TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
HEADING TO THE PROS
TRIVIA NIGHT
JULIAN
NICHOLS
Page 5A
Page 8A
Volume 141, Issue 25
www.Polkio.com
June 22, 2016
$1.00
Sheriff goes back to 24 hours
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — The
Polk County Sheriff’s Office
will return to 24-hour pa-
trols on Sunday after a year
of hiring to replace deputies
lost to budget cuts.
“We’ve hired 29 people al-
together between the jail
and patrol,” said Sheriff
Mark Garton.
The public safety levy vot-
ers approved in May 2015
provided for 12 positions in
patrol and five in the jail, but
Garton said a “slew” of de-
partures left the department
with a lot more hiring than
anticipated.
“That is all we’ve been
doing, essentially, since last
July 1,” Garton said. “It’s a
long process.”
The office graduated four
officers from the police
academy last week, making
it possible to switch to two
12-hour shifts per day start-
ing Sunday. Three more offi-
cers were sent to the acade-
my last week and a few more
will attend later in the year.
“It’s like a big chess game
trying to put everybody in
the right spot to get to where
we are to be able to do 24-
hour coverage,” Garton said.
“We’ve hired good people.
We’v e b e e n f o r t u n a t e.
There’s a lot agencies that
are having trouble all over
the state hiring people and
finding good people. We
haven’t had any issue.”
Sunday will be the first
time the sheriff’s office has
had someone on duty 24
hours per day in more than
three years.
Patrols were first cut to 20
hours per day in March 2013
due to funding shortages.
Hours were subsequently re-
duced to 10 hours per day.
With hiring and training
in full swing since July 2015,
20-hour per day patrols were
restored in January.
Deputies in the patrol di-
vision say they are eager to
see “off hours” disappear
soon.
Deputy Jason Ball has
been with the sheriff’s de-
partment for about a year.
He said it’s been difficult
knowing the office hasn’t
been able to respond to all
DALLAS
Stewart resigns from
Dallas City Council,
leaving vacancy.
»Page 3A
FALLS CITY
Falls City works to
solve issues of pressure,
brittle pipes in new
water master plan.
»Page 2A
INDEPENDENCE
The old Independ-
ence library was rededi-
cated as the home for
arts, literature and edu-
cation on Friday.
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Polk County sheriff’s deputies will be on the road 24 hours per day starting Sunday..
calls that come in, and he is
glad that is changing.
“It’s a huge benefit, just to
be able to provide that serv-
ice to the community,” Ball
said. “We still get a lot of
calls in those off hours.
Every call is important. We
want to respond.”
Full patrol hours isn’t the
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — The city of
Independence is accepting propos-
als to design and build streets, and
main sewer and water lines on the
old Valley Concrete site, now called
Independence Landing.
The roughly 20-acre property was
acquired by the city in November
2014 from Valley Concrete for
$800,000. The city has spent roughly
$600,000 improving the land for fu-
ture developers.
The city tentatively agreed to
work with Tokola Properties, out of
Gresham, as the developer in De-
cember 2015, but no deal had been
signed yet, said Shawn Irvine, eco-
nomic development director.
“We’re essentially continuing to
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
»Page 5A
Deputies Thomas Hutchinson, left, and Jason Ball prepare for their patrol shift on Friday night.
only thing returning.
In early July, the Polk In-
teragency Narcotics Team
(POINT) will be reinstated
with investigators from the
sheriff’s office, Dallas, Mon-
mouth, Independence po-
lice departments, and even-
tually Oregon State Police.
Polk Sgt. Mike Holsapple
will supervise the team,
which will have officers who
are new to working on a
drug enforcement team.
Holsapple is the only excep-
tion.
“He’s been running the
team for years, so he can get
those guys up to speed and do
it the right way,” Garton said.
He said the team won’t
have a shortage of work to
do, as drug complaints
around the county remain
high.
“They will hit the ground
running,” Garton said.
Also in July, the sheriff’s
office will pair up with Polk
County Behavioral Health to
provide one of two “mobile
crisis” teams patrolling in
Polk County.
The teams will consist of
an officer and crisis coun-
selor who can respond to
calls involving incidents
more related to mental
health than criminal behav-
ior.
County officials said the
hope is to get people in cri-
sis assistance sooner and
without having to take them
to jail.
Yet another function of
the office has been restored
recently.
Staff in the Polk County
Jail has rebounded to the
point where court security
has been increased, answer-
ing a request of Polk County
Circuit Court judges and at-
torneys.
