Polk County News
2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 6, 2016
Monmouth water to
go up by 9 percent
DEADLINES
NEWS DEADLINES
For inclusion in the
Wednesday edition of the
Itemizer-Observer:
Social news (weddings,
engagements, anniver-
saries, births, milestones) —
5 p.m. on Thursday.
Community events —
Noon on Friday for both the
Community Notebook and
Community Calendar.
Letters to the editor —
10 a.m. on Monday.
Obituaries — 4 p.m. on
Monday.
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Residents of Monmouth will see their
water rates increase by 9 percent, or about $2.80 per
month for an average household.
The two main drivers behind the rate hike are state-man-
dated improvements to the filtration system of one of the
city’s wells and the addition of new staff to the public works
department, said Scott McClure, Monmouth city manager.
“The key thing is we don’t have the cash on hand to fix
the well,” he said. “When the cash is not there, we’re talk-
ing about getting the rates up to where we can take on
debt to make those improvements.”
Three new employees were hired for the public works
department, who will be paid partially out of the water
fund because they will be working on water-related proj-
ects, McClure said.
“In this case, we absolutely have water needs, so we charge
a portion of the new employees to the water fund,” he said.
Monmouth Power and Light, and sewer rates will re-
main steady because those funds maintain healthy re-
serves, McClure said.
“The wastewater fund … has very substantial reserves,” he
said. “The operating cash is pretty tight, but the reserves are
nice. The electric fund is in healthy shape and doing fine.”
The city is working on getting a full rate study done this
year for water and sewer, McClure said.
“That will give us a better idea, a more comprehensive
idea,” he said. “We’ve been doing it more informally at a
staff level. This takes everything into account and will give
us a pathway for five or 10 years or so.”
Without a comprehensive rate study, rate increases —
and decreases — have been determined by Monmouth
city employees trying to balance expenses with reserves
and revenues, McClure said.
“It was a shock to our system when the well system
came up,” he said. “We weren’t planning on that.”
In 2014 and 2015, the rates for Monmouth Power and
Light were decreased by 3 percent each year. No decreases
will be provided this year.
Week six of building your emergency kit
POLK COUNTY — The American Red Cross has de-
signed a 24-week calendar to build a two-week home
disaster kit. The following is the fifth week.
Week 6
A first aid kit which includes sterile adhesive bandages
in assorted sizes, adhesive tape, gauze pads, sterile roller
bandages, latex gloves, safety pins and sunscreen.
Action Step: Identify storage area for your supplies. If
using outside storage, ensure container is weather and
animal proof.
Furniture Upholstery
All types: for homes, offices, equip-
ment. Also, repairs, RV cushions,
slipcovers, High Quality since 1966
Stephen
Winters Sewing
503-838-4999 or 503-375-9266
Emmy
Joseph
440 E. St • Independence, OR 97351
www.winterssewing.com
Serving Polk County 16yrs
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer file
Canned food, crafts, photography, fruit and vegetables and even a new Pinterest cat-
egory are among the open class exhibits people can enter in the 2016 Polk County Fair.
Fair entry deadlines approach
2015 fair exhibits were up and more are expected in 2016
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
RICKREALL — OK Pinter-
est fans, there’s an open
class food competition at
the 2016 Polk County Fair
just for you.
The rules are simple, just
pick your favorite recipe off
Pinterest, print it off with a
picture, make the recipe and
enter it at the fair. Judges will
determine a winner in the
following categories: appetiz-
er, breakfast dish, lunch dish,
dinner dish and dessert.
“If it does well, which I’m
sure it will, we want to do it
crafts, with textiles, with
every department,” Fair
Manager Tina Andersen said.
If a more traditional entry
is more to your taste, those
competitions still are offered
at the fair. The fair runs Aug.
11-13, so deadlines are ap-
proaching. You might want
to consider now what pho-
tography, crafts, fruit, veg-
etables and other items are
Open class exhibit entry deadlines:
• Poetry — July 27
• Fine Arts, Photography, textiles, crafts, youth arts &
crafts — Aug. 8.
• Foods — Aug. 9.
• Floriculture, grains, honey, forestry, fruit, nuts vegeta-
bles — Aug. 10.
Open class books are available local libraries, Post of-
fices (except Independence), at the Polk County Fair Office
(520 S. Pacific Highway, Rickreall) and online at
http://www.co.polk.or.us/fair/annual/2016-fair-book.
For more information: 503-623-3048.
contest-worthy.
Andersen and the fair
crew are having to plan
around an increasing num-
ber of entries.
