6 PM meeting at City Hall
The Florence City Council will set election schedules and recognize area groups who work to be more sustainable this evening.
Mayor Joe Henry, along with councilors Joshua Greene and Ron Preisler will face reelection in the fall. Councilors will review and likely approve the schedule this evening for the nomination and election process.
Also on tap for this evening: review and selection of recipients for the Greener Florence Awards.
Each year, the city’s Environmental Management Advisory Committee seeks out groups and businesses who work to be more environmentally sustainable.
This year Lofy Construction, Florence Food Share, the Florence Area Humane Society and the Siuslaw Genealogical Society submitted nomination forms.
Councilors are also being asked to sign off on a grant application that would fund the majority of the costs for a School Resource Officer over the next three years.
The Council meets at City Hall, six pm this evening.
Ballots due Tuesday, 8 PM
As of Saturday, roughly one in three Lane County voters had returned their ballots for tomorrow’s primary election. Just over 69-thousand of the estimated 220-thousand ballots have been returned… that’s 31.31-percent.
That’s also less than one-half of the typical voter turnout for a presidential primary election.
Election workers are awaiting an onslaught of ballot returns in the next two days. They have already begun the process of verifying signatures and opening the ballots.
In addition to presidential and congressional elections, voters in Oregon are deciding party candidates for statewide offices.
Locally, there are two school capital levies on the ballot and two contested non-partisan races… the Lane County District Attorney and the Lane County Justice of the Peace.
Ballots must be returned to drop off sites no later than 8 pm tomorrow evening.
Fifth annual Oregon Coast Eco Summit
Lawmakers and community leaders from all along the Oregon Coast will converge on the Mill Casino later this summer for the fifth annual Oregon Coast Economic Summit.
The summit is hosted by delegates of the Oregon Coastal Caucus, lawmakers in the Oregon House and Senate who represent coastal districts. Attendance is by invitation only, but the two days of meetings will be taped by Charter Communications and replayed on cable systems between Brookings and Astoria.
More than 450 people from public and private sector interests will focus on the theme of this year’s summit… “Voices from Coastal and Rural Oregonians”.
Buckle up
Police officers in Oregon will spend the next two weeks focusing on proper seat belt and child safety car seat usage.
A special grant program from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will pay for officer overtime between May 16th and the 29th.
Florence Police Commander John Pitcher said local law enforcement will be participating in the program. In addition to seat belt and child seat safety, they’ll also be alert to passengers riding illegally in the open bed of pickup trucks.
Senior Center volunteers sought
Since it opened 5 ½ years ago, the Florence Senior Center has operated exclusively with the benefit of plenty of volunteers.
Now, they’re “desperately seeking” new volunteers for all jobs.
After replacing the long time chef late last year, they searching for another to take over in the end of June.
Center Association President Beth Johnston said the chef, who prepares lunches every Tuesday and Thursday, along with many of her volunteer staff, are departing.
Johnston said they are in the middle of a “major changeover, and are looking for energetic people who want to help the senior community”.
In addition to kitchen helpers and servers, volunteers to staff the reception desk are also needed.
Johnston said anyone interested in helping out can call the center at 541-997-8844, leave their name and number, and someone will call them back.
