents of Vernonia are invited to attend.
