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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2017)
Polk County News 6A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 18, 2017 County invests in fair Indy council fills positions Commissioners approve new caretaker home By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer RICKREALL — The Polk County Board of Commis- sioners approved transfer- ring $150,000 to the Polk County Fairgrounds & Event Center to purchase a new caretaker’s home and backup generator. The caretaker’s home is a 30-year-old manufactured structure that is quickly aging past its prime said Tina Andersen, fair manager. Andersen said the win- dows leak; it needs a roof, and has dry rot in several places. Rather than invest more money in the old structure, the board ap- proved $75,000 to replace it. Andersen said the fair- grounds caretaker is on duty all hours and attends to after- hours and weekend events, making sure people can get into the buildings and clean up when they leave. “We would lose a lot of revenue without him here after hours and on week- ends,” Andersen said. The caretaker is paid minimum wage. Providing a home and utilities is part of his compensation. “The bottom line is we need that person,” Commis- sioner Craig Pope said. “We need them to be comfortable, happy and taken care of be- cause we are not paying them any significant amount, so that is part of the pay.” The board approved an additional $75,000 to buy a generator for the fair- grounds, which is designat- ed as an emergency shelter by the American Red Cross. Andersen said the fair- grounds housed and fed people during the flooding in 1996, and is the emer- gency evacuation center for some school districts in Polk County. “If the power were to go out, we wouldn't be able to provide that service for our community,” she said. County Administrator Greg Hansen said the $150,000 would be trans- ferred from the county’s general fund contingency. That is in addition to $75,000 already transferred to the fairgrounds as part of the adopted 2016-17 budget. The request was ap- proved unanimously. “I see the fairgrounds property, irrespective of the actual annual fair, as a com- mercial property and an in- frastructure asset that I, as an elected official, have a responsibility to maintain.” Pope said. “It has been pri- oritized very low over the years.” ASH CREEK TAX & LEGAL SERVICES Ashcreektax.com (503)765-8686 Donna.byrne@ashcreektax.com • Tax Preparation • Probate • Wills & Trusts • Notary Public Let a professor help you! Donna Byrne recently returned to Oregon after nearly 25 years as a tax law professor. She is an attorney, an IRS enrolled agent, and an Oregon licensed tax consultant. She has experience with individuals, businesses, estates and trusts. Donna Byrne Se habla impuestos – taxes spoken Donna M. Byrne, LTC, EA, JD LTC# C-907103 1250 Main St E, Suite B, Monmouth, OR 97361 (with Richard C. Evans, CPA) By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — The Independence City Council took care of business at its Jan. 10 meeting in spite of fresh snow, but postponed the discussion on a new city branding initiative because the consultants worked out of Portland, which was hit worse than the Willamette Valley with ice and snow. Marilyn Morton was elect- ed council president. Each councilor chose a committee or board to sit on as council li- a i s o n . Councilor Ken Day was ap- pointed to McArdle the Mon- mouth Independence Net- works board of directors. “He’s well prepared,” said Morton, who works for Minet. Day is on the finance committee for Minet. Richard King, who was elected in November to serve on the council, did not accept his position because of family issues, M a y o r John McAr- dle said. The coun- cil had two options to fill the va- Martin-Willis cancy: Ap- p o i n t Michael Hicks, who ran for council and was in the audi- ence on Jan. 10, or go through an application process. Morton and Day wanted to open it up to an applica- tion process, while Tom Takacs, Kathy Martin-Willis Government and Diana Lindskog wanted to appoint Hicks. “I move that we appoint Mike Hicks,” Takacs said. “I spoke to him earlier. He’s a pretty rea- sonable g u y. H e took the time to go through the elec- t i o n process.” Day “I appre- ciate that, but I know we’ve had an empty council seat for six months, and I don’t think it’s going to make a dif- ference to the democratic process,” Morton said, refer- ring to Councilor Jerry Hoff- man being excused from council meetings for the last part of 2016 because of ill- ness. Day said that while Hicks m i g h t make a great can- didate, “I think there are other people also who might want the job.” Hicks Hicks ran against Day for Position 5 and garnered 760 votes, coming in second of the three candidates for that seat. Day won the position with 1,207 votes. The vacant position counted as a “no” vote, city recorder Karin Johnson said, so McArdle broke the tie vote and Hicks was sworn in on Jan. 10 as Independence’s sixth councilor. As Hicks took his seat at the dais, Morton said, “It’s not based on the person; it’s based on the process.” In other business: • The council adopted a voter-approved 3 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana and repealed a 10 percent sales tax on the drug. The 10 percent sales tax was passed in October 2014 in anticipation of vot- ers passing Measure 91 — le- galizing recreational mari- juana in Oregon. Under Measure 91, cities would not be able to tax the drug, but the city council passed the 10 percent sales tax in hopes that Independ- ence would be “grandfa- thered in.” That is, because Independence had a sales tax on the books prior to the legalization of the drug, it would be allowed. “It was our shot at getting some good money,” City Manager David Clyne said. The state would not allow it, but did allow cities to ask voters to approve an up-to 3 percent sales tax, which In- dependence did in Novem- ber 2016. • The council heard progress on the information technology department, headed by Jason Kistler, Clyne’s son-in-law. “We created an official IT department, and one way we hoped to support that activi- ty was to contract out servic- es,” Clyne said. “Monmouth contracts with us. Jason goes out to Aumsville and gives them support. So that’s one of the things we do. It helps us with our reputation and is part of our branding, and gives us a chance to recover those costs.” See something interesting happening in Polk County? Call us at 503-623-2373. We check out your news tips!
