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!