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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2011)
Page 4 The INDEPENDENT, May 19, 2011 Vernonia mayor named as pro tem with assistance from Johnson Since the May 2 Vernonia City Council meeting where Councilor Willow Burch started the process that led to the council, in a 3-2 split, voting to terminate Interim City Adminis- trator Bill Haack’s contract, the council has held three special meetings and one regular meeting. Haack’s last day was May 17. The community’s re- sponse to Haack’s firing was to start a recall election for Coun- cilor Kevin Hudson (see full ar- ticle on page 1). Community members have also stated they will start recalls on Councilors Marilyn Nicks and Willow Burch in July. Recalls cannot com- mence until six months after a person takes office. Two of the special meetings, on May 6 and May 9, led to the decision made on May 16 to appoint Mayor Josette Mitchell as Pro Tem City Administrator (with no compensation) and to contract with Jim Johnson to be a co-Pro Tem City Administrator at an hourly wage, to help Mitchell and the city during this unexpected time of transition. The contracts outlined the du- ties and responsibilities of each in acting as “place-holders” un- til the, already begun, hiring process for a new city adminis- trator can be completed. Haack’s contract would have run out June 30 in any event, though it could probably have been renewed to allow for con- tinuity in the hiring process. Council held two executive sessions to review and discuss city administrator candidates and timing for interviews, with Jennie Messmer of the League of Oregon Cities. At the second session, on May 17, council came out of executive session to announce the unanimous de- cision to move ahead with inter- views of six candidates. First, there will be phone interviews by Messmer and Jim Johnson, followed by an executive ses- sion on May 31 to hear about those interviews. Council agreed they want to have three interview panels; one of coun- cil, one of staff members and one made up of community members. Those face-to-face interviews have tentatively been set for June 23 and 24, to allow time between the phone interviews and the live ones for background checks to be com- pleted on the final candidates. No information about who the candidates are has been re- leased yet. Community members stood up at both the May 9 special meeting and the May 16 regular meeting to tell council of their disapproval of the firing of Haack and their intent to recall Hudson now and Burch and Nicks later. On May 9, Joe Kim spoke from the floor and specif- ically asked each council mem- ber to answer the question, “Did you use family or friends in an attempt to evade ORS 192.610 (9),” which states that the public’s business must be done in the public eye. Burch, Hudson, Parrow, and Mitchell all responded, “No,” while Nicks looked at the City Attorney Sosnkowski in apparent panic without saying anything. Sosnkowski told her she is not required to answer and Nicks then refused to answer Kim’s question. Councilor Randy Parrow then asked councilor Burch, Hudson and Nicks to reconsid- er their vote to fire Haack. All three declined. The May 19 meeting was held in front of a standing room only crowd. Scott Laird spoke from the floor to apologize for his actions on May 2 (apparent- ly in reference to spreading the Kay investigation information around the community) then went on to say, “You tried to hide and ignore that DPSST in- vestigation…I have a list of questionable actions” of Nicks, Burch and Hudson. He finished with, “What you are doing is anything but honorable. I re- spectfully request you resign before you bring more shame on this community. Step down now before you waste any more city money on recalls.” He also declared that Burch and Nicks would be recalled in ear- ly July. Sharon Bernal, chief peti- tioner in the Hudson recall, spoke up to ask Hudson, Burch See Work on page 5 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 Tuesday 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.