POLK COUNTY WINTER WINTER SPORTS
FESTIVALS
SECTION
Page 7A
Volume 142, Issue 49
www.Polkio.com
SECTION C
December 6, 2017
$1.00
City council votes to terminate Foggin
Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The Dallas
City Council voted to part
ways with City Manager
Ron Foggin in a 5-to-4 vote
Monday night. The termi-
nation followed Foggin’s an-
nual performance evalua-
tion and was effective im-
mediately.
Per Foggin’s contract, he
will receive a severance
package of $15,425.20
monthly for a maximum of
nine months or until he is
hired somewhere else.
Council President Micky
Garus, who voted in favor of
the termination, said it was
enacted under section 10 of
Foggin’s contract with the
Contract
talks reach
impasse
Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Negotiations
between Falls City and
Southwestern Polk Rural Fire
Protection District seem to
be at square one after a
meeting Thursday between
officials of both entities.
The con-
tract es-
tablishing
a partner-
ship be-
tween Falls
City and
Southwest
re g a rd i n g
fire servic-
Ungricht
es expired
in September and had been
extended until the end of
November.
The Southwest board ex-
tended it again until the
first of the year after no
p r o g re s s w a s m a d e a t
Thursday’s meeting.
Board members said mat-
ters were complicated by
Falls City seeking a third-
party, instead of Southwest,
to offer training to the city’s
firefighters.
Falls City Acting City
Manager Terry Ungricht said
the city has a contract with
Target Solutions to provide
training and ensure that the
fire department complies
with regulations. The city
will pay $3,065 for the con-
tract.
“From what I under-
stood, the board was con-
cerned about us being a li-
ability,” Ungricht said.
“We’ve taken care or that.
We’v e g o t t e n t ra i n i n g .
We’ve got outside assess-
ment of the station.”
He added that if South-
west Polk has additional pro-
cedures for response to inci-
dents in its district, it would
need to provide additional
training.
Southwest Chief Fred Her-
tel said while Target Solu-
tions provides training, it
doesn’t solve other concerns
the district has.
See CONTRACT, Page 5A
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
city and is a “no cause” ter-
mination.
Along with Garus, coun-
cilors Terry Crawford, Bill
Hahn, Jackie Lawson and
Paul Trahan voted for the
termination. Councilors Jim
Fairchild, Kelly Gabliks, Jen-
n i e Ru m m e l l a n d Ke n
Woods Jr. voted no.
When asked the reason
behind letting Foggin go,
Garus said the city is “mov-
ing forward and is hopeful
for future opportunities.”
He said the majority of
the council wants to move in
a different direction with the
city manager role.
“This was just a really dif-
ficult decision for all of us,”
Garus said. “It wasn’t made
lighthearted, (but) under a
lot of thoughtful delibera-
tion. But we’re confident in
the future of Dallas and
looking forward to the op-
portunities that are yet to
come.”
The vote took place in
open session following more
than three hours of discus-
sion in executive session.
Following the vote to end
Foggin’s employment with
the city, the council turned
to appointing an acting city
manager to fill duties until
an interim city manager
could be put in place.
Lawson recommended
Ted Cuno, the city’s building
official, to serve in the role
until an interim city manag-
er is appointed.
See FOGGIN, Page 6A
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DALLAS
Christina Smith re-
ceives a new-to-her ve-
hicle.
»Page 11A
INDEPENDENCE
The YMCA auction
will bring people back
to the Roaring ’20s.
»Page 2A
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
The Dallas City Council voted to terminate Ron Foggin.
MONMOUTH
Brendon Gallant is
living his dream at the
Bicycle Shop.
A helping hand
»Page 10A
SPORTS
Jolene Guzman
Western Oregon ath-
letics is raising money to
help coach’s daughter.
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — Mike Mc-
Connell’s philosophy on
giving his time is “if some-
body doesn’t do it, it doesn’t
get done.”
McConnell gets a lot done.
He can be found teaching
classes for Falls City’s after-
school program, assisting
sports programs and the ath-
letics booster club, serving
on city committees and
being there to help fellow
residents in need.
“Some of it is in the early
days, I found myself com-
plaining,” McConnell said.
He decided instead of
pointing fingers, he would
try to help find solutions.
He joined the city’s pub-
lic works committee, and
later the historic landmarks
commission.
“Now, I’m not a hyp-
ocrite,” he said, laughing,
“I’m part of the problem.”
