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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2011)
Page 4 The INDEPENDENT, March 3, 2011 Split vote will use money from already tight budget At 6:00 p.m. on February 22, before the regular Vernonia City Council meeting began at 7:00 p.m., the council met in a third study session to deter- mine which option to use to hire a City Administrator. The three options they discussed were; 1) Use the League of Oregon Cities’ process (which costs money and was last used to hire Dick Kline), 2) self-manage the process themselves (the process used to hire Bob Young), or 3) hire current Inter- im City Administrator Bill Haack. Before the council began their discussion, City Recorder Joann Glass read three letters to the council. The first was from most of the city staff in support of hiring Haack (see letter on page 2). Then a letter from Librarian Nancy Burch, in support of hiring Haack, was read. Finally, a letter from West Oregon Cooperative General Manager Marc Farmer was read, also in support of hiring Haack. When the council got to the decision-making process dur- ing the regular meeting, Coun- cilors Marilyn Nicks, Kevin Hud- son and Willow Burch all voted to use the League of Oregon Cities process, wanting to “see” who’s out there. Councilor Randy Parrow asked council to give Haack a one-year contract and then decide. When the rest of council didn’t respond to that suggestion, Parrow voted to hire Haack. Mayor Josette Mitchell cited Shady Cove, a town of about Vernonia’s size, which just used the League of Oregon Cities hiring process, got only two candidates and did not like (nor hire) either of them. Mitchell told the council this tells her that there are not can- didates out there in Vernonia’s salary range. Mitchell voted to hire Haack, but the vote was three to two, so the League of Oregon Cities will be hired to run a recruitment process to hire a new city administrator. In other business, council; • approved the proposed sale of Spencer Park to the school district. This is another step in the process of replacing Spencer Park with property at the old schools site. • gave consensus for the Mayor to appoint Pat Styles to the Library Board to replace Orissa Burghard. • approved an amendment to the Youth Services Resource Officer Agreement, which will put one of Vernonia’s police of- ficers in the schools for up to 30 hours a week, for the rest of this school year. Funding is pro- vided by the Vernonia Drug Coalition. • Haack told council that there is a new “planner” form to be used to build agendas for council meetings and make sure the topics are well-re- searched before coming to council. • approved the second read- ing of Ordinance 872, which al- lows social gambling; such as the Lion’s Club Texas Hold’em games. • approved Resolution 06-11, amending the cemetery fees to match those the city pays. • held the first and second reading, by title only, of Ordi- nance 873 which establishes an Emergency Preparedness Committee. The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m. The next regular council meeting is scheduled for March 7, starting at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. State economy shows jobs up Oregon State Economist Tom Potiowsky released his quarterly economic and rev- enue forecast February 15, showing some strong job growth in the state’s service sector but including a persistent unemployment rate of 10.6 per- cent overall. The outlook for state general fund revenues for the 2009-11 biennium is little changed from the last quarterly forecast. Tax collections will likely expand at a stronger rate over the next several months, as personal in- comes continue to recover from the recession. Potiowsky pre- dicted that general fund rev- enues for 2009-11 will be $12.4 See Economy on page 5 Court declines to review church’s appeal From page 1 of law under the Free Exercise Clause.” In declining to take up the church’s appeal, the Supreme Court did not issue any com- ment on the case. Community Calendar VERNONIA Alcoholics Anonymous Mondays 6:30 p.m., 410 North Street Alcoholics Anonymous Thursdays (Big Book Study) 7:00 p.m., 410 North Street American Legion Post #119 2nd Thursday 7:00 p.m., 627 Adams Avenue Booster Club 2nd Wednesday 7:00 p.m., VHS Library Boy Scout