Polk County News
DEADLINES
NEWS DEADLINES
For inclusion in the
Wednesday edition of the
Itemizer-Observer:
Social news (weddings,
engagements, anniver-
saries, births, milestones) —
5 p.m. on Thursday.
Community events —
Noon on Friday for both the
Community Notebook and
Community Calendar.
Letters to the editor —
10 a.m. on Monday.
Obituaries — 4 p.m. on
Monday.
ADVERTISING DEADLINES
Retail display ads — 3
p.m. Friday.
Classified display ads
— 11 a.m. on Monday.
Classified line ads —
Noon on Monday. Classified
ads are updated daily on
www.polkio.com.
Public notices — Noon
on Friday.
CORRECTIONS
The Polk County Itemizer-
Observer is committed to
publishing accurate news,
feature and sports reports. If
you see anything that re-
quires a correction or clarifi-
cation, call the newsroom at
503-623-2373 or send an e-
mail to nadams@polkio.com.
Soon hiring finance manager NEWS IN BRIEF
Polk County to separate treasurer into two positions
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALL AS — The Polk
County Board of Commis-
sioners has directed its legal
staff to draft a resolution
changing the duties of its
elected treasurer.
In Polk County, which is
required by law to have a
treasurer, the job includes
being the county’s financial
manager in addition to the
responsibilities required by
Oregon statute.
Current Treasurer Linda
Fox, also a certified public
accountant, has been per-
forming all of those duties
for three terms. She will not
be seeking a fourth term.
County leaders are nerv-
ous leaving the “financial
manager” piece part of the
office and allowing the next
election to find the next per-
son to fill that role. County
RECORDED
HIGH LOW
Jan. 19............... 48
Jan. 20............... 49
Jan. 21............... 54
Jan. 22............... 60
Jan. 23............... 53
Jan. 24............... 49
Jan. 25............... 58
44
38
46
47
44
42
42
RAIN
.92
.11
.22
.38
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.T
.00
Rainfall during Jan. — 6.16 in.
Rain through Jan. 25 — 6.16 in.
By Emily Mentzer
INDEPENDENCE – The
Independence City Council
approved an exclusive nego-
tiating agreement on Tues-
day with Tokola Properties
Inc. for the redevelopment
of the former Valley Con-
crete site.
The agreement means the
city will not seek to put the
20-acre property back on the
market for 180 days.
“The end goal is to get us
to the point where we have a
disposition and develop-
ment agreement, where we
spell out the terms, have
planning and zoning in
place, cost share, and price
we will be paid for the prop-
erty,” City Manager David
Clyne said.
He laughingly compared
it to a prenuptial agreement,
Clyne said.
“It’s not far from that,” he
said. “We’re partners and
will be throughout. We want
to have our vision fulfilled.”
Councilor Nancy Lodge
requested that the agree-
ment include provisions for
sustainable building and op-
erations, to which the devel-
opers from Tokola Proper-
ties — who were present at
Tuesday’s meeting — agreed.
“I feel what we’re doing
today is going to impact the
city and our citizens for way
beyond me,” Lodge said. “So
I want to make sure we have
something in there that
pushes it.”
The next steps will be a
Itemizer-Observer staf report
SALEM — If you own a
business, even a home-
based business, Oregon law
requires you to file a yearly
personal property tax return
with your county assessor. In
2016, that deadline has
changed.
You must complete and
return it to the assessor, file
it online, or postmark it on
or before March 15. No ex-
tensions are available.
Completed returns must
include a detailed list of all
business-related personal
property, along with equip-
ment purchases or lease
dates, and original costs.
Personal property in-
cludes: office furniture, per-
sonal computers, and easily
moved machinery; off-road
vehicles; display cases if they
are used in the business;
leased equipment including
copiers and power washers.
The county assessor cal-
culates the tax due each year
based on the personal prop-
erty return. The assessor will
not impose a tax if the prop-
erty value is under the can-
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503-838-008
1331 Monmouth St., Independence
Central Plaza
memorandum of under-
standing, followed by the
disposition and develop-
ment agreement.
The city purchased the
property in December 2014
from Valley Concrete when
the company moved its
gravel site from the river-
front.
It has invested roughly
$1.2 million in the land, in-
cluding the purchase price
of $800,000, to make it
“shovel-ready,” or ready to
build on for potential devel-
opers.
Tokola Properties was se-
lected from three developers
who showed an interest in
the land. Preliminary plans
could include mixed hous-
ing and retail, as well as a
hotel.
Deadline changed on business filings
A Pleasant Place to Buy or Sell Your RV
$
The move creates a new
position of finance manager
that comes with a monthly
stipend of $5,850. The Polk
County Compensation
Board, the three nonelected
members of the budget
committee, approved
Hansen’s recommendation,
but the final say is with the
commissioners.
The board didn’t take a
vote on the recommenda-
tion at its meeting Tuesday,
but it was leaning toward
approving it.
“To me this just makes
good business sense,” said
Jennifer Wheeler, the board’s
chairwoman. “We’ve gotten
really, really lucky.”
Polk County’s attorney
Morgan Smith said he would
draft a resolution outlining
the reorganization the
change will require and the
treasurer’s new duties for the
board’s approval on Feb. 3.
Contract gives redevelopment terms for Valley Concrete site
The Itemizer-Observer
WEATHER
Administrator Greg Hansen
said Fox’s qualifications
would be hard to match, but
also required, as accounting
rules are more complicated.
