- September 19, 2012 Your COMMUNITV Page 5.
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By Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The U.S. Forest Service Sweet Home
Ranger District will complete a final draft of its
Cool Soda restoration and management plan at
the end of the month, o
The document will be available for view-
ing atthe Ranger District office on Oct. 1. The
Ranger District will host a field trip to the Cool
Soda area in October, so that members of the
planning group and the public can view the
area with plan in hand.
A draft of the plan was presented on Aug.
21, and officials are preparing the final draft for
presentation to the public. Following the pre-
sentation, the plan will enter the National Envi-
ronmental Policy Act process, giving the public
the opportunity to comment on the plan.
The draft is the result of a series of meet-
ings with members of the public, Cascade Tim-
ber Consulting, conservation organizations and
various agencies, cooperatively developing
plans for the Soda Fork drainage area, which
is owned by the Forest Service and private in-
terests, primarily the Hill family, whose land is
managed by CTC.
"There are a lot of things we can do, but
instead, they'll be connected with the private
land," said Sweet Home District Ranger Cindy
Glick.
Those pal:ticipating in the meeting ex-
amined the current conditions of the land and
identified the benefits that can be drawn from
it. Based on that information, they developed
proposed projects to be included in the plan.
CTC is already working on plans using
an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
grant to enhance wildlife habitat, which also
will help protect seedlings in the Soda Fork
area, by planting vegetation favored by deer
and elk.
CTC isn't bound by the same regulations
that bind the Forest Service, Glick said. so it
can implement things more quickly.
Other possible projects include trails,
protecting lands of interest to Native Ameri-
can tribes and harvesting timber and other for-
est products, such as bear grass and firewood,
which could help fund restoration projects.
Still others include the removal of noxious
weeds, replacement of undersized culverts and
hauling away sidecast to stable waste areas.
"What we're hoping is that we'll gener-
ate all kinds of different work," Glick said. The
plan involves tending the forest as well as get-
ting forest products output from the land.
The plan will enter the NEPA process in
October and November. The Forest Service
will host a field trip to the Cool Soda area in
October.
Members of the public will have the op-
portunity to comment then, Glick said. "Hope-
nearing final draft stag
Photo by Scott Swanson
This view, from the top of Iron Mountain, shOws portions of the Cool Soda area. Particularly
evident are the clear-cut Cascade Timber Consulting land several miles to the west of the
mountain.
fully, they'll like it." CTC, has "been outstanding working with us,"
The process was meant to involve the peo- Glick said. "I think it's been inspiring having
pie, agencies, conservation groups, research- worked With all these different people."
ers, industry groups and citizens, who would For more information about the process
normally comment and address their concerns or to view the plan when complete, contact the
and desires. Sweet Home Ranger District at (541) 367-5168
The major property manager in the area, or stop by the office at 4431 Hwy. 20.
From page 1
Canfield said one reason for her
appearance at the trustees meeting
was a scheduled board discussion
of raises for district administrators -
which ended up being tabled to give
Board Chairman Jason Redick a
chance to discuss it with high school
Principal Keith Winslow.
Canfield noted that, while the
teachers received step wage increas-
es in their contract, ratified in June,
and Schrader was given a 1 percent
raise in August, classified employees
agreed in contract negotiations last
spring "to take no steps because they
told us they had no money."
But the union proceeded under
the understanding that employees
who qualified for health insurance
benefits would continue to receive
those benefits, she said. Instead, the
district has reduced the hours of five
employees who were taking full-
time insurance benefits, removing
their eligibility for such benefits.
Schrader said the district and
union "weren't in agreement" on the
interpretation of the meaning of 6˝
hours when the school year started.
Part of the problem; he said, is
that the contract with the union was
written when the school week was
40 hours• Some employees, he said,
were confused over whether insur-
ance is based on hours per day or
hours per week. The district's posi-
tion is that it is the latter.
"If we had a person that works
only two days a week for 14 hours
at seven hours per day, should they
receive full coverage?" he asked•
"Another person who works four
days a week, six hours a day, only
gets 75 percent. That just doesn't
make sense• It's total hours per
week, not per day."
Canfield agreed that there is a
difference in interpretation.
"We interpret it to be by the
day because that's what the contract
states," she said, adding that she
is not aware of any classified em-
ployees who only work two days a
week. "We calculate by how many
hours we work per day. Insurance
has never been calculated based on
the week. That's where the hang-up ance coverage.
is. It comes down to interpretation of "From the very beginning we
what we're talking about•" said this isn't going to affect any-
Canfield said the contract states body's insurance, we haven't taken
that employees must work at least 6 anybody's insurance away. If they
1/2 hours per day - 26 hours a week qualified last year, they qualify this
- for the district to completely cover year. If we paid 100 percent last
the cost of their insurance benefits, year, we're paying 100 percent this
Those who work between five and year. If they had full coverage last
6.4 hours per day qualify for 75 per- year, they should still have full cov-
cent coverage of premiums by the erage this~year.
district, and those who work four "If Velma knows of an em-
to 4.9 hours qualify for 50 percent ployee whose insurance has been
coverage, reduced, I'll look into .that."
