The INDEPENDENT, July 6, 2011
Page 5
Vernonia City Council tries and fails to fill open councilor position
On June 21, the mayor and
three members of the Vernonia
City Council met to interview
candidates to fill the council po-
sition that opened when Kevin
Hudson was recalled. Council
voted for a shortened applicant
process, accepting applica-
tions from June 14 until noon
on June 20.
Five community members
had applied for the open coun-
cil seat; Brett Costley, Ilene
Grady, Ed Johnson, Victoria
Peters and Kim Tierney. Each
applicant was allotted 15 min-
utes for the interview.
Brett Costley was on the city
council for two terms, until he
resigned in 2010, stating that
he needed to spend more time
with his family. His interview
answers were heavy on his pri-
or experience. Costley has
lived in Vernonia about 10
years and is an engineer at In-
tel.
Ilene Grady has been a
teacher, and is now a substitute
teacher, at Vernonia schools.
Grady has been a city resident
for 45 years. Though she has
no governmental experience,
she stated she was a good lis-
tener and wanted to help the
city run smoother.
Ed Johnson ran for city
council last November, but was
not selected. He said he, “gets
involved when there’s a prob-
lem,” and
had
previously
worked on the telephone ex-
change issue in the 1990s. He
has not served on any city
committees or commissions.
He works at Electro Scientific
Industries and has lived in Ver-
nonia for over 21 years.
Victoria Peters ran for Mayor
last November, but lost to
Josette Mitchell. She has lived
in Vernonia five years. She cit-
ed her project management
skills, from her job as Product
Line Manager at Leupold
Stevens, as a skill that could
be helpful on the council.
Kim Tierney is a program su-
pervisor at Multnomah County
Health Dept. She stated her
budget, grant experience, and
25 years in government agen-
cies and management as use-
ful to the council position. She’s
lived in Vernonia over 29 years.
She also said that her job
would keep her from being able
to attend any meetings before
7:00 p.m.
The Mayor and council dis-
cussed each candidate and
seemed pleased with the cal-
iber of applicants. After discus-
sion, they took a sample vote
of each councilors No. 1 and
No. 2 choices. The choices giv-
en:
• Willow Burch gave Peters
as her #1 and Grady her #2
choice.
• Mayor Josette Mitchell
chose Costley, with Peters in
second position.
• Randy Parrow had the
same choices, in the same or-
der, as Mitchell.
• Marilyn Nicks put Peters in
the No. 1 spot, followed by
Costley.
After discussing whether
any of the council was willing to
change their mind, they deter-
County jobless rate down a bit
Columbia County’s season-
ally adjusted unemployment
rate was 10.2 percent in May,
essentially unchanged from the
previous month (10.3%) but
lower than the year before
(12.3%). The rate was above
the statewide rate (9.3%) and
the national rate (9.1%). Total
employment dipped by 11 to
22,110 but the number of un-
employed people dropped by
35 to 2,490. Total employment
this May was 580 more than
one year before and there were
422 fewer people unemployed
this year.
Town hall scheduled in Vernonia
From page 1
tives and actions.”
Town halls will be held in
Clatskanie, Columbia City,
Scappoose, Sauvies’ Island,
and Vernonia. All events will be
held on Sunday, July 10. The
Vernonia Town Hall will be held
at the Scout Cabin in Hawkins
Park, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
“I can’t think of a better way
to spend a day than talking to
my friends and neighbors
about the issues that matter to
our community. I encourage
everyone to come out and
share your feelings about the
session that just ended and of-
fer up good ideas for next
year,” said Witt.
mined they were deadlocked.
Parrow appeared ready to walk
out, but kept his seat, though
he suggested, “Council should
not even try to make any deci-
sions,” until after the next recall
election. At the end of what
was obviously a frustrating dis-
cussion for all members, the
council agreed to interview
Costley and Peters again on
Friday, June 24, to see if further
discussion with the candidates
made a difference in their deci-
sions.
On June 24, when council
reconvened for interviews to fill
the open council position, they
asked Costley and Peters six
additional questions. Each
council member had the option
of selecting two questions.
Both candidates were asked if
they could commit to the full 18
month term that will take the
position up to the next election
cycle. Costley answered, “Yes,”
while Peters said she expected
to be able to although she has
been considering buying prop-
erty outside the city but doesn’t
think she would move out of
the city during this time period.
After this round of questions,
Parrow and Mitchell were still in
favor of Costley, while Burch
was still in favor of Peters.
Nicks said she wanted to be
able to review all her notes and
consider her choice over the
weekend and asked that this
be tabled until June 27 meet-
ing.
At the June 27 meeting,
Nicks asked the rest of council
to consider re-opening the ap-
plication process for the full two
weeks, saying, “I don’t want to
deadlock as a council or leave
this position empty.” She stated
the hope that some additional
applicant might be acceptable
to all the council. When that
motion did not get a majority of
votes, the council appeared to
give up on filling the open posi-
tion as no plans were made to
continue working on this item.
Council interviews two for city
administrator, but does not hire
The Vernonia City Council
held interviews for the open city
administrator position on June
23. There were two candidates,
Bill Haack and Dennis Rhodes.
Each
council
member
named one “community mem-
ber” to be on a citizen panel to
interview and give input to
council. That panel was made
up of Eric Larke, Marc Farmer,
Marge Lowrance, all from Ver-
nonia, and Kimberly Booker of
Birkenfeld (chosen by Coun-
cilor Marilyn Nicks). Another
panel was composed of city de-
partment heads. These panels
were advisory only and were
asked not to pick one candi-
date over the other, but to just
give council information on
each.
Haack had been the Interim
City Administrator for almost a
year, before Burch, Nicks and
the recalled councilor Kevin
Hudson voted in May to end his
contract.
Rhodes most recent position
ended in January 2010, when
he was laid off as Community
Development Director in Fern-
dale, Washington, due to budg-
et cuts. His background is in
development and planning. He
holds a bachelor’s degree in
Urban and Regional Planning
and served 22 years in the U.S.
Navy.
After the interviews, council
went into an executive session
(closed to the public) to consid-
er the employment of an officer,
employee, staff member or
agent. When they returned
from that session, they made
no announcement or decision,
and simply adjourned the
meeting without selecting a
new city administrator.