PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 21, 2017
BEAUTY,
continued from Page A1
The changes, which were
approved in a 5-1 vote, will now
go to the council. If approved
there, developers – regardless of
size – will pay an additional 1
percent of their costs into the
city’s public art fund. That fund
can be used for a wide variety
of public amenities ranging
from highly-visible major ef-
forts like the Iris Festival Parade
mural to more subtle additions
like public benches. Developers
would get to choose whether
to invest the money somewhere
in their own property or pay
into the fund, which would al-
low the money to be used else-
where in the city.
While there was some quib-
ble over whether the charge
was a tax or something else,
the amount is somewhat negli-
gible. On a $100,000 construc-
tion or remodeling project,
the city would collect $1,000.
Brown said a public bench like
the ones currently along River
Road costs $1,400.
He added that conversation
about collecting the fee would
also be a tool to prompt en-
gagement on the part of the
business community.
“Right now, we can’t go to
them and tell them they need
to think about how they are
participating in the community
or raising the level of livability,”
Brown said. “Keizer is growing
up and we are a signifi cant city,
and I honestly think we need
to start paying more attention
to our sense of place. This is a
way to start moving that dial
just slightly.”
While city staff recom-
mended collecting the fee on
projects only worth $100,000
or more, the recommendation
from the commissioners would
apply it to all projects.
Commissioner
Hersch
POLICE,
continued from Page A1
approximately $626,000 annu-
ally for police services. The fee,
at least initially, is expected to
pay for the addition of fi ve new
offi cers: two offi cers would be
added to the night patrol shifts,
and one offi cer each would be
added to the Community Re-
sponse Unit, the detective unit
and the traffi c unit. However,
councilors refrained from lim-
iting the funds for solely those
expenses.
While there are not plans to
raise the fee in the immediate
future, the council and Budget
Advisory Committee will re-
view the fee at the beginning
of each budget cycle to deter-
mine if changes are warranted.
“It’s going to lead to some
tough decisions because the
costs are going to escalate. I
don’t know there’s any way to
tell (by how much),” said City
Manager Chris Eppley.
The city has had diffi culty
pulling the trigger on hiring
new offi cers because of esca-
lating PERS (public employee
retirement system) costs that
consume large chunks of new
general fund revenue.
Councilor Amy Ryan sug-
gested changing the name of
the bill residents receive to
clear up confusion about the
addition of new fees (which
will also include a $4 monthly
fee for parks, see related story
Page A1).
“There is a sense that by
changing our verbiage we can
clarify what we are doing and
why,” agreed Mayor Cathy
Clark.
Three residents spoke dur-
ing time set aside for public
Sangster asked whether such a
fee could be a fi nancial deal-
breaker for a business choosing
between Keizer and a nearby
city.
“Our SDCs (system devel-
opment charges) are 50 percent
less than neighboring jurisdic-
tions. We are signifi cantly less.
This doesn’t even push us close
to that territory,” Brown re-
plied.
Commissioner Garry Wha-
len, who was the sole no vote,
suggested that the fee would be
seen as a negative in the busi-
ness community, and wanted
assurances the money wouldn’t
sit and accumulate for years on
end.
“If we are going to exact a
1 percent fee, there needs to be
a commitment back from the
city that it will be spent within
X years. If it isn’t spent, don’t
just rathole the money and have
it not doing any good for any-
body – give it back,” Whalen
said.
The consensus was that plac-
ing a deadline on spending the
money collected would limit
the scope of public amenity
projects that could be consid-
ered.
Commissioners also deliber-
ated on where such amenities
should be placed. Brown origi-
nally envisioned the majority of
them being placed on the sub-
ject property, but it raised con-
cerns about ownership, main-
tenance, and liability/safety, for
some commissioners.
Commissioner Kyle Juran,
who recently completed re-
modeling his own space on
River Road North, suggested
he would rather not have a
public amenity placed on his
property.
“I wouldn’t want a fountain
or park bench that the public
can use because of the tightness
of the space,” Juran said.
The council will take up the
recommendation at a future
meeting.
testimony. Jerry McGee sup-
ported the police fee, but not
a discounted rate for seniors
who, he said, benefi t equal-
ly from police services. Bill
Quinn also voiced his support
for the fee. Dave Bauer took
issue with the whole process.
“The fee is a slippery slope
and a dangerous way to earn
money. What about new
councilors who have a differ-
ent ideas? There is precedent
that is going to be set and I
want you to understand that.
It’s a way to get money, but
I’m not sure it’s the right way,”
Bauer said.
PARKS: ‘The funding has
been minimal’
(Continued from Page A1)
While plans are already in
motion to repair cracks in
Carlson Skate Park to keep it
safe, it is in need of a much
larger overhaul, said Bill Law-
yer, Keizer Public Works di-
rector.
