Fortunately for Portland General Electric, its ratepayers, and anyone wanting to boat in the Newberg Pool (the beautiful 40-plus mile stretch of Willamette River above the falls), Wilsonville Concrete Products, the company that has been very adversely affected by November’s unexpected closure of Willamette Falls Navigation Canal and Locks, has enough equipment still above the locks to be able to do a job that is unique in the northwest, and maybe anywhere.

This month a highly experienced (decades of doing this work every summer on the dam) WCP tug (The Iris B—for Bernert), barge and crane crew is again removing hundreds of tons of woody debris that winter’s high waters deposited around the lip of the 42-foot Willamette Falls. The wood must be removed so that new “flash boards” (a 10-foot temporary wooden extension of the dam that restores upper-river water levels to floatable levels and sustains the 14 megawatts of “green” power production at the TW Sullivan Hydropower plant at West Linn) can be affixed to posts around the top of the dam. Every winter, that summer’s boards will be washed out by the ferocity and volume of many high-water incidents, and PGE orders new boards for the reraising of the dam level in July.

This year there’s a new twist to the dangerous job...PGE has fabricated aluminum safety railings that the Wilsonville company will install outside of where the flashboards will go, to keep PGE work crews safe. Work is expected to continue for another week or two, but I recommend you check with the company and Steve Corson, PGE spokesperson, to check my accuracy about the timing and the output of the power plant, etc.

I just think this is such an amazing story, and wanted to send you some shots of the work in this incredibly dramatic natural setting.

Hoping you agree that your readers would also be fascinated by this very specialized local river work...

Sandy Carter

West Linn

Editor’s note: PGE spokesperson Steve Corson verified the above information as accurate, saying the that his company is indeed removing debris in preparation to add flash boards to hold some more water back, which makes fish passage and power generation more effective during summer’s low-water period.

Priorities?

Clackamas County Commissioners have misplaced priorities. With the exception of Paul Savas, the remaining Commissioners have bought into the Portland agenda of diminished public safety, mass transit boondoggles and the constant assault on private property rights.

The commissioners believe that their role is to constantly obtain new funding sources from the public in order to preserve “sustainability.” A perfect example is their determination last spring that a new “tax” or “fee” is needed in order to repair and maintain Clackamas County roads. The commissioners have consistently kowtowed to Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPAC); a group that decides which new transportation projects in the entire Portland area (including Clackamas County) should be built. For years JPAC has dumped our county’s share of gasoline taxes into TriMet’s ridiculous light rail and paved bike routes instead of allowing Clackamas County to build new roads and do major remodeling to existing corridors.

When road funding is stolen from the people of Clackamas County and diverted to pay for light rail (at $205 million per mile) it not only affects how you get “from here to there,” it negatively affects businesses and the flow of commerce. Goods and service costs go up for the consumer because businesses must spend more time getting to their destinations and they have more wear and tear on their vehicles.

The Board of County Commissioners is ready to trade voter-approved public safety for a non-voter-approved light-rail project. In May of this year, Sheriff Craig Roberts said to the commissioners that “...the money that the voters are giving us through the front door to increase patrol and jail services is being carried out the back door by the county’s cuts to the sheriff’s general fund support.” In addition the sheriff said, “The construction of the Orange Line may well be a worthwhile public project. However, it does not exist in a vacuum — moving ahead with light rail will mean moving backwards on public safety, and likely other basic services to county residents.”

The sheriff eliminated 19 full time positions last year. He also said “the last time we had this few deputies being paid for by the county’s general fund was in fiscal year 05-06.”

We cannot allow public safety to diminish in this way. The Clackamas County sheriff has endorsed Measure 3-401 that will be presented to the voters on Sept. 18 in a special election.

A yes vote will give the entire county the ability and right to vote on whether we want TriMet’s light rail to enter our county.

Our county has endless opportunities to grow and prosper. Those realizations can only occur with new leadership. The majority of Clackamas County Commissioners have shown their disdain for voters by their wrongful positions on the Sellwood Bridge vehicle licensing fee, the Urban Renewal vote and now the right for the public to vote on light rail. Help me to change that. I need your support and your vote.

John Ludlow

Candidate for Clackamas County chairman

Timeline for board elections updated

The Oregon City Chamber Board of Directors voted unanimously to amend our official bylaws regarding the election of Officers of the Board of Directors, aka the Executive Committee. Based on member response, the Board was comfortable with these changes and made it official on June 25. This amendment was necessary to provide a clearer plan for the election of future board chairpersons and officers.

In summary: The officers of the board (Executive Committee) will be nominated by an Officer Nominations Committee composed of the current Board Chair, one Vice Board Chair, Immediate Past Board Chair, Treasurer and one (1) ex-officio member of the Board (City Manager or School Superintendent).

The Nominations Committee, after seeking nominations (self and traditional nominations are both acceptable) from the new incoming and continuing Board members, will develop a slate of Officers to present to the full Board of Directors. The full Board of Directors will consist of new incoming directors, continuing directors and those completing their term. This vote will take place at a meeting in October so that the officers are in place for the November board retreat.

It is not too early to be thinking about an elected leadership role in the Oregon City Chamber of Commerce. Please review the below timeline for Board of Directors nominations and elections as well as upcoming dates for Officer elections. Included in the July 2012 ChamberWire newsletter is a nomination form; self-nominations are not eligible.

Election of Board of

Directors & Officers Timeline

July: Board of Directors nominations are open

Aug. 2: Board Chair appoints Board Nominating Committee (Nominating Committee meets within 30 days of appointment)

Sept. 7: Candidate nomination forms due

Sept. 17: All Candidate names confirmed and info ready for ballot

Sept. 21: Ballots mailed out

Oct. 5: Ballots due back in the office

Oct. 10: Ballots counted and ready to share election results

(Officer Nominating Committee appointed; all continuing & new directors are welcome to self-nominate or nominate another or will be asked by the committee.)

Oct. 19: Slate of officers ready

Oct. 22: Election of officers at combined Board meeting

Amber Holveck

Oregon City

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