New Administrator and close primary top Lane County Stories
Lane County Commissioners approved a contract in March for a new County Administrator; then in May, voters narrowly selected incumbent Jay Bozievich to continue serving the West Lane District on the county board.
The March hiring of a new administrator at Lane County wrapped up a lengthy story that included the firing of the previous administrator.
Steve Mokrohiskey (mo-kro-HI-skee) became the third person to hold the position over a six year period when he accepted the position.
The Minnesota native replaced Liane (LEE-ann) Richardson who’s tenure was marked by contention. She was ultimately fired in August by the board of commissioners after violating county policy regarding changes to her pay plan.
In May, voters in Western Lane County narrowly selected Jay Bozievich over challenger Dawn Lesley in the primary race for the West Lane seat on the board of Commissioners. Lesley only lost by 85 votes, but the margin was enough to put Bozievich over the 50% margin, avoiding a runoff election in the fall.
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The average cash price for regular gas in Florence is about 60 cents a gallon less at the end of 2014 than it was at the beginning of the year. Drivers in Florence are paying on average $2.54 a gallon this week, the same price as the statewide average as measured by Triple A of Oregon. Nationwide the average paid by motorists is $2.27.
The average gas price in Florence didn’t simply take a straight line from $3.14 to this week’s price. Fuel costs began rising dramatically by February of this year, peaking in early summer just below the for-dollar mark. Prices began falling steadily beginning at the end of August to reach a five-year law by year-end.
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Hazardous road conditions are believed to have played a part in a Tuesday morning accident that left a Florence woman and her passenger in need of rescue. Occupants of the Newport High School team bus were not injured in the collision with a 2012 Ford Fusion that was attempting to pass on Highway 101 just south of the Lane / Douglas County border. Oregon State Police report the roadway was wet and covered with hail. The Fusion was completing the pass when it lost control hitting the front corner of the bus; the car to left the roadway, coming to rest 150 feet down an embankment after striking a tree. Dorothy Henderson and her passenger were assisted by the Reedsport Fire Department’s Rope Rescue Team; they sustained minor injuries during the crash.
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A change in federal guidelines that regulate how much money rural ambulance carriers get for Medicare and Medicaid patients will likely not have any impact in the Florence area.
There are three categories of ambulance services… each with a different level of payment based on the distance ambulances have to travel to get patients to a nearby hospital… urban, rural and “super-rural”.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services… CMS… has currently proposed moving carriers in three-thousand zip codes from rural to urban, thereby dramatically reducing their reimbursement rate.
Western Lane Ambulance District operates in what is a called a “super rural” designation.
Mike Webb, President of Western Lane Ambulance, says reimbursing rural areas at urban rates “does not come close to covering the cost of the call” and that makes it difficult to provide high-quality service in rural areas.
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