Vol. 20, No. 2
'Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley'
January 20, 2005
New school building
closer to construction
A presentation by Kathy
Pennington’s junior high Span
ish class delighted the Vernon
ia School Board at their Janu
ary 13 meeting. After introduc
ing themselves by both their
American and “Spanish” names,
the class performed a song
about the months of the year,
complete with hand motions,
then left to a round of applause.
New Building
A meeting of prospective
bidders on the building project
was held earlier in the day, Ver
nonia Schools Superintendent
Mike Funderburg reported, with
twenty-three potential bidders.
Bidding on the project - which
will include six classrooms,
small locker rooms, office
space and a cafeteria that will
seat 350 - will be closed at
2:00 p.m. on January 27. Fun
derburg plans to begin scoring
the bids immediately, so a con
tractor can be selected before
the February 10 meeting. He
will be assisted by board mem
bers Randy Hansen, Gienah
Cheney and Tim Titus.
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February 10 is also the date
Elected officials sworn in at the January 11 meeting of the Banks City Council included, !-
the Vernonia Planning Com
r, Councilor Brian Biehl, Mayor Mike Lyda, and Councilors Tert Branstitre and Ryan Birr.
mission will review the district’s
request for a conditional use
permit (7:00 p.m. at City Hall).
The design presented to bid
This has created a loop, with
ders does not include a gymna
Banks City Council opened also distributed material from
the recorder referring people to
Officer
Pat
Garrett,
about
sium, although the permit appli
their January 11 meeting by
the
county
and
the
county
re
cation does. The district wants
swearing in new Mayor Mike Washington County’s agree
ferring
them
back
to
the
city,
to be able to add a gym if fund
Lyda and three councilors. A ment with Gaston. Referring to
causing
considerable
frustra
ing is available. Construction
discussion of options for the previous comments that local
tion
to
everyone
involved.
cannot begin until the permit is
police department was the ordinances went unenforced,
Branstitre
proposed
hiring
Offi
Garrett said that the municipal
approved.
main topic of the meeting.
cer
Rob
Richards,
who
is
in
Councilor Teri Branstitre re court in Gaston is now operat
Future Buildings
training and not yet certified for
ported discussing two possibili ing, dealing with citations in ac
Parent Amy Cieloha asked
patrol, and Reserve Officer
ties with North Plains City Man cordance with the long-term
how the district can build a new
Blake Rose to process records.
ager Don Aven. The first would agreement.
building and, at the same time,
Branstitre also reported a Council approved up to four
involve sharing a police chief
say that funding will be ade
hours per week for each officer.
between the two cities, with backlog of police paperwork
quate next year. She told the
Saying he “would like to
each city maintaining its own that needs to be addressed.
move forward with this issue,” board the she feels that she
officers; the second would be The city recorder is receiving
speaks for many citizens who
Mayor Lyons urged looking at
contracting for police services requests for information and re
Please see page 12 are unable to understand how
from North Plains. Branstitre ports that she cannot process.
New year, old problem: Funding police
X
this is possible, especially with
continuing repairs needed at
Washington Grade School.
She also asked how well such
a small building can address
the needs of all students, when
many will remain at WGS.
Funderburg said that it was
a board decision to provide a
decent cafeteria with space
enough to feed all of the stu
dents in the district, and to pro
vide enough classroom space
to get kids out of the basement.
In response to a comment
about teachers waiting for air
filters, he said, unequivocally,
that “there is no mold, mildew
or air quality issue at WGS.
The inside air is cleaner than
the outside air.” However, he
said, some people continue to
believe that a problem exists, in
spite of work completed two
years ago and the report indi
cating that no problem existed.
Board Chairman Jim Krahn
said that significant spending at
WGS was like “pouring money
down a rat-hole.”
The current project was un
dertaken by the board, Funder
burg added, as a way to show
the community what was possi
ble. The board decided to bor
row the maximum amount of
money allowed to accomplish
their goal. A larger building
project - to replace both the
grade and high schools —
would require a community ef
fort to pass a bond.
Meeting Dates
Krahn reported that Cheney
had expressed a conflict with
Thursday meetings and sug
gested moving them to Tues
days. Cheney said that, as her
children get into high school
sports, she would not be able
to attend meetings. Cieloha
pointed out that the rural fire
Please see page 15