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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1998)
J;- » New solid waste, recycling proposal goes to cities After a public hearing last week, a highly detailed, com prehensive solid waste plan for Columbia County will now be sent to each of the county’s cities for review and ratifica tion. Following a year-long study, the new multi-phase solid waste plan would establish county-wide recycling pro grams, develop new franchise agreements, expand agree ments with cities and establish rates that would encourage uti lization of the system. Designed to cover the needs of Columbia County for the next ten years, the plan ad dresses recycling, illegal dumping and disposal of toxic waste. State law mandates a District Wrestling Meet in Vernonia Feb. 20-21 @ VHS 25 percent recycling rate and, at this time, the county’s rate is just 22 percent. Under the plan, the county would establish transfer sta tions in Clatskanie and Rainier, extend the franchise agree ment to operate the transfer station in St. Helens, and con tinue operating the Vernonia transfer station. The multi-year plan would start in 1998 with a promotion al campaign to raise the aware ness of businesses and schools about what can be re cycled. In 1999, educational pro grams would be expanded to encourage recycling and com posting of yard wastes. In 2000, a way to collect and compost large quantités of yard debris would be devel oped. Two-thirds of the cities in the county must ratify the plan be fore it can be implemented. BULK RATE U S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 FREE Costs, utilization of existing buildings not what is needed Stephen Atchison will be sworn in March 2 as District Attorney for Columbia County. Atchison named D.A. Governor John Kitzhaber has announced the appoint ment of deputy district attorney R. Stephen Atchison to the top law enforcement position in Columbia County. Atchison will replace District Attorney Martin Sells, who will retire Feb. 28. Atchison has been deputy district attorney for Columbia County since 1980. The swear ing-in ceremony will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, March 2, in the restored courtroom in the Old Courthouse in St. Helens. Because Sells is leaving of fice with more than two years remaining on his term, the po sition will be on the May prima- ry ballot. Atchison has said he will file for election to the full term. Atchison graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelor of science degree in 1969. He received his law de gree from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College in 1976 and was in pri vate practice for two years be fore joining the Columbia County District Attorney’s of fice. Atchison serves as the county representative to the Oregon Commission for Em ployer Support of Guard and Reserves. It won’t Tome as a surprise to anybody who has looked at the older commercial build ings in Vernonia, but the city’s consultants, at a town hall meeting held last night, said that none of them is adequate for the essential services of city government. Crow/Clay & Associates, Inc., of Coos Bay, was hired by the city “to investigate options for location of city functions within the existing building fabric of the City of Vernonia.” In that process, they ana lyzed and compared the old bowling alley across the street from City Hall (now the Han son Building), the old J. C. Penney’s building at the cor ner of Jefferson and Bridge Street, the offices of Mike Pihl Logging; Vernonia Sentry Market and the Joy Theatre. Two significant issues addressed in the study related to the suitability of existing buildings for “essential ser vices,” ie., administration, police, etc. Because two of the buildings are constructed of terra cotta masonry and two of the buildings were flooded in 1996, Crow/Clay eliminated them from any use involving essential services and, with one exception, focused their review on whether they would meet the city’s needs for the library and/or public meeting rooms. The answer is “yes,” if the price tag is acceptable, though all of the dollar amounts included in the study are, of necessity, estimates. The 5,000 square foot Han son Building could serve for retail/library/meetings at an estimated cost of $634,000. The Penney’s building, with 6,150 sq. ft. on two floors, would work for a library and meeting rooms with an esti mated cost of $788,000. The much newer Mike Pihl Logging office was not recom mended for any municipal use because, at 1200 sq. ft, it is too small even for the library. No recommendations were made for Sentry Market, which was one of the flooded buildings, because it is presently unavailable. Proposed functions for the Joy Theatre were different than for the other buildings, with the possibility that all functions except the library could be housed there-if it hadn’t been flooded. The esti mated total cost, if it were use- able, is $820,000. Also discussed were two possible designs for a new city hall on the old railroad grade at the corner of Bridge Street and Weed Avenue. One incor porated all functions in one building; the other called for two buildings in order to allow Bear Creek to be uncovered. The creek at this time flows through a culvert underneath the city property. A design that gained tenta tive approval last summer is for one building, but there are concerns about its placement on the property because it might prevent opening the Bear Creek culvert. Other concerns expressed are that the library space is inade quate and the police depart ment’s needs would not be met. At that time, the cost was estimated at one-million dol lars. The city council authorized logging city-owned timberland to bring in about $800,000 for a new city hall. Not all pay ments are in, as yet, but it appears that the proceeds will be close to the estimate. The majority of people attending the meeting pre ferred the design using two buildings, one for a library, the other for essential services, and opening up the creek. Other considerations dis cussed at the meeting includ ed parking and whether the present city hall should be sold or razed for parking. It is also a terra cotta masonry building and has major struc tural problems. WOEC’s new substation is a very noisy neighbor By Jim Buxton The transformer at the new West Oregon Electric Cooper ative substation in Vernonia (named the East substation), has produced unacceptable noise levels, operations man ager Del McGinnis told the WOEC board of directors at their regular meeting last night. A rubber mat was placed under the transformer, which helped significantly, but it still exceeds acceptable levels by four to six decibels, McGinnis explained. There are other procedures for reducing the decibel levels. Claude Phillips, who performs substation, OCR, voltage regu lator, and electrical wiring for the COOP, will do the work with a WOEC crew as soon as there are a couple of days of dry weather. If the additional procedures aren’t sufficient, it may be nec essary to either insulate the transformer tank, or erect a lat tice-type noise barrier fence adjacent to the transformer. The next board meeting will be March 17 at 7:00 p.m.
