Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 26, 2017 5A
New 15-year bond would replace station
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — South-
western Polk Rural Fire Pro-
tection District Administra-
tor Fred Hertel said he isn’t
certain of the age of the dis-
trict’s Rickreall fire station.
“It was moved there from
Camp Adair back in the
1940s, so it’s a military
building that was moved to
where its current location
is,” he said Thursday. “Then
it was added on to at least a
couple of times and remod-
eled a couple of more times.
We’ve just outgrown it. It’s
got some major issues.”
Southwestern Polk be-
came a district in 1947, so
Hertel is assuming the sta-
tion was moved in the 1940s.
“The military could have
used it for umpteen years
before that,” he said. “We
don’t know.”
The station is showing its
age, whatever that might be,
with mold problems, roof
leaks, old electrical, plumb-
ing and heating and cooling
systems, and limited train-
ing areas.
Replacing the station is
on a long list of items that a
15-year, $5 million bond
would pay for, if voters in
the district vote in favor of it
on May 16.
The bond would cost tax-
payers in the district 69.5
cents per $1,000 of assessed
value on properties. That
amounts to $69.50 for every
$100,000 of assessed value.
In addition to replacing
the station, the bond would
include purchasing self-con-
Learn more
• Informational forums on the bonds are scheduled for 6 p.m.
on Thursday at Bridgeport Community Church, 16930 Bridge-
port Road, Dallas, and at 6 p.m. on May 2 at the Falls City Com-
munity Center, 320 N. Main St., Falls City.
• For more information: swpolkfire.org/ or 503-831-3533.
tained breathing apparatus
units. If breathing units —
which cost about $7,000
each, aren’t replaced before
April 2019, firefighters won’t
be able to enter burning
buildings, Hertel said.
“We will become an exte-
rior-only firefighting serv-
ice,” Hertel said. “That’s bad
for you and bad for us, be-
cause we have to make that
safety decision to stay out,
and we can’t go in and effec-
tively do a rescue.”
Moder n communica-
tions equipment, fire en-
gines and other vehicles,
and building a station on
Salt Creek Road to improve
responses to incidents on
Highway 22 also would be
covered by the bond.
“It adds coverage to a lot
of the roads and community
out in Salt Creek that cur-
rently doesn’t have 10-
minute coverage,” Hertel
said of the Salt Creek station.
“If we get that 10-minute
coverage, it has the potential
to reduce their insurance.”
Southwestern Polk covers
123-square miles surround-
ing the city limits of Dallas,
including the Rickreall area.
The estimated population in
the district is 6,100. The dis-
trict’s permanent tax rate is
86 cents per $1,000 of as-
sessed value.
American Gas & Tech to name school after Fink
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The man who
sold the former Tyco Build-
ing in Dallas to American
Gas & Technology will have
part of the facility named
after him.
All future employees will
train at the Harvey S. Fink
Welding School at the facili-
ty, now primed to begin pro-
duction of natural gas lique-
fiers.
AG&T Chief Executive Of-
ficer Ray Tate announced
the school and presented an
award to Fink at the busi-
ness’ open house on Thurs-
day. Richard Ballew accept-
ed the award on behalf of
Fink, who was too ill to at-
tend the event. Ballew is the
real estate agent who help
broker the deal.
“ T h e f ra i l m a n w h o
owned this property had an
offer on this building that
was more than we were will-
ing to pay,” Tate explained to
the open house crowd. “He
said, ‘But I want to sell it to
you guys, because I want the
jobs for the community of
Dallas. They need the jobs
so badly.’”
The building needed a
buyer who intended to re-
pair it, Ballew said. He said
Fink had to reclaim the
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
AG&T CEO Ray Tate explains how the liquefiers work
during a tour on Thursday.
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Youbert Alkhato, vice president of business development, talks about liquefiers.
building from the previous
owner, and it was in poor
shape.
“There were 225 five-gal-
lon buckets catching leaks,
plus 55-gallon barrels catch-
ing leaks,” he said. “It was
raining in here, even when it
wasn’t raining when Harvey
and I first (had to take the
building back).”
Now under the care of
AG&T, the facility is leak free
and the production floor
clean once again.
“I spent most of the sum-
mer on the roof,” said Chris
Smith, who oversaw restor-
ing the facility. “We took
down a lot of walls.”
Thursday’s open house
included a tour of the build-
ing and demonstration of a
natural gas liquefier proto-
Furniture Upholstery
and that is why they (in-
vestors) flew out, to see the
building, to see the liquefier,
to see our team,” Tate said.
“We think we are going to get
the production financing put
to bed in the next 60 days.”
Tate said the company
has filed with the U.S. Secu-
rities and Exchange Com-
mission for a public offering.
“We’ve already gotten
back a comment letter from
them and our attorneys, and
accountants are answering
the comment letter, so if we
run into problems, we will
then be selling stock,” Tate
said. “We can sell it to any-
body because we will be a
public company.”
