Polk County News
2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 15, 2017
Program receives grant from BOC Monmouth OKs
marijuana zoning
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FA L L S C I T Y — A m y
Houghtaling received a
pleasant surprise Tuesday
morning.
The director of Falls City
School District’s after-school
program Family Academic
Community and Enrich-
ment for Success, along with
Lynn Bailey, the program’s
sustainability coordinator,
had planned on giving a
grant presentation to the
Polk County Board of Com-
missioners.
They did not know they
would leave with the money
is on its way.
The board approved the
$28,100 grant request for
FACES’ Student Workforce
Readiness Project, which
will employ five students
over two trimesters, working
approximately 14 hours per
week, earning class credit,
and developing job skills
they can use later. The fund-
ing is awarded through the
county’s economic develop-
ment program.
FACES began nine years
ago, and has employed teens
to work with younger stu-
dents in program classes.
Fifty part-time positions
have been offered to stu-
dents, 93 percent of which
graduated and many moved
on to post-high school edu-
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer file
Students conduct experiments in roller coaster physics.
cation or work.
The workforce readiness
project is targeting a differ-
ent demographic: at-risk
teens.
Students will work in the
district on landscaping in
the spring and fall
trimesters, working on proj-
ects at the schools and city
parks and cemeteries.
“We believe it is impor-
tant for the students hired
by this project to stay in Falls
City because we are hoping
to hire some of our most al-
ternative and at-risk stu-
dents,” the grant application
said. “These kids tend to be
from homes where neither
parent works, where people
in authority are not trusted,
and where a vision of a ‘way
out’ is limited.”
Bailey said this program
will help students develop
confidence by working with
people they know and trust
now.
“That will help them
branch out,” she said.
Students who want to
participate in the program
must apply like they would
any other job. They will be
required to submit a resume
and go through an interview
process. According to the
grant application, partici-
pants must be passing all
classes and be “demonstrat-
ing positive behavior in the
classroom and community
in order to maintain em-
ployment.”
Commissioner Jennifer
Wheeler said she’s seen the dif-
ference FACES programs have
made in students and made a
motion to award the grant.
The motion was approved
unanimously.
“I appreciate what you do
every day because these kids
are our future,” Commis-
sioner Mike Ainsworth said.
The program will begin in
April at the start of Falls
City’s spring trimester.
In other business, FACES:
• Is looking for sponsors
for its this spring’s Roller-
coaster Physics Class.
Houghtaling said the class
is looking for $10,000 in
sponsorships to improve the
class and pay for its end-
year trip to a yet-to-be an-
nounced amusement park.
“If not, we have enough
money to go to Idaho and do
the same trip we did last
year,” Houghtaling said. “We
are just trying to broaden
horizons.”
For more information
about the sponsorship pro-
gram, call 503-787-3521, ext.
303.
Sewer billing to change costs
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Sewer
bills in Monmouth will likely
increase, though a few cus-
tomers will see a decrease,
because the way bills are
calculated are set to change.
Sewer accounts are as-
sessed a flat monthly fee
based on water consump-
tion during the winter
months, said Mark Dunmire,
finance director, in a memo
to the council.
The charges have been
calculated using four
months — November, De-
c e m b e r, Fe b r u a r y a n d
March — and throwing out
the highest charge. From
that, the average remaining
three months multiplied by
12 is how the city has deter-
mined a resident’s rate,
Dunmire explained.
The city’s new finance soft-
ware could not calculate the
bills using this formula, but
can use a similar formula using
consecutive months.
The council came to a con-
sensus at its Feb. 7 work ses-
sion to begin using Decem-
ber, January, February and
March for sewer calculations.
This will increase some bills
by about $9.24 and decrease
some by about $9.42.
The new method will in-
crease the sewer fund by
about $37,277.44 annually,
Dunmire said. Making the
switch will save time, he said.
“ T h e c i t y ’s c u r r e n t
process to update sewer
charges requires pulling all
consumption history from
Caselle (the city’s finance
software) and manipulating
it manually in Excel,” Dun-
mire said in the memo. “The
process takes about two
weeks to complete, and
multiple staff are involved. It
is an extremely tedious and
technical process, and not
only requires manipulation
in Excel, but an upload to
Caselle with a manual verifi-
cation after.”
With the calculations
being done using the soft-
ware, the entire process can
be completed by one person
in a couple of hours, Dun-
mire said.
City employees will bring
a resolution back to the
council to implement the
change.
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Mari-
juana retail, processing and
production facilities have
been added to the Mon-
mouth zoning code
through a legislative
amendment passed unani-
mously at the Feb. 7 coun-
cil meeting.
Recreational marijuana
in Monmouth sparked an
outcry by some residents
and business owners upset
that the council didn’t ad-
vertise the fact that a ban
could have been initiated
by a ballot measure in the
November 2016 election.
Measure 91, which legal-
ized recreational marijuana
in the state, passed in Mon-
mouth by a 136-vote mar-
gin. Bodie Bemrose, busi-
ness owner and author of a
petition against marijuana
businesses in Monmouth,
said the voter turnout in
Monmouth was small,
2,968 out of 4,534 regis-
tered voters.
“A very small minority of
people, which represented
only 15 percent of our com-
munity, supported mari-
juana recreational sales for
Oregon Measure 91,” he
said in a statement.
Bemrose laid out addi-
tional restrictions for the
council to consider, includ-
ing prohibiting marijuana
business in the Main Street
District, Commercial High-
way Zone, all residential
zones, and increase dis-
tances allowed from any
government building, in-
cluding schools and day
care facilities.
State law prohibits a
marijuana business within
1,000 feet of schools. Bem-
rose’s proposal would in-
crease that to 2,000 feet.
The council discussed in-
cluding one of Bemrose’s
suggestions, prohibiting
marijuana business in the
Main Street District. Coun-
cilors did not entertain all of
the suggestions because it
would limit marijuana busi-
nesses to the south end of
town in the industrial area.
Attorney Lane Shetterly
said he would defend what-
ever the council adopted,
but it “would be a steep hill
to climb” if Monmouth lim-
ited access that much.
Councilor Royal Johnson
said that the council was
not voting yes or no on
whether or not marijuana
businesses could operate,
but where they could locate.
“If we did a no vote on
this ordinance, we would
make it where businesses
could basically come in
wherever they could based
on our current zoning,
which is less restrictive
than our amendment,” he
said. “If we don’t pass it,
they could still come open
business here.”
Councilor Byron Shinkle
wanted to amend the
amendment to prohibit
sales in the Main Street
District, which would still
leave spaces for marijuana
businesses in city limits.
“When the statute and
the court say be reason-
able, they mean it, be rea-
sonable,” Shinkle said.
Shetterly said he would
have to come back to the
council with the appropri-
ate language in the ordi-
nance, and further public
meetings would have to be
held including property
owners on Main Street.
Councilor Tom Steinke
said it would have to go
through the entire plan-
ning commission process
again, potentially delaying
any decisions for a few
months.
In the end, the council
decided to reject the idea of
prohibiting sales on Main
Street and approved the
suggested ordinances, de-
claring an emergency,
which put the new rules
into effect immediately.