Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 24, 2016 5A
AgFest: Promotes education, commerce WELL TROUBLE
Continued from Page 1A
“I’m running out of room,” she
said. “I’ve never been full.”
The trains in the garden show has
been moved to its own building, and
is included as features at both the
home show and the ag fest, according
to the respective websites.
Also at the ag fest will be nurseries,
Master Preservers, Saturday markets
from Independence and the Polk
County Bounty Market, as well as
demonstrations and information
about the latest in ag tech, including
a drone display.
Each day will feature speakers and
seminars on a variety of topics.
Thomas said perhaps the speaker she
is looking forward to the most is a
seminar on protecting family farms.
“It is ‘planning for productive fami-
ly farm transplant,’” Thomas said.
“What it is, a lot of families now lose
their farms to taxes if they don’t have
the right safeguards in place. They
end up having their tax burden so
high, and they have to pay cash for
the taxes, so they have to sell the farm
to pay the taxes when mom or dad
dies.”
Thomas has two main goals for the
ag fest, which will benefit local FFA
chapters and 4-H clubs.
“One of the main components is to
promote commerce and ag com-
merce in Polk County,” she said. “The
second focus is education of families
and children — and this is very
cliché — but the relationship of farm
or soil to table, where their food
comes from, the whole thing, it’s very
important.”
Thomas was raised in Salem and
worked the berry and bean fields as a
child. She participated in the FFA and
has always known where her food
comes from.
But now, especially for those from
urban areas, that knowledge has been
lost along the way.
“They have no idea what sort of is-
sues the farmers face on a day-to-day
basis and the lengths they go to get
our food to us, to feed us,” Thomas
said.
The ag fest will have plenty of fam-
ily friendly activities, from a petting
zoo ran by the 4-H Achievers to face
painting to animal balloons. The
Yamhill Historical Society will bring a
historical covered wagon to climb on
and explore, and antique farm equip-
ment will be on display.
Vendors will have a plethora of
shopping activities from farmers
markets to artisan booths, pottery,
plants and local honey.
For those who wish to participate,
a passport will be available. Once it
has been stamped from all six build-
ings, it may be entered to win a
portable Traeger Grill and other
prizes.
Antique Powerland will provide a
shuttle service to get from the Polk
County Museum to the other build-
ings, helping people get to seminars
and presentations in a timely fashion.
Streets: Bond would be first step
Continued from Page 1A
That option would fix
fewer streets, but potential-
ly wouldn’t involve a tax in-
crease depending on if the
county decided to pursue
another bond.
Three people gave testi-
mony at the public hearing,
all in favor of the 10-year
bond. Citizens’ Advisory
Committee for Residential
Street Funding Chairman
Pete Christensen also pre-
sented information to the
council.
He said the condition of
Dallas streets is steadily de-
clining and will drop to a
“p a v e m e n t c o n d i t i o n
index” rating of 60 — on the
lower end of “fair” — by
next year.
“The main thing you need
to do, and what I would en-
courage you to do, is think
about a bond issue to get a
lot of repair done on the
streets right away,” he said.
That is exactly what the
council did, but not before a
debate over considering a
fee and revenue bond to pay
for all or part of repair needs.
Councilor Jackie Lawson
proposed the city delay put-
ting the issue on the ballot
to research a combination
of a general obligation bond
(property tax) and a utility
fee. She said that had the
benefit of taking care of the
problem at one time in-
stead of in three steps.
A majority of the council
was in favor of proceeding
with the $10 million bond,
however.
“I personally believe that
we have listened to the
committee. They worked for
three years and they’ve
done a due diligent job,”
said Councilor Bill Hahn.
Councilor LaVonne Wil-
son, agreed, saying the op-
tions have been weighed
long enough and the city
knows exactly what it is get-
ting with a bond.
“We’ve had this on our
plate for a number of
years,” she said. “This has
got to be taken care of.”
The council approved
putting the bond on the
ballot May ballot in a 7-2
vote, with Council President
Jim Fairchild and councilors
Kelly Gabliks, Hahn, Kevin
Marshall, Murray Stewart,
Wilson and Ken Woods, Jr.
voting in favor.
For more information:
http://www.dallasor.gov/73
9/Street-Condition-Map.
FC schools place gym bond on May ballot
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — The Falls
City School Board approved
a resolution placing a $2 mil-
lion bond on the May ballot
to build a Falls City Elemen-
tary School gym. The vote
was taken Feb. 16 following
months of discussions about
priorities for the project.
If passed, the bond
amount would be doubled
with a matching grant
through the Oregon School
Capital Improvement
Match program.
The bond will cost approx-
imately $1.30 per $1,000 of
assessed value on properties.
“We are looking at build-
ing a new multipurpose gym
and cafeteria with restrooms
and storage space,” Superin-
tendent Jack Thompson said.
The project will provide
gym space allowing stu-
dents a place to have physi-
cal education classes and
recess when the weather is
less than hospitable. It will
also upgrade to the school’s
Matinees are all shows
before 6pm. New pricing for
matinees are: Adult $7.25
Children $6.75 • Senior $7.00
Pricing does not reflect
3D showings.
