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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 2021)
FEBRUARY 26, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7 County goes digital with dog licensing RULES, continued from Page A1 Marion County Dog Ser- vices now offers online dog licensing. Dog Services Director Ann Potter said, “We know the community wants an online option and it’s become even more necessary this year with our lobby closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Online licensing can be accessed from the following link: bit.ly/MCDogLicense To license online, dog own- ers will need a copy of their dog’s current rabies vaccine. Photos of rabies certifi cates may be uploaded directly to the licensing program. Dog licenses may not be purchased for longer than the rabies expi- ration date. License fees are $20 annual- ly for altered dogs and start at $37 for non-altered dogs. Dis- counted fees are available for multi-year licenses and for se- nior dog owners. For more in- formation about Marion Dog Services fees and hours, vis- it www.mcdogs.net, call 503- 588-5233, or email dog@ co.marion.or.us. Aside from the loss of viewers, staff reports are taken after the councilors report on their activities, a process that has taken an hour or more on many occasions. “After all the reports, [Keizer Public Works Direc- tor] Bill Lawyer would lead a discussion about the road striping that we were all get- ting griped at over. But ev- eryone would miss it because they tuned out,” Smith con- tinued. Members of the council agreed that updates from staff should precede councilors’ individual reports once the new rules are adopted, but it was less clear what the body would do to constrain the re- ports from councilors. The work group that con- sidered updating the rules, which included councilors Laura Reid, Dan Kohler and Smith, suggested a limit of three minutes per councilor. Councilor Ross Day pas- sionately disagreed with lim- iting councilors. “That is foreign to me and I don’t know any other body M emorial C enters ◆ C remation & B urial Simplicity - Convenience - Low Cost simple cremation simple direct burial church funeral ◆ $795 ◆ $995 ◆ $2965 Salem Portland Eastside 275 Lancaster Dr. SE Salem, OR 97317 832 NE Broadway Portland, OR 97232 1433 SE 122nd Ave. Portland, OR 97233 (503) 581-6265 (503) 783-3393 (503) 783-6865 Tualatin Tigard Milwaukie 8970 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd. Tualatin, OR 97062 12995 SW Pacifi c Hwy Tigard, OR 97223 16475 SE McLoughlin Blvd. Milwaukie, OR 97267 (503) 783-6869 (503) 653-7076 that limits the amount of time that an elected member can speak,” Day said. “I think that’s a bad idea. If members of the public get fi ve minutes, then we should get at least that if not more.” Kohler said the decision to limit the reports was less about a specifi c time than content. “If you don’t have some sort of limit, we end up with a lot of redundancy and we want the meeting to be en- gaging for the public,” Kohler said. To trim the amount of time spent on the reports without setting a time limit, Mayor Cathy Clark suggest- ed focusing on meetings and activities that were not Keiz- er-sponsored and pulling out single aspects that held the most relevance to city resi- dents. Day, a land use attorney, also took issue with a lack of direction in the rules regard- ing how items are placed on the agenda. Since taking offi ce in January, Day has expressed doubt about the city’s ability to place liens on properties neglected by owners after the city performed upkeep. “Nothing in the city char- ter or rules that explains how items get placed on the agen- da. The city manager has the authority to place an item on the agenda unilaterally and we don’t have the same pow- er,” Day said. For the council to put items on the agenda, at least three councilors must agree to do so. There have also been times councilors rejected requests by citizens to place items on agendas on the spot. In re- cent years, the council was approached by business own- ers to permit a social gaming club within the city and to relax rules on distance re- quired between marijuana shops. Councilors took no action on either request. Mayor criticized legacy rule in earlier talks In fall 2020, Mayor Cathy Clark called for a council- or work group to consider revisions of the Keizer City Council’s rules and policies, a document that dictates ev- erything from what appears on an agenda to what coun- cilors can discuss via email. The group, which includ- ed councilors Laura Reid, Dan Kohler and Elizabeth Smith, reviewed a draft of the proposed changes at a work session Monday, Feb. 22. Among the changes un- der consideration is one that would repeal a longstanding tradition among Keizer city councilors: who is selected as the council president. Since 1995, the council has largely, but not always, selected the councilor with the longest continuous ser- vice on the council who had not yet served as coun- cil president. At a meeting of the work group on Jan. 6, two days after passing over Councilor Roland Herrera for the role of council pres- ident, Clark criticized what became known as “The Mc- Gee Rule,” after former city councilor Jerry McGee. “The automatic nomina- tion (of a long-serving coun- cilor) has created more hard feelings and angst and broken relationships than I can begin to recount,” said Clark. Clark recounted her own “Each of you individual- ly don’t have a lot of power, but collectively you do,” Ep- pley said. “It keeps individuals from dictating the business of the city.” City Attorney Shannon Johnson said the property ascension to the role over another councilor at the time, David McKane. Clark did not identify McKane by name, but said the councilor later ran against the mayor. McKane was the only former councilor to challenge a sit- ting mayor since Clark began serving on the council. “There were a number of diffi cult relationships, but if there are things going on when there is no trust or there are not strong relation- ships, the automatic nomi- nation sets up a false expec- tation,” Clark told the work group. The McGee Rule was adopted in the wake of a contested “race” for the role that included McGee him- self. McGee nominated him- self and another councilor nominated himself. McGee won in a 3-2 vote. Nominat- ing the longest continuous serving councilor was later adopted to avoid harming future relationships on the council. Clark said the city was still in its early days at that point and the rule had outlived its purpose. “We should look at [the council president] as the job description so that people understand it is more than ceremonial. It is a working and responsible position and people need to understand liens, while not mentioned in the rules, come to the council as the result of local ordinance and penalties imposed at the end of a much longer process. One proposed change, to remove a long-standing method of selecting a coun- that,” Clark said in January. “It’s about assuring that the person can assume the center seat with as little hubbub as possible.” Clark’s testimony came on the heels of council members passing over Roland Herrera for the council president role. Herrera fell out of favor for the position as discussions about an inclusivity state- ment grew heated in 2020. Herrera vehemently called for a bold statement while other councilors remained reticent. Herrera expressed his re- gret and apologized for his passion during the discus- sions on numerous occasions. Kohler nominated Herrera as part of the process on Jan. 4, but Herrera declined. Smith was selected as president in a unanimous vote shortly thereafter. When Keizertimes’ sto- ry on the selection of the council president appeared on Facebook, Clark recast the decision to pick Smith, writing, “Congratulations to Council President Eliz- abeth Smith, the youngest Council President in recent history who has the lived ex- perience of a teen mom who now is a leading producer in a male-dominated industry.” Herrera is the city’s fi rst and only Hispanic city coun- cilor. cil president, passed by with- out remark when the entire council had an opportunity to provide input. 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