Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 27, 2016 3A
Council fills gap for senior center growth DSD looks OK
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — The Monmouth
Senior Center expansion is back on
track and might get started as early as
next week, said City Manager Scott Mc-
Clure.
The project, which has been in the
planning and fundraising stage for
about 15 years, came in over budget
when it was put to bid earlier this year.
The city council decided at its April
19 meeting to fill the gap of about
$100,000 of the $520,000 project, Mc-
Clure said.
The council considered waiting to
make the decision until the budget
committee meets on May 10, but Mc-
Clure said contractors, Medcalf Con-
struction, of Salem, could not guaran-
tee the bid after May 1.
“Prices likely would have gone up” if
the council had waited any longer, Mc-
Clure said.
The expansion is in response to in-
creased use of the senior center.
“What it came down to ... is we
were getting too congested,” McClure
said. “You tried to get a new class
going and there just wasn’t space or
time for it.”
When it came to big events, the limi-
tations on the restroom facilities be-
came more noticeable.
“The nice thing is, too, with the cen-
ter, is it functions as more of a regional
center,” McClure said. “We serve Inde-
pendence and Monmouth, and some
outside the area, from Dallas and West
Salem.”
McClure said the one-time expense
to help the expansion along won’t hurt
Monmouth’s budget too much.
“It affects the ending-fund balance,”
he said. “It isn’t like we had to cut
$100,000 out of operating budgets, it
just drew down the reserve. We’re still
in not-bad shape.”
The project was awarded a $90,000
grant from the Ford Family Founda-
tion, $40,000 from the Meyer Memorial
Trust, $30,000 from Oregon Communi-
ty Fund and $15,000 from the Collins
Fund.
The 2,133-square foot addition is ex-
pected to be completed this year.
Monmouth joins HEAL cities
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — The city
of Monmouth has become
designated as a Healthy Eat-
ing, Active Living city.
Independence and Dallas
are already HEAL cities.
Phyllis Bolman, Mon-
mouth city recorder, said
she attended a Willamette
Valley HEAL cities forum in
November and thought it
would be a perfect fit for
Monmouth.
“This means that Mon-
mouth makes a commit-
ment to provide healthy
choices and more active liv-
ing choices for people,” Bol-
man said.
The city qualified for the
program because it has
pedestrian and bicycling im-
provements in its trans-
portation system plan, Bol-
man said.
“We have our walking trail
at Madrona Park, and we
have agreements with Central
Youth Sports to provide fields
for them over by the public
works building,” she said.
Being an official HEAL
city means Monmouth will
be able to apply for grants to
improve its walking and bik-
ing trails, Bolman said.
“The city’s role in building
healthy cities is to encour-
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
The nearly half-mile walking path at Madrona Park is often used by residents — in-
cluding parents who watch while their children play soccer in the fields.
age staff and residents to eat
healthier and give them
choices for that,” she said.
That doesn’t necessarily
mean the city will recruit
healthy restaurants, but it
does mean Monmouth lead-
ers will support new or exist-
ing farmers markets, Bol-
man said as an example.
Councilor Marshall
Guthrie said there is no
downside to being a part of
the program, adding that it
will open the door to per-
sonal, financial and intellec-
tual support in adopting ini-
tiatives to improve the qual-
ity of life for Monmouth citi-
zens.
The program is funded
by Keizer Permenante and
implemented through the
Oregon Public Health Insti-
tute.
For more information:
ci.monmouth.or.us.
after $1M loss
Dallas schools keep gains in spite
of shortages to 2015-16 budget
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The Dallas
School District will manage
its unexpected budget de-
crease without having to
lay off employees.
A combination of
changes in the district’s
fifth-year program, how the
state calculates poverty rates
and declining enrollment
added up to a $1 million loss
to the district this fiscal year,
ending on June 30.
But that doesn’t mean
that pink slips will be need-
ed to balance the budget.
“The positions that were
reduced in the budget were
done through attrition and
reassignment of staff, not
due to layoffs,” said Super-
intendent Michelle John-
stone at the first meeting of
the district’s budget com-
mittee on Monday.
Programs added in the
last two years will remain
intact, as well.
The proposed budget
continues electives at
LaCreole Middle School,
increased special educa-
tion support and better ac-
cess to technology added in
the 2014-15 school year.
Full-year kindergarten,
music instruction at Lyle
and Oakdale Heights ele-
mentary schools and more
special education staffing
at Dallas High School
added in the current year
will continue.
Johnstone presented the
2016-17 budget on Monday,
which reflects a smaller gen-
eral fund of $31.6 million
compared to $32.7 million in
the current year. The overall
budget is $47.3 million.
Resources to purchase
more mobile devices and
increased bandwidth
throughout the district are
in the 2016-17 budget.
Employees will see a 3
percent cost of living in-
crease, per contracts signed
in 2014-15.
However, the district’s
contingency will be re-
duced by approximately
$650,000 to $1 million, a
figure district officials had
hoped could be higher in
anticipation of increased
Public Employees Retire-
ment System rates.
Johnstone noted high-
lights, including an im-
proved graduation rate, a
successful application for a
seismic improvement grant
for Whitworth Elementary
School, beginning develop-
ment of a “career technical
education” (CTE) center at
the high school, and “stem”
(science, technology, engi-
neering and math) pro-
grams at Whitworth.
“We are on the move,
and we are on the move
doing the right things for
kids in terms of CTE as well
as the stem programming,”
she said.
The next budget com-
mittee meeting is May 16 at
6 p.m. at the district office,
111 SW Ash St., Dallas.
Dallas begins weed abatement
DALLAS — The city of Dallas has started its annual program of
identifying the various nuisances caused by weeds, grass, and
debris and working with residents to eliminate those hazards.
It is the responsibility of each property owner to cut down or
destroy obnoxious vegetation.
The city code is enforced throughout the growing season
from spring through early fall. For more information, call Dallas
City Hall: 503-831-3510 or to report concern, 503-831-3568.
"man
in poo y streets
r cond
ition"
ing
h
t
e
m
o
s
o
"time to d
about it"
"keep Dallas a great
place to live"
ts"
e
e
r
t
s
r
ou
x
i
f
s
'
t
e
"L
"stop the decline"
"sounds affordable
to me"
"streets are
badly in
need
of repair"
"join me in
voting yes"
"promotes
civic pride"