PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 27, No. 4
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice
Voice of
of the Upper Nehalem River
The
River Valley
Valley for
for Over
Over 25
27 years
years
February 15, 2012
Bonamici announces her
first round of Town Halls
Newly elected Congress-
woman Suzanne Bonamici has
scheduled her first town hall
meetings in her district.
• Feb. 18, 2–3:00 p.m.
Beaverton City Hall, 4755 SW
Griffith Dr., Beaverton.
• Feb. 25, 10:30 to 11:30
a.m., Hillsboro Library, 2850
NE Brookwood Parkway, Hills-
boro.
• Feb. 25, 1–2:00 p.m,
Rainier Senior Center, 48 West
7th St., Rainier.
• Feb. 25, 4–5:00 p.m., Clat-
sop Community College, Per-
forming Arts Center, 588 16th
St., Astoria.
Vernonia Council works
on Committee ordinance
Last week, students in the Pacific University Dental program, (left to right) Kelsey Pautz,
Amanda Bolliger, and Aimee Elrod, along with others, came to Vernonia and performed den-
tal screenings on every student, Kindergarten through grade 12. This service was organized
by Heather Lewis and sponsored by the Vernonia Prevention Coalition.
Left to right, the new Verdura Family Wellness staff includes of Receptionist Tonia Clark (Ver-
nonia), Jessica McLaughlin, MA (Vernonia), Albert Rodriguez, PA, Practice Manager Sara
Miller, and Office Manager Charissa Miller. Dr. Bryan Miller, DO, will be here weekly, also.
Verdura Family Wellness to open Feb. 20
Verdura Family Wellness,
the new medical clinic in Ver-
nonia, will open Monday, Feb-
ruary 20, and will operate on
Mondays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays, from 8:30 a.m. to
5:00 p.m.
The staff and providers will
be available to meet the public
at an Open House this Satur-
day, February 18, from 9:30
a.m. to noon. New patient reg-
istrations will be available at
the open house and can still be
picked up at Vernonia Pharma-
cy or at West Oregon Electric
Cooperative.
Verdura Family Wellness is,
“looking forward to…contribut-
ing to the community’s well-
ness,” said Practice Manager
Sara Miller. Come meet them
at the Open House.
The clinic is located at 510
Bridge Street and their phone
number is 503-429-0300. The
website is www.verdurafamily
wellness.com.
Mayor Josette Mitchell ap-
pointed George Tice for anoth-
er term on the Budget Commit-
tee at the February 6 Vernonia
City Council meeting. Mitchell
also announced that there is
still one open position on the
Budget Committee. Information
on that opening, and applica-
tions, are available on the city
website or at city hall.
Dan Brown gave a presenta-
tion on flood recovery efforts,
explaining to the mostly new
council how the processes
worked for determining dam-
age, and getting homes lifted,
moved, or removed. Brown told
council that there will be seven
homes lifted starting this spring
and that there may be one
more small group of homes lift-
ed after that, but that flood re-
covery efforts are starting to
wind down at this point.
Council spent a fair amount
of time discussing the pro-
posed new Committee Ordi-
nance. The ordinance will for-
malize the composition and du-
ties of all city committees.
Small differences in commit-
tees will then be identified by
specific resolutions. Each com-
mittee will be composed of sev-
en members, at least five to be
residents of the city, plus one
council liaison who will not be a
voting member of the commit-
tee. To reach any decisions
about recommendations to the
council from the committee,
four of the seven members
must agree. Council then held
a Work Session on February
13 to finalize what is now Ordi-
nance 880 and held the first
reading, by title only. The final
draft will be included in the next
meeting’s agenda with the final
reading to be held at that time.
The council recommended
that City Administrator Bill
Haack find a way to improve
the tracking of public works
projects and personnel time.
Council feels that the informa-
tion would help to better deter-
mine the budgetary needs of
this department. Haack said he
will contact other cities and find
out what resources are avail-
able for this purpose and report
back to council in March.
Council approved a request
by Chief of Police Michael Con-
ner to surplus the ICOP cam-
eras and replace them with a
less costly lapel camera sys-
tem.
The next meeting of the city
council will be February 21 (as
city hall will be closed February
20 for President’s Day) at 7:00
p.m. in city hall.
Vernonia
Church
offers Free
Dinner on Feb.
18. See page 7
for more
information