SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 20
SECTION A
FEBRUARY 16, 2018
$1.00
Board backs parks smoking ban 7-1
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
After a public hearing and lengthy
debate, the Keizer Parks Advisory
Board is moving forward with a rec-
ommendation to ban smoking in
Keizer parks.
Board members voted 7-1 to rec-
ommend the action to the Keizer City
Council. Matt Lawyer was the lone
voice of dissent on the issue at a meet-
ing of the board Tuesday, Feb. 13.
The recommendation will go to
the council and suggest revisiting the
current Keizer parks ordinance and re-
placing existing language that pertains
to smoking in areas of high fi re risk
with an outright ban.
The suggestion of amending the
existing ordinance, rather than creating
something whole cloth, came from the
board’s newest member, Zaira Flores
Marin, who attended her fi rst meeting
prepared to cite chapter-and-verse.
Flores Marin said that a smoking
ban represented a fi rst step in “more of
a cultural change in the city.”
Smoking is already banned in Salem
and Marion County parks as well as
Oregon’s state parks.
The handful of residents who of-
fered testimony on the issue favored
the ban, but it was testimony from of Marion County and speaking in
her role as a Keizer
Kerryann Bouska,
resident.
a program coor-
Bouska
said
dinator with the “When we as Keizer
that smoke free
Marion
County citizens say we care
rules and policies
Public Health De-
are typically self-
partment
who about health, we
enforcing and that
oversees
anti- can send a stronger
previous attempts
smoking
educa-
at mitigating smok-
tion programs, that message”
ing in Keizer parks,
appeared to sway
— Kerryann Bouska
like
designating
most of the re-
Keizer resident
smoking areas in
maining holdouts.
each park, are ham-
Bouska, who is also
a Keizer resident, was careful to walk pered from the outset.
Please see BAN, Page A8
the line of educating as an employee
Boys on top
of GVC b-ball
PAGE B1
Bond passage would have far-reaching effects
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
If voters approve a $619.7
million Salem-Keizer School
District (SKSD) bond measure
in May, improvements at Mc-
Nary High School and Gub-
ser Elementary School will be
some of the fi rst in the district
to receive renovations and re-
designs.
While those projects would
be among the fi rst to undergo
construction, the bond plan
includes improvements or
maintenance projects at every
school in SKSD.
As the second largest high
school in the district, admin-
istrators have long planned for
McNary to be near the top of
the list, but Gubser was more
of a surprise, said Superinten-
dent Christy Perry.
“Gubser is one of the most
overpopulated
elementary
schools right now. We tried
placing an additional teacher
there to help with class siz-
es, but there simply wasn’t
enough space in the building,”
Perry said.
There is still an additional
teacher at Gubser, but they
fl oat throughout the build-
ing and assist where they are
needed most, she said.
In that sense, improvements
at Gubser – including three
At a glance: Keizer's place in SKSD bond
Keizer Elementary
McNary High
4 new classrooms
14 new classrooms
Dedicated cafeteria and kitchen
1 new science lab
Library upgrades
2 career technical education spaces
Dedicated special education class space
A new fl exible learning space
Replacement classrooms (13,700 sq. ft.)
Repurposed/renovated space for admin and support staff
Redesigned parking lot and additional parking
Purchase of additional property and relocating sports fi elds
Cummings Elementary
Cafeteria expansion
Sidewalks along campus
Claggett Creek Creek Middle
Cafeteria expansion
Converting 3 classrooms into 2 science labs
Library upgrades
Gubser Elementary School
Not-So-
Newlyweds
3 new classrooms
Dedicated cafeteria and kitchen
Gym upgrades
PAGE A3
new classrooms, a dedicated
cafeteria and kitchen and gym
upgrades – will have the ef-
fect of lowering class sizes.
That will not be the case for
all schools, but bonds can only
pay for capital improvement
projects and not continuing
budget items like teacher sala-
ries. The latter funds are much
more volatile and heavily de-
pendent on state funding set
by the Oregon Legislature.
The biggest single change
district-wide, if the bond is
approved by voters, will be
increasing capacity at fi ve of
the six high schools to 2,200
students. At McNary, that will
mean about 200 more students
than are currently enrolled, but
it will also mean that the por-
table classrooms some classes
use will be replaced with per-
manent structures.
The bond will cost a home-
owner $1.24 more per $1,000
Please see BOND, Page A2
Preparing for
the hand-off
Cathy Clark’s vision for
a third mayoral term
HOME
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
In the course of eight days,
Salem Habitat for Humanity
handed over the keys to two
new Keizer families.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, Con-
struction Manager Dave Con-
nell presented the Ramos-
Gasca family with their keys
to half of a new duplex on
Alexis Lane North in Keizer.
The family of four – including
mother and father, Arturo and
Sara, and daughters, Brianna
and Jessica – were welcomed
by Habitat staff and volunteers
and led through the home for
the fi rst time by members of
Girl Scout Troop 10048 and
Brownie Troop 10133.
“It’s
something
we’ve
dreamt about for a long time,”
said Sara, after accepting the
keys. “There is no way, shape or
form that we could have pulled
this off without each and every
one of you, that’s a guarantee.”
The build was sponsored,
in large part, by Thrivent Fi-
nancial, which has contributed
more than $800,000 to Salem
Habitat over the course of its
last eight builds. A week prior
to the Ramos-Gascas getting
its keys, Habitat handed over
the keys to the Ramos-Gasca’s
new neighbors, the Wuelfi ng
family.
Please see HOME, Page A8
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Brianna Ramos-Gasca checks
out her new bedroom at a
Keizer home built by Habi-
tat for Humanity. Girl Scouts
who led her to the room – and
helped decorate – wait in the
hallway.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Mayor Cathy Clark an-
nounced she will be seeking
a third term as Keizer’s may-
or last week, but the crux of
her vision for the city is less
about what she will do during
a third term and more about
paving the way for those who
follow her.
“I’m very purposeful and I
want to reach Gen Xers and
the Millenials. I know they
are very busy with families
and have a lot demands on
their time, but we have got to
make sure that we are taking
the long view,” Clark said. “ If
we are going to have a vibrant
legacy that continues, the next
generation has to be ready for
it and the ones working right
now have to be okay with
them changing it.”
Clark served eight years as
a member of the Keizer City
Council before being elected
as mayor in 2014. Prior to
those duties she served on
several of the city committees.
In her time as public servant,
Keizer has undergone wide-
spread changes ranging from
nascent stages of what is now
Keizer Station to leading the
charge to implement fees that
created stable funding for
parks and police services in
2017.
“We had established great
parks and a responsive police
department and a fantastic
planning department, but a
lot of those good things were
beginning to show some wear
and doing nothing was not an
option,” Clark said.
Now she feels that other
departments within the city
need that same look, not the
least of which is the future of
Keizer’s Civic Center.
“If we don’t properly staff it
and maintain it, we won’t have
it,” she said. “We will have to
look at all the revenue streams
and come to a decision re-
garding the resources available
and how the oversight (of the
facility) looks in the future.”
In a city where the most
frequent response to any prob-
lem is “volunteer,” Clark also
wants to take a harder look at
Please see CLARK, Page A8
Learning
to fly
PAGE A4
Statebound
PAGE B1