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Wednesday, July 6, 2016
The Chronicle
$1 Vol. 134, No. 27 12 Pages
www.thechronicleonline.com
A farewell to furloughs for Columbia County BY CODY MANN cmann@countrymedia.net
After 8 years of furloughs, the county will return to a full schedule of serving the public. In past years, some county employees saw as much as 10 percent of their schedules reduced due to furloughs. This past year there were eight days of furlough for the county. The furloughs affected the county from top to bottom, with county commissioners and other elected officials taking the first cuts. Columbia County Commissioner Tony Hyde said the budget passed for the coming fiscal year reflected a goodbye to lost workdays. For the past several years, the courthouse that is home to many county services was open four days of the week. The new budget allows for the full five days of operations. “I think that it’s directly due to economic development that’s been going on in the county,” Hyde said. “That’s now starting to manifest itself in a financial way.” The upswing in the budget also allowed for adding personnel to the rolls. Columbia County Finance and Taxation Director Jennifer Cuellar-Smith said the new budget included the capacity for 171 full-time employees, whereas the previous budget listed a capacity of 157 full-time employees. “It’s a great thing to get capacity back, “Cuellar-Smith said. “Hopefully by adding a little bit more capacity and having every-
body back, we’ll be able to feel less like we’re treading water on the basic core services, and be able to move on some things that we know are more strategic that we’ve had to put on hold for many years.” Cuellar-Smith said the number of furlough days increased in steps at first, but had steadily decreased in recent years and would not be seen in the coming year’s budget. She said declining timber funds from the federal government, directed to supporting the county’s general fund, played a big part in the need for furloughed workdays. The return to full-time operations is tied to Oregon’s Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) and Hyde’s close eye on the looming rate increase that was set for January of 2017. Hyde said there is a pall hanging over state and local governments because of the $1.5 billion deficit Oregon is facing, which Hyde largely attributes to court action that reversed PERS legislation designed to cut costs. “It’s a concern for all local and state governments because we’re all going to see a rate increase in January,” he said, adding that the increase might be in the double digits, 20 percent or more. However, Hyde said Columbia County is prepared for the big hit coming from PERS. “Even in the wake of all our layoffs and furloughs over the years, we put together a PERS savings account that was a rate-increase adjustment in case the PERS system did not prevail in court,” he said.
In other words, the county has been saving for the rainy day that is the PERS rate increase. According to Hyde, the coming PERS rate increase will not impact the county. He said that was a difficult goal to achieve in part because the optics involved in saving funds while simultaneously making layoffs and furloughs. Hyde said, “When that storm hits in January, you’re going to hear an outcry from a lot of local governments – you will not hear that from us – we are prepared for those numbers.” The PERS issue is one that Hyde tracked for the past 15 years, concluding that the system was fatally flawed in many ways. “I made it my chore to do something about it, and the next thing I know I was co-chair of the state committee for PERS reform,” he said. Hyde said at that time, a number of reforms were made such as updating the mortality rate to reflect longer average life spans. The statistical difference in life spans led to uncalculated costs, or unfunded actuarial liability. Hyde said PERS was tied to the stock market in the past, another factor that needed reform. He said the way it worked, if the stock market went up, the government took a hit, but if the stock market went down, the government also took a hit. “You could take your PERS account and invest in the stock market, and if the stock market went up your investment had to be paid
See COUNTY, Page A6
DON PATTERSON/The Chronicle
A return to full-time service as well as additional employees are part of the county budget for the coming year.
Nursery volunteers restoring environment St. Helens man awarded hero’s medal A St. Helens man received national recognition for his heroic acts to disarm an assailant, saving the lives of his neighbors and himself. Jacob Scott Jones, 35, was awarded the Carnegie Medal for his actions in March 2015 that saved the life of Albert L. Schneider and others by disarming the assailant and holding him until police arrived. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission in Pittsburg, Penn. announced the award June 30. Jones is one of 23 recipients of the medal, named Jacob Scott Jones after industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The medal recognizes civilian heroism in the US and Canada. Jones will also receive a finan-
cial grant from the fund. According to police reports from the time, Schneider interceded in a confrontation between a neighbor, Robert Goin, and a teenager in the street. Goin produced a gun and shot Schneider in the stomach while both men wrestled to the ground. Alerted to the altercation, Jones took the gun, removed the ammunition magazine, and put the gun in his garage. In the meantime, police said Goin Courtesy photo went to the trunk of his car to retrieve another gun. Jones ran to the car, wrested the gun from Goin and pinned him down until police arrived. Schneider required hospitalization for his wound.
Some people would tell you working in the garden or greenhouse is the secret to happiness. When you add community volunteering to that, it becomes possible to pull great joy from the soil. The fresh air and exercise can do a body good, too. Scappoose Bay Watershed Council operates a native plant nursery on the campus at Scappoose High School. The plants grown at the nursery are used in local environmental restoration projects such as the 6,400 plants for a Milton Creek project that were placed on Pittsburg Road. Amber Kester is the watershed technician for the council and the Native Plant Center operations manager. She started as a volunteer in 2012 and became the manager for the nursery in 2014. Kester said she began volunteering out of an interest in cleaning up the environment and wanting to pass that spirit of restoration along to her children. From 9 a.m. until noon each Thursday, the nursery offers a volunteer work program. The public is welcome to help out during that time, and Kester said other times could be scheduled dependent on
need. She said there are typically five to 10 volunteers at the site on a Thursday. Volunteers have the opportunity to learn skills such as plant identification. Kester said her understanding of medicinal and edible plants has grown since getting involved at the nursery. If a person wants to know what they could survive on the wilderness, they might learn it volunteering at the nursery. Twice a year the nursery holds public sales at the site, with the sales taking place in April and October. Those sales are the primary source of funding for the nursery, but Kester said the organization is looking into possible grants and other funding sources for the nonprofit nursery. Using a native plant for your home project is preferable to a domestic plant in some cases because it may increase natural functionality in the environment. The seeds for the plant species are locally sourced, with material for larger projects coming from Northwest Oregon Restoration Partnership (NORP). The Native Plant Center is a satellite nursery of NORP, but strives to operate as independently as possible. The
organization promotes the use of local nursery stock derived from operations that are near restoration projects or watershed councils, a practical approach that reduces the carbon footprint of restoration projects. “We would like to expand,” Kes-
See PLANTS, Page A6
CODY MANN/The Chronicle
The Native Plant Center in Scappoose supplies plants for restoration projects and offers a pair of sales to the public each year.
101st Columbia County Fair & Rodeo Fair Dates July 20-24th FEATURING PARMALEE STRAIGHT FROM NASHVILLE! 1 Night July 16th, 3 Concerts Gates Open at 3:30 Music Starts at 5
BABY BACK RIBS 1111 Columbia Blvd centerplacemarket.com/sthelens.html f
1/2 Rack: $8.99 Full Wrack: $15.99 Meal: $9.99 Family: $24.99 Wednesday Night BBQ • JULY 6