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The INDEPENDENT, January 7,1998
n. INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of each
month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge
Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper.
Editors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen, (503)
429-9410.
Opinion
1998 should include
open government
As 1998 gets underway, it’s quite clear that the peo
ple who are governed expect their elected officials and
government employees to operate openly and with
consideration for the taxpayers.
Taxpayers are not naive. They don’t expect services
to be provided free, but they do expect public servants,
elected or hired, to be candid about the decisions they
make. This expectation is too often ignored.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, it was instruc
tional to see the council vote for a meter reading sys
tem that had not previously been considered. They
had the information in time to review it...it certainly
wasn’t a replay of last November’s fiasco. What was
instructional was that there was absolutely no informa
tion available for the public. The only material about
the program was marked “Confidential”.
The program approved appears to be a good
choice, this isn’t an objection to the decision. But why
is the city being so secretive about how they are using
public funds?
Another example is the recent hiring of a “Clerk” by
the city. In November, the city advertised for a Director
of Finance and, in December, hired a person for that
position. Three weeks later the new hire left. Then,
without posting the position, City Administrator Gordon
Zimmerman hired a person to be a Clerk.
Zimmerman is the administrator, true, but common
courtesy dictates that he would tell the council why he
wanted to change the position. That is what other adm
inistrators have done. To cap it then by hiring for a
new position without any posting is not only a slap in
the face of anyone who might want to apply for the
position, it may not even be legal. Is this how to be
open and aboveboard?
Another instance of little discussion by the council
was approval of $7800 for new computer hardware.
The discussion that didn’t occur should have
addressed whether all new equipment is needed, or
whether it would be possible to upgrade some of it.
Why are there so few questions from the council? Is it
because the city has a surplus of money? Hardly.
Another suggestion the council approved, reopening
a study of where city offices should be located, may
eliminate some buildings (such as the Joy Theatre),
but doesn’t address why public funds should be used
to study unsuitable buildings or locations in the first
place. The old buildings were not included in the initial
study, but locations were. One criteria that was used
was the availability of parking, which obviously elimi
nates most of downtown. Another criteria was cost,
which is one reason the free site was selected.
All of these expenditures have been recommended
by an administrator who was hired because of a repu
tation for fiscal responsibility. They were all accepted
by a council that, mostly, rolled over and played dead.
If Vernonia city government is going to be success
ful in 1998, the council will have to become involved.
The people of Vernonia deserve the best of the
council’s efforts...and the councilors, themselves,
deserve the pleasure the comes with a job well done.
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By Julius Dalzell
Vernonia City Council
The last City Scene column discussed the
issue of a revenue bond authorization to help
pay for needed improvements to Vernonia's
water distribution system. The point emphasized
was that water use rates will have to be
increased to repay borrowed funds. Unless addi
tional grant funds miraculously become avail
able, the remaining option to minimize the
increase is to add users, i.e, to spread the debt
load.
It was noted that one large water user would
have the same minimizing effect on costs as
many small users. Regardless, an increase in
the number using the system and the amount
being used appears to be a practical response.
However, as previously mentioned, this could
lead to another dilemma. The dilemma stems
from the fact that the water system is only one
element of the infrastructure that requires
expenditures for maintenance and improve
ments. In each case, if borrowing is necessary,
the cost to each of us increases. The dilemma is
the predictability of upwardly spiraling costs and
the consequential result of becoming increasing
ly less attractive to new businesses and resi
dents—the very elements that could help share
the cost increases.
So what should be our response? Do we
allow the infrastructure to remain as it is, “band-
aiding” only when it is essential to maintain
some minimal level of functionality? A counter to
that posture could entail seeking rapid expan
sion of the community with a resultant increase
in the user base.
The alternative of doing little could conceiv
ably work for a while. However, the system in
question will either eventually stop functioning,
or reach a state where even a temporary fix
would be exceedingly expensive. In the
extreme, we could simply let the infrastructure
fall apart so that continuing to operate as a com
munity becomes unattainable.
At that point, the cost of facilitating “a fix”
could be so extensive that each of us might
instead be paid to leave. What a notion! For
most, if not all of us, such an idea would be dis
missed as an absurdity not worthy of thought, let
alone further consideration.
So we're going to stay put and look after
Vernonia! But there still remains those pesky
costs. What about the alternative of encouraging
rapid growth, at least until the stage is reached
wherein the infrastructure is upgraded enough to
remain healthy for some period into the future?
Lots of questions of the what, why, when and
how nature come to mind. The “why” of pursuing
rapid growth would be to control improvement
costs. Here are some examples of “whaf’s and
“how”s:
• How do we incite growth and at what cost?
• Is sufficient land available within the urban
growth boundary to accommodate residen
tial, commercial and industrial facilities?
• What would be the impact on fire protec
tion, medical and emergency services, and
the school system?
• What about parking in the downtown and
the traffic impact on Highway 47?
• Would our rural lifestyle be degraded and
supplemented by the negatives synony
mous with urban/suburban growth?
(From the perspective of lifestyle and liv
ability, the effects of the cure may be more
unacceptable than the ailment.)
The key question, however, is “when.”
Timing is everything! If we could control “when”,
the prospect of rapid growth might not be so
intimidating. Ideally, we could turn it on, control
the rate of expansion during the period of need,
then turn it off upon achieving our objective. But
the dynamics of economic expansion aren’t
quite that simple.
There are nearby, evolving case studies of
what can happen in municipalities when too
rapid growth takes control. Excessive growth
can challenge municipalities as readily as stag
nation by substituting the need for funds to
maintain systems with a need for funds to keep
up with surging infrastructure and service needs.
So rapid growth may not be the panacea!
What’s left? The answer is economic in part,
but in a way that fits Vernonia and coincides with
the community’s preferences. In other words, a
policy founded on several key guiding tenets:
• endorses planning and taking control;
• encourages private investment and proper
ty improvements;
• endorses (a degree of) growth as required to
assist the economy in Vernonia to attain a
healthy level of activity and sustainability;
• nurtures those having needs and, most
importantly,
• supports those, having the ability and ini
tiative, to attain a reasonable state of eco
nomic well-being.
In brief, we are attempting to define the basis
of a practical approach to moving Vernonia for
ward. The next column of City Scene will con
clude this series.