Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 8, 2017 3A
SW Polk board to
discuss $5M bond
Dallas Fire, SW Polk reveal strategic plan
Itemizer-Observer staff report
Plan identifies strengths, weaknesses and needed changes for both emergency agencies
DALLAS — Southwestern
Polk Rural Fire Protection Dis-
trict’s board will discuss and
decide whether to place a 15-
year, $5 million bond on the
May 2017 ballot at its meet-
ing on Monday.
Members of the public will
have a chance to comment
on the proposed bond at the
meeting, which will be held
at 7:30 p.m. at Dallas Fire Sta-
tion, 915 SE Shelton Ave., Dal-
las.
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CORRECTIONS
COrreCtIOn:
In a Feb. 22 article, “Indy
adds franchise fees to data, in-
ternet,” it incorrectly stated
that the franchise fee will be 7
percent of gross profit, or
$500, whichever is higher. The
fee will be based on gross rev-
enue.
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WEATHER
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March 4............ 47
March 5............ 44
March 6............ 45
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rAIn
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Rainfall during Feb. — 13.41 in.
Rain through March 6 — 20.34 in.
By Jolene guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Dallas Fire & EMS and
Southwestern Polk Rural Fire Protec-
tion District outlined objectives in
the 2016 Fire and Emergency Servic-
es Master Plan written for both
agencies.
Fire Chief Fred Hertel, who is the
administrator for the district and
Dallas’ depar t-
ment, presented
the agencies’
“strategic plan” to
the Dallas City
Council on Mon-
day during a coun-
cil work session.
The plan identi-
f i e d s t re n g t h s ,
Hertel
such as strong
community support and depart-
ment pride, and weaknesses and
threats facing Dallas and Southwest-
ern Polk.
For Southwestern Polk, financial
instability stood out as a weakness.
The district is considering
asking voters for a bond to shore
up its finances and improve
service.
Volunteer recruitment remains a
threat for both departments, which
rely on volunteers for response to
many calls.
“We talked a lot about why people
are not volunteering like they used
to, and where our numbers are at,
and what concern that should be to
our community and personnel,”
Hertel said.
He said Dallas hired April Welsh as
its community service officer with
recruiting as one of her tasks.
She’s been attending community
events with that objective in mind
and the city created a policy that al-
lows other city employees to re-
spond to fires, Hertel said.
Still, it’s an uphill battle, Hertel
said.
“It’s a constant struggle, and I
think with societal changes and peo-
ple’s time commitments and other
volunteer opportunities, it’s a strug-
gle,” he said. “Most of our volun-
teers, it’s three to five years and they
are moving on to other things.”
Training Officer Sean Hoxie said
the department is considering de-
veloping a program that works with
high school students.
“There is a program in West Salem
that started a year and a half ago at
the high school there,” Hoxie said.
He said the department has been
in contact with that program, which
has seen success for the Salem de-
partment.
The department also has applied
for a recruitment grant.
Councilor Kelly Gabliks asked
how much longer the department
would have its two SAFER (Staffing
for Adequate Fire & Emergency Re-
sponse) grant firefighters who help
with daytime incidents. Hertel said
until November 2019.
“Are you going to be able to con-
tinue to run calls without paid staff,
especially daytime staff?” she asked.
He said the department would
continue to struggle to answer those
calls. The master plan outlined that
response times are also an issue, he
added.
“Where we go from here is a dis-
cussion that (City Manager) Ron
(Foggin) and I have had many times,
about how we get to the next level
and how we continue to progress,”
Hertel said. “I think that the time of
an all-volunteer department is prob-
ably coming to an end and we are in
a transition period.”
Gabliks pointed out that the de-
par tment lacks facilities for
overnight staffing or training.
“Those are both in the facilities
plan that is in the budget,” Hertel
said. “We are working on that. We
can see the light at the end of the
tunnel on all of those aspects, but
none of them have been fixed yet.”
He said another issue outlined in
the master plan was that Southwest-
ern Polk and Dallas had separate
missions and polices, yet one ad-
ministrator.
“We are trying to work more effi-
ciently and effectively by combining
them,” Hertel said.
The two agencies work closely, so
the strategic plan calls for synchro-
nizing policies.
“What this accomplishes for the
administration, for me, is now we
are under one mission,” Hertel said.
“Where before we had to look at an
event in Southwest differently. We
had a different mission than we did
in Dallas. I had to monitor and man-
age different systems.”
Foggin said he didn’t see the is-
sues outlined in the strategic plan as
“doom and gloom.”
