MAY 12, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
FEE,
continued from Page A1
“My experience was that
we had questions about put-
ting it on the ballot, but the
majority of people I talked to
said they trusted the council,”
Ryan said.
A vote has two potential
consequences, if city staff were
ramp up the effort to place an
ordinance on the November
ballot, it will incur additional
costs (about $1 per registered
voter according to City Re-
corder Tracy Davis). Deciding
to wait for a 2018 election, in
which the city could forego
the per-voter expense, defers
needed maintenance and re-
pairs for at least another year.
Councilor Bruce Ander-
son said he was uncomfortable
with any action given the city’s
lack of conversation about how
to create greater funding for
the Keizer Police Department.
He was joined in his concern
by Councilor Kim Freeman.
“The people I talked to said
they love their parks, but they
said police come fi rst. I want to
have that conversation before
we move this forward,” Free-
man said.
Mayor Cathy Clark coun-
tered she did not want the
conversation to become an
either/or proposition. Police
offi cials have come up with a
plan for what they need, but
the past year was spent collect-
ing information from residents
about the parks because they
are “the experts,” she said.
“We have good information
and we know what our (parks)
needs are. In my mind, wait-
ing another year would not
be responsible. The safety and
maintenance issues are critical,”
Clark said.
Ryan was the only coun-
cilor to voice support for a
structured fee increase from
the outset.
“If we increase incremen-
tally, people can prepare for it,”
Ryan said.
Councilor Laura Reid, who
played her hand close to the
vest all night, was most inter-
ested in how residents would
be billed.
Reid asked several ques-
tions regarding how the bill-
ing would be handled. From
a monetary point of view, the
cheapest method would be to
include a fee as a line item on
existing utility bills already is-
sued by the city. Creating an
additional bill sent with the
current bills would cost an ad-
ditional $1,500 to $17,600 de-
pending on whether it was an-
nually or monthly. An entirely
separate billing would cost a
minimum of $9,200 for an an-
nual statement or $111,300 for
12 monthly statements.
“Having the separate bill
might give us more fl exibility
to ask for people to increase
their contribution,” Reid said.
Clark said previous attempts
to collect funds in that man-
ner had rapidly diminishing
returns and e-payment systems
have made it unlikely many
residents even open their bills.
While the motion to have
staff draft an ordinance passed
unanimously, Anderson and
Freeman reaffi rmed their res-
ervations in how it was being
handled.
“I will support moving for-
ward to draft an (ordinance),
but that doesn’t mean I am
supportive of the (ordinance),”
Anderson said.
Freeman said she hoped the
council would begin discuss-
ing a fee to support the police
department sooner rather than
later.
“All (Chief John Teague)
needs is for me to tell him
when and he will be ready. We
can have that robust discussion
quickly,” said City Manager
Chris Eppley.
HOUSE,
continued from Page A1
The Salem Police Depart-
ment Bomb Squad was also
called to the scene to investi-
gate a suspicious device found
among a stockpile of fi rearms,
at least two were stolen. The
largest of the weapons was a
PTR-91F, a .308 caliber semi-
automatic rifl e with bi-pod
and scope.
Police went in at the early
hour because they suspected
the occupants had fi rearms
and presented an imminent
danger. It also prevented inter-
ruption to students getting to
TRIAL,
continued from Page A1
Robertson was discovered out-
side the apartment waving her
school at Cummings Elemen-
tary School (385 feet away)
and McNary High School
(901 feet away).
Lara-Alvarez is charged
with: three counts of pos-
session of oxycodone, one
count of heroin possession,
one count of methamphet-
amine possession, one count
of cocaine possession, one
count of manufacturing mari-
juana extract, two counts of
theft by receiving, one count
of tampering with evidence,
maintaining a place where
controlled substances are used
and six counts of delivery of
controlled substances within
1,000 feet of a school.
His bail was set at $405,000.
hands and screaming. Caden
was found unresponsive under
a blanket inside.
Two days later, an autopsy
determined the boy had been
strangled to death.
Pcblic testimony on parks fee a mixed bag
Jerry McGee said the fi rst 10 minutes of his
conversations with residents regarding the fee
were spent trying to convince them that there
was no connection between the parks fee and
the city utility bills. Including a fee as a line
item with existing bills is the cheapest way for
the city to collect it.
“Don’t try to save a few pennies by includ-
ing it with the water bill,” McGee said.
McGee also encouraged the council to be
reasonable with the amount saying a $4 fee
would double the amount available for parks
and few agencies see their budgets increase by
that much.
Keizerite Hans Schneider said it didn’t mat-
ter whether the council or residents see the
amount as a fee or a tax.
“I don’t view this as a fee or a tax, it’s an
investment in the city of Keizer. My vote is for
this investment in this community,” Schneider
said.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
About 15 Keizer residents and at least one
from Salem turned out to offer public com-
ment on a proposed fee to create dedicated
funding for Keizer parks Monday. May 8.
The testimony offered was wide-ranging
and touched on numerous aspects of the fee,
but even supporters seemed to have reserva-
tions regarding how to proceed.
Keizerite Bill Quinn suggested that a vote
would be a stronger indicator of support among
residents than the survey the city spent three
months asking for response to, but wanted to
see additional stipulations.
“The thing is that if you impose the fee, I
suggest that you take away the $360,000 (for
parks in the current budget) and put it toward
the police. If you are going to have a fee go
out for a vote and get the true feeling of the
people,” Quinn said.
Garry Whalen, a former member of the
Keizer Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
said, “solid, predictable funding is critical be-
cause the parks are on life support.”
However, Whalen championed the idea of
tying a parks fee to the amount available in the
city budget.
“If the parks budget was reduced from
$300,000 to $150,000, then the fee should
also be reduced by 50 percent. A fee properly-
structured will benefi t our whole community,”
Whalen said.
Jesse Borghesi, treasurer for a Salem rugby
club that makes frequent use of Claggett Creek
Park for their intramural league, had glowing
reviews of his group’s interactions with Keizer
parks staff.
“The staff at the parks department are excel-
lent and easy to work with. Anything that sup-
ports the parks is a good thing,” Borghesi said.
Rhonda Rich said the fee should be billed
to property owners annually. She added that
while she does not support fees and taxes, she
fi lled out the recent survey and said she would
be willing to pay a $2 monthly fee.
Allen Barker said outside forces acting on
the Keizer city budget, such as payments to
the Public Employees Retirement System
that consume most of the 3 percent increase
in property taxes, have made for an untenable
situation.
“The Keizer budget doesn’t support the
parks at the level it needs to be done. Citizens
themselves are taking care of the parks,” Barker
said.
Daniel Miedema was one of the most ef-
fusive supporters of the fee.
“The idea of a community or city is to share
the burden of expensive tasks. I strongly sup-
port the fee. Anything that keeps the parks up
and running in my mind is fantastic,” Miedema
said.
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