"Oregon Solutions" and the Willamette Falls Locks funding issue
(The Oregon Solutions Willamette Falls Locks task force renamed itself the "One Willamette River Coalition" in 2008. For a current summary of the One Willamette River Coalition's progress towards saving the locks, see the Action Step template letter linked to the home page on 2/18/09.)
The following letter to Sandy Carter, WFHF executive director, came as a result of three years of Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation advocacy for adequate funding for Willamette Falls Locks. When "Oregon Solutions" accepted our application to the governor in 2005, it was a great turning point for involving a wider partnership in assuring a viable future for the 1873 lock and canal.
As an Oregon Solutions project, the new group of community stakeholders set its goals in late '05, early '06:
- Set up and help facilitate three or four meetings of the Willamette Falls Locks Oregon Solutions project team.
- Work with local representatives to identify and recruit members of the Oregon Solutions project team, and develop a mailing list/e-mail list of members.
- Help facilitate any sub-group/working meetings, including intergovernmental meetings, and coordination with state and/or federal agencies and the Governor's office.
- Draft and coordinate signature-gathering for a Declaration of Cooperation that would address the project needs described above.
- Work with the Governor's Office and local government to develop an "accountability structure" to evaluate follow-through and identify any necessary mid-course corrections.
Thanks to great community support, the process resulted in the signing at the May 2006 Lock Fest of a collaborative agreement between Clackamas County and the US Army Corps of Engineers, allowing a transfer of funds from an Oregon Department of Transportation grant into the Locks budget for the 2006 and 2007 boating seasons. The grant expired October 1, 2007.
Under the leadership of convener Verne Duncan, the stakeholders' group received an extension of Oregon Solutions' facilitation, and remained deeply engaged in locks preservation and planning--a process that needed to address financing for the locks' major capital improvements, nomination of the locks as a National Historic Landmark, development of the locks area as an historic/scenic tourist destination, and the identification of the most appropriate entity to actually run the locks in the future.
Carter was asked by Duncan to chair the heritage promotion subcommittee during this second phase, and task force member Dwayne Foley spearheads the lont-term planning group. An update of the 1973 National Historic Register renomination of the lock and canal is underway, to position them for future National Landmark and "Save America's Treasures" applications. A Seattle engineering firm has completed a study estimating future capital repairs and restoration costs for the historic facility for the next 20 years. Please see the Oregon Solutions website for a full summary of the process so far, and for more information about OS, a small non-profit that works miracles from its offices at the Portland State University College of Urban Studies.
Letter from the Governor, October 2005
Dear Sandy:
I have received your letter requesting an Oregon Solutions project designation for the Willamette Locks project. I believe that the project supports Oregon's economic, social, and environmental objectives and would like to designate the Willamette Locks project as an Oregon Solutions project. I am appointing former State Senator and Oregon Superintendent of Public Education Verne Duncan, as the project convener.
This project will create an opportunity for federal, state and local agencies to work with business and community stakeholders to find a solution for funding and operating the locks. I'm excited about this project because it supports the Willamette River Legacy Plan and will assist many local communities to re-connect to the river.
By collaborating with public and private partners, the Oregon Solutions approach will help to accelerate the pace of the project, overcome potential impediments early on, and bring effective partners to the table. The Oregon Solutions staff will help you assemble a team of public and private partners to develop an integrated strategy, and to sign a "Declaration of Cooperation" for the project.
I am enthusiastic about the potential of this project. Please keep me updated on the progress.
Sincerely,
Theodore R. Kulongoski
Governor
http://www.orsolutions.org/willamette/wfallslocks.htm