AWARD OF EXCELLENCE PRESENTED TO THE LDS CHURCH BY THE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE
At the September 9th City Council meeting, a 2007 Award of Excellence was presented to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in recognition of the outstanding design and landscaping at their new church, which is located at 10th Street SE and Delaware Avenue. The award was presented by Ruth Ball, on behalf of the Beautification Committee, and was accepted by Elder Shirl Stewart on behalf of the LDS Church.
MAYOR PROCLAIMS NOVEMBER 30, 2007 AS BANDON BOUNTY DAY
At the September 4th City Council meeting, Mayor Mary Schamehorn proclaimed November 30, 2007 as Bandon Bounty Day, as part of the statewide Oregon Bounty event. Bandon Bounty Day will celebrate all things culinary in and around beautiful Bandon-by-the-Sea. Bandon will invite everyone to join the fun all of October and November in conjunction with the state's nationwide promotion called Oregon's Bounty. Check out the state's web site: http://www.traveloregon.com/Bounty.aspx. Starting Friday, November 30th, some unique events are planned in Old Town Bandon. The central focus of Bounty Day is to welcome visitors to join us in Bandon and discover what we enjoy everyday living in this very special place.
On Bandon Bounty Day, November 30, and the weekend to follow, December 1&2, Old Town Bandon will be ready to treat visitors to the many delights of our area. With 17 restaurants, all within a three square block area of Old Town, we are spoiled for choice in dining options in Bandon. In addition to sampling the great restaurants guests to our town will learn about wild harvesting, cooking with local foods and just living the good life in Oregon while visiting Bandon on Bounty Day Weekend. Some of the special events planned for Bandon Bounty Day include; tips from the experts on how to 'live off the land" by clam digging, crabbing and mushroom hunting, what to do with Bandon's famous crop of cranberries that is more than just the sauce. Chefs demonstrations and wine tasting classes are also planned. It is well known that Bandon is the ideal base for wine tours to the nearby Umpqua, Rogue and Applegate Valley wineries. Wine makers from many of these wineries are being invited to come to Bandon to host tastings of their new releases throughout Old Town over the Bandon Bounty Day Weekend.
Always a must for visitors to Bandon is a long browse around the cute little shops in Old Town. Many shops will be featuring early Holiday Specials, many with a culinary theme. And the Bandon Historical Society Museum will be the place to learn how it all come to be, from the first Indians along the Coquille River (who ate the gourmet delights of Bandon for free in the old days) to the great fires of 1914 and 1936 that changed Bandon forever. Visitors will learn about what makes Bandon Bandon at our Museum, celebrating it's 30th year. As we all know Winter Storm Watching is always best in Bandon. Living here we know the best places to see the waves crashing on the rocks, where to find the best agates after the storms and where to go to be amazed at the size of the driftwood along the shore. We will share our secret places with our visitors to enjoy. Our pristine beaches, complete with night clouds and morning rainbows are still as perfect as ever!
To encourage visitors to stay awhile many of Bandon's motels are going to feature great early Winter rates and some even have 2 nights for the price of 1. Be sure tell your friends and families that don't live in Bandon to book early and join us for the celebration. Everyone is invited to the Bandon Bounty Day events which will include special discounts at many of the restaurants and shops in Old Town on Bounty Day plus throughout the weekend (December 1 and 2). To help us share Bandon's Bounty with others in our community the organizers of the event are asking folks to come prepared to donate two cans or packages of food and make a small cash donation to be used to make special Food Gift Baskets for the less fortunate at Christmas time.
Organizers of Bandon Bounty Day are welcoming all of our community to join in. Social groups, kids clubs, churches and others are asked to get involved. For more information on how to become a part of this event, please contact Nancy Evans at (541) 347-9081 or e-mail naevans@gte.net.
NEW LABOR UNION CONTRACTS APPROVED
There are currently four union collective bargaining units representing most non-management employees in the City. These include Public Works Department and Police Department who are represented by the Teamsters Union, and the Electric Department and the Clerical workers who are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). All four of those agreements expired on June 30, 2007, and the City and the unions have been in negotiations regarding replacement contracts for the past several months. In August, all of the proposed agreements were approved by the bargaining units, and were subsequently approved by the City Council at their meeting on September 4th. The new contracts have terms which vary from two years to five years.
COST ESTIMATE PREPARED FOR FISH PASSAGE CULVERT ON GROSS CREEK
One of the City’s long term capital improvement projects involves the replacement of drainage culverts under several City streets along Gross Creek, to ensure adequate storm drainage facilities. The first scheduled replacement was the installation of a 48 inch culvert under 8th Street SW. Several citizens, who were interested in restoring fish habitat and installing a walking path along Gross Creek, requested that the City consider installing a culvert which would accommodate fish passage and pedestrian access.
At staff’s request, the City Engineer prepared cost estimates to compare the cost of normal culvert replacement with the cost of installing a fish passage culvert. It is estimated that the cost for installing the drainage-only 48 inch culvert will be $120,800. The estimated cost of installing a 12 ft. x 12 ft. box culvert to meet the requirements for accommodating adequate stream bed width and pedestrian access would be $476,800, representing an additional cost of $356,000. Depending on how much of the creek is restored, how many road crossings are involved, and what would be involved in restoring to an above-ground condition the underground piped portion of the creek which runs from Edison Avenue to the Coquille River, the proposed restoration could potentially cost several million dollars.
Staff continues to work with the interested parties regarding the potential restoration of fish habitat in Gross Creek, and has recommended that the initial efforts should probably be directed towards securing funding for a study and plan for the restoration of Gross Creek, so the project can be properly planned and designed. In the meantime, the City will delay any culvert replacements on Gross Creek, pending the outcome of these planning efforts.
