Day of Service
coming Sept. 12
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints is plan-
ning its second Day of Ser-
vice at Champoeg State Park
on Saturday, Sept. 12, and the
public is invited to join hun-
dreds of other volunteers.
Chores will include bark dust,
removing ivy and blackberry
vines throughout the park.
Clean up work at the park
will begin at 9 a.m. and be
concluded by noon.
SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
Dedicating the Big Toy
A hot dog barbecue will
follow.
Volunteers are asked to
bring rakes, shovels and
wheelbarrows. Work gloves
are a must. The day will start
at the Oak Grove overfl ow
parking area where duties and
teams will be assigned.
For further information
contact Didi Orr at 503-869-
8746 or Phil Bay at 503-930-
2649.
Holiday card contest
A call has been made to area artists to enter submissions for the
2015 City of Keizer holiday greeting card.
The Keizer Public Arts Commission, which works to bring art
into the community, invites residents of all ages to submit art work
that expresses the holiday season in Keizer.
The deadline is Friday, Sept. 18. All submitted entries become
the property of the city.
The artist of the selected artwork will receive a $100 gift card to
Michael’s Art and Crafts.
Contest rules and an application can be downloaded at keizer.
org; they are also available at city hall.
This year the Keizer Public Arts Commission, whose goal is to
bring public art into our community, invites Keizer residents of all
ages to submit artwork expressing the holiday season.
KEIZERTIMES/Lyndon A. Zaitz
KEIZERTIMES/Lyndon A. Zaitz
Mayor Cathy Clark addresses the crowd during the Big Toy
dedication on Saturday, Aug. 29.
From left: Crater, state Rep. Bill Post, Marion County
Commissioner Janet Carlson, task force chair Marlene
Parsons, Mayor Cathy Clark and Richard Walsh.
Big Toy group looking at grant options
By CRAIG MUPRHY
Of the Keizertimes
City offi cials will be apply-
ing for a grant in the spring for
the Big Toy’s surface.
The question remains just
how much will be applied for.
The Community Build Task
Force is still meeting, even fol-
lowing June construction of the
play structure at Keizer Rapids
Park and last Saturday’s offi cial
grand opening, in large part to
apply for more grants in the fu-
ture.
While engineered wood fi -
ber is the current surface, the
hope all along has been to have
a spongy, poured-in-place sur-
face. That option was elimi-
nated from the project budget
in the spring, with the idea
being grants would be applied
for in the future to secure the
necessary fi nances. If funding is
secured and the new surface is
put down, the current surface
would be removed and put into
other Keizer parks.
Thus the discussion at Tues-
day’s CBTF meeting.
The biggest grant being
looked at for next year is the
Oregon Parks and Recreation
Department’s Local Govern-
ment Grant. City leaders ap-
plied for a $150,000 grant
through that program in 2014
but didn’t get it.
Though the new surface is
the main improvement being
sought, there is the possibility
of other improvements such as
an expanded trail and possibly
new restrooms being added to
the tally.
Marlene Parsons, chair of the
CBTF, used estimated fi gures
from Bill Lawyer, Keizer’s Pub-
lic Works director.
“The poured-in-place will
cost roughly $175,000,” Par-
sons said. “If you get a $100,000
grant and a $100,000 match,
that is $200,000. We want to
put in more of a path and pav-
ing. We do have old system de-
velopment charges money of
$100,000, but that’s it. If we go
for more, we’re talking about
other fundraising and other
grants.”
Janet Carlson, who chaired
the fundraising committee that
has since been rolled into the
overall CBTF group, noted the
improvements could be shown
as examples of making the play
structure easier for youth with
disabilities to use.
After some discussion, Par-
sons noted fi gures have to be
presented to Keizer City Coun-
cilors such as herself for ap-
proval before any grant can be
applied for.
“I need a fi gure to take to
council,” she said. “I need an
exact fi gure.”
Lawyer said something else
needs to be done fi rst.
“We need to identify the
scope of the project fi rst,” Law-
yer said. “What’s going to be in-
cluded in the project?”
CBTF member Richard
Walsh liked Carlson’s sugges-
tion of tying projects into the
disability theme, with things
like an ADA (Americans with
Disabilities Act) compliant path.
Councilor Brandon Smith
suggested adding permanent re-
strooms to the list, but Lawyer
noted cost issues.
“The problem with a per-
manent bathroom right now is
it has to be vault toilets, or we
have to put in sewer,” Lawyer
said. “Just to get the sewer there
is at least a $300,000 project. It’s
a major, major project.”
Smith suggested looking at
other improvements down the
road in the KRP master plan
and asked about seeing if other
groups might have funds avail-
able to use as a match.
Lawyer wondered if that
would be overstepping the
group’s bounds.
“This is the Community
Build Task Force; you’re talk-
ing about Parks Board issues,”
he said. “This is just for the Big
Toy.”
Parsons was in agreement
with Lawyer.
“That’s a discussion the Parks
Board needs to have,” she said.
Walsh said a relatively simple
proposal would be good.
“If we made a simple project
like the spongy surface, the path
and bathrooms, that would be
pretty attractive,” Walsh said.
Parsons would like to see
more exact numbers and infor-
mation at next month’s CBTF
meeting.
“It would be helpful to have
the information so we’re not
shooting in the dark,” she said.
“Hopefully we’ll have a lot
of answers to questions next
month.”
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