CONGRATULATIONS TO WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY
BASKETBALL MAKES FINAL FOUR
Page 10A
Volume 141, Issue 13
www.Polkio.com
75¢
March 30, 2016
Rodgers joins the neighborhood
IN
YOUR
TOWN
New administrator finds his way to Dallas’ Salem Health West Valley Hospital
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Believe it
or not, but it was Port-
land’s weather that
helped sell Bruce
Rodgers on moving to
Oregon.
OK, so it was July,
and the other option
was Seattle, which was
in the midst of a balmy
stretch of 55-degree,
cloudy weather at the
time.
Finding clear skies
and warm tempera-
tures in the Rose City
was just one piece of
perfect timing that
drew the new Salem
Health West Valley (for-
merly West Valley Hos-
pital) chief administra-
tive officer to the state
more than 20 years ago.
The other was an
odd coincidence.
Rodgers was looking
for a new place to call
home and a friend sug-
gested checking out
Portland, calling it “a
cool town.”
He drove up and
stayed for a day.
About an hour be-
fore leaving for Seattle,
Rodgers heard a famil-
iar laugh while waiting
for the Max. Glancing
around, he noticed a
man that looked like a
friend of his brother’s,
but he dismissed the
idea.
“I can’t imagine why
he would be in Port-
land,” Rodgers re-
called. But "sure
enough, he and his
wife had just moved to
Portland five days be-
fore. They just hap-
pened to be downtown
and we just ran into
each other. I was prob-
ably an hour away
from going up to Seat-
tle. But then they
said — it was just me
and my dog at the
time — hey, come
move here. We have a
place for your dog.”
Rodgers made the
trip to Seattle, but ac-
cepted the invitation to
Oregon and settled
in — even becoming a
big Portland Trail Blaz-
ers fan along the way.
Rodgers stepped in
as administrator at
West Valley on Feb. 22,
taking over for Jim
Sapienza, who left the
post in early February.
He’s taking over at a
time of transition for
West Valley.
It has a new name
and a new attachment
with Oregon Health &
Science University
through its partnership
with Salem Health.
“We are in a strong
place at West Valley
and we want to contin-
ue to be strong and be
available and be here
as a service to the com-
munity,” Rodgers said.
See RODGERS, Page 13A
DALLAS
A Dallas couple feels
the Luck of the Irish
after winning the Ore-
gon Lottery’s St.
Patrick’s Day rale.
»Page 5A
FALLS CITY
Falls City School Dis-
trict will host an infor-
mational meeting
about the bond to build
a new gym at the ele-
mentary school.
»Page 5A
MONMOUTH
Students show of
their artistic skills dur-
ing the Ash Creek Art’s
Center art camp.
»Page 7A
INDEPENDENCE
The Independence
farmers markets are set
to return on Saturday.
»Page 3A
SPORTS
Dallas junior Harrison
Broadus takes aim at
league’s best javelin
throwers.
»Page 10A
EDUCATION
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Feliciano Mata, Marcos Puente and Eric Penaloza fill out applications at the Polk County Job Fair, held March 23 at Central High School.
OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ECONOMY
Students, parents
and staf worked to-
gether to dig out a play
structure at Monmouth
Elementary School.
»Page 14A
Local officials see Polk County’s job market, labor force growing
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — In
Chelsea Metcalfe’s opinion,
Dallas has a “good problem.”
Metcalfe, the executive di-
rector of the Dallas Area
Chamber of Commerce, said
she’s been trying to help a
local family fulfill their busi-
ness dream, but has run into
a roadblock.
It’s not their business
plan, not a perceived lack of
customer base in Dallas. It’s
something Metcalfe can’t re-
call happening in the nearly
15 years she’s worked in Dal-
las.
“I’ve got a deli-bakery
person who wants to come
in. It’s their dream to own
their business in a small
community,” Metcalfe said.
“They moved here a couple
of years ago, they fell in love
with it, but we can’t find a
space for them that works.
That’s where it’s a good, bad
thing.”
She said outside some of
the prominent Main Street
vacancies — such as the old
Ray’s Hardware store — re-
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
tail spaces in Dallas are fill-
ing up.
“As far as storefronts go
and availability for a small
business, we don’t have
much to offer them, which is
a good problem to have, but
it is a problem we have,”
Metcalfe said.
That conundrum is a
symptom of what appears to
be brewing in Polk County’s
economy.
Optimism reigns
After a long slog through
the Great Recession and the
prolonged recovery, the re-
gion seems to catching its
breath. When asked about
the state of the economy,
many local officials and eco-
nomic development experts
are using the same word:
optimism.
