PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
“Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
Vol. 21, No. 4
February 16, 2006
Upgrades for wastewater
treatment will be costly
Uncommon beauty
A workshop on wastewater
issues dominated the Vernonia
City Council meeting of Febru-
ary 6, with information provided
by representatives from the
Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) and from the
city’s consultants, Kennedy/
Jenks.
Beth Moore, DEQ Environ-
mental Specialist, explained
that the Clean Water Act gives
the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) the right to mon-
itor and control wastewater and
that Oregon DEQ is delegated
to handle those services.
Moore noted that Vernonia has
been out of compliance with
wastewater requirements for a
long time and is now on a legal
agreement calendar to reach
compliance. Vernonia has
been making milestones that
need to continue or face more
notices of non-compliance. The
problem has been that the
sewage ponds get full and liq-
uid (including fecal material)
gets released into the Nehalem
River at times when the water
flow in the river is insufficient to
handle these releases.
Moore went on to outline
possible penalties for non-com-
pliance, not, she said, to scare
people, but so everyone knows
that it is important that Vernon-
ia get their sewage into compli-
ance. Possible penalties could
include restrictions on new
hookups, fines that start at
$250 per day, even federal
takeover or third-party lawsuits
(from citizens).
DEQ representative, Rich-
ard Santer, then told those
present that Astoria was fined
$25,000 one-and-a-half-years
ago for not meeting their
schedule of construction. He
went on to say that DEQ oper-
ates a fund that’s used by
some municipalities to fund
sewage improvements. They
have loaned over $650,000 so
far. The City of Vernonia has
had two loans, an old one that
is still being paid off and a
$500,000 planning loan now.
The city has applied for addi-
tional money for design and
construction.
Preston
VanMetre
of
Kennedy/Jenks said their esti-
mates would require city sewer
rates to go from $37.00 per
month to $90.00 or $100.00
within two years in order to pay
for the construction of upgrad-
ed sewage treatment. An alter-
native to these increases would
be to pass a general obligation
bond on the November ballot
that would raise property taxes
Please see page 4
Eligible Vernonia residents have
chance to build their own homes
A Great White Egret gracefully takes to the skies just south of Banks.
Have coffee with the mayor on Wednesday mornings
Vernonia Mayor Sally Harri-
son wants to hear what citizens
have to say about many new
projects in the city. To make it
easy, she will be spending
Wednesday mornings from 7-
9:00 a.m. at the Black Bear
Coffee Co., 831 Bridge St.
Harrison wants “everyone to
know they have access to their
government.” When asked
what these meetings will be
about, she said “I will listen to
problems and concerns, and
though I may not be able to
solve them all, I will sure try.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” said
Dana Roach, owner of Black
Bear Coffee Co.
Red Cross
Blood Drive
February 22
in front of VHS.
Community Action Team is
seeking families or individuals
in the Vernonia area to partici-
pate in their Self-Help Building
Program.
The program works with
Community Action Team (CAT)
purchasing
land,
usually
enough for at least five houses.
Participants in the program all
work together to build the
homes. When all the homes
have been completed, every-
body moves into their homes.
The principle is simple, but
the process is somewhat more
complicated and can take any-
where from six months to a
year. During the construction
phase, participants are re-
quired to put in 30 hours per
week, much of which can be on
weekends and after work. In
exchange, when they move in
to their new home, the partici-
Please see page 4