NEW CROSSWALK STRIPING REQUESTED FOR HIGHWAY 101 AT 9TH AND 10TH STREETS
The City continues to work with ODOT regarding improved crosswalk striping on Highway 101 at 9th and 10th Streets. ODOT has tentatively agreed to install "continental" crosswalks at these locations, and possibly at 11th Street for consistency. This type of crossing is more visible than the normal perpendicular two-stripe configuration, since they feature wide stripes running parallel to traffic, across the road surface. (If you don’t know what "continental" crosswalks look like, dig out your old Beatles "Abbey Road" album cover, or type "Beatles Abbey Road " into your favorite search engine!) The City has also requested that "stop here" signs with stop bars be placed in advance of each of these crossings. A condition of such an installation is that the City agree to maintain the crossings. This should not be much of an additional burden since the Public Works crew already maintains all non-Highway 101 crosswalks in the City. The City is awaiting the draft maintenance agreement from ODOT, and has stressed our request that the crosswalks be installed as soon as possible, since school has now started, and these are very hazardous crossings.
PUBLIC FORUM ON THE PROPOSED JETTY WALKWAY
The Committee for Citizen Involvement (CCI) has agreed to hold a public forum on the proposed walkway along Jetty Road from Edison Avenue to the South Jetty Park. The walkway will be constructed in the 10 ft. wide shoulder the County installed last year as part of the road takeover by the City. The forum will be held on September 11, 2007, at 6:30 PM, in the lower meeting room at Heritage Place. This will allow residents of Heritage Place, the Jetty, and from anywhere in the community to provide input regarding what type of trail is most appropriate, so we can meet everyone's needs as much as possible. Some of the items which will hopefully be resolved include what type of surfacing should be put on the trail, should it include bicycles and pedestrians on one path, should it be a continuation of the road surface or a separated pathway, where should benches be placed, etc.? Anyone interested in this project is invited and encouraged to attend this meeting.
PLANNING COMMISSION DECLINES TO MAKE A RECOMMENDATION REGARDING APPEARANCE AND MAINTENANCE STANDARDS FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS
At their August 23rd meeting, the Planning Commission considered the matter of building appearance and maintenance standards for existing buildings, and reviewed an ordinance from the City of Lowell which contained such standards. After discussing the concept, the consensus of the Commission was that such regulations would be very difficult to enforce, were in many cases subjective, and could cause undue hardships on certain Bandon residents. The Commission felt that the existing nuisance and dangerous buildings ordinances covered the most serious public safety concerns, and therefore declined to forward a recommendation to the City Council regarding additional appearance and maintenance standards for existing buildings.
SPRAGUE COMMUNITY THEATER LEASED TO THE BANDON ARTS COUNCIL
The Sprague Community Theater was originally constructed by the Lions Club, through a sub-corporation, the Bandon Community Auditorium Development Foundation (BCADF). Ownership of the Theater was then turned over to the City of Bandon.
Under an informal relationship with the City, the operation and maintenance of the Theater has been the responsibility of the Bandon Arts Council, which recently received approval as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. The Arts Council was formed for the purpose of allowing the representatives from the various organizations involved in theater productions to set the policies, procedures, rules, regulations, and fees for use of the facility, and to also ensure that the proceeds from renting the Theater were used for its operation and maintenance. The membership of the Board of Directors includes representatives from the Bandon Lions Club, Bandon Playhouse, Bandon School District #54, Bandon Showcase, the Chamber of Commerce, New Artists Productions, and two representatives from the City (City Manager, and Chair of the Parks & Recreation Commission). The Bandon Arts Council appointed a Theater Manager (formerly Sally Ford, and currently Jeff Norris), who is a volunteer, responsible for the day to day operations.
To formalize the arrangement between the City and the Bandon Arts Council for the operation and maintenance of the Theater, the City Council has now approved a year-to-year lease for the facility. This lease establishes a landlord-tenant relationship between the two entities, similar to the relationship between the City and ComSpan for their offices at City Hall. There is no rental fee charged to the Bandon Arts Council, since consideration for the lease is the operation, maintenance, and upkeep of the Sprague Community Theater.
DOGGIE BAG STATIONS TO BE INSTALLED IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS
The Parks & Recreation Commission has selected a standard design for doggie bag stations, which will be installed in various locations in Bandon. The stations include a sign, a doggie bag dispenser, and a small trash receptacle. Hopefully, this will help alleviate the continuing problem of residents and tourist visitors not cleaning up after their dogs. Initially, based on requests from citizens, the doggie bag stations will be placed at Coquille Point, the ocean viewpoint at the west end of 8th Street SW, the Community Center, and at the west end of Second Street SW adjacent to the Alabama Avenue parking lot. If you know of other serious problem locations where a doggie bag station would help, please let me know at citymanager@ci.bandon.or.us.
CITY PARK CLEAN-UP DAY ON SEPTEMBER 15TH
Members of the community who use and enjoy our City Park, are invited to join members of the Parks & Recreation Commission and Beautification Committee on September 15th to help pick up trash and other debris at the park. Anyone wishing to weed flower beds or remove ivy from trees is also encouraged to help in that way as well. The clean-up activities will take place from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, followed by a special tribute to four community groups who have made, or are in the process of making, significant improvements to City Park. These include a bench reconstruction project by the Kiwanis Club; a new walking trail by the Rotary Club; the Coast Guard Memorial by the Lions Club; and the ivy removal project by the Friends of Bandon Trees.
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