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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2015)
2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 27, 2015 Polk County News Grant to help control cat, kitten colonies By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — Thanks to a grant from Petco Foundation, the city of Dallas has launched a program to address the growing number of feral, or “free-roaming,” cats who call the city home. The $10,000 grant will pay for a “trap, neuter, and return” (TNR) pro- gram, with the goal of preventing growth in the feral cat population. To put the money to use, howev- er, the city needs feline friendly volunteers to help trap and care for free-roaming cats. Once captured, they will be taken to be spayed or neutered, given vaccinations, and returned to where they were picked up under the supervision of a caregiver who provides food and water. Kittens younger than 14- weeks-old and “socialized” adult cats will be put up for adoption. “This was one of those issues we couldn’t address,” said Dallas Ani- mal Control Officer Carleen Danka. “We just didn’t have the JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer Dallas resident Edith Walters, with the Feral Cat Awareness Project,, cares for and “socializes” feral cats to help find them homes. manpower.” Danka said there are about 10 colonies of feral cats in the city that she knows of, but there could be more. While many of the cats captured through the program will be returned to the community, get- ting them spay or neutered and vaccinated will decrease the im- pact the colonies have on the sur- rounding area, Danka said. It will stop “breeding behaviors” and stop the spread of disease. Danka said Salem Friends of Fe- lines has already conducted a suc- cessful TNR program with a colony that used to roam in the area be- tween Walmart and Burger King off East Ellendale Avenue. Now, the colony has been relocated by a caretaker who feeds them regular- ly. Since then, the colony has pro- duced no new kittens. “They are not bothering anyone and they are keeping the mice down,” Danka said. Dallas resident Edith Walters, who runs feral cat rescue Feral Cat Awareness Project, also is caring for a colony out of her home on Levens Street. She works with the Willamette Humane Society to have the cats spayed and neutered and with Salem Friends of Felines to place adoptable cats or those she has socialized. Walters also finds “barn homes” for cats who can’t be someone’s pet. Walters helps with calls from all over the region — she takes 30 to 40 cats a month to be spayed or neutered — but doesn’t have a shortage of cats roaming her prop- erty here in Dallas even after just a few months. Danka is looking for more peo- ple like Walters to assist with the program. She has caregivers for about five colonies now, but needs more people to step up. “We’ve got to make sure they have a food source or we can’t re- lease them,” she said. Danka said the goal is to help as many cats as possible, and she will continue the program at least through the summer or until the funding is used. “I would like to get a few big colonies (taken care of),” she said. Know of a colony of cats? For more information or to vol- unteer to be a caretaker, call 503- 831-3536. MINET officials predict 7.4 percent raise in revenue CFO says market share not there to pay $25 million debt, operating expenses, capital improvements By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer MONMOUTH/INDEPEN- DENCE — Revenue for Monmouth Independence Networks (MINET) is ex- pected to increase in 2015- 16, but by about 7.4 percent, less than the 24 percent ex- pected increase from last year. West Valley Housing Authority will hold their Work Session Meeting on Thursday, May 28 2015 be- ginning at 11:00 a.m. at 204 SW Walnut in Dallas, Oregon. The Regular Meeting will be held on Thursday, May 28, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. at 204 SW Walnut in Dallas, Oregon. An Executive Session pursuant to ORS 192.660 will be held immedi- ately following the Regular Meeting. Agenda for the meeting is posted on the Housing Authority website at www.wvpha.org. The location for the meeting is handicapped accessible. Please advise the West Valley Housing Authority if you need any special accommodations to attend the meeting. For information, please call 503-623-8387, TDD 1- 800-735-2900. The total annual revenue is expected to be $4.886 mil- lion, compared to $4.548 projected in 2014-15. Chief Financial Officer Mark Thoenes said MINET’s income from operations is expected to be $999,926 in 2014-15, 25 percent less than the $1.345 million the company made in 2013-14. The decrease is mostly because of unexpected, one-time expenses, Thoenes said, including storm damage that was not covered by insurance in De- cember and large increases in fees from cable providers for content. For 2015-16, Thoenes said MINET projects making about $1.2 million in net or- dinary income, a 20 percent increase over last year. MINET’s total expected net income is 43 percent of Up Next • The MINET budget committee met Tuesday after press time. The MINET Board of Directors meets at 7:30 a.m. Thurs- day. • In the next fiscal year, MINET hopes to address a number of issues in the data provider portion of the business, includ- ing updating documentation; updating and patching servers, nearly all of which are out of date and have never been updated; updating antiquated monitoring systems; identifying unidentified systems that are running in the data center; and completely redesigning of core ISP services, bringing servers up to date with the most applicable plat- forms. what it needs to be able to fully fund its $25 million debt, operating expenses and capital expenses, said Thoenes. “The company is able to pay its operating costs, but it’s insufficient to pay debt,” he said. After it pays its operating costs and capital expenses, MINET will be able to pay $956,446 of its $2.046 mil- lion debt payments for 2015-16, leaving $1.090 mil- lion for the cities to cover. MINET Manager Don Pat- ten told the budget commit- tee that one of the reasons for the 7.4 percent total ex- pected revenue was that the market was not in MINET’s coverage area to expand. Last year’s budget forecast was filled with too much op- timism and not enough un- derstanding of what the market really is, Thoenes said. After further analysis and efforts to gain customers, it was found that those people were using competitors or had no interest in the servic- es MINET could provide — some did not own comput- ers. “This marketplace you have out there is more high- ly penetrated, and it’s not as large as you think,” Thoenes said. To increase revenue, MINET will need to look for other ways to bring in money, such as leasing ex- cess capacity to other busi- nesses, in addition to in- creasing data customers, Patten said. In leasing MINET’s capac- ity, it would allow a private carrier to use MINET’s infra- structure.
