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.”
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