Troop 201 Tuesdays 7:00 p.m., Scout Cabin Boy Scout Troop 860 Wednesdays 7:00 p.m., LDS Church Cemetery Beautification Comm. 2nd Thursday 6:30 p.m., Library CERT 4th Wednesday For Info Call 503-429-3018 Chamber of Commerce 2nd Wednesday For Info Call 503-429-6081 Community Coalition 2nd Monday 12:30 p.m. School District Ofc. Cub Scout Pack 201 Scout Cabin For Info Call 503-429-4250 Friends of the Library 1st Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Vernonia Library Girl Scouts, Neighborhood 4-2 For Info Call 503-819-0143 Izaak Walton League 3rd Thursday For location call 503-429-7193 Kiwanis Club 2nd & 4th Tuesdays 6:30 p.m., New Hong Kong Lions Club 1st & 3rd Tuesdays 6:30 p.m., New Hong Kong Municipal Airport Committee 1t Wednesday 6:30 p.m., City Hall Pioneer Museum For Info Call 503-429-3713 Public Works Committee 4th Tuesday 7:00 p.m., City Hall Vernonia Cares Directors For Info call 503-429-1414 Vernonia City Council 1st & 3rd Mondays 7:00 p.m., City Hall Vernonia Community PTA 2nd Wednesday 7:00 p.m., WGS Library Vernonia Garden Club 2nd Tuesday 1:30 p.m., Vernonia Library Vernonia Grange 3rd Monday 7:00 p.m., Grange Hall Vernonia Health Center 3rd Thursday 6:30 p.m., 510 Bridge St. Vernonia Learning Center 1st Wednesday 6:00 p.m., VLC Vernonia Parks Committee 3rd Wednesday 6:30 p.m., City Hall Vernonia Planning Comm. 1st & 3rd Thursdays 7:00 p.m., City Hall Vernonia Pride 2nd Thursday 1:00 p.m., City Hall Vernonia Ridge Riders Last Thursday 7:00 p.m., Senior Center Vernonia RFPD Board 2nd Tuesday 6:00 p.m., Fire Station Vernonia School Board 2nd Thursday 6:00 p.m., District Office Vernonia Sr. Center Board 2nd Friday 10:00 a.m., Senior Center Vernonia Transfer Station 2nd & 4th Saturdays, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Behind VHS Vern. Volunteer Ambulance Assoc. 1st Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Fire Station Vernonia Volunteer Firefighters 2nd Monday 7:00 p.m., Fire Station WOEC Directors 3rd Tuesday 7:00 p.m., WOEC MIST-BIRKENFELD M-BRFPD Board Business Mtg. 2nd Tuesday M-BRFPD Board Workshop 4th Tuesday M-B Ambulance Drill 1st & 2nd Thursdays M-B Fire Drill 1st & 2nd Wednesdays M-B Helping Circle 2nd Monday M-B SAR Drill 3rd Wednesday M-B Volunteer Assoc. 1st Tuesday Natal Grange 2nd Wednesday T.O.P.S. Mondays Upr Nehalem Watershed Council For date call 429-0869 BANKS Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous American Legion Post #90 Banks City Council Banks Fire District #13 Banks Library Commission Banks Planning Commission Banks School Board Banks Youth Group Chamber of Commerce CPO 14 Everybody’s Hometown Band Friends of the Library Lions Club Sunset Park Assoc. T.O.P.S. Friday Wednesday 2nd Tuesday 2nd Tuesday 2nd Wednesday 3rd Tuesday Last Tuesday 2nd Monday Sunday, Wednesday 1st Thursday 3rd Monday Tuesdays 2nd Tuesday 1st & 3rd Mondays 3rd Wednesday Wednesday 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:30 p.m., Natal Grange Hall 9:00 a.m., Main Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station 7:30 p.m., Methodist Church 7:30 p.m., Methodist Church 7:30 p.m., Main Street Post 7:30 p.m., City Hall 7:00 p.m., Station 13 7:00 p.m., City Library 7:00 p.m., City Hall 7:30 p.m., Jr. High Library 7:00 p.m., UMC Youth Bldg. 12:30 p.m., Fire District Office 7:00 p.m., City Library 7:00 p.m., BHS Music Room 7:00 p.m., City Library 7:00 p.m., Brown Derby 8:00 p.m., Gun Club 7:00 p.m., Administration Bldg. COLUMBIA COUNTY (All meet in St. Helens unless otherwise noted.) Board of Commissioners Wednesday 10:00 a.m., Courthouse Citizens for Senior Justice 2nd Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Sunset Park Church Columbia Comm Mental Health 1st Tuesday 5”30 p.m., 58646 McNulty Way Columbia Soil & Water District 3rd Wednesday 7:30 p.m., NRCS , 2514 Sykes County Fair Board 2nd Monday 6:00 p.m., Fairgrounds 4-H Bldg. County Parks Commission 3rd Tuesday Times vary, 1054 Oregon St. Mental Health Advisory Comm. Quarterly For Info call 503-397-7211 Comm. on Children & Families 3rd Thursday 5:30 p.m. OSU Ext., 505 N. Hwy. 30 Local Alcohol & Drug Plann. Comm. Quarterly For Info call 503-397-7211 Organizations and meeting dates not listed may be included by calling 429-9410 or by mail to The INDEPENDENT, 725 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR 97064.