See PATROLS, Page 10A
City braces to build streets, sewer at Indy Landing
THE NEXT
IN
YOUR
TOWN
ensure that these parcels are shovel
ready while we discuss and negoti-
ate with that developer,” Irvine said.
“Frankly, we hope by continuing to
make these parcels shovel ready, we
hope that will help with some of
these negotiations.”
By building basic roads and sewer
and water systems, the city is getting
the site more “shovel-ready” than it
was before, Irvine said.
In the city’s last public-private
partnership, the development of
Riverplace Apartments on Deann
Drive, the developer built the streets
and connections.
This property is different because
of the magnitude, Irvine said.
“We expect this to be two to three
times bigger than Riverplace in
terms of investment,” he said. “The
more money being asked to put into
wed
thu
Want to get more
involved in the MI
Chamber? Join the
new ambassador
program with a kick-
off party tonight.
6-8 p.m. Free.
See what’s in season
at the Polk County
Bounty Market near
the Academy Build-
ing on Thursday af-
ternoons.
Mostly sunny
Hi: 74
Lo: 53
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free.
Showers
Hi: 63
Lo: 49
a project, the harder (developers)
look at it.”
The city will accept proposals
until the end of June, with hopes of
beginning construction in the fall.
Irvine said money to pay for the
project will come from the Urban
Renewal District fund.
He didn’t say how much it would
cost because he hasn’t received all
the bids yet.
“The design services will be over
$100,000,” he said. “That’s why we’re
going out for public bid. That’s the
only real estimate we have right
now.”
The project will provide one main
road to serve the site, including
main sewer and water lines, Irvine
said.
“We’re essentially creating the pri-
mary access to city utilities for this
fri
Bring friends and
dinner and enjoy
the evening listen-
ing to the Dead-
Beats at Emerson
Vineyard.
6-9 p.m. $7.50.
Partly cloudy
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site,” Irvine said. “It will be up to the
developer if they want to do some-
thing else.”
The area is part of the enterprise
zone, which allows some companies
and businesses to apply for three to
five years of property tax forgive-
ness, but Irvine said he doesn’t ex-
pect businesses in Independence
Landing to qualify or take advantage
of that zone.
“Even though it’s a great site,
great community, we’re still off the
beaten path as far as the develop-
ment community is concerned,”
Irvine said.
“That is increased risk,” he con-
tinued. “The more we can do to de-
crease risk variables, the better the
property looks and the easier it will
be to get financing and get a devel-
oper to do something there.”
The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers is seeking
access to Monmouth
properties to search for
unexploded ordnances.
»Page 11A
SPORTS
Catch up with Tyrell
Williams’ progress with
the San Diego Chargers.
»Page 8A
Fire board to
seek inside
chief options
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — The
Polk County Fire District
No. 1 board of directors de-
cided to seek the next fire
chief internally, differing
from the external process
the board has taken the
last two times it has
searched for a new leader.
The chief’s job descrip-
tion and salary were ap-
proved at a special meet-
ing Monday night.
The job description for
fire chief had not been up-
dated, nor approved by
the board, since 2001. The
new list of duties and re-
sponsibilities was created
through members of the
board, a staff of volunteers
and a representative from
the Special Districts Associ-
ation of Oregon, as well as
Deputy Chief Neal Olson
and Fire Chief Al Alcalde.
The Special Districts As-
sociation of Oregon is per-
forming the search and
running the process on
behalf of the board, under
a contract for not more
than $2,820, plus expens-
es not to exceed $1,000.
Alcalde gave 30-days
notice to leave the posi-
tion on April 25. He
agreed to stay on board as
chief beyond the 30 days,
but July 5 will be his last
day.
See CHIEF, Page 3A
sat
sun
mon
tue
Need a doctor but
don’t have insur-
ance? Check out the
Polk Community
Free Clinic on the
fourth Saturday.
7-11 a.m. Free.
Today is National
Chocolate Pudding
Day, so enjoy a cup
chilled on the back
porch with friends
and family.
Learn about all
things gardening at
Dallas Garden Club’s
monthly meeting at
the Evangelical Bible
Church.
6:30 p.m. Free.
James2 Community
Kitchen offers free
meals for anyone
who is hungry at St.
Philip Catholic
Church.
4:30 p.m. Free.
Sunny
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Lo: 53
Sunny
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Lo: 53
Sunny
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Lo: 54
Sunny
Hi: 80
Lo: 54