Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2000)
Water safety and conservation are both important The City of Vernonia recent ly sent their 1999 Water Quali ty Report to every user of City water, but it’s quite possible that many of them simply tossed the report, thinking it was junk mail. It isn’t. The water you drink is sur face water and is drawn into the city’s filtration plant from Rock Creek near F Street. As many people have found, to their distress, creek water has impurities that make some people very sick. The filtration plant removes dirt, sediment and other materi als. The water is also chlorinat ed as required by state and federal law to keep it safe as it travels through pipes to your kitchen and bathroom. But much more is required. The city conducts more than 2,200 water quality tests each year. Both treated and untreat ed water are checked as the city looks for organic and inor ganic compounds, herbicides, pesticides, PCBs and more. Organic compounds are by products of septic systems, gas stations and urban stormwater. Inorganic com pounds such as salts and met als, may occur naturally or be caused by urban stormwater, farming or mining. In 1997 special testing was performed to detect the pres ence of lead in the water. In conformance with the guide lines, the city tested only those buildings with copper piping constructed before 1982. This amounted to 20 water hookups and, of these, six showed too much lead. The city has recent ly retested for lead and the re sults will be made known when they are available. Anyone who wants more in formation about the testing pro gram, the report, or the water filtration plant should call Direc tor of Public Works Robyn Bas sett at 429-6921. Tours of the water plant can be arranged throughout the year for anyone interested. A Taste of Mexico.... pg. 7 Volunteers honored... pg. 5 BHS grad awards.... pg. 10 A Race for the kids... pg. 11 BULK RATE U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 Attn: Leslie Larson UO Library-OMP Voi. 15, No 13 INSIDE: “ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” FREE July 5, 2000 Teachers accept less to supply text books anks Council approves budget, sale A special City Council meet ing on the proposed sale of the City’s Market Street property, as well as adoption of the 2000/2001 Banks City Budget was held Wednesday, June 28 at City Hall. The council voted unani mously on June 28 to accept the budget as submitted. The council discussed the sale of city property located at 140 Market Street which had been purchased to house the police department. The police have moved, instead, to the former State Police office adja cent to City Hall. The City paid $79,000 for the Market Street property. The council agreed that their goal was to recoup the original price paid by the City, plus the cost of selling the property, so will list the property at $84,000. City Engineer Dale‘ Merrill urged the council to adopt a water conservation program for the summer months. He said the water table is currently low due to early hot, dry weather and high irrigation usage. May or Ray Deeth will draft a letter to Banks water customers out lining temporary odd/even irri gation rules. In other business the coun cil: • Approved a request by Banks Sunset Speedway that will allow this summer’s Friday night motorcycle races serve as a suitability test. The council will revisit the issue at the end of the season, in October. • Approved hiring three part time employees - Dana Gale, Eraina Hatch and JoElla Frantz - at the Banks Public Library. Library assistant Ann Krutz- inger has resigned. The new employees will fill the void left by Krutzinger and Jane Bab cock. • Approved the Greenville Park Committee of Chairperson Lori Malcom, Jerry Adamowicz, and Dennis Wiley, all of Arbor Village, and City Councilors Dana Campbell and Norma Stewart. • Denied a request from Sunset Park to temporarily waive the permit fee for the land use application to erect a cell tower at the Park. Folowing a Budget Hearing which no members of the pub lic attended, the Vernonia School District Board of Direc tors adopted the 2000-2001 budget at a special meeting on June 29. The adopted budget was fine-tuned as much as possi ble, given the erratic (and ohen late) information provided by the state, and includes a Gen eral Fund of $5,157,408, ap proximately $350,000 less than the General Fund adopt ed fori 999-2000. The tax rate will remain the same as it has been for the past two years, $5.0121 per thousand. The total budget adopted for the district is $5,971,077. The difference between the total budget and the General Fund is composed of special funds derived from state and/or fed eral resources that are desig nated for specific purposes and are not paid for with local property taxes. The board also approved a four-year contract with the teachers’s union. A high point during negotiations was the teachers’ offer to accept one- percent less in salary than they could have demanded, with the proviso that those funds be used to purchase the rest of the text books needed by the district. The offer was accepted without argument. There is also a trade-off that will benefit the teachers during the third year of the contract, when the salary scale for Vernonia teachers will be slightly above the state-wide average for all schools. Other contract ele ments dealt with working con ditions rather than compensa tion. It was “truly a collaborative effort in reaching a four-year contract,” said Superintendent Larry McClellan, and “the kids win." Another change in the bud get resulted in making more funds available for extracurric ular activities in music and dra ma at the high school level, and for extracurricular needs at the elementary level. The school board reviewed the cost of each extracurricular athletic activity, but made no changes in the proposed bud get. They approved the con cept of “Pay for Play,” leaving the $10,000 revenue line in the budget. They will review and adopt the methodology for that function at the July 13 board meeting. Board of Commissioners commits $35,000 to complete trail extension The Columbia County Board of Commissioners at their June 28 meeting appropriated $35,000 in Bike Path funds for the City of Vernonia to pave the Banks-Vernonia Linear Park trail extension from Anderson Park to Vernonia Lake. This appropriation, added to the $70,000 grant the city re ceived from the state Recre ation Trails Program, will en able the city to complete the trail. As soon as final details for purchase of the right of way are completed and the engineering is done, the project will get un derway. The city hopes to com plete the project before rainy weather starts in the fall. Also scheduled for construc tion this summer are two float ing fishing docks at Vernonia Lake that will be handicapped- accessible. The city is now ac cepting bids for this project.
