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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