The INDEPENDENT, January 4, 2012
Page 5
Business Notes
Fall Creek Woodworking offers wood floors and so much more
A smiling Cory Colburn, of Fall Creek Woodworking, stands
in front of a shed that holds some of the wood he has avail-
able for his flooring and woodworking jobs.
Council sees Conner take oath
The January 3 Vernonia City
Council meeting started with
the oath of office for newly ap-
pointed Vernonia Police Chief
Michael Conner.
Council was presented with
the certified 2011 population
estimate for Vernonia, from
Portland State University. As of
July 1, 2011, Vernonia had a
population of 2,110. This is
down slightly from the 2,155
population number from July 1,
2010.
Liquor license renewals
were approved for All In Pub &
Eatery, Black Bear Coffee Co.,
Blue House Cafe, Bridge Street
Mini Mart, Cedar Side Inn, New
Hong Kong Restaurant and
Vernonia Sentry Market.
City Administrator Bill Haack
was given authorization to sign
a contract addendum with
Shannon and Wilson for further
studies needed to determine
what changes should be made
at the wastewater lagoons for
the wastewater improvement
project. The city chose, based
on the Public Works Commit-
tee recommendation, Tetra
Tech Engineering and Architec-
ture Services, and council au-
thorized Haack to negotiate a
contract with that firm. Two en-
gineering firms had answered
the request for qualifications for
the project.
Resolution 01-12, outlining
the city’s new purchasing poli-
cy, was adopted. The new poli-
cy will require a completed pur-
chase order prior to purchases.
This will allow the city to better
track spending.
During discussion, it was
mentioned that two citizen
budget committee members
are needed. Contact the city for
information or an application.
The next city council meet-
ing will be January 23, at 7:00
p.m., (not the regularly sched-
uled January 16) at city hall.
Look down at your floor.
What do you see? If you don’t
like what you see, consider
calling Fall Creek Woodwork-
ing and let Cory Colburn give
you a wood floor that will make
you smile. Read on for other
woodworking projects Fall
Creek can do that will enhance
your living space.
Fall Creek Woodworking
started business in Vernonia in
1988. Colburn had been doing
different woodworking projects
since high school woodshop,
making items such as cider
presses,
furniture,
music
stands, benches, mantels,
stairs, even decks and outdoor
wood projects. Fall Creek
Woodworking also does spe-
cialty wood projects, and just
finished a beautiful, large
wooden bar for an establish-
ment in Portland.
The largest floor job Fall
Creek Woodworking has done
was a 2,000 square foot resi-
dential job, though Colburn has
also done commercial jobs as a
subcontractor, such as the floor
for a small chapel for the Arch-
diocese in Portland.
Colburn says, “I really enjoy
jobs working for people I know,
those are very satisfying.” He
has installed floors made of
exotic woods like Brazilian
cherry, Mahogany, and Guara-
bu (called Tiger Wood), but re-
ally likes doing floors from the
domestic woods: maple, red or
white oak, doug fir, and eastern
red birch. He’s even done
maple and white oak floors us-
ing wood found locally. Colburn
has even milled wood for small
jobs, with his own small mill. In
some years, he’s laid as many
as 30 floors.
Colburn can also refinish ex-
isting wood floors, often in as
short a time as one day. Refin-
ishing an existing wood floor
can be much more cost effi-
cient than replacing a floor, and
wood floors can last many,
many years.
Just sitting down and talking
to Colburn, his depth of knowl-
edge about wood, from tree to
finished project, is impressive.
This man knows wood and
what can be done with it.
If you looked down and did-
n’t see a wood floor by Fall
Creek Woodworking, now is a
good time to call 503-429-4351
and get yours started. He’s just
up Keasey Road.
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Wage increase started on Jan. 1
From page 4
of increases you see in the
minimum wage – they’re small,
they’re predictable – have very
little impact on employers.
They absorb them in a bunch
of ways.”
Schmitt acknowledges some
companies might raise prices a
bit to cover the cost, but in his
view, if it allows them to pay
workers enough to keep them
off public assistance, it’s an ac-
ceptable trade-off. For a full-
time worker in Oregon, the
higher minimum wage will
mean just over 600 more dol-
lars a year.
The pay hike is expected to
affect about 137,000 Oregon
workers, mostly in retail and
hospitality businesses. Schmitt
says it should also help those
who make a dollar or two more
per hour, “You’re increasing the
wages of people at the very
bottom of the wage distribution,
people who’ve fallen the far-
thest behind over the last 20 or
30 years. It helps to set a floor
and strike a blow against this
rising inequality we’ve seen for
the last three decades or so.”
He says people need to earn
more, and spend more, to
speed the pace of economic re-
covery, and he believes a high-
er minimum wage will help.
Oregon is one of eight states
that raised its minimum wage
on January 1.
Winter is here… see us for
A NTI F REEZE
H EATING O IL
CALL
(503) 429-6606
WILCOX & FLEGEL
720 Rose Avenue • Vernonia