“To resurface it, they have
to rebuild it, which means
taking
out
components
and reconfi guring them.
Our preliminary estimates
are between $500,000 and
$600,000,” Lawyer said. He
added that future wear-and-
tear would be more minimal
with new materials and a new
design.
The city expects to collect
about $626,000 annually with
the $4 fee, which will more
than double the amount
available for maintenance and
improvements. Discounted
rates of $1.12 per month will
be made available to seniors
and low-income individuals.
Councilor Roland Her-
rera balked at the size of the
increase, but City Manager
Chris Eppley said that inter-
pretation was misleading.
“There are two compo-
nents to parks, the fi rst is the
people needed to maintain
them, the other is the capital
improvements,” Eppley said.
Lawyer said there was
also a signifi cant amount of
deferred maintenance that
needed to be completed.
“The funding has been
minimal, and every year we
fall behind,” Lawyer said.
Taylor, a former councilor
himself, acknowledged the
diffi culty of choosing to enact
a fee, but suggested the coun-
cil persist.
“A decision like this has
never been made in the his-
tory of Keizer, but it’s time to
grow up,” Taylor said.
Enacting the fee required
two approvals, fi rst an ordi-
nance and then a resolution
setting the amount. Coun-
cil deliberation on both was
wide-ranging.
“Just because a person is
not using a community ser-
vice doesn’t mean it isn’t es-
sential to the community. It’s
for the good the community
and everybody benefi ts from
it,” said Councilor Laura
Reid.
Councilor Bruce Ander-
son took issue with an $8
cap in the ordinance. He sug-
gested that the cap might be
seen as an incentive for future
councils to push the amount
higher more rapidly.
“I would rather focus on
reviewing (the rate) annually,”
Anderson said.
Reid countered that any
cap was a double-edged
sword.
“Any time we impose a
specifi c cap, we invite trouble
from an economic standpoint.
Twenty years down the line
$8 might seem miniscule. It
could cause problems because
people go there too fast or it’s
not enough,” she said.
Anderson suggested a
friendly amendment to re-
move the cap, but it died for
lack of a second. He then
pushed for an amendment to
remove the cap and it died in
a 4-3 vote. Anderson, Herrera
and Marlene Parsons sup-
ported removing the cap.
Despite the disagreement,
the ordinance to impose the
fee passed unanimously with
the addition of the council
and Budget Advisory Com-
mittee reviewing the rate an-
nually.
When discussing the fee
amount, Parsons implied that
she was going to push for a
$2 amount, but that Taylor’s
comments had swayed her.
“I wasn’t sure what I want-
ed to agree to, but we have to
last year that included a visit
to the skate park and where
matters of deferred mainte-
nance, and increased costs,
were discussed.
Anderson said he would
have preferred more discus-
sion of the “nexus” where
the money would go, à la the
way the police defi ned posi-
tions to be fi lled with the
approval of a fee. He said he
supported the fee but would
be more comfortable at the
$2 amount.
Mayor Cathy Clark had
the fi nal word on the matter
before the vote.
“Sometimes being fi scally
responsible means we pay
for things responsibly,” Clark
said. “The longer we wait
the more likely it is we move
from repair to replace. We
have things in our parks that
have to be rebuilt. Let’s not let
another one get that far be-
hind. To me, this is about be-
ing responsible and handing
off our parks to our children
and our future in better shape
than they are now.”
The $4 rate was approved
5-2. Herrera and Anderson
voted in opposition.
take care of that skate park.
If we repair it and we don’t
need that ($4 later) we can
go down with the annual re-
view,” Parsons said.
The skate park was also
a factor for Councilor Kim
Freeman.
“If those kids didn’t have
the park, they would be at our
businesses,” Freeman said.
As councilors weighed
the $2 and $4 options, even
City Manager Chris Eppley
chimed in on the discussion,
but said he was speaking only
as a resident of the city who
will also be paying the fee.
“I’m afraid that at the $2
rate people will only remem-
ber we imposed a fee, they
won’t see anything of sub-
stance in the parks. I think
there will be more discon-
tent,” Eppley said.
Anderson said it was the
fi rst time the council was
hearing about the larger proj-
ects that needed to get done
in parks even though the
Parks and Recreation Advi-
sory Board has been working
through the issues for more
than a year. Anderson was
also present on a tour of parks
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WorshipDirectory
These Salem-Keizer
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Call to list your church
in our Worship Directory:
(503) 390-1051
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JOIN US FOR
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452 Cummings Lane North • 393-0404
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PEOPLESCHURCH
4500 LANCASTER DR NE | SALEM
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Father Gary L. Zerr, Pastor
Saturday Vigil Liturgy: 5:30 p.m.
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La Misa en Español: 12:30 p.m.
Celebration
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Saturday Evening
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503-390-3900
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Sunday Morning
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