Polk County Education/News
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 12, 2016
Early lead results released Falls City seeks
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Preliminary
lead testing results in Dallas
schools have found levels in
some fixtures that exceed the
Environmental Protection
Agency’s “action” threshold
of 20 parts per billion.
Results found that the
sources of most of those
samples are fixtures that are
rarely — if ever — used for
drinking, said Kevin Mon-
tague, facilities director.
He said while he’s not
pleased to see tests come in
too high, so far the results
are better than he expected
given the age of the school
buildings.
“I knew we were going to
have some (high) levels,” he
said. “I had no doubt about
that.”
The results, readings from
“first pull” tests taken be-
tween Sept. 20-30, are part
of the 552 fixtures tested dis-
trict-wide.
All fixtures that students
or staff could possibly use
for drinking and food prepa-
ration were tested, exceed-
ing the recommendations of
both Oregon Health Author-
ity and the EPA, Montague
said.
The lab used for analysis,
TRC Environmental Corp,
began sending the district
results from only those sam-
ples that exceeded 20 ppb
late last week.
So far, 24 samples have
tested too high, but those do
not include the 184 fixtures
tested at Dallas High School,
which still are under analy-
sis.
Montague said fixtures
testing high have been
turned off except those not
easily accessed by students
or staff, such as those in
storage rooms or blocked by
equipment.
He said even those will be
turned off as soon as main-
tenance crews can get to
them.
“The nice thing is, so far,
none of our main common
area drinking fountains out-
side of our classrooms,
which is where most of our
kids drink anyway, have
come over the action level,”
Montague said.
Montague said the scari-
est looking result came from
a kitchen soup pot faucet at
Oakdale Heights Elementary
School that tested at 1,540
ppb.
He said that faucet was in-
stalled for a specific purpose
is no longer used, according
to kitchen employees at the
school.
“The soup pot faucet has
not been used in years,”
Montague said. “It’s a piece
of obsolete equipment.”
The district is waiting for
preliminary results from
Dallas High School and re-
sults from second tests
taken on each of the fixtures
that were high on the first
sample. The results will tell
the district what it needs to
do to fix the problem.
The district had samples
gathered following EPA
guidelines of taking two at
the same time, Montague
said.
Samples were taken on
Tuesdays through Fridays
and between 4 and 7 a.m.
before anyone used the fix-
tures. The first, or A sample,
is the water from the first
use. The second, or B sam-
ple, is taken after the water
has run for 30 seconds.
“All of the A samples went
in from testing,” Montague
said. “Any of the ones that
came back at or above the
action level triggered the B
sample to go in for testing.”
B samples will help deter-
mine where the lead is com-
ing from — the fixture or the
pipes feeding the faucet.
“We do not have any of
the B results yet,” Montague
said. “If the B results come
back and they are lower, we
can pretty well identify the
fixture as the contributor
and just swap out the fix-
ture.”
If the source is in the
pipes, that could be a more
complicated and expensive
fix that would have to take
into consideration the pres-
ence of asbestos and lead
paint if walls need to be
opened.
A final analysis will reveal
the results of all tests, even
those not exceeding the 20
ppb threshold.
Montague said once the
complete report is ready, the
district may want to have a
conversation about whether
it wants to follow EPA guide-
lines or set a lower threshold
for lead in water in its
schools.
“Twenty is the action
level, but EPA and Health
Au t h o r i t y s a y t h a t n o
amount of lead is safe,” he
said. “That’s probably a
board conversation.”
In other business, the dis-
trict:
• Submitted its prelimi-
nary draft “Healthy and Safe
Schools Plan.” The plan out-
lines how schools will miti-
gate risks of radon, lead in
water, lead paint, among
other health risks. Districts
were to submit draft plans
by Oct. 1 and final plans are
due in January.
grant for sewer
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — The city of Falls City was able to submit
its grant application for funding to pay for a sewer system
upgrade.
The application was due on Sept. 30, and Mayor Terry
Ungricht wrote in his “Mayor’s report” for Thursday’s Falls
City City Council meeting that the Community Develop-
ment Block Grant application “met the deadline with a
couple hours to spare.”
He said the state’s Infra-
structure Finance Authority
would review the applica-
What: Falls City City
tion and submit questions
Council meeting.
for the city to answer. The
When: 7 p.m.
city will have 14 days to re-
Where: Falls City Com-
spond, and the application
munity Center, 320 N.
would be reviewed again.
Main St.
“I am not sure when the
For more informa-
final decision will be
tion: 503-787-3631.
made,” Ungricht said.
The grant is for $2.5 mil-
lion, the bulk of the estimated $3.3 million cost of upgrad-
ing the city’s sewer system.
The city was invited to apply for the grant after an in-
come survey revealed that 55.1 percent of residents served
by the system are in the low-to-moderate income range.
Ungricht said he will seek more grant funding to help
pay for the rest of the project, but suspects the city will
have to finance some of it, which will result in an increase
in sewer bills.
“I’m trying, but unfortunately it’s going to be a signifi-
cant rate increase,” Ungricht said.
An update on the code enforcement situation in Falls
City and efforts to find options for keeping the Wagner
Community Library open are on the agenda for the Falls
City’s meeting Thursday.
Check it out
Monmouth council considers first phase of business registration
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — The Mon-
mouth City Council is considering
a business registration in the city,
but it would only affect new busi-
nesses at this point, City Manager
Scott McClure said.
The issue was discussed at the
Oct. 4 council meeting.
“The idea with that is to have
somebody come in and do simple
checks to make sure they’re in
compliance with city rules, zoning,
planning and anything else you
need to do there,” McClure said.
“It’s not ongoing or annual.”
The point would be to help new
business owners get everything in
order ahead of time.
“There’s all sorts of silly stuff
people don’t think about,” he said.
For example, sometimes some-
one will arrange a lease with a
building owner and start a busi-
ness without ever consulting the
city. Sometimes, this leads the city
to have to tell someone they are
not in compliance with codes, Mc-
Clure said.
The council talked about doing
a more ongoing, annual business
registration at a later date, he said.
“There is a benefit to registra-
tion like (that),” McClure said.
“You have basic data. Public safe-
ty likes contact information, but
the flip side is you have to ad-
minister it, dedicate staff time to
doing the letters and follow-up
phone calls.”
Also at the meeting, the council
heard about plans on Gwinn
Street.
The residential housing devel-
opment would finish the street.
“You’d be able to get from
Gwinn Street to Highway 99 when
it’s done,” McClure said.
Housing is in demand in Mon-
mouth, McClure noted.
“What we’re seeing right now is
infill development, where you get a
little creative — a lot here, a lot
there,” he said. “Where we’re sit-
ting, there aren’t a lot of subdivi-
sions available here.”
The council also heard a request
from the Monmouth Engaged bi-
cycle and pedestrian committee to
install bicycle-only camping at
Gentle Woods Park, McClure said.
With the bike path on Highway
99W, it would be easy for cyclist to
spend the night at the park, he
said.
“We’re going through, how does
this work?” McClure said. “How do
you manage it, what’s the best lo-
cation in the park. In some cases,
you could just drop your tent on
the ground and call it good, but
what would be the impact of cur-
rent users, and also the neighbor-
hood impact?”
The space at Gentle Woods Park
is used often, McClure said.
“Sometimes these things are
easier if you have a surplus piece
of land, but most of the property is
used,” he said. “There’s heavy
rentals down there. You have to fig-
ure out how to make everything
dovetail in there.”