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.