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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2004)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, April 15, 2004 The INDEPENDENT Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor, Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, email: noni@ the-independent.net Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh, email: clark@the-independent.net Classified Advertising, Rebecca McGaugh, email: rebecca@the-independent.net Opinion School budget cuts depend on priorities Rumors are, as usual, running rampant about what classes will be cut from the curriculum for Vernonia schools, or what positions will be eliminated. What the rumor-mongers don’t mention is: The budget commit- tee hasn’t yet started considerations and the only time they’ve met was to start familiarizing new committee members with the process that will be used. Anyone who is interested enough to express con- cern about the district’s budget priorities should also be concerned enough to attend the budget meetings. The budget message, a legally required document, will be presented at the first meeting of the budget committee, April 22 at 6:00 p.m. This year will be par- ticularly painful, with approximately $500,000 to be pared from a budget that has been reduced for four years in a row. Programs will be cut, people will be cut, and students will be the losers. At 5:00 p.m., before the budget committee meeting, there will be a presentation on the borrowing to build proposal reported on in this issue of The Independent (story starts on page 1). That meeting is also open to the public. It is easy to spread rumors and it is easy to complain about how tax money is spent. One thing is certain, however. If you want your point of view to be consid- ered, spreading rumors and complaining won‘t be ef- fective. What is effective is to attend meetings and ex- press your ideas during the times allocated for public comment. Your elected officials do hear you when you follow the same rules they must follow. Primary election date is May 18th There’s more going on than presidential nominations in the May primary election. There will be some con- tested County positions, as well as the 9-1-1 Levy for Columbia County and a Library Levy for Washington County. The Independent will review the candidates and measures in the May 6 issue. In the meantime, if you want to be a contributing part of the democracy we brag about, the last day for vot- ers to register is April 27. School board considers construction From page 1 recently completed a building, similar to what is needed in Vernonia, with construction managed at considerable sav- ing as a project of the Willa- mette Educational Service Dis- trict (WESD). Representatives of WESD indicated to Krahn and Funderburg that they might be able to do the same in Ver- nonia. According to Funderburg, the board can borrow up to one-million dollars by resolu- tion, without voter approval, and include the loan repayment as part of the budget. He rec- ommended that the district bor- row money to build a new mul- ti-use facility and to restore the high school gym roof (see be- low). There was no discussion of the total amount needed. Funderburg said this is a “gold- en opportunity” to take advan- tage of low interest rates and the expertise of WESD. Deputy clerk Dawn Plews told the board that moving the cafeteria out of the basement would help get food service operating in the black. Currently the district must budget about $40,000 per year to balance the food serv- ice budget. Plews also pointed out that the board would realize significant saving on architec- tural costs by purchasing plans from Scio. Plews and board member Randy Hansen joined Funder- burg in a visit to Scio last Fri- day. They also visited Lebanon to see how a similar central building extends to include a new grade school. A potential budget for a new multi-use building and information on the Scio visit will be presented tonight at a board workshop. Funderburg told the board that, if the resolutions were included on the workshop agenda, they could take action at the work- shop rather than calling a spe- cial meeting or waiting for the May 13 meeting. Krahn said emphatically, “If anybody has a problem with building [the mul- ti-use facility] have them call me!” VHS gym roof “failing” Steve Ingram, of Tremco/ W.T.I. a roofing manufacturer and consultation company, summarized his findings about the condition and cost of repair- ing the high school gym roof. The first decision, he said, is whether or not they want to keep the building. If the district wants to retain use of the build- ing, the roof should be replaced because it “is in the process of failing.” Moisture will enter the building and cause damage next winter if the roof is not re- paired, Ingram explained and, in this case, repair really means replacement because of re- quired seismic upgrades. Ingram explained that two elements were needed for the roof to meet seismic standards. First, the shiplap decking should be replaced with ply- wood in order to limit twisting. Second, in the fifties when the gym was built, roofs were not well attached to the buildings beneath them, and depended primarily on gravity to hold them in place. It is now known that this allows parts of the building to move in different di- rections during an earthquake. Ingram told the board that blocking would be inserted be- tween roof trusses and connec- tions established between the roof and the walls. He also recommended that the roof of the band room be re- placed – after being used as a platform for construction of a new gym roof – and that the Please see page 3