McConnell said he
found the work fascinating
once he jumped into it —
even the details about the
city’s water and sewer sys-
tems and the laws that
govern how they are main-
tained.
“It didn’t sound that in-
teresting, but it was some-
thing that really gained my
interest,” McConnell said.
Guy Mack has served
with McConnell on the
public works and historic
landmarks commissions for
about 18 years.
“I’ve known Mike since
he started coming up here
from California as a
teenager,” Mack said. “He’s
just volunteered a huge
amount of time to the
schools, to the city. We
could use quite a few more
Mikes around.”
Ten years ago, when the
Family Academic Commu-
nity and Enrichment for
Success (FACES) after-
school program began, Mc-
Connell started teaching
classes. He hasn’t stopped.
McConnell’s business,
Luckiamute Auto Body, is a
partner with FACES. He is
paid a small amount to
»Page 13A
Items sought
for packages
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DALLAS — Jackson’s
Boxes will collect items for
holiday-themed care
packages for children at
Doernbecher Children’s
Hospital and their families.
This is the 15th year of the
collection, which ends on
Dec. 15.
Each box will have a
small artificial Christmas
tree, decorations, room
décor, light set, Christmas
head bands (reindeer
antlers, Santa hats),
prepackaged treats, craft
kits, coloring books, toi-
letry items, Starbucks gift
cards and notes of encour-
agement.
For a complete list of
needed items, to make a
financial donation or
sponsor a box, call 503-
871-5929 or 503-551-
9194.
Collection locations are
World Gym in Dallas, Mon-
mouth Fitness Club and
Independence Public Li-
brary.
Huizar to
graduate
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Mike McConnell leads the restoration old Falls City jail building.
teach classes, and in ex-
change, has been one of the
program’s avid supporters.
He strongly believes that
high schools should be of-
fering more industrial arts
classes, and that is what he
focuses on when teaching
for FACES.
“Since the 1970s it’s been
going downhill in industrial
arts,” McConnell said. “It’s
going to come back and
bite us in the butt. … Kids
don’t know how to change a
tire or find the dipstick.”
He said his classes provide
students with practical
knowledge and skills. Instead
of working on projects like
building a tool box or bird-
house, he’s teaching how to
repair small engines or build-
ing maintenance work.
“I wanted to do some-
thing a little bit different, to
do what was needed
around the schools,” he
said.
FACES Director Amy
Houghtaling said he’s been
a reliable contributor to the
program, and a fun teacher
for the students.
See MIKE, Page 3A
SALEM — Monmouth
Police Officer Jose Orozco
Huizar will graduate from
the Basic Police Class at
Oregon Department of
Public Safety Standards and
Training at 11 a.m. on Fri-
day.
The Basic Police Class is
16 weeks long and in-
cludes dozens of training
areas including survival
skills, firearms, emergency
vehicle operations, ethics,
cultural diversity, problem
solving, community polic-
ing, elder abuse and drug
recognition. Chief Kathy
McAlpine, of the Tigard
Police Department, will be
the guest speaker.
A reception will follow
the graduation ceremony.
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Show off your vo-
cabulary skills and
play Scrabble with
Betty at the Inde-
pendence Public Li-
brary.
1 p.m. Free.
Dallas Public Library
will host “Beyond
Fake News: How We
Find Accurate Infor-
mation in the
World.”
6:30 p.m. Free.
Dallas High School’s
boys basketball
team will entertain
fans during a non-
league matchup
against Churchill.
7 p.m. $6.
Children and par-
ents can create holi-
day ornaments at
the Ash Creek Arts
Center’s Second Sat-
urday Art Class.
2 p.m. Free.
The Salem Commu-
nity Chorus will per-
form a Christmas
Concert at Christ’s
Church, 412 Clay St.,
Monmouth.
2:30 p.m. Free.
Want to learn more
about the Central
Lions Club? Check
out the club’s meet-
ing at the Independ-
ence Elks Lodge.
Noon. Free
If you’re looking to
improve your public
speaking skills,
check out the Toast-
masters Club at Dal-
las Church.
6 to 7 p.m.
Mostly sunny
Hi: 48
Lo: 30
Sunny
Hi: 46
Lo: 28
Partly sunny
Hi: 45
Lo: 30
Partly sunny
Hi: 46
Lo: 31
Mostly sunny
Hi: 47
Lo: 34
Sunny
Hi: 46
Lo: 35
Sunny
Hi: 49
Lo: 36