Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 15, 2017 5A
Falls City water master plan Polk County fair recap
moves to health authority
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — The Falls
City City Council approved
its draft water master plan
Thursday, authorizing it to
be sent to the Oregon Health
Authority and Oregon Water
Resources Department for
review.
That process could take
months — OWRD has a 90-
day comment period after
its initial review — but in the
meantime, the city can
begin looking at funding
sources.
Authors of the draft plan,
from HBH Consulting Engi-
neers, say the most likely
scenario is a combination of
loans the city would repay
and loans that state agencies
will forgive because they
technically not allowed to
offer grants.
Falls City will not be eligi-
ble for a Community Devel-
opment Block Grant for this
project because it plans to
apply for one for the sewer
system. Government entities
can only have one CDBG
every four years, said Mayor
Terry Ungricht.
That means the city may
have to raise rates to pay off
loans for needed projects on
its “Priority 1A list,” those
that are most urgently need-
Water Master Plan Projects
Priority 1A: Primarily replacing old pipe. Timeline: within
five years. Cost: $1.66 million.
Priority 1B: Fixing the pressure zones. Timeline: within 10
years. Cost: $2.1 million.
Priority 2: Pipe replacement, reservoir maintenance and
water intake study. Timeline: within 10 to 15 years. Cost:
$848,103
Priority 3: Replacing dead end lines with looping lines
that better circulate water for improved quality and other
system improvements. Timeline: 15 to 20 years, as funding
allows. Cost: $2.47 million.
Total cost: $7.09 million.
ed and most likely to be
funded. Those improve-
ments are estimated to cost
$1.66 million.
“What we tried to show, in
that first five-year period,
the first go-around with the
funding agencies, that we to
get the worst lines taken care
of now,” said Mike Henry,
with HBH. “That’s about $1.6
million, that’s still a lot of
money and you are still
going to need some help
from state and federal
money to bite that off.”
He said based on the
funding scenario he expects
the city to have, water rates
should increase by $8, to
$57.32, on residential bills in
2018. By 2027, the bill will
increase to $60.67.
“I think $62 per month is
the average water bill now
for the state.” Henry said.
“You are actually in not that
bad of shape.”
Priority 1A projects in-
volve mostly replacing old
asbestos cement pipe, said
Natalie Jennings with HBH.
“There’s a lot asbestos
concrete pipe, which was a
thing in the seventies, which
everyone thought was the
best technology,” Jennings
said. “Unfortunately, we
found out that it wasn’t real-
ly that good and unfortu-
nately, it’s in a lot of cities in
this country, including Falls
City.”
Replacing those lines will
help with the next stage of
projects on the “Priority 1B
list,” which involve evening
out water pressure through-
out town. Those improve-
ments will cost $2.1 million,
which are not included in
the current funding plan.
RICKREALL — “Moo at the Moon.” That
is the theme for the 2017 Polk County Fair,
in honor of the Great American total solar
eclipse the region will experience on Aug.
21, after the fair’s run.
Fair managers are hoping for a year
more like 2015 — and not a repeat of last
year — for the fair, Aug. 10-12.
“It was the perfect storm in 2015 and the
perfect storm in 2016,” said Fair Board
Chairwoman Anna Scharf at the board’s
annual work session on Saturday.
Those storms came with opposite results.
In 2015, the fair was shortened to three days
and other changes were put in play. Those
ideas were well-received; the weather was
beautiful; and attendance and revenue
were up. Last year wasn’t as cooperative, as
Mother Nature decided to scorch the fair
with temperatures nearing 100 degrees.
That likely was the main driver behind
an attendance plunge of more than 27 per-
cent and admissions dropping 33 percent,
Scharf said. Those declines made another
change — charging for parking — the an-
nual event’s savior from disaster.
“If we hadn’t charged for parking, we
would have been in real pickle,” Scharf
said. “Because we charged for parking, we
were really only down about 5 percent in
our overall revenue for gate admission.”
Open class exhibits were down, but that
could have been a product of a late harvest
season that had farmers still working their
fields during fair, Scharf said.
In a bit of good news, she added that
sponsorships were up 17 percent, which is
an indication the fair has strong communi-
ty support. Thursday night’s Roughstock
Rodeo also proved to be a big draw.
Scharf said the board is working on more
changes to bring attendance and revenue
up, including working with the cities to avoid
conflicts during fair week and finding a bet-
ter place to put the entertainment stage.
“We keep moving pieces to try to get the
right fit to get revenue up,” Scharf said.
Scheduling youth exhibits — which have
been increasing — has been a challenge
since moving to a three-day fair. Scharf
said a schedule with shows on Wednesday
before the fair opens will be tested to pre-
vent young exhibitors from having to rush
from one event to another.
“It was really chaotic for those kids, and
it was really hard for them to enjoy fair,”
Scharf said.
POLICE REPORT
Information for the police
report comes from law en-
forcement agencies. Not all
calls for service are included.
The status of incidents re-
ported may change after fur-
ther investigation. Individu-
als arrested or suspected of
crimes are considered inno-
cent until proven guilty.
—
DALLAS
Arrests/Citations
None available.
INDEPENDENCE
Arrests/Citations
After an investigation, Ryan
Matthew Albert, 19, of Mon-
mouth, was arrested on Feb. 7 in
the 100 block of S. 17th St. for in-
cidents reported in September
2016. He was charged with third-
degree rape (under 16), third-de-
gree sodomy (under 16), third-
degree sex abuse, menacing –
use or display of weapons, reck-
less endangering – disorderly
conduct, and unlawful use or
carry of a weapon – disorderly
conduct.
Michael James Baker, 41, of
Independence, at N. Log Cabin
and Grand sts. on Feb. 7 for
driving under the influence of
intoxicants, unlawful con-
trolled substance – prohibited
acts, and possession of
methamphetamine.
Kristi Lynette Dunlavy, 48, of In-
dependence, at Hoffman and N.
Gun Club rds. on Feb. 7 for DUII.
Howard E. Eaton, 48, of Inde-
pendence, at Monmouth and S.
Third sts. on Feb. 7 for DUII.
MONMOUTH
Arrests/Citations
Grant William Edwards, 21,
of Monmouth, at Gwinn St. E.
and Pacific Hwy. S. on Feb. 3 for
DUII.
Jose Louis Camero, 38, of In-
dependence, at Clay St. E. and
Broad St. S. on Feb. 5 for felon
in possession of a weapon.
Lane Michael Crimson, 19, of
Monmouth, in the 300 block of
Sunset Ln. N. on Feb. 8 for pos-
session of marijuana younger
than 21.
Levi Eldon Grass, 31, of Mon-
mouth, at Jackson St. E. and
Cottonwood Ct. on Feb. 9 on a
warrant for failure to appear.
10th Annual
Polk Home & Garden Show 2017
Feb 25 & 26
Sat 9am-5pm
Sun 10am-5pm
Come Support Local Businesses
Located at the
Polk County Fairgrounds
520 S. Pacific Hwy, Rickreall, Oregon
2nd Annual Mid-Valley
Winter Agfest 2017
Feb 25 & 26
Sat 9am-4pm
Sun 10am-4pm
FREE Parking!
Admission: $5 Adult, $10 per car
18 & under FREE
WINDERMERE WESTERN VIEW PROPERTIES
297 N. PACIFIC HWY • MONMOUTH • 503-838-1141
windermere.com