6:50
7:30
Sunday February 28
RACE(Digital) (PG13)
KUNG FU PANDA 3 (Digital 2D) (PG)
HAIL! CAESAR (Digital) (PG13)
ZOOLANDER 2 (Digital) (PG13)
EDDIE THE EAGLE (Digital) (PG13)
GODS OF EGYPT (Digital 2D) (PG13)
DEADPOOL (Digital) (R)
RISEN (Digital) (PG13)
THE REVENANT (Digital) (R)
HOW TO BE SINGLE (Digital) (R)
THE WITCH (Digital) (R)
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Monday - Thursday Feb 29 - March 3
RACE(Digital) (PG13)
KUNG FU PANDA 3 (Digital 2D) (PG)
HAIL! CAESAR (Digital) (PG13)
ZOOLANDER 2 (Digital) (PG13)
EDDIE THE EAGLE (Digital) (PG13)
GODS OF EGYPT (Digital 2D) (PG13)
DEADPOOL (Digital) (R)
RISEN (Digital) (PG13)
THE REVENANT (Digital) (R)
HOW TO BE SINGLE (Digital) (R)
THE WITCH (Digital) (R)
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The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — In 2012,
an untreated water sample
from a Monmouth well came
back positive for E.coli.
The Marion County well
has been used as a primary
source of water for Mon-
mouth since it was built in
1980 and has a long history
of clean water samples, said
Russ Cooper, public works
director.
But in November of 2012,
the Willamette River was
near flood stage, allowing
river water to mix with the
aquifer around the city’s well.
In May 2014, as a result of
additional testing, it was de-
termined by the state that
the well is under the influ-
ence of surface water and
further steps are needed to
bring the well in compliance
with surface water treatment
requirements, Cooper said.
An agreement between the
Oregon Health Authority
and the city of Monmouth
outlines steps the city must
take to be in compliance
with the rules. That agree-
ment was approved at the
Feb. 16 Monmouth council
meeting.
Citizens should not worry,
Cooper said.
“Is Monmouth’s drinking
water safe? Yes,” he said. “Do
I drink Monmouth’s water?
Yes. Does my family drink
Monmouth’s water? Yes. We
test 132 times a year. That
2012 E.coli sample was a raw
water sample, not a treated
water sample.”
Still, regulations from the
health authority require
more safeguards to prevent
raw water from getting into
the system.
A couple of different op-
tions presented themselves,
but did not work as planned.
Digging up a new well was
impractical, Cooper said.
Using an ultra violet disin-
fection was not feasible.
The city was left with in-
stalling a filtration system on
the well. It would cost about
$700,000, which would near-
Government
ly drain the water fund’s re-
serve of $900,000.
The city would consider
taking out a loan to cover the
costs of the filtration system,
City Manager Scott McClure
said, but it would be some-
thing the council could dis-
cuss at a later meeting. The
system would take a couple
years to get installed.
Just using the water fund’s
reserve would leave it too
low — $200,000 — to fix any
emergencies in the water
system that may come up,
McClure said.
The city has been looking
at other sources of water,
such as the Willamette well
field, a joint project with the
city of Independence, Coop-
er said, but that is still unde-
veloped.
Whatever road the council
takes, Monmouth residents
likely will see increases in
their water fees to help pay
for the filtration system, as
well as possible increases in
franchise fees to help cover a
forecasted deficit in the
budget relating to increased
retirement costs for public
employees.
“Another cost on the hori-
zon is public works,” Mc-
Clure said. “We think it is
very understaffed right now.
There are potentially new
positions in the works, which
also will mean a cost im-
pact — and a rate impact.”
The question remains
how the council will proceed
with any rate adjustments,
McClure said.
“Do you start building to-
ward that, moving rates up
slowly?” he said. “Or the
other option is wait until we
know what that cost is and
possibly do a more signifi-
cant jump.”
9th Annual
www.polkio.com
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By Emily Mentzer
See Pages 8-9 For Full Details!
Friday - Saturday Feb 26 - Feb 27
RACE(Digital) (PG13)
KUNG FU PANDA 3 (Digital 2D) (PG)
HAIL! CAESAR (Digital) (PG13)
ZOOLANDER 2 (Digital) (PG13)
EDDIE THE EAGLE (Digital) (PG13)
GODS OF EGYPT (Digital 2D) (PG13)
DEADPOOL (Digital) (R)
RISEN (Digital) (PG13)
THE REVENANT (Digital) (R)
HOW TO BE SINGLE (Digital) (R)
THE WITCH (Digital) (R)
small kitchen and cafeteria.
“That is sorely needed,”
Thompson said. “It’s pretty
amazing what they are able to
do in such a confined space.”
The new building will be
on property adjacent to the
elementary site and is de-
signed to have the gym on
the ground floor and the
cafeteria in the basement.
Monmouth needs to install
$700,000 filtration system
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Polk Home & Garden Show 2016
Feb 27 & 28
Sat 9am-5pm
Sun 10am-5pm
FREE Admission
Come Support Local Businesses
FREE Parking!
Located at the Polk County Fairgrounds
520 S. Pacific Hwy, Rickreall, Oregon
7:10
7:05
7:00
7:20
6:55
Mid-Valley
(4:25)
(3:10 5:20) 7:30
Winter Agfest 2016
Feb 27 & 28
Sat 9am-4pm
Sun 10am-4pm
Pencil
us in!
www.polkio.com
Admission: $5 Adults, 18 & Under Free
Cash Only. Proceeds benefit local 4H and FFA.