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Umpqua Post
Weekly news from the Heart of the Dunes AN EDITION OF
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Wednesday, March 5, 2014 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00
LUH extends Aidan Senior Living STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
The Lower Umpqua Hospital board approved extending a contract for Aidan Senior Living at Reedsport, a contract that was set to expire this spring. “Their contract expires on May 1,” LUH Administrator Sandra Reese said. “I’m recommending to the board that we extend the Aidan contract six months.” The majority of the residents in the 36-bed nursing-home wing are permanent. The hospital provides physical, speech and respiratory therapy, physician visits, dietary consultations, and social services. Reese and Chief Financial Officer Mark Sayler said the hospital continues to subsidize the nursing facility. “We provide a lot of the services Aidan needs,” Sayler said. “We have to look at ‘what is the cost to provide that?’ How much of it is hos-
pital and how much of it is Aidan?” He said, for the five-month period ending in November 2013, Aidan’s share of the cost was $205,000 and Aidan paid the hospital $71,000. “We incurred a loss of $123,000,” Sayler said. He also explained part of that loss would not go away if the hospital was not providing services to Aidan. “On an annualized basis,” Sayler said, “That amounts to a loss of about $216,000. The hospital had adjusted the rates it charges Aidan, in the hopes that the facility can make a go of it. “With the new arrangement that we extend them six months, would we be able to see where that trend is going?” board member Liz Adamo asked. “Yes,” Sayler responded. “We’re making a real effort to support that service,” Reese said. “If we lose the service, we
By Steve Lindsley, The Umpqua Post
SEE LUH, PAGE A6
The Lower Umpqua Hospital Board of Directors has voted to extend a contract with Aidan Senior Living for another six months, until October 2014.
Levee measure to voters BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
Photos by Amanda Johnson, The Umpqua Post
Kyler Kapalen explains how he made his castle for the yearly fourth-grade medieval castle assignment in Mrs. Coyne’s class.
What was life like in a castle? Fourth-graders use their imagination for project BY AMANDA JOHNSON The Umpqua Post
Mrs. Coyne’s fourth-grade class went medieval on Thursday, Feb. 27. Students had the month of February to create a castle which had to have walls, towers and a drawbridge and as much creativity they could muster. Then each student presented their creations to Mrs. Coyne and the entire class. They described what their castle was made of, what each part was and any extras they added. The presenting student then took questions from the class about how they made it, where they got the supplies from and how they put it together. Mrs. Coyne asked each presenter if they
Castle projects made by students in Mrs. Coyne’s fourth-grade class for the yearly medieval castle assignment.
SEE CASTLES, PAGE A6
Reedsport schools will stay four days STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
The Reedsport School District board has decided to continue the four-day school week for another year. The board made the decision at its Feb. 19 meeting, after hearing from administrators, staff and parents. School administrators Laura Davis (Reedsport Community Charter School) and Jim Thomas
(Highland Elementary School) polled certified and classified staff and parents. Most who responded to the surveys favored staying with the 2year-old, four-day schedule. Board member Kathy Browning said the four-day week means a lot of family time for the community. “I see a lot of Reedsport families doing stuff together,” she said. “I think that’s a good benefit.” Board member Brian Thornton
said the district needed to return to a five-day week. Davis said she supported the four-day week. “The teachers are a lot more rested and relaxed on Friday morning,” she said. “The time is more productive for them.” Some teachers do come into the school on the kids’ day off and Davis said, from her observation, teachers and staff can get a lot more work done on Friday.
Thomas said, from the students’ standpoint, he disagreed. “If it was strictly on student achievement and academics,” he said, “I’d recommend a five-day week.” The board decided to keep the four-day week for another school year and then revisit the issue. The board begins budget deliberations with a budget committee
The Reedsport City Council voted to send a question to voters in the May primary election that, eventually, will mean more money for the city’s effort to get the levee certified. The council voted, Monday, to ask voters to approve refinancing the city’s wastewater treatment plant and use the savings to put toward levee certification. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has mandated Reedsport comply with levee certification requirements. The city had thought to do that, it would have to raise stormwater rates. Meanwhile, the city has convinced the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to refinance the construction of the wastewater treatment plant from 20 years to 30 years. If the package is approved, it would mean a reduction of monthly payments to DEQ and would mean a reduction of sewer rates. The city hopes to take those savings, and apply them to stormwater rates, meaning no financial impact to the city’s voters. Mayor Keith Tymchuk said the city is trying to meet the needs of the city. “We’re trying to meet our obligations to ballot measure 10119,” he explained. “We’re trying to meet the city’s obligations and needs to fix it’s levee, as required by FEMA. And, we’re trying, also, to find a way to prevent future rate increases as much as possible for our wastewater rate users. The city has a lot on it’s plate, here, and is trying to find a way to accomplish all of those things.” The council also heard a report that Douglas County would like the city to treat leachate from the county’s transfer site on Scoldfield Drive. An agreement would allow for the installation of a sewer line to transport the leachate, a landfill byproduct. The council will next meet on April 7.
SEE SCHOOLS, PAGE A6
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