Illinois Valley news., June 22, 2016, Image 1

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Illinois Valley News
Wednesday, June 22, 2016, 1 Section, Volume 79 No. 14
$10,000 approved
for local library
75c
Published Weekly Cave Junction, Oregon 97523
Love burns at Barter Faire
Caroline Griffith
IVN Contributing Writer
The Cave Junction City Council voted Monday, June
20, to approve the 2016/2017 budget, including a $10,000
contribution to the local library. The monies given to the
library come from “state revenue sharing” funds. These
funds are derived from the state liquor sales tax and then
redistributed to Oregon cities based on population and
income level. According to city recorder Ryan Nolan, these
funds are generally used to help provide basic city services,
and over the last few years the city council has opted to
give a portion of them to the library because they believe it
is an important asset to the community.
Kate Lasky, executive director of the nonprofit
Josephine Community Libraries, thanked the council for
its investment in the community. Last year, thanks in part
to the generosity of the City of Cave Junction, the I.V.
Library was able to provide increased services to students
by partnering with Lorna Byrne Middle School to start a
weekly after-school bus service to the branch. The library
was also able to offer space to home-school groups and
begin renovation of the children’s room. Lasky informed
the council that the much-awaited renovation had been
delayed due to asbestos concerns, but the new children’s
section should be ready before the next school year begins.
The adopted budget is based on a city property tax
of $1.8959 per $1,000 of assessed value, which the council
voted to renew. This tax rate has not changed since 2006.
Mayor Carl Jacobson said, “The last thing we want to do is
raise taxes and make people upset.”
On a related note, the council voted once again
to table any discussion on two proposed sales taxes that
may or may not be referred to the voters of Cave Junction.
Councilor Dan Bosch, who wanted to have all council
members present before voting on the fuel tax or the
cannabis sales tax, proposed the delay since Councilors
Margaret Miller and Daniel Dalegowski were not in
attendance. The council is still seeking public comment
on these ordinances, which may be voted on at the next
meeting.
Councilor John Gardiner then asked the council
to rethink the verbiage of the proposed cannabis sales tax
so as to avoid “the ‘M’ word.” According to Gardiner,
“This pejorative and racist term (marijuana) was invented
some 89 years ago by those who were responsible for the
prohibition of this plant, as a means to vilify people of
color.” He recommended “that we not use racist words
when we talk about this in council, and that we use the
proper term cannabis in our speech, even if the ‘M’ word
must be used in writing for some legal reason.” That
discussion was also tabled until the next meeting.
The Cave Junction City Council meets the second
Monday of each month, 7 p.m. at 222 Lister Street. The
public is welcome and comments from the public are taken
at the end of each meeting.
(Photos by Dan Klapheke, Illinois Valley News)
This year’s Hope Mountain Barter Faire went Friday-Sunday, June 17-19 on the 4000 block of Holland
Loop. The event featured music, dancing, fire demonstrations, a children’s area and other activities.
Reserve does not mean surplus, county says
Anita R. Savio
IVN Contributing Writer
Oregon House Bill (HB) 4175 provides
Josephine County with the option to use
certain public works monies to fund rural
patrols. An initial motion by county budget
committee member Margaret Goodman to
utilize that option was voted down, but she
has called for an accounting maneuver that
will keep those funds in play.
The monies Goodman is referring
to are Title 1 U.S. Forest Service timber
payments. County practice with these
payments, which fluctuate from year to year,
has been to put them in the Public Works
reserve fund, comingled with other reserves.
But when reserves are spent, there is no
way to separate out which amounts came
from Title 1 and which from other sources.
Goodman wants to change that.
“I made another motion to simply track
the funds separately, so we would know
how much was available that could be used
for sheriff’s patrols, if that should become
necessary at some future time.”
According to Goodman, the county can
only say it has about $1.5 million of Title 1
funds right now, over and above what may
be left of comingled funds.
Goodman is careful to draw a
distinction between Public Works reserve
funds and any so-called “surplus.”
“A reserve is not exactly the same as a
surplus because a surplus implies that it isn’t
needed. It’s very important to have reserves
on hand for emergency situations, and,
under ideal circumstances, I would like to
see us have much greater reserves than we
have today.”
But making reference to the so-called
“fiscal cliff” that the county is facing,
which Sheriff Daniel warned could result
in the layoff of all of the county’s deputies,
Goodman added: “County budgeting is an
exercise in prioritization across departments.
While our reserve funds for Public Works
are not nearly as great as I would like to see
us have, we have no reserve funds at all for
public safety.”
But what if the “big one” hits and the
Illinois Valley is cut off from Grants Pass
and I-5? What will the county do if it lacks
public works reserves? Goodman responded:
“If the big one hits, we don’t have anywhere
near enough funds to even make a drop in
the bucket. We’ll have to rely on the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
like everybody else.”
Public Works Director Rob Brandes
agreed there are no surplus funds in his
department’s budget. The 2015/16 FY
budget includes 45 percent in reserves,
including Title 1 or roughly $3.8 million of
his total $8.5 million annual budget.
That amount may sound like a lot,
said Brandes, but the average amount of
road and bridge repair reserves among
Oregon counties is 159 percent. That places
Josephine County in the ninth or 10th lowest
among all Oregon counties.
Brandes admits there is “no magic” to
determining reserve amounts.
SEE ROADS ON A-11
Ghost Cars: Chief Hoke on abandoned vehicles
By Dan Klapheke
IVN Staff Writer
(Photo by Dan Klapheke, Illinois Valley News)
Black Toyota sits on the side of the road in Selma.
The vehicle sat for almost 10 days.
Over the past year, the Valley
has seen a rise in crime due in large
to lack of law enforcement in the
area, and a development from that
is a wave of abandoned vehicles
on the side of the road. Some are
burned and become dangerous to the
environment, but many are simply
abandoned. These rogue vehicles
pop up throughout the Valley, but
they’ll still be sitting empty in the
same spot weeks later.
A question among many that
rises from this phenomenon is, why
are they still there?
Dennis Hoke, Chief of the
Illinois Valley Fire District (IVFD)
and certified paramedic, said
whether or not the vehicle gets
removed depends on where it is.
“If it’s a road hazard, if it’s
potentially gonna impact the
environment--like it’s leaking oil
into a drainage ditch, something like
that--then we would have it removed
and have it towed away because of
the impact,” Hoke said. “If it’s a
hazard to traffic, we need to get it
off the road. And so then we tow it.”
The problem comes with
wrecks on private property, Hoke
said.
“If there’s no hazard, then I
really don’t have the authority to do
anything with it,” Hoke said.
For example, an apparently
stolen car was torched on Reggie
Boltz’s Rock’n R Ranch in early
June. IVFD arrived and put out the
blaze, spread a solution over leaked
fluids to ensure safety, then left.
But even though the vehicle was
not Boltz’s, it was on his property,
therefore it is his responsibility to
get it towed if he wants it gone.
“Zero salvage, zero ability to
recoup any money for it, and they’re
not gonna tow it,” Hoke said,
referring to Jerry’s Towing, who
has a contract with IVFD. “It’s not
costing us anything, but it’s costing
Jerry’s towing.”
SEE CARS ON A-11