DECEMBER 10, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
Council delays decision on Summer
Concert Series management
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Of the Keizertimes
Marijuana,
summer
concerts,
sushi and turf fields: the Keizer City
Council had no shortage of interest-
ing topics on the agenda for their
second to last regular meeting of the
year on Monday Dec. 6.
The council’s vote on whether or
not to sign a contract with the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce, who is plan-
ning to partner with Valor Mentoring,
to run the Summer Concert Series
appeared to be of greatest public
concern. Seven community members
signed up to discuss the topic during
public comment section.
The Summer Concert Series at
the Keizer Rotary Amphitheater has
been run by Clint Holland's KRA
organization for the past nine years.
The city’s contract with him expired
in October of this year and the city
began accepting proposals in August
for the management of the series
starting in 2022.
Two proposals were submitted
— one by Holland and one by the
Chamber — which went through a
grading process. Each proposal was
scored based on categories such as
applicant’s ability to work coopera-
tively with the city, their expertise
in the music industry, their qualifi-
cations and the proposal’s “complete
and clear responses.” The Chamber
received 150.5 points out of 225, and
Holland 129 out of 225.
Holland’s objection, which he’s
expressed at multiple council meet-
ings, is that he wasn’t made aware of
the proposal until a week after the
Chamber and had to submit a rushed
proposal. The City has confirmed
that they initially sent the proposal to
the wrong address and that Holland
wasn’t made aware of the proposal
until Aug. 19 — six days after the
Chamber received it and 11 days until
the deadline.
“When we tell a group, ‘I know you
built it, I know you put all this work
into it, I know you did all these things
you heard about but the procedure
was that you lost out.’ That’s fine. But
make sure the procedure was fair,”
said Richard Walsh, a former Keizer
City Councilor, at Monday's meeting.
After more than 30 minutes of
public comment on the matter, the
council began discussing possible
remedies for the situation. Councilors
debated and in the end decided to
re-open the entire call for proposal
process. The Chamber and Holland
will both have an opportunity to sub-
mit a new proposal, as will any other
new parties. All proposals will then
be graded and come before the coun-
cil once again in the future.
The council did not provide a new
timeline for the process with City
Attorney Shannon Johnson saying
that staff would work to see how fast
they could send out the new requests
for proposals during the holidays.
After the lengthy discussion on
the Summer Concert Series, the coun-
cil began discussing a request from a
local dispensary for the city to amend
a city code that requires 1,000 feet of
space between dispensaries. Hami
Premises is currently located roughly
850 feet from another Keizer dispen-
sary, which means they are unable
to open their business under current
law.
“Do we really need more pot shops
in town?” Councilor Dan Kohler
asked during discussion.
“Rather than looking at the 'do we
need,' because I remember that same
question about fast food places, we
set the table and business owners
decided if they can operate under
those conditions. And then they make
Photo courtesy of Keizer Rotary Ampitheater social media
a business decision,” said Mayor
Cathy Clark.
After minimal discussion, the
council voted on whether to direct
staff to “reopen the conversation
about the distance between mari-
juana retailers in our development
code.”
Councilors Elizabeth Smith and
Roland Herrera voted yes, while
Kohler, Clark and Councilors Laura
Reid and Kyle Juran voted no.
While the first two agenda items of
the night were rejected, council came
to agreement on the third, voting
anonymously to waive a $1,000 rental
charge for the Keizer Community
Center for Kohler and the Boy Scouts
of America Cascade Pacific Council.
Kohler and the Boy Scouts will use
the center on Oct. 1, 2022 for the Ed
Harris Auction Committee.
Additionally, the council also
voted to direct Finance Director Tim
Wood to apply for American Rescue
Plan funds to construct up to two all-
weather turf soccer/football fields at
Keizer Rapids Park. The fields are
estimated to cost between $3.2 and
$4.2 million.
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