Polk County News
DEADLINES
NEWS DEADLINES
For inclusion in the
Wednesday edition of the
Itemizer-Observer:
Social news (weddings,
engagements, anniver-
saries, births, milestones) —
5 p.m. on Thursday.
Community events —
Noon on Friday for both the
Community Notebook and
Community Calendar.
Letters to the editor —
10 a.m. on Monday.
Obituaries — 4 p.m. on
Monday.
ADVERTISING DEADLINES
Retail display ads — 3
p.m. Friday.
Classified display ads
— 11 a.m. on Monday.
Classified line ads —
Noon on Monday. Classified
ads are updated daily on
www.polkio.com.
Public notices — Noon
on Friday.
CORRECTIONS
Two paragraphs were acci-
dentally cut off in the story,
“Council discusses town hall
meetings,” on Page 2A in the
July 26 issue of the Itemizer-
Observer. Please visit the I-O;s
website, polkio.com, for the
full story. The I-O regrets the
oversight.
WEBSITE
The Polk County Itemizer-
Observer website,
www.polkio.com, is updat-
ed each week by Wednes-
day afternoon. There, you
will find nearly every story
that appears in the print
version of the newspaper,
as well as some items, in-
cluding additional photos,
that do not appear in print
due to space limitations.
The Itemizer-Observer is
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ries, sports scores updates
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July 29............... 90
July 30............... 92
July 31............... 95
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Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 2, 2017 3A
Committee discusses social media
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Members of
the Dallas City Council will
not be required to abide by
the same social media rules
as city employees. If an Ad-
ministration Committee rec-
ommendation is approved,
they must “conduct them-
selves in a manner appropri-
ate to the dignity of their of-
fice,” but only while officially
in session.
The issue was first dis-
cussed in May, when con-
cerns were raised about
comments posted on social
media by councilors about
other elected officials.
Committee Chairwoman
Kelly Gabliks said a recom-
mendation made in that
meeting to apply the city’s
employee social media poli-
cy to councilors was deemed
unconstitutional by Lane
Shetterly, city attorney.
At the committee’s July 24
meeting, she suggested sim-
ply adding “social media” to
the council’s decorum rules.
“Instead of doing a huge
social media policy, the idea
is that our decorum rules al-
ready say we are not sup-
posed to attack each other.
We are supposed to stay on
track in our meetings,” she
said. “I’m just extending
from a meeting to social
media.”
That portion of the council
rules currently reads: “Coun-
cilors shall, when addressing
staff or members of the pub-
lic, confine themselves to
questions or issues then
under discussion, not engage
in personal attacks, shall not
impugn the motive of any
speaker, and shall at all times
while in session, or other-
wise, conduct themselves in
a manner appropriate to the
dignity of their office.”
Her proposal would have
added “other council mem-
bers” after “members of the
public” and “social media”
after “while in session.”
Councilor Jackie Lawson
objected.
“I think social media is
off limits. I’m sorry. That’s
my personal page. If it’s the
public office page, that’s
different,” Lawson said.
“But my personal page … I
have no intentions of doing
that, but I see no reason
whatsoever to create policy
to dictate what I do in my
personal time.”
Councilor Jennie Rummell
said the phrase “or other-
wise” suggested social media
without mentioning it, so
that wording wasn’t needed.
Lawson said she object-
ed to “or otherwise” as
well, even though it was al-
ready part of the rules, say-
ing that influences what
she could say when not
serving in her elected ca-
pacity. She suggested the
rule just read “while in ses-
sion.”
“I just feel more comfort-
able,” she said. “We are
going to start focusing on
making this so broad that I
will be afraid to speak in
public because someone
may get their feathers ruffled,
and I don’t want to create
bigger problems.”
Rummell said when she
attended a training session
for new councilors, they were
advised that councilors
should be careful how they
conduct themselves, even
when not on official busi-
ness.
“They actually specifically
told us, once you are a coun-
cilor, you are always a coun-
cilor,” she said. “Anything
you say or do in public re-
flects on that you are a coun-
cilor. Something to think
about, maybe everyone can
go to it at some point.”
Council Ken Woods Jr.
agreed.
“When you are an elected
official, you give up a lot of
rights. We live in a glass
house in a small community.
They watch what you eat at
restaurants,” he said. “Why
do you only have to be a
good person while in ses-
sion?”
Lawson proposed a motion
to include “other councilors,”
but strike “or otherwise.”
The motion passed 3-2,
with Gabliks and Woods vot-
ing “no.” That recommenda-
tion will now go to the full
council for consideration.
Independence launches cloud-based website
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — The
city of Independence has
taken a step toward the
council’s goal of trans-
parency by launching a
new cloud-based website
in partnership with Open-
Gov Tuesday.
“Obviously, a big thing
in (transparency) is fi-
nances of the city,” said IT
manager Jason Kistler.
“People want to know:
where’s my money being
spent.”
While the city’s budget
is posted online each year,
it is not very user-friendly
unless you know govern-
ment financing, Kistler
said.
“This is more interac-
tive,” said finance manag-
er Gloria Butsch. “All the
legal descriptions of the
fund and uses are more
pertinent to the budget
document itself, which is
also online, but it’s not in-
teractive like this.”
The site, independence-
or.opengov.com, lets users
view specifics about the
city’s budget, including
comparing revenues and
expenses from previous
months and years. The site
will be updated monthly,
once the city has closed
the books on the current
month, Kistler said.
“It’s just the raw data
that comes straight out of
our financial software,”
Butsch said. “So there’s no
opportunity to make it dif-
ferent.”
The site also shows
users specific figures on
projects, such as Inde-
pendence Landing.
“We hear a lot, ‘How
much does Independence
Landing cost us?’” Kistler
said. “This way, we can
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503-606-3048
193 E. Main Street
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503-623-5584
159 SW Court Street
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244 E. Ellendale, Suite 2
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Solution on Page 6A
make sure that we’re all
giving the same answers,
because it depends on
when you ask the question
as to how much it costs us.”
The site shows other
data, too, such as what
kinds of complaints or
suggestions are made on
Indy Works, an app that
allows users to alert the
city to broken street signs,
pot holes or other city is-
sues.
“We wanted to use this
platform to show more
than just money,” Kistler
said. “Basically anything
that could be of value that
the city collects stats on,
LUCKIAMUTE
DOMESTIC WATER
COOPERATIVE
or anything to measure the
performance of the city.”
As part of the data and
graphs available on the
site, crime statistics are
shown — anything the po-
lice assign a case number
Monmouth 2017
Music in the Park
Main St. Park Amphitheater
Every Wednesday through August 30 ~ 6:30pm
MUSIC, FOOD, BEER & WINE GARDEN
Look for the
Music in the Park Series
on Facebook for more
information about this
year’s artists.
Location: Business Office
8585 Suver Rd. • Monmouth
Performing Tonight
August 2
Sol Seed
(Reggae)
BOARD MEETING
Monday 7:00 p.m.
August 14th
503-838-2075
to, Kistler said.
Information can be
shared from the site di-
rectly to a user’s Face-
book, Twitter, Google or
via email, Kistler said.
See INDY, Page 6A
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Bring your chairs
and blankets
and we’ll see you
in the park!
For More Information Contact:
Mark Fancey 503-751-0147