19 November 2015
Commissioners unable to reach agreement
Port of Siuslaw Commissioners are not able to reach an agreement on who should take over as manager of the district. They met last night in a private session to talk about the five finalists they interviewed earlier this week. Commission President Ron Caputo says they’re going to start over.
Ron Caputo – “You know there’s five of us and we all had different ideas of what we wanted. Kind of ended up a stalemate so we decided we maybe would look at some more applicants and maybe we can find that magic person that will please all five of us.”
The Commission decided to reopen the application process for the job of overseeing all district operations, including the sport and commercial moorages, the campground and economic development efforts. During the delay, interim manager Dina McClure will continue.
Ron Caputo – “She’s our temporary manager and doing a great job and I’m so happy to have her there.”
The extended application deadline means a new permanent manager won’t be on board until after the first of the year.
School Facilities Planning to begin
An aging high school, chronic roof problems at the elementary school and security considerations are just three reasons school officials are considering what to do in the future.
Siuslaw School District officials are working towards developing a plan that will guide them in making decisions about school buildings over the next several years. One part of that process includes a series of three meetings with Superintendent Ethel Angal (ANG-gul). She wants to hear from area residents.
The Facilities Improvement Committee meetings are open to anyone who wishes to attend. The first is this afternoon at the School District office beginning at four PM. The next two are set for December 3rd and the 10th.
Food Drive to benefit from anonymous donor
An annual one-day food drive to benefit Florence Food Share is making a return after all. For 15-years Cindy Wobbe (WAH-bee) hosted what she called a “pounding”, a one day event in which she matched “pound-for-pound” all donations brought in. Last year, she was in the process of selling her café and wouldn’t be able to continue the event in the future. Wobbe said she tried unsuccessfully to find someone else to take it over. Then, a few weeks ago, she received a phone call from Food Share. They had found an anonymous donor…
Cindy Wobbe – “They wanted to match the poundage with an equal amount of dollars if I would be willing to come back and do it and perhaps continue it. And, that’s pretty hard to say no to.”
So, yes was the answer. The annual “pounding” at Grocery Outlet is this Saturday from ten until two. The event has brought in about 8-thousand pounds of food each of the past two years. At a dollar per pound, Wobbe says she understands the donor is fully aware of how much cash he or she may have to kick in.
Conservationist, author, photographer at Siuslaw Public Library
A self-described nomad who has spend the past two decades exploring, photographing and writing about more than 300 North American rivers will be in Florence tomorrow morning. Tim Palmer has written 22 books; his latest is “Field Guide to Oregon Rivers”. In it, he describes 120 of our state’s rivers.
Palmer will present a sampling of photos from that book tomorrow morning in a presentation at the Siuslaw Public Library. It’s at 11 AM; and free.
Gas prices expected to begin falling
The average price for a gallon of regular gas could drop below two dollars by Christmas. That would be the first time since 2009 that holiday travelers nationwide would see those prices according to Marie Dodds with Triple-A.
Dodds said this week’s national average price fell six cents to $2.15 a gallon, while the Oregon statewide average held steady at $2.41.
After increasing the week before, the local average price fell a penny this week to $2.17.