She said those who don't qual- Canfield promised that the
ify for full coverage were, last year, union will bring up the insurance
able to pay the increased personal issue when contract talks start next
costs of their insurance by working year.
the extra day. She said the district "This will be a hot topic when
initially agreed to let employees in we go to negotiations in spring," she
that situation work an extra half hour said. "This is the one issue we could
a day so they could qualify for full not agree on in in-term bargaining
coverage.
Of the approximately 15 people
she knows of who fall into that cat-
egory, five were actually expected
to enroll, she said. As of last Friday, The Sweet Home Planning
one of them isn't taking health in- Commission will meet with the City
surance at all because that employee Council Oct. 2 to discuss a proposed
lost a day's wages and didn't get the outdoor lighting ordinance that has
extra half hour they were promised, been a particular interest of Planning
she said. Commissioner Eva Jurney.
That employee would have had Planning Director Carol Lewis
to pay another $590 per month to said commissioners, in their month-
have insurance with a $1,000 de- ly meeting on Sept. 10, considered a
ductible, final draft of the proposed ordinance
"This is the part that kills me," that would encourage energy con-
Canfield said. "All the district had to servation, moderate glare and "light
do was pay $12,900 and we wouldn't trespass," and reduce the amount of
be having this issue right now." light shining into the sky at night.
Shrader said he talked to an She said the issue arose from
employee last week whose hours "citizen concern about neighbor-
had been cut before last school year, hood lights," particularly from Jur-
from 100 percent to 75 percent of ney, who asked the city to consider
full-time. This year her daily hours an ordinance regulating nighttime
went up, though her weekly hours lighting before she joined the corn-
were reduced. The question was mission•
whether she qualified for more in- In her case, light from a neigh-
surance coverage, boring property shines into Jurney's
"That's a different scenario," windows, Lewis said.
he said. "In that case I- kind of feel Another consideration is the
like it wasn't because of the four-day so-called "Dark Sky" movement,
school week but because of other is- "a fairly big national movement of
sues. I'll get to the bottom of those folks who want to make the skies
issues." dark at night again," she said.
Canfield said the outcome will The ordinance, as it currently
be the result of how the district in- stands, would also require that out-
terprets the contract, door lighting be installed in a man-
Schrader said the district is not ner that locates the beams within
going to reduce employees' insu.l'-
last spring. We told the district that the unions."
we were going to live by the lan- In her address to the board,
guage of our contract. Canfield also blasted the move to
"The district is making moneya four-day school week, which the
off the people who don't take insur- union has opposed from the begin-
ance. It seems silly to me that we ning. She called it"an almost unilat-
even have to have this conversa- eral decision."
tion." She said "a majority of local
Union members, along with residents stated clearly in the sur-
• employees represented by other lo- veys that were done that there was
cal unions, met with Oregon Labor no interest in Shortening the school'
Commissioner Brad Avakian on week, thereby shortening our chil-
Tuesday, Sept. 11, for a picnic at dren's' educational opportunities.
Ashbrook Park, for a pre-election "We are here tonight to tell
rally, you enough is enough. This school
Avakian is running for re-elec- board and the current superintendent
tion against state Sen. Bruce Starr. have made decisions in the last few
Canfield said the meeting was "re- months regarding the educational
ally an eye-opener," adding that she opportunities for the children in our
came away with the perspective that community that we believe will have
Starr "wants to do right-to-work, an extremely negative impact on our
like they did in Wisconsin - break children and our community."
Planners, council to meet over lighting ordinance
the property in which the fixture is
located, that unshielded lights be
limited to less than 1,800 lumens
(the amount produced by a 120-watt
incandescent bulb), opaque tops or
shields for lights with aa output of
1,500 lumens or more to prevent
up-lighting, and adjustment of mo-
tion detector lights so they cannot be
triggered by movement outside the
property on which they are located.
It would prohibit ground-
mounted or mobile searchlights,
continuously flashing lights, other
than for temporary lighting, or any
lighting that might be confused with
emergency, warning or traffic signal
lighting.
Lewis saLd the proposed ordi-
nance raises some difficult issues,
such as how to control "light tres-
pass."
"When you talk about light
trespass, how do you stop light from
crossing a property line?" she asked.
"It just seems unreasonable to some
of us - how do you stop light?"
If the council is interested in
proceeding after the workshop,
which will be at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2 in
the City Council chambers, Lewis
said "full-blown" public hearings
would be held at both the Planning
Commission and City Council lev-
els.
RPH
Mon.- Fri. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.rn. - I p.m.
