20 January 2015
Siuslaw Awards…
The Siuslaw Awards; aimed at recognizing excellence in area businesses and organizations will be handed out tomorrow night.
Hoagland Properties; Florence Dental Clinic; Flowers by Bobbi; Oregon Pacific Bank; and Sand Master Park have all been nominated for the Stu Johnston Business of the Year award.
There are three nominees for the Non-profit achievement award: KXCR Radio Partners; Rotary Club of Florence and Western Lane Community Foundation.
The Beachcomber Pub; Coast Radio and Mo’s Restaurant have been nominated in the “Community Caring” division and the Chicken Coop and Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians have been tabbed for the “Curb Appeal” award.
There is one nominee for the “Excellence in Customer Service” award: Siuslaw Broadband.
The awards will be handed out tomorrow night beginning at six pm at the Florence Events Center. Florence’s first citizen and future first citizen will be announced at the same time. Tickets are still available; they can be purchased at the Chamber Visitor Center.
Bids opened soon for bridge project
The Oregon Department of Transportation is getting ready to start a renovation of the Highway 101 bridge over the Siuslaw River in Florence.
The four-year, $37-million project is supposed to prevent corrosion and extend the bridge’s life by at least two decades. But, the construction will cause traffic delays for up to fouryears.
ODOT is opening bids this month for contractors hoping to do the work. The goal is to begin construction around April and wrap up by the spring of 2019.
School Board appreciation
The administration and staff at Siuslaw Schools are joining the other 196 Oregon School Districts in recognizing their local board of education.
January is “School board recognition month”.
97-J Superintendent Ethel Angal said school board members are the corporate board of directors for one of the area’s largest employers. As such, she added, they spend “countless hours of unpaid time” working on behalf of schools and students.
The seven board members have a combined 38-years experience on the board with more than a quarter of that resting in the longest serving member; Paul Burns.
Noon Work Session for council
A number of items will be discussed today at noon when the Florence City Council meets for their first regular midday work session.
A review of the Rhody Express pilot project; a proposed probation proposal from the city’s municipal judge; and the Events Center Catering will be just three of the work session topics.
Earlier this month, the council adopted a new regular meeting schedule. When the meet on the third Monday of each month, they’ll start with a noon work session, then convene at six for the regular session.
Because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, the meeting was moved to Tuesday.
Lowest fuel prices in more than a decade
Some of the lowest average pump prices in the country are here in Florence. According to Triple-A, the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is $205. Locally, the average cash price is $1.98 a gallon.
That’s the lowest in Florence since 2004.
Prices at two of the five stations dipped below the two-dollar mark in the middle of last week, but by the weekend, all five stations had cash prices posted below that amount.
By contrast, Oregon’s statewide average price remains at $2.22 a gallon.
