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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2017)
Polk County News 2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 18, 2017 Council, park argue over rates Green Haven RV Park residents, owner could see water costs triple By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer FALLS CITY — The own- ers of Green Haven RV Park and the city of Falls City can’t agree on how the park should be charged for water. In December, the Falls City City Council asked Mayor Terry Ungricht to ne- gotiate a contract with Green Haven to establish a bill that’s more in line with how the rest of the residen- tial customers served by city water are charged. The park has one meter, so Ungricht recommended the park be changed to a “multiplier” based on the number of “non-temporary” spots in the park. The city charges multipliers to other multi-unit complexes in town. Councilor Jenn Drill said that after an initial meeting with park owner Richard Bowman and his sons, she was encouraged the two sides would come to an agreement. Between that gathering and the council’s meeting Thursday, something had changed. Mike Bowman, one of Richard Bowman’s sons, read a letter to the council at the meeting outlining his family’s objection to the pro- posed water contract. He said the contract would charge three times the current bill. The water bill change stemmed from a previous dispute with the city over whether the recreational ve- hicles in the park needed to be moved. The park’s permit with the city required RVs to be moved every 180 days. When the city tried to en- force that provision, the Bowmans presented the city with a state law that said otherwise. The law states no time limit can be enforced so JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer The city of Falls City and Green Haven RV Park are in a dispute over how the park pays for its water. Park owners have rejected the city’s proposal for billing changes. the city leave the park alone. “This (contract) is totally unacceptable. If it takes a court of law to show you how outrageous this is, we can let the attorneys handle it,” he said. “We can’t help feeling picked on, possibly even harassed by the city.” The council previously agreed to have Ungricht charge the park for 30 spots at the residential rate of $41.96 per month. However, Ungricht found that the city’s code would not allow that. Instead he would have to charge a multiplier of 30 at a rate of $108.86, which is the charge for the two- inch water line serving the park. He said he didn’t believe that was the intent of the council to charge that much, so he decided to charge for 10 spots at the $108.86 rate. The city’s municipal code allows for special contracts long as there are water, sewer and electrical hookups available. That is true of 30 spots in the RV park. The council reasoned if the residents of the park are no longer considered tem- porary by state law, then they could pay water rates comparable to other city residents. Mike Bowman disputed that claim. “These are not permanent homes. Just because a law says they can stay as long as they want, doesn’t mean they are permanent resi- dents,” he said. “They are on wheels and can be moved at any time.” Ungricht said he tried to address that in the contract, leaving it open for further negotiations if the park lost residents. “That’s why I tried to give them an agreement that off- set that,” Ungricht said. Mike Bowman asked that Daily Raffle when an “applicant’s re- quirements for water are un- usual or large.” “I tried to do a fair agree- ment, looking at what the intent of council was, keep- ing it within the way we bill now and looking at what they use for water, so where they were paying somewhat comparable to the other customers in the city,” he said. With negotiations at a stand-still, Ungricht will be informing the park of its new bill. The park will be charged for 30 “non-temporary” spots, the shower room and the double-wide manufac- tured manager’s residence at the $108.86 rate, plus $10 for each hookup for the city’s utility reserve fund. “I will probably draft a let- ter through our attorney that we will be putting on a mul- tiplier,” Ungricht said. “It’s going to be a substantial bill.” ODOT: Signal not an option for area Continued from Page 1A “We need to make a commitment on something that we know safety and engineering is going to say yes to, and we can work as partners on something that can move forward,” Pope continued. The county has supported installing a traffic light at the intersection for nearly a decade. ODOT has rejected this option, but county officials remain skeptical about the reasons, citing the signal at Hoffman Road as an ex- ample of a safety improvement. “I certainly understand both the desire and the drive to have a signalized intersection out there. I get that,” Potter said. “My own opinion, the pursuit of the addi- tional funding and closing the gap on the roundabout is a better long-term solution, and frankly the more likely solution, than to push a signal, frankly, uphill against the state traffic engineer.” Potter said he’s fairly confident he could find the fund- ing for a roundabout and the project could begin within three to four years. The county and ODOT have long disagreed on what would be the best solution at the intersection. ODOT’s preference has been for a roundabout, some- thing the county has objected to because of freight and agricultural equipment mobility. Polk County Public Works Director Whitaker said Tues- day he still has those concerns, and more, but said he’s now more convinced about the safety improvements roundabouts offer. “I’ve been skeptical of a roundabout at that location since I’ve been here, but my mind is changing,” he said. He said that is because ODOT has listened to the con- cerns of truckers and farmers about design and has re- sponded. “I don’t have a problem recommending to my board that they support a roundabout at this location, because I have hope now that we can do one that will accommo- date agriculture, accommodate (trucks) and is a big safe- ty improvement,” Whitaker said. He added that he has concerns about drivers acclimat- ing to using a roundabout and how it would perform during heavy traffic periods, such as the Saturday of the Civil War between University of Oregon and Oregon State football teams. Those issues, plus farm and trucking mobility, need to be kept in mind during design and engineering. “I want to see if one goes in here, that it is an example of success,” Whitaker said. “If we do it, it’s one that we can look at five years from now and say we did good.” Commissioner Mike Ainsworth said he believes citi- zens will be irritated at the cost difference between a sig- nal — about $1.2 million to $1.5 million — and a round- about when the signal at Hoffman has been successful. Commissioner Jennifer Wheeler and Pope both agreed with Ainsworth on that point. Nevertheless, the board voted unanimously to work with ODOT to pursue the additional funding necessary to build a roundabout. “What I like is that it’s now, and we are not going to wait 10 more years,” Wheeler said. “We just can’t wait any longer.” Purchase something from our menu, and add your name and phone number on your receipt to enter! *Lobby customers only. GRAND RE-OPENING DAILY SPECIALS! Wednesday Jan. 25 Thursday Jan. 26 99 ¢ BOGO Any Size Sausage Muffin French Fries SATURDAY JAN. 28 $ 1.99 Happy Meals (Cheeseburger, Hamburger or 4 pc. Nugget) All Day OR BOGO Hashbrowns All Day Thursday Drawings: $25 McDonald's Gift Card & 4 Movie Passes to the Independence Cinema Wednesday Drawings: $25 McDonald's Gift Card & 4 Movie Passes to the Independence Cinema Friday Jan. 27 99 ¢ McChicken Sunday Jan. 29 1.99 $ Quarter Pounder w/Cheese Raffle Prize Drawing 2 pm: $50 McDonald's Gift Card $100 McDonald's Gift Card $200 McDonald's Gift Card Friday Drawings: $25 McDonald's Gift Card & 4 Movie Passes to the Independence Cinema Sunday Drawings: $25 McDonald's Gift Card & 4 Movie Passes to the Independence Cinema You DO NOT have to be present to win. One Raffle Ticket per family per day. Tickets will be given out for lobby customers only. These deals are only good at our Independence location. * One raffle ticket per family per day. Saturday, Ja Ronald w n. 28th ill store mee be at the ting, gree ting and takin g photos with famil ies from 12:30pm- 2:30pm.
