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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2010)
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. Postage Paid Vernonia, OR 97064 Permit No. 37 Vol. 25, No. 20 THE INDEPENDENT The Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley for Over 25 years October 21, 2010 City found in violation in five areas of flood grant compliance Left to right; Interim Vernonia City Administrator Bill Haack, Representative Brad Witt, Gener- al Manager Marc Farmer, Senator Betsy Johnson, County Commissioner Tony Hyde and Rep- resentative Debbie Boone were all smiles at the October 8 groundbreaking for the new West Oregon Electric Cooperative headquarters on Rose Ave. Photo by Sarah Rossi. New flood maps change risk in some areas Columbia County is urging residents affected by the re- cently-approved Federal Emer- gency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps to get in- surance before November 25th, the day before the new maps take effect. Columbia County recently completed reviewing and re- newing flood maps, which help identify hazard zones and high- risk properties that are eligible for flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Pro- gram (NFIP). Some properties not previously in the flood plain are now listed in that area, which means those residents may need to purchase a NFIP flood insurance policy. According to Glen Higgins, flood plain administrator for the county, if your dwelling has his- torically been mapped as out of the Flood Hazard area and is now in that area on the new maps, if you purchase flood in- surance prior to the November 25, 2010, deadline, you will qualify for a Preferred Risk Pol- icy. The Preferred Risk rate can FREE be continued on that policy for two years, as long as the insur- ance policy is kept current. Af- ter two renewals, your policy will transition to a standard rate schedule but, because you bought a policy when your dwelling was out of the flood hazard area, you can grandfa- ther to the “out of the flood zone” rate, or use the new zone rate, whichever is less expen- sive for you. Those with mortgages may be required by their lenders to purchase the flood insurance because standard home insur- ance does not cover floods, ac- cording to Derek White, the county’s emergency manage- ment director. “All folks in the flood plain are highly encour- aged to get flood insurance even if they don’t have a mort- gage company requiring them to do so,” White said. White added that NFIP poli- cies will pay claims even when federal disaster help is not eligi- ble. “We had flooding in Clatskanie in January 2009 that did not meet the requirements for a federal disaster declara- tion. Those who had flood in- surance were still able to get assistance with claims they filed and others were unable to get any kind of recovery assis- tance.” For more information on the NFIP, go to http://www.floods- mart.gov or call 1-888-379- 9531. State public records, meeting laws get “F” Attorney General John Kroger recently released a Government Transparency Re- port emphasizing that Oregon’s nearly 40-year-old public records and public meetings laws need major reforms. “Oregon received an ‘F’ in a 2007 study of government transparency in the fifty states,” said Deputy Attorney General Mary Williams. “Oregonians across the state agree with that assessment.” After taking office last year, Attorney General Kroger deter- mined it was time to reform See Public on page 5 The City of Vernonia re- ceived a letter, dated Septem- ber 23, notifying them of issues needing to be addressed re- garding their administration of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds used for flood recovery projects. The letter, though it said that, “In general, the grant project is in compliance with…require- ments.” also said that the proj- ect is not proceeding on sched- ule and that there was one “Finding”. A “Finding” was de- fined as a situation where the city is in violation of federal law or a Special Condition of the grant contract. The City had 30 days to provide a satisfactory response to the “Finding”, be- fore “appropriate sanctions Halloween Activities Sunday, Oct. 31 Carved Pumpkin Contest — 3-6:00 p.m. at Black Bear Coffee Co. Bring your carved pumpkins to be judged. $2 for 12 and under, $5 over 12. Cash prize determined by number of entries. Free mu- sic by Basinbillies and free face painting for kids, plus 50/50 drawing, $1 per ticket or $5 for six. Sponsored by Black Bear and the Free- wheelers. Halloween Costume Parade — 4:30 p.m. start- ing at City Hall. Sponsored by Vernonia Community PTA and Clever Cricket. Fall Carnival — 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Ver- nonia Christian Church, with games, prizes, goodies and more. Join us at 410 North Street for a safe Halloween alternative of free family fun for everyone. For more infor- mation call the church office at 503-429-6522 may be exercised.” The grant in question is for $500,000 to help with flood ele- vations and rehabilitation proj- ects administered by Commu- nity Action Team (CAT) in their capacity as the overseer of the County’s flood relief efforts. The “Finding” actually out- lined five areas needing to be addressed, including docu- menting permit inspections be- fore paying for work done, the homeowner needing to find three bids for work (versus CAT giving them bids), handling of homeowner conflicts with con- tractors, work not being done to specifications, and problems with paperwork in one file. One of the findings was about work that had to be done a second time because 6” foundation blocks were used where the re- quirements called for 8” foun- dation blocks. Jim Tierney, CAT Deputy Di- rector, told council, “I don’t think this kind of feedback is ever harmful” and that it gives an op- portunity to review the process. The eight-page response letter approved by council outlined corrective action that would ad- dress the concerns, such as additional training for person- nel. Council approval allowed the letter prepared by Commu- nity Action Team to be sent within the 30 day time limit. Ballot drop sites Ballot drop sites for the No- vember 2 General Election are as follows: • Vernonia Library during li- brary hours through Nov. 1; noon to 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 2. • Mist-Birkenfeld RFPD dur- ing office hours through Nov. 1; 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Nov. 2 • County Courthouse, 230 Strand St., is open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on November 2. There is also a drive-by drop box in the lower parking lot.