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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2017)
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Volume 142, Issue 52 www.Polkio.com December 27, 2017 $1.00 Falls City ends contract with SW IN YOUR TOWN Fire department, district work to rebuild without formal agreement By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer FALLS CITY — The con- tract between Southwest Polk Rural Fire Protection District and the city of Falls City will end officially on Monday. The two entities have been negotiating for months, while existing on temporary extensions of a contract that expired in Sep- tember. Falls City Fire Chief Bob Young said Southwest will pull its trucks and equipment from the station on Tuesday (Jan.2). That is according to a let- ter the district sent the city Dec. 15. Southwest Chief Fred Hertel confirmed Fri- day that was the case. “I never expected it to go this far,” Young said. “It’s pretty disappointing. No one out here is happy about it.” Young said he attended a meeting on Dec. 11 with the Southwest board that ended with a vote allowing the con- tract to expire. On Nov. 30, Fallas City Acting City Man- ager Terry Ungricht declared negotiations at an impasse. Young said, from his per- spective, the issue was Southwest wanting to take over more of the administra- tion of the department than he or city leaders were com- fortable with. “The city was concerned about keeping our own de- partment,” he said. “That was really the sticking point.” Hertel described it as a “cultural difference” be- tween the two entities on which rules and regulations needed strict adherence. “The rules vary from ab- solutes to best practices and everything in between,” Hertel said. “We disagreed on what those should be.” The contract had Falls City firefighters responding to Southwest incidents in the district’s trucks. Young said with the Southwest trucks gone, the department is only well-equipped to re- spond within the city limits. Young said he wants peo- ple who live in the district, but closer to Falls City than Southwest stations in Dallas or Rickreall, to know that they may experience longer response times. Young said those are areas that Falls City crews running Southwest engines typically arrive first. “We are going to try to re- spond, but we might not be able to,” Young said. He said his department is no longer equipped to ade- quately respond to Camp Tapawingo or Black Rock Mountain Bike Area. The city and the district still have a mutual aid agree- ment, meaning they will send crews to each other’s calls. Hertel said he doesn’t be- lieve there will be a decline in service — especially since Falls City can still respond via mutual aid. See Fire, Page 5A Dallas begins restructuring in city hall Jason Locke on leave until off Jan. 2 as his department is eliminated, reorganized By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — The Dallas City Coun- cil voted to eliminate the Communi- ty Development Department, and its director, Jason Locke, on Dec. 20 as part of a restruc- turing of city de- partments. Locke is on leave u n t i l Tu e s d a y, when he will be laid off. He has worked for the city ellis since 2008. Interim City Manager Greg Ellis recommended the change, and said he realized during his first staff meeting that the city had too many department heads reporting to him. In a memo to the council, Ellis said having more than six “direct re- ports,” or people reporting directly to him, could cause inefficiency. “The way I’m proposing to do that is take some of the departments that are, in my opinion, should logically be in other areas and put then in those other areas,” Ellis said at the meeting Dec. 20. “What that entails, basically, is the elimination of the community development department.” Community development previ- ously included planning, the build- ing department, facilities mainte- nance and the Dallas Aquatic Center. “That would entail the loss of the community development director,” Ellis said. “I’m proposing that the council eliminate that department and reorganize as proposed.” With the change, planning is a stand-alone department that in- cludes the building division. The city is in the process of hiring a manager for planning. Facilities maintenance will go to public works, and the Dallas Aquatic Center management will become part of the new parks and recreation department. Parks and recreation will include park maintenance, the DAC and Recreation Coordinator Sheila Pierce. Eric Totten is the park and rec manager. The DAC supervisor position is vacant since the retire- ment of Tina Paul. Ellis’ proposal has the police, fire, planning, public works, and finan- cial services supervisors reporting to him. Ellis is the supervisor of the ad- ministration department, which contains human resources, library, parks and recreation and economic development. “There’s still a lot of direct reports, but it does eliminate some,” he said. Ellis, who started with the