“I would be shocked if
that occurred through that
process,” Hansen said.
Hansen recommends re-
ducing the position to the du-
ties mandated by state law,
which would make the posi-
tion part time. The treasurer’s
salary would be reduced ac-
cordingly to $1,000 a month,
accounting for about 20 per-
cent of Fox’s time.
Hansen said he wanted to
have a decision made before
the March filing deadline for
the May primary to alert po-
tential candidates about the
changes.
The other 80 percent of
Fox’s job is dedicated to run-
ning the finances of the
county, managing about $60
million each year.
Indy approves agreement with Tokola
WEBSITE
The Polk County Itemizer-
Observer website,
www.polkio.com, is updat-
ed each week by Wednes-
day afternoon. There, you
will find nearly every story
that appears in the print
version of the newspaper,
as well as some items, in-
cluding additional photos,
that do not appear in print
due to space limitations.
The Itemizer-Observer is
also on Facebook and Twit-
ter. Watch for breaking
news, links to stories, sports
scores updates and more.
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 27, 2016 3A
• Cuts • Colors
• Perms
We carry
cellation threshold.
Business owners must file
a return each year. If a busi-
ness owner doesn’t file,
penalties vary from 5 per-
cent to 50 percent of the
taxes due, depending on
when the return is filed.
Assessors will calculate
tax, penalty, and interest for
up to the previous five years
if a business hasn’t reported
personal property in the
prior years. For forms and a
complete list of taxable per-
s o n a l p r o p e r t y, v i s i t
www.oregon.gov/dor.
Voting, nominations open for MI awards
MONMOUTH/INDEPENDENCE — The voting is open for the
51st annual Community Awards Banquet, hosted by the Mon-
mouth-Independence Chamber of Commerce.
Voting is online, and will be just one round this year, com-
pared to two rounds last year. Online ballots will close at mid-
night on Feb. 12.
All chamber members are included in the business award cat-
egories, as well as nomination forms for First Citizen, First Junior
Citizen, Distinguished Service, Educator of the Year, and Educa-
tor Support Staf of the Year.
The banquet will be at 6:30 p.m., with social hour starting at
5:30, on March 4 at Eola Hills Wine Cellars. Tickets are $40.
For more information, to register, vote or nominate someone:
www.micc-or.org.
Dallas awarded money for mural
DALLAS — The Dallas Downtown Association was awarded
$5,100 from the 2016 Arts Build Communities grant from the
Oregon Arts Commission on Friday.
The money will be used to support the creation of a 15-by-60
foot mural in the historic area of Dallas. The mural will be based
on an 1800’s photo, depicting a logging train pulling into Dallas
Station. The project will integrate art and history to celebrate
Dallas history.
Grant money will support artist fees and supplies.
Polk wines, vineyards commended
POLK COUNTY — Vineyards and wineries from Polk County
were well-represented in Wine Spectator’s February issue,
which was on newsstands Tuesday.
Bethel Heights, Bjornson, Cherry Hill, Cubanisimo, Eola Hills,
Expression, Left Coast Cellars, Van Duzer, and Zenith were
among those listed in Wine Spectator’s editor-at-large Harvey
Steinman’s compilation of 650 of his favorite wines from Ore-
gon. Steinman is the magazine’s lead taster of Oregon wines.
To see the entire list, go to www.winespectator.com.
Sheriff’s office recruits for SALT
POLK COUNTY — The Polk County Sherif's Oice is accept-
ing applications for volunteers in the SALT (Seniors and Law En-
forcement Together) program.
Although the name implies that it is a seniors program, it is
open to all qualiied individuals who are 21 years of age or
older. The minimum requirement for volunteer hours for unit
members is eight hours per month.
Activities include transporting evidence to the Oregon State
Police Crime Lab in Springield, ingerprinting, oice and com-
puter work, court entrance scanning, county road patrol and
civil document service.
Anyone interested may attend a SALT open meeting on
Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Polk County Courthouse Conference
Room.
If you have questions about the unit or plan to attend the in-
formation meeting: Kathleen Noll, 503-851-9097.
Clyne receives merit increase
INDEPENDENCE — The Independence City Council approved
a 3.5 percent merit increase for City Manager David Clyne at
Tuesday morning’s council meeting.
It is the third time the city manager has received a merit in-
crease, Mayor John McArdle said. The raise comes in addition to
a cost-of-living increase, to be determined at a later date.
The raise is retroactive to July 1, 2015, the start of the city’s
iscal year.
The increase brings Clyne’s annual salary to just about
$113,000, compared to $140,000 for the city manager in Dallas
and $126,000 in Monmouth.
Clyne has worked as Independence’s city manager for ive
and a half years.
Central presents ‘Bang, Bang’ encore
INDEPENDENCE — Central High School will present an en-
core performance of the play, “Bang, Bang, You’re Dead,” at 7
p.m. on Thursday. Admission is a suggested $2 donation, which
will help pay for students to attend regional and state thespian
competitions.
The show sold out, even after adding an additional 80 seats
to the stage, director Jef Witt said.
Because of the content, this show is recommended for those
middle-school aged and older. The irst part of the show, stu-
dents will practice for the regional acting festival, to be co-host-
ed by CHS on Feb. 6.
The play will be performed after an intermission.
Show up early to grab a seat. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
For more information: www.polkio.com.