Page 20
The INDEPENDENT, July 20, 2011
Council okays small garbage rate increase
From page 4
persons either adjacent to, or
not adjacent to the lots, as long
as the easement holders agree
not to install any improvements
(flood plain requirements),
maintain the lot (cut the grass,
for example) and maintain lia-
bility insurance on the property.
The property still belongs to the
city, but allows the easement
holder to use the property.
In other business, council:
• Approved a motion that
makes the old school site a
green space in perpetuity, once
the schools move to the new
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site;
• approved a budgeted con-
tract with Sean Pickner for GIS
services;
• okayed an amendment to
the city attorney contract, as
Alex Sosnkowski now has a
partner, Ruben Cleaveland;
• approved increases in
Waste Management charges
that are the result of a pass-
through from Columbia County
raising rates at the transfer sta-
tion in St. Helens. Most resi-
dential customers will see an
increase of about $.25.
• approved a ground lease to
allow the school district to con-
tinue using the old school site
for the time being;
• approved the establish-
ment of a perpetual right-of-
way on city-owned property by
the airport to allow for the fu-
ture building of a road on Air-
port Way;
• accepted a special allot-
ment of $500,000 from the De-
partment of Transportation that
will be used to fix and pave A
St. from State Avenue towards
OA Hill;
• voted to extend the person-
al services contract with Jim
Johnson and Josette Mitchell
to continue as pro tem city ad-
ministrators through August 31.
The contract had been slated
to end July 31, but the process
to select a new city administra-
tor has not been completed;
• heard the mayor appoint
Carol Davis to the Vernonia
Community Learning Center
Committee, after they had giv-
en their consensus to the ap-
pointment.
The next regular city council
meeting will be held on August
1, starting at 7:00 p.m. in city
hall.
Recall election currently underway
From page 5
to the source, Jim Johnson,
and he said Haack did not with-
draw and had participated in
communications interviews. As
to the out-of-control spending,
unsustainable projects and
backroom deals – I would cer-
tainly hope no one sitting for
the city would do those. That’s
a given.”
Bernal went on to add, “The
Council kept Mike Kay on pay-
roll saying he needed his ‘due
process rights’ first on the mis-
conduct allegations. Nicks and
Burch were very vocal about
that. Both Nicks and Burch
have expressed their inability
to work with Haack due to com-
munications problems, then
both voted to terminate his con-
tract. What I see now is they
both listed inflammatory re-
marks about Haack’s perform-
ance. Where is the due
process for Haack? I’m disap-
pointed by reading the justifica-
tions of both of these ladies.”
If Burch and Nicks are not
recalled in the election, council
goes back to trying to choose
another councilor and hire a
city administrator. If the recall is
successful on either or both,
the person recalled stops being
a councilor immediately upon
receiving a letter from the city
when the election results have
been certified. If both Nicks and
Burch are recalled, Councilor
Randy Parrow and Mayor
Josette Mitchell have said they
will use a lottery to select three
panels of five citizens each to
interview applications for coun-
cilor and accept the recom-
mendations of those panels in
selecting replacement coun-
cilors to complete the rest of
those council terms until the
next open election in Novem-
ber 2012.
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From page 3
department. When I asked for
information I was told there
was nothing to tell. My instincts
told me something was seri-
ously wrong with this and it
wasn’t for me to have private
meetings about. I asked for an
executive session.
Repeatedly I was denied.
Apparently there was nothing
to tell Council. Until suddenly
we were informed not only is
there something to tell but we
now find ourselves in need of a
very expensive attorney and
furthermore we have to hire an-
other investigator. My brain is
screaming ‘what the **** is go-
ing on here.’
On the night of May 2nd I
was terrified. I knew the infor-
mation Mr. Haack wanted to re-
lease to the public was in the
packet along with his press re-
lease. I did not believe all of the
information was public. And I
believed this action was a vio-
lation of a City Employee’s
Constitutional rights. And just
before the meeting I was in-
formed Scott Laird had rallied a
large group of people to attend
the meeting. I was prepared to
ask for executive session to
speak with our attorney to dis-
cuss the legality of releasing
these documents. In my opin-
ion this was totally staged to
make it look like the City Coun-
cil had approved this.
The whole thing blew up be-
fore I was able to make a mo-
tion for council to discuss this
with the attorney. Kevin Hud-
son moved to remove this from
the agenda and I had to sup-
port that decision. The crowd
became vocal and some be-
came angry. The attorney said
she was only aware one docu-
ment was going into the pack-
et, not all three. I feared Mr.
Haack had put the City at great
risk. I was backed into a corner.
I believed Mr. Haack had be-
haved in an unprofessional
way one too many times. I
made the motion to terminate
the contract with Colpac. I did-
n’t know what anyone else was
going to do but enough was
enough for me.
This is where I am going to
call it what it is. Mr. Haack lied.
He lied to previous council and
he lied to the present council.
He stepped outside the profes-
sional realm of his duties to
keep council informed. He mis-
represented his authority to
DPSST to request an investi-
gation after the DPSST Investi-
gator informed him it had to
come from the hiring body.
Please see page 21