Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 24, 2015 3A
Polk County News
NEWS IN BRIEF
New app to pay for vehicle charges
MONMOUTH — The AeroVironment’s charging station at
Dairy Queen in Monmouth is part of the West Coast Electric
Highway charging network.
A new app allows electric vehicle drivers to charge their vehi-
cle and pay via smartphone on a pay-per-charge basis. Drivers
still have the option to call AeroVironment’s customer service
center to pay for and activate the stations.
The app is available on iPhone and Android platforms.
For more information: www.plugshare.com.
MINET seeks committee members
INDEPENDENCE — The Monmouth Independence Networks
Board of Directors is looking for members for its finance commit-
tee. The committee reports to the MINET board.
Members should be financially savvy. The committee meets
for about two to four hours each month.
For more information: Marilyn Morton, mmorton@minet-
fiber.com or 503-837-0700.
Dallas city, URA adopted budgets
DALLAS — The Dallas City Council adopted the city’s 2015-16
budget on June 15.
The city’s budget committee met four times during April and
May to review and approve the budget before sending it to the
council for adoption.
The 2015-16 budget totals approximately $39 million, about
$9.5 million of that is in general fund, which includes police, fire,
finance, administration and community development depart-
ments.
The Dallas Urban Renewal Agency board also adopted its
2015-16 budget on June 15.
Dallas to see water, sewer increase
DALLAS — Dallas residents will see an increase in their water
and sewer bills starting this month.
Part of a new rate structure in place for the last year, the rates
have increased based on the Consumer Price Index for the Port-
land-Salem region. This year, that rate is 2.4 percent.
Residential water base rates will increase from $16.50 to
$16.90 per month for the first three units of water — one unit of
water is 750 gallons of water — and an additional charge of
$1.82 per unit when using more than three units. That is an in-
crease from $1.77.
Sewer base rates will increase from $42.90 to $43.93 per
month. Also customers will notice a change on their sewer bill
beginning July 1 that separates sewer and stormwater costs. In
the past, charges for the two systems have been listed together
on the sewer bill. The change will not result in a further increase
in rates.
For more information: 503-831-3555.
CRB has Polk member opening
POLK COUNTY — The Citizen Review Board (CRB), an Oregon
Judicial Department program that monitors case plans of chil-
dren in foster case, has an opening for a Polk County resident.
Board members are volunteers who meet one day per month
to review case plans of children in foster care and make recom-
mendations to the court, involved agencies and legal parties.
Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n , g o t o t h e C R B we b s i t e,
www.ojd.state.or.us/crb or contact CRB coordinator Amy Church
at 503-986-4535 or email CRB.Volunteer.Resources
@ojd.state.or.us.
Independence awards good neighbors
INDEPENDENCE — Kevin Alejandrez, the community liaison
intern for the city of Independence, awarded 18 people with
good neighbor awards at the June 9 city council meeting.
The volunteers helped Alejandrez with various things, includ-
ing organizing the Festival Informativo and community out-
reach.
The following citizens were honored: Janie Ramirez, Daisy
Chavez, Karina Lopez, Irene Rodriguez, Andrea Tamayo, Paula
Tamayo, Jose Angulo, Berenice Licona, Samantha Valdez, Ivan
Acosta, Laura Miranda, Maria Babiker, Jovany Romero, Maria Var-
gas, Javier Garcia, Jaime Hernandez, Rene Chavez and Helen Tal-
bert.
Also recognized as good neighbors by Independence Chief of
Police Bob Mason were Independence Lt. Rick Igou for going
above and beyond in helping a family in need, and Partnerships
in Community Living Inc. (PCL), Ford Decker, Charlotte Vander-
have and Ginger Lusheinko assisting Igou in his project.
Please, recycle this newspaper.
Power rates set to decrease
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Cus-
tomers of Monmouth Power
and Light will see a decrease
in their bills effective July 1.
A 3 percent decrease in rates
was approved at the June 16
council meeting.
“We’re a public entity,”
said City Manager Scott Mc-
Clure at the meeting. “We
don’t need to make a profit.
We’re generating enough
cash on an annual basis.”
The power and light fund
will still maintain a 36 per-
cent contingency to use in
case of emergencies, Mc-
Clure said, meaning the
fund will still be in good
shape even with the de-
crease in rates.
The city of Monmouth en-
deavors to maintain at least
25 percent of the total
amount budgeted in contin-
gency for each fund, includ-
ing general, water and sewer
funds.
The rate adjustment
passed unanimously.
“This is an excellent illus-
tration between a public
utility and a private utility,”
Councilor Marshall Guthrie
noted.
The rate reduction will
mean about $190,000 less a
year Monmouth Power and
Light will collect: About $56
a year for an average home,
McClure said.
“It affects everybody who
pays a utility bill,” he said.
In other business, the
council:
• Approved adding ducks
to the backyard chicken or-
dinance.
• Approved a 2.1 percent
cost-of-living increase for all
non-represented city em-
ployees.
• Approved two new
crosswalks on the campus of
Western Oregon University,
including one raised cross-
walk.
That led to a discussion of
other traffic concerns, in-
cluding ways to control
speeds on Madrona Street
East. Councilor Steve Milli-
gan and Mayor John Oberst
argued for speed bumps or
raised crosswalks, while Mc-
Clure said emergency serv-
ices were not fond of speed
bumps.
“Monmouth has low-vol-
ume speed, we don’t have
accidents,” McClure noted.
“You will open Pandora’s
Box. As soon as you do one,
everyone will want one. We
have a road fund with no
money. Are we going to drop
$50,000 on speed bumps?”
Milligan noted with the
improvements at Madrona
Park, some citizens and resi-
dents of that neighborhood
are concerned about in-
creased pedestrian traffic.
“The last thing I want is
an accident before we enact
traffic provisions,” Milligan
said. “It’s up to the will of the
council, not the will of the
staff.”
Plans for riverfront begin to take shape
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Work
began on June 15 to ready
the old Valley Concrete site
to market to developers.
Independence City Man-
ager David Clyne said at the
June 9 city council meeting
that the city will do some
basic cleanup of the river-
front property, including
grading the site, and has
hired consultants to help re-
cruit the right developer.
Chris Zahas of Leland
Consulting Group said he is
interested and intrigued to
help the city find a buyer of
the 20-acre parcel of land,
which cost the city $800,000.
“We’re used to projects
where we’re having to deliv-
er bad news,” Zahas said.
“This is one where there’s
very good news to tell. We’re
going to be reaching out to
developers to find out what
their potential interest is.”
He and Mark Keller of
Partnership Hospitality
Services will do additional
research to see what the fea-
sibility is of a hotel on the
waterfront.
“We’re going to do some
outreach to … the wine in-
dustry,” Zahas said. “See if
there’s connections, if they
can support rooms at a
hotel, events and a restau-
rant. We’re meeting with the
university. The list goes on
and on of the people we will
want to talk to.”
Keller said the city of In-
dependence already has a
lot going for it to entice seri-
ous developers, from the
trail network to the
Willamette River to the ex-
isting amphitheater in
Riverview Park.
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“The amenities that are
here, it’s just tremendous,
and it will draw people
here,” he said.
Zahas added that the
economy is getting better,
making it easier to attract
developers.
The city bought the site
with economic development
dollars in October 2014. The
hope is to sell it to develop-
ers who will share the same
vision for downtown Inde-
pendence as the council,
mayor and city staff have for
it, Clyne said, with the first
priority being lodging.
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