“Everyone that we’ve
talked to, most of the people
we have had contact with —
folks on the economic devel-
opment commission, are all
pretty optimistic,” said Jason
Locke, Dallas’ economic de-
velopment director.
Economic new potential
in Dallas has settled on the
bright side as of late. While
still a work in progress,
American Gas & Technology
is projecting jobs into the
hundreds at its newly pur-
chased facility in Dallas.
Plans for the Blue Garden
building now being restored
by owner Bob Collins have
generated plenty of excite-
ment, too.
“It was pretty much con-
sidered a hopeless case, but
there was a lot of effort put
into that,” Locke said.
“Hopefully this gets people
to understand that there is
value, and it’s worthwhile to
bring these buildings back.”
On the construction side,
Locke said the city has seen
a constant flow of develop-
ment applications.
“That is a precursor of
things to come a year or two
down the road,” Locke said.
“From the builders and de-
velopers standpoint, things
are looking really good a
year or two out as well as in
the present.”
In Monmouth, the major
employers — Western Ore-
gon University and Partner-
ships in Community Living
Inc. — are providing a stable
base.
“We’re primarily a com-
muter county,” said Mon-
mouth City Manager Scott
McClure. “Seventy-five per-
cent of Monmouth people
work outside of Polk Coun-
ty.”
He said the “local econo-
my” for Monmouth actually
is Salem and Corvallis, for
the most part.
McClure said Monmouth
has essentially run out of
space to grow in both com-
mercial and residential
zones and has a limited sup-
ply of available storefronts.
The city is working to
solve that with an urban
growth boundary expan-
sion.
“We’ve done most of the
housing inventory work,”
McClure said. “We know
what we need (and) how
much we need.”
FCR’s call center opened
in 2015 and has brought an
estimated 100 jobs to Inde-
pendence, taking advantage
of high-speed fiber provided
by Monmouth Independ-
ence Network.
In downtown Independ-
ence, the Cooper Building
renovation holds not only
the possibility of pulling in
new businesses, but is in-
spiring other owners to im-
prove their buildings.
Bigger potential exists in
the development on the
riverfront at the former Val-
ley Concrete site.
Shawn Irvine, the eco-
nomic development director
for Independence, said the
project holds implications
for the success of down-
town.
“(The gravel site) has
been in our plans for 20
years to develop that,”
Irvine said. “The opportu-
nity came up and we
jumped on it.”
See ECONOMY, Page 2A
Public invited to
join Pinwheels
for Prevention
Itemizer-Observer staf report
DALLAS —Polk Coun-
ty and Family Building
Blocks will mark Child
Abuse Prevention
Month on Monday by
taking part in the Pin-
wheels for Prevention.
The campaign, put
on by Prevent Child
Abuse Oregon, will take
place at 12:15 p.m. at
the steps of the Court-
house, 850 Main St.,
Dallas.
A pinwheel garden
will be planted and
Judge Sally Avera and
District Attorney Aaron
Felton will speak about
child abuse in Polk
County. A walk through
downtown Dallas will
follow. The public is en-
couraged to wear blue.
For more informa-
tion: www.polkio.com.
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
“Pushing the Edge”
opens at the Dan
and Gail Cannon
Gallery of Art at
Western Oregon’s
campus.
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.
James2 Community
Kitchen ofers meals
for all who are hun-
gry at United
Methodist Church
on Thursdays.
Friends of the Dallas
Public Library will
host a book sale
today and tomor-
row at the Dallas
Civic Center.
3-7 p.m.
Republic Services
will host a spring
cleanup on West El-
lendale, accepting
yeard debris, scrap
metal and rubbish.
9 a.m.-2p.m. Free.
It’s time for the Polk
Flea Market again!
The market is at the
Polk County Fair-
grounds & Event
Center in Rickreall.
9 a.m.-3 p.m. $1-$5 .
Save a life; donate
blood at the Ameri-
can Red Cross blood
drive at Western
Oregon University in
Monmouth.
Join other coloring
enthusiasts at Mon-
mouth Public Li-
brary’s adult
coloring club, open
to the whole family.
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.
5:30-7:30 p.m. Free.
Sunny
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Lo: 41
Sunny
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Sunny
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Lo: 46
Cloudy
Hi: 63
Lo: 42
Cloudy
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Lo: 45
Cloudy
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Lo: 42
4:30-6:30 p.m. Free.
Cloudy
Hi: 60
Lo: 43