Lane County Financial Improvements Pay Off
The Secretary of State’s office announced this week that Lane County is no longer listed as being “high-risk” in regard to its financial health. The state has monitored the financial health of several Oregon Counties over the past four years. West Lane Commissioner Jay Bozievich said this week’s announcement was due to a lot of hard work.
Jay Bozievich – “But we’ve also done an awful lot to control our costs and our growth of costs. We went to self-insured for health insurance, we reduced our debt.”
Even with improvements, there are still concerns.
Jay Bozievich – “We don’t have near the level of public safety services that I think the citizens expect. There’s still risk out there and we’re building a deferred maintenance liability in our road system, in our park system and other places. We don’t have sufficient revenues to maintain our assets and I think in the long run, if we stay at this level of funding, if we don’t do something to fix the timber side of things we are going to be at risk in the future.”
The Secretary of State’s report can be found on that office’s website under government audits.
Quince cleanup nets piles of trash
More than two-dozen people converged on the brush near the Florence Events Center on both sides of Quince Street yesterday. They came away with several large trash bags filled with garbage and a bunch of old tires.
The volunteers were employees of TCC Verizon, a regional wireless retailer… they have an outlet in Florence… and they were working with Raymond Block who organizes the online group Leaven No Trace.
Raymond Block – “This is actually the biggest turnout I’ve had. In six months in Coos County I’ve pulled over 70-tons of material out of the forest, most of the work by myself. I’m at 5,202 tires and counting.”
Much of yesterday’s garbage came from a series of homeless camps in the area. But some of it was the result of dumping that took place decades ago. Block says all of it is hidden from view and you have to really look to find it. Something he is drawn to.
Raymond Block – “My mission is to clean up all trash. I don’t care where it is, whose fault it is, it just needs to be cleaned up.”
The Arizona native says he’ll continue to pick up garbage… with or without help… as long as it’s there.
Consolidating fee information the goal
Florence City Councilors sat down in a work session Wednesday to hear about city fees…
Erin Reynolds – “Currently the city has many fees, as I know most people are aware of. They reside in various resolutions and ordinances and other city council actions over the years, spanning decades.”
The conversation wasn’t about how to change fees, but more about how to help prevent confusion about how much they are and what they are for. The lack of one central fee schedule was the topic. City Manager Erin Reynolds financial staff sat down with Councilors this week. Wednesday’s meeting was informational only and no action was taken.
Oregon Coast Aquarium introduces two rescues
A pair of California Sea Lions rescued last year will spend the rest of their lives at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.
Biologists say neither would be able to survive if they were released back into the wild.
Three-year-old Catalina and two-year-old Rosa were rescued by the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, California. Catalina was discovered to be blind in one eye and Rosa was unusually small for her age.
Both arrived in Newport in July of last year; they’ve been gradually introduced to the rest of the sea lion population at the aquarium.
They are full fledged members of the crew and will be available for viewing by aquarium visitors… or on the aquarium’s web cam.
A-G says “just hang up”
The Oregon Attorney General’s office wants to help people avoid fraud and imposter phone scams. Ellen Klem, the Director of Consumer Outreach and Education says the program is called “Just Hang Up”. It encourages the best method to avoid a phone scam.
Ellen Klem – “How do you know that it’s an imposter who’s calling you? Well, if they ask you to wire money or buy a prepaid card, that’s a sure sign. That’s a huge red flag and you should hang up the phone immediately.”
Klem said last year the agency issued a list of six tips about avoiding scams that include the immediate demand for payment and requests for personal information. A poster with those steps and other information can be found at the Attorney General’s website.
Ellen Klem – “Which is Oregon Consumer dot Gov. They can also call our consumer hotline which is 1-877-877-9392 and that’s staffed five days a week, Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 4:30.”
Klem encourages everyone to print out that list and keep it by the phone.
Annexation request expected to be finalized
The Florence City Council will hold a final hearing Monday evening on a request to annex three properties abutting Highway 101 north of Munsel Lake Road. The hearing will be on assigning the land use zoning of service industrial to the properties. Lane County has zoned the property either tourist, commercial or residential. But, under the city’s Comprehensive Plan, the entire region is planned to provide for light industrial uses. Other land already annexed in that area carries the service industrial designation.
The Council is expected to make a final decision on both the annexation as well as the zoning Monday evening. They’re also being asked to make final action on a rewrite of the wireless telecom codes… that regulate things like cell phone towers. Those proposed changes came about because of the same annexation request.