“This is an opportunity to know
where we are and know where we
are headed,” Foggin said. “Just want-
ed to let you know that the fire de-
partment, its volunteers and staff,
have worked really hard trying to
make sure they are accomplishing
goals that were set forth in their
master plan.”
Keep properties clean or pay fines
By Jolene guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The city of
Dallas code services is get-
ting an increasing number
of complaints about resi-
dents or business owners
storing garbage at their
properties, some causing a
nuisance or health hazard.
To address that problem,
the city is proposing an ordi-
nance that would compel
property owners to remove
garbage that has become a
nuisance or health hazard —
and keep it cleaned up.
Dallas Police Chief Tom
Simpson said to the public
safety committee that the
ordinance would address a
few troublesome properties
that have become “frequent
flyers” for this problem.
“We’ve been having trou-
ble with people collecting
trash in trailers by their
house, outside their house
in their yard to the point
where it is creating a public
nuisance,” Simpson said.
The city first considered
an ordinance that would
have required all residents
to use garbage pick-up serv-
ice.
Simpson said he decided
against that method, as only
a few cities in the state make
garbage service mandatory.
“We started thinking
about this a little bit and
started narrowing down the
focus of why we needed it,
versus the global approach,”
he said. “Instead of com-
pelling service for everyone,
this will give us a little more
teeth to deal with those who
violate our existing ordi-
nances.”
The city would only re-
quire those who violate city
codes regarding public
health to subscribe to a col-
lection service, in addition
to paying up to a maximum
fine of $500.
More violations within a
six-month period would in-
crease the maximum penal-
ty to $750.
Bill Hahn, the committee
chairman and a city coun-
cilor, asked how the city
would enforce the require-
Matinees are all shows
before 6pm. New pricing for
matinees are: Adult $8.00
Children $7.00 • Senior $7.25
Pricing does not reflect
3D showings.
Friday - Sunday • March 10 - 12
BEFORE I FALL (Digital) (PG13)
(2:40 5:05) 7:30 9:55*
MOONLIGHT (Digital) (R)
(1:15)
9:50*
FIST FIGHT (Digital) (R)
6:40** 9:25*
LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (Digital) (PG)
(11:30 1:45 4:15)
LOGAN (Digital) (R)
(12:05 3:10) 6:15 6:45 9:20*
KONG: SKULL ISLAND (Digital) (PG13)
(1:40 3:50 4:25) 6:40* 7:10 9:55*
THE SHACK (Digital) (PG13)
(12:45 3:45) 6:45 9:45*
ROCK DOG (Digital) (PG)
(11:30 1:40)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO (Digital) (R)
(3:55) 6:45 9:35*
GET OUT (Digital) (R)
(11:35 2:05 4:35) 7:05 9:35*
*Not showing Sunday March 12th **Not showing Friday - Saturday March 10 - 11
Monday - Thursday • March 13 - 16
BEFORE I FALL (Digital) (PG13)
(2:40 5:05) 7:30**
MOONLIGHT (Digital) (R)
(1:15)
9:50*
FIST FIGHT (Digital) (R)
6:40**
LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (Digital) (PG)
(1:45 4:15)
LOGAN (Digital) (R)
(3:10) 6:15 6:45 9:20*
KONG: SKULL ISLAND (Digital) (PG13)
(1:40 3:50 4:25) 7:10 9:55*
THE SHACK (Digital) (PG13)
(3:45) 6:45 9:45*
ROCK DOG (Digital) (PG)
(1:40)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO (Digital) (R)
(3:55) 6:45 9:35*
GET OUT (Digital) (R)
(2:05 4:35) 7:05 9:35*
Starred Attraction—No Passes
DISNEY’S BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Digital) (PG)
7:00* 7:30*
DISNEY’S BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Digital) (PG)
9:55*10:25*
*Not showing Monday - Wednesday March 13 - 15 **Not showing Thursday March 16
ment of subscribing to a col-
lection service.
City Attorney Lane Shet-
terly said he could draft it to
make stopping service a vio-
lation until the requirement
is lifted.
The committee voted to
forward the ordinance to the
full council for considera-
tion, possibly at its March 20
meeting.
“It better deters those
who are really creating the
problem. It’s really a small
percentage, but a lot of them
were frequent flyers with
us,” Simpson said. “It would
be better than coming up
with a change that would af-
fect basically all of our com-
munity members.”
Look What’s
Coming Up!
spring sports guide
Publishes March 15
spring Home garden
& Car Care
Publishes March 22
Polk County
Medical directory
Publishes April 5
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