PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 26, No. 13
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley for Over 25 years
July 6, 2011
Council votes to fire Kay
The Vernonia 4th of July parade was, as usual, well received by a large crowd of spectators.
The Vernonia City Council
agenda for June 27 was short,
but the meeting was long. They
discussed but did not choose a
new councilor.
The only other item on the
agenda was an Executive Ses-
sion (closed to the public) to,
“consider dismissal or disci-
pline of, or to hear charges or
complaints against an officer,
employee, staff member or
agent.” The council went into
that closed session at 6:25
p.m. Five minutes into the ses-
sion, Heidi Lindsay, Vernonia
Police Sergeant Mike Kay’s girl
friend, knocked on the door,
holding a notebook binder, and
was admitted. After she left,
without the binder, council con-
tinued in session until 10:45
p.m. taking one break.
When the session was over,
council returned to open ses-
sion. Councilor Randy Parrow
moved to terminate the em-
ployment of Sergeant Mike Kay
and to have the city attorney
draw up the paperwork. After a
couple of minutes of silence,
Councilor Marilyn Nicks sec-
onded the motion, which was
approved unanimously.
The termination was effec-
tive the next day, on June 28.
The meeting was adjourned
at 10:46 p.m.
There was a council meeting
on July 5. Due to our publishing
schedule, look for the report
from that meeting in the July 20
issue.
The next regular city council
meeting is scheduled for July
18, at 7:00 p.m. at city hall.
Johnson and Witt to hold Town Hall Recall process starts on Burch and Nicks
Senator Betsy Johnson (D-
Scappoose) and Representa-
tive Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie)
will host a series of town halls
in Columbia County on Sun-
day, July 10. Johnson and Witt
will share their thoughts on the
legislative session and take
questions from constituents on
issues of concern.
“There’s a lot to talk about
this recent session and I’m in-
terested in hearing from con-
Fireworks at the Vernonia 4th
of July festivities lasted for
about 30 minutes this year.
stituents about how they think
we did,” said Johnson. “We
have appreciated frequent con-
tacts with our constituents
throughout the session. These
town halls give us the opportu-
nity for a face-to-face conver-
sation about legislation initia-
See Town on page 5
Forms were filed with the
City of Vernonia yesterday, July
5, to initiate a recall election of
city councilors Willow Burch
and Marilyn Nicks. As with the
recent recall of Kevin Hudson,
Sharon Bernal is listed as the
chief petitioner.
Reasons listed for recalling
Burch included that she:
• has created unnecessary
crisis and upheaval at Vernon-
ia’s expense,
• does not listen to the ma-
jority of the People she repre-
sents,
• created unnecessary costs
to the City and caused serious
loss of time on City projects,
and
Vernonia band teacher, Rob Izzett, conducted a few numbers when the 204th Army Band
came to town for a concert at Hawkins Park on July 2.
• is unwilling to compromise
when others do not share her
opinion.
Reasons given for Nicks re-
call included the statement that
she ignored over 180 endorse-
ments from citizens and lead-
ers requesting that interim city
administrator (Haack) be hired
permanently. It continues, “You
did not listen THEN and you
continue not to listen…”
The filing also said that
Nicks was willing to spend
money on hiring a new city ad-
ministrator but was, “not willing
to spend any time on trying to
work out your difference with
people you ‘can’t communicate
with’.”
This filing allows the process
of collecting voter signatures to
begin. If enough signatures are
collected in favor of the peti-
tion, a special election will be
held asking the citizens of Ver-
nonia to vote on whether or not
to recall Burch and Nicks.
The date of the election will
be determined after the signa-
tures are gathered and submit-
ted to the Columbia County
Elections Department.