Monmouth Area
Community Events Calendar
All types: for homes, offices, equip-
ment. Also, repairs, RV cushions,
slipcovers, High Quality since 1966
Stephen
type. The machine takes
natural gas straight from the
utility, filters and chills it,
and converts it to liquid for
use as fuel in vehicles con-
verted to run on liquified
natural gas.
Tate said the technology
could be applied to landfill
gas and gas produced in oil
fields.
“We could take any of
those three, or biomass, and
put the gas into this ma-
chine,” Tate explained to
people on the tour, which
included representatives of
interested investors.
AG&T can build the sta-
tions in three sizes, depend-
ing on the needs of the
client, at 300 gallons, 1,800
gallons and 5,000 gallons.
Tate said the company is
working on financing
through investors an d
through a public offering,
and could be gearing up for
some production as soon as
mid-summer.
“We are in the middle of
our production financing
Winters Sewing
503-838-4999 or 503-375-9266
Emmy
Joseph
May 2 Polk Flea Market 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. Polk County's oldest and
largest market with 183 tables selling antiques, collectibles, tools, etc.
520 S Pacific Hwy W. Rickreall
440 E. St • Independence, OR 97351
www.winterssewing.com
Serving Polk County 16yrs
Come to the
Household
FREE Hazardous
Waste Collection
Event!
PCL
Partnerships in
Community Living
503-838-2403
480 E. Main St.
Monmouth
DownTown
Trends
142 Highway 99 West
503- 838-1445
Monmouth
May 6 May is National Historic Preservation Month. To celebrate,
Monmouth’s Historic Commission is sponsoring this year’s Historic
Preservation Celebration on Saturday, May 6th from 9:30 to 11:00 am.
The event will be held as part of the monthly breakfast at the Mon-
mouth Senior Center at 180 Warren Street S. The event will feature
photo displays and several presentations. Kyle Janssen, formerly of
the Oregon Heritage Commission, will talk about conducting on-line re-
search using archived copies of historic Monmouth newspapers. The
Polk Cemetery Savers will present their most recent work restoring
local private cemeteries in the area. Come and enjoy breakfast and
hear about some local history.
May 20 Women and World War I “Sacrifice” was the word of the day
for women during World War I. In addition to being asked to give up
their loved ones, women were expected to maintain the family morale,
bring home a paycheck, sacrifice certain items of food and clothing and
to labor for social causes. The choices these women made during this
stunning period of change continue to impact our own lives today. Quilt
Historian Rachel Greco will discuss women’s roles during this “War to
End All Wars” with a special Show-and-Tell of quilts that were made dur-
ing that era. Join Polk County Historical Society for their May 20th pro-
gram; 1:30 in the Stafrin Room at the Polk County Museum, 560 S.
Pacific Hwy, located on the Polk County Fairgrounds in Rickreall. Light
refreshments will be served. Free to the Public.
May 29 Happy Memorial Day from the Monmouth Business Associa-
tion. NO SCHOOL grades K-12.
www.windermere.com
503-838-1141
297 N Pacific
Monmouth
800-732-0173
464 S Pacific Hwy
Monmouth
oregonstatecu.
Saving
Carpets
Daily
Carpet Hero
503-838-0869
Monmouth
LOOKING
Discover MI Town — May 20
355 N Pacific Ave.,
Ste A
Monmouth
503-838-4268
405 Hogan Rd
Monmouth
503-837-0700
www.minetfiber.com
Your Local
Service Provider
Presented by the Monmouth-Independence
Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center,
Discover MI Town is an opportunity for
visitors and locals alike to explore the
beautiful downtown areas of our community
and showcase our wonderful local restaurants, stores, and
organizations. Saturday, May 20. 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Eat, Drink,
Shop! Downtown Independence & Downtown Monmouth Shuttle
service provided (Locations TBD)
FOR RENTALS?
297½ N. Pacific Hwy
503-838-1278
Western View
Properties
Property Management, LLC
May Forum — May 10
Wednesday, May 10. 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Eola Hills Wine Cellars (501 S Pacific Hwy,
Rickreall) Topic: Tour of Eola Hills Wine Cellars
Lunch not available for purchase. Attendees may
bring a sack lunch if preferred. How is wine made? Join us in May
for a tour of Eola Hills Wine Cellars and learn about the wine
making process from growing the grapes to bottling the wine!
503-838-2951
165 E. Main St.
Monmouth
Thirsty Thursday — May 18
Serving Polk Co. Since 1875
503-623-2373
503-838-3467
DATE: Saturday, May 6th, 2017
TIME: From 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Polk County Works (820 SW Ash St., Dallas)__
SPONSORED BY: Polk County, The Cities of Dallas,_______
Independence, Monmouth and Salem
Thirsty Thursdays are held the third Thursday of
each month from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM at member
locations. Registration is requested to help the
host site properly prepare. Attendees are
encouraged to bring a small giveaway (less than $10) to promote
your business or organization. This month May — Pfaff-Karren
Insurance, 1327 Monmouth Street, Independence
503-838-1773
410 E. Main St.
Monmouth
To advertise in this calendar call Heidi at the Itemizer-Observer 503-623-2373 ext 115