Polk County News
6A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 6, 2016
Business: Jobs, space added
A good day to be a chick
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Remodeling will continue for several months at the American Gas & Technology facility.
Continued from Page 1A
“It’s not bad at all,” Tate
said.
He added that AG&T’s
technology will provide nat-
ural gas fuel at a rate that is
comparable with the current
gasoline prices. Tate said low
prices have chased other al-
ternative sources out of the
market, but natural gas is in
a unique position.
“The U.S. has a 100-year
supply of natural gas and the
technology is available to use
it inexpensively,” he said.
Tate said the business will
gradually build to full produc-
tion — an estimated 900 jobs —
within two and a half years.
In the short term, AG&T is
on track to finish retooling
the site in about four
months and then will final-
ize its production layout.
“There’s a lot to do there.
We will have four or five dif-
ferent crews working for the
next four or five months,”
Tate said.
AG&T’s plan isn’t the only
positive sign on the jobs and
business expansion front.
Just down the road on
Monmouth Cutoff, a home-
grown business has just com-
pleted an expansion.
MAK Metals/MAK Grills
added 22,000 square feet of
production space that will
allow the company to in-
crease output and hire more
workers immediately, said
owner Bob Tucker.
MAK Metals is a sheet
metal manufacturer, and
MAK Grills produces high-
end grills and smokers. Both
businesses will work out of
the addition which is con-
nected to the original pro-
duction facility built in 2008.
MAK Grills just launched
two new lines of grills, and
the company simply out-
grew its space. Tucker said
the business began using the
new facility last month and
is still settling in.
“We can double our pro-
duction,” Tucker said. “We
can do things a little bit
ahead of schedule.”
Tucker said when eyeing
expansion, the company had
no question about whether it
wanted to stay in Dallas. He
added that the company
owns the property out to
Monmouth Cutoff and the
empty field next door, so it
will be able to expand again.
That will happen, Tucker
said, and the business has no
plans of moving in spite of
the overtures of cities in
other states. That began hap-
pening when the state
changed its sick leave law last
year and continued with the
passage of new minimum
wage legislation this year.
“This is our home,” he
said. “This is where we built
our business.”
Tucker said his business
will respond to the ensuing
cost increases by automat-
ing more and paying em-
ployees more.
“We will plan ahead and
be proactive and find ways
to make the company prof-
itable,” Tucker explained.
“That is what we have done
all along.”
Ben Meyer, AAMS ®
Bob Timmerman
Kelly K. Denney
Financial Advisor
Financial Advisor
Financial Advisor
503-606-3048
503-623-5584
503-623-2146
193 E. Main Street
Monmouth, OR 97361
159 SW Court Street
Dallas, OR 97338
244 E. Ellendale, Suite 2
Dallas, OR 97338
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
Nolan Dunaway, 6, of Dallas, stretches to pet a chick at Old Mill Feed & Seed.
Dallas budget planning begins
The 2016-17 budget will be presented on April 18
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The city of
Dallas held its first budget
committee meeting on
March 28, with a focus on
long-term planning.
Staff presented the Dal-
las Budget Committee with
the city’s five-year capital
improvement plan, the 20-
year facilities strategic plan
and a three-year financial
503-623-3117
837 Main St. • Dallas
Mon-Fri 9-5:30
Sat 9-4
Sponsored by the Polk Community for Human Equality, the Rural Organizing
Project & Oregon Humanities, WOU Black Student Union & Western Compass
For the hearing impaired - ASL interpreters will be present.
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forecast.
City Manager Ron Fog-
gin said the goal of the ini-
tial meeting was to help the
committee understand
what it takes to write a
yearly budget.
“It was an opportunity to
show the budget commit-
tee what work the staff has
been doing and what we
use to build the budget,”
Foggin said.
It was also a chance to
show the financial chal-
lenges on the horizon for
the city.
“The outlook is that it is
becoming harder and hard-
er to balance the budget,”
Foggin said.
He said the 2016-17
budget hasn’t been difficult
to balance, but impending
changes to minimum wage
and Public Employee Re-
tirement System rates will
make the task an uphill
battle in coming years.
“What we are trying to
continue is to maintain
service levels the way they
are,” he said.
Foggin will present the
2016-17 budget at the com-
mittee’s second meeting on
April 18 immediately fol-
lowing the Dallas City
Council meeting, which be-
gins at 7 p.m. at City Hall,
187 SE Court St.
In other business, the
city:
• Has begun work on
playground structures at
the newly named Sgt. Ian
Tawney Memorial Park off
Main Street. A park dedica-
tion is planned for May 6.
• Will launch its weed
abatement program in
mid-April, asking owners of
properties to clean up
overgrown weeds and vege-
tation.
Foggin said the objective
of the program is to remove
weeds that could become
fire hazards in the warmer,
drier months of the year.
• Approved an ordinance
amending the city code to
allow temporary parking of
commercial trucks and
tractor-trailers on South-
east Holman Avenue be-
tween Southeast Mon-
mouth Cutoff and Birch
Street.