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.