“We actually did really
well last year. We are making
some more changes. We
have completely refigured
the main building, again,
and part of that is to accom-
modate those displays,” An-
dersen said. “The photogra-
phy was up, our youth arts
and crafts were up.”
That being said, Andersen
is willing to make room for
more, particularly those that
represent Polk’s farming her-
itage.
“We would encourage our
farmers and our local folks
to enter their grains and veg-
etables,” Fair board chair-
woman Anna Scharf said.
“We live in an agricultural
county, so we know it’s out
there. When you are harvest-
ing your wheat, grab a
sheath of it or grab a bag off
the combine and bring it in
and enter it.”
County approves 2016-17 budget
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DALL AS — The Polk
County Board of Commis-
sioners adopted the 2016-17
budget on June 29 with just
minor changes to what the
county’s budget committee
Solution on Page 6A
approved in May.
County Administrator
Greg Hansen said the only
changes were an increase in
beginning balance for Public
Works of $200,000 and a de-
crease in the general fund
beginning balance to pay for
a vote tabulation machine
that was delivered in June
rather that July.
The machine was budget-
ed at $100,000 in the 2016-17
budget. It replaces voting
equipment this is more than
10 years old and will first
used in November’s general
election.
The 2016-17 total budget
is $66 million.
ADVERTISING DEADLINES
Retail display ads — 3
p.m. Friday.
Classified display ads
— 11 a.m. on Monday.
Classified line ads —
Noon on Monday. Classified
ads are updated daily on
www.polkio.com.
Public notices — Noon
on Friday.
CORRECTIONS
The Polk County Itemizer-
Observer is committed to pub-
lishing accurate news, feature
and sports reports. If you see
anything that requires a cor-
rection or clarification, call the
newsroom at 503-623-2373 or
send an email to
ementzer@polkio.com.
WEBSITE
The Polk County Itemizer-
Observer website,
www.polkio.com, is updat-
ed each week by Wednes-
day afternoon. There, you
will find nearly every story
that appears in the print
version of the newspaper,
as well as some items, in-
cluding additional photos,
that do not appear in print
due to space limitations.
The Itemizer-Observer is
also on Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram. Watch for
breaking news, links to sto-
ries, sports scores updates
and more.
WEATHER
RECORDED
HIGH LOW
June 28............. 85
June 29............. 82
June 30............. 82
July 1.................. 83
July 2.................. 87
July 3.................. 80
July 4.................. 75
53
54
51
53
59
54
52
RAIN
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
Rainfall during June — 1.00 in.
Rain through July 4 — 21.30 in.
Visit us online
www.polkio.com
A Pleasant Place to Buy or Sell Your RV
CALL TODAY FOR A NO-CHARGE EVALUATION.
OPEN K!
WEE
7 DAYS A • Sat 9-5
Mon-Fri 9-6 -4
Sun 10
Rick 503-437-5398
Ruben 503-915-2080
4075 NE Three Mile Lane, McMinnville, OR
www.macrvsales.com Next to the Spruce Goose Aviation Museum macrvsales@gmail.com
May 5 - Sept. 29
General Vendors
10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Food Vendors
10:00 am - 6:00 pm
(or until sold out)
Featuring Growers, Producers & Artisans of the Polk County area & beyond!
Special Event July 31 ~ Bounty Market at Art in the Park
Live music each week 11 am to 1 pm
Cash & Company July 7 & 21
Fiddler Truman Price July 14 & 28
New & Returning Vendors this month:
Akha Farm (6th season) • Bermudez Family Farm (7th Season)
Birdsong Farm • Black Rock BBQ (New) • City of Dallas (2nd season)
Community Action Head Start • Critelli Sweets (New)
Dallas Downtown Association • Edie’s Designs (3rd season)
El Pique (6th season) • Family Building Blocks (2nd Season)
Geovalue Organics (New) • Good & Bready (7th Season)
Gramma’s Sewing Basket (New) • Hound Boy Bakery LLC. (New)
Karl’s Birdhouses & Feeders (New) • Lakeside Berry Farm (7th season)
Larson’s Lavender & Bees • Massage by Ty (New)
Mrs. Sew & Sew (New) • OSU Master Preservers
Perryhill Farm & Rustics (3rd season) • Rock Creek Organics (New)
Rosie’s Scottish Goodies (7th season) • The Soap Store (3rd season)
Tony Diaz Fresh Farm Produce (2nd season)
Uniquely Done by Debbie (New) • We Bee Bloomin (New)
Wizart Illustration (2nd season)
New Vendors Each Week!
182 Academy Street in Dallas (Corner of Main & Academy)
http://www.exploredallasoregon.org/bounty-market.html
503-623-2564
Facebook.com/bountymarket