city on Dec. 8, said the possibility of new development projects is one of the reasons behind the swiftness of the change. “Planning functions are currently part of community development’s responsibility,” Ellis wrote in his memo. “There is a high likelihood of transformative industrial and com- mercial development within the city beginning in the first or second month of 2018. Due to that fact alone, I believe this reorganization needs to happen immediately in order to eliminate project disruption at a later date.” See DAllAS, Page 5A Take a look back at top news from 2017 itemizer-Observer staff report pOlK COUnTY — The year brought good news and bad. We take a look through 2017’s Itemizer-Observers to remem- ber it all. January Oregon’s retirement Sys- tem: perS puts pressure on tight budgets for local govern- ments local governments’ 2017-18 fiscal year budgets have a shadow looming over them in the form of Oregon public em- ployees retirement System rate increases. perS officials say rising rates won’t be an anomaly, continu- ing for the foreseeable future. ella Curran Food Bank feeds thousands: patty nevue is just about to her one-year anniversary as director of the ella Curran Food Bank. She has seen the ebb and flow of the donation cycle, and said the food bank — and all who use it — is blessed to have so much support from the community year-round. nevue took the job from pat Jaffer in January 2016. She said she was surprised to see the scope of people served by the food bank. Snow leaves schools on thin ice: With more than aver- age snow in early 2017, school THE NEXT 7 DAYS PLANNING FOR YOUR WEEK Dallas PD brings Christmas cheer itemizer-Observer staff report DallaS — Thanks to an anonymous donation, the Dallas police Department made Christmas a little merrier for 50 local fami- lies. Inspired by a story about a donation made in another community, a member of a long-term Dallas family gave a $5,000 donation to the Dallas police Department. The donor — who wished to remain anonymous — asked that the money be used to help families in need and distributed through Dallas police offi- cers. The donation was bro- ken into $100 gift cards to Walmart. Dallas police offi- cers were given the cards and assigned the task of giving them to families or individuals who needed a little extra help. Officers began handing them out on Dec. 1. The last two were given away on Dec. 22. “The donation from a family in our community was very generous and made a real difference for 50 families,” Dallas police Chief Tom Simpson said in a press release about the donation. “In addition, it was a fun and rewarding experience for our officers who very much appreciat- ed the honor and oppor- tunity to distribute the donor’s gifts to various community members.” The giveaway was kept quiet until it was com- plete. Simpson issued a statement on Saturday about the donation and the impact it had. “We would like to ex- press our sincere thanks to our ‘Secret Santa’ who helped make this season a little brighter for several others,” Simpson said. “I’ll add my personal apprecia- tion to our hard-working officers who enthusiasti- cally took the extra time and effort to help make this a successful endeavor.” ODVA awards grant to universities STephanIe BlaIr/Itemizer-Observer file One of the highlights of 2017 was the Great American eclipse on Aug. 21. Crowds gathered at riverview Park. districts began to wonder if they’d have to make up snow days. perrydale School District has called three snow days, which exceeds the two snow days built into the schedule. perrydale will make up one day. Central School District has called three snow days (the Wednesday, Thursday and Fri- day before Christmas break) but should still meet the hours requirement if there are no more snow days. See Year in review, Page 3A wed thu fri sat sun Join other pickleball enthusiasts across from roger Jordan park each Wednes- day for a healthy game. 9 a.m.-noon. Free. James2 Community Kitchen provides a meal to all who are hungry at Dallas United Methodist Church. 4:30-6 p.m. Free. Kick off the new Year’s weekend with the musicians at Guthrie park Music Jam, on Kings Valley highway. 6:30-10 p.m. Free. It’s a great day to clean out a closet or two to make room for the new things and donate the old before year’s end. Free. This new Year’s eve, make sure you arrange for trans- portation if you make alcohol part of your celebrations. Don’t drink and drive. Rain Hi: 45 Lo: 39 Rain Hi: 47 Lo: 41 Rain Hi: 50 Lo: 40 Cloudy Hi: 47 Lo: 36 Cloudy Hi: 46 Lo: 37 SaleM — The Oregon Department of Veterans’ affairs awarded grants to- taling $1 million this week to expand campus veteran resource centers at 14 of Oregon’s public universi- ties and community col- leges, including Western Oregon University. The purpose of the Campus Veteran resource Center Grant program is to augment existing re - sources by funding inno- vative and impactful proj- ects or programs. mon happy new Year! The Itemizer-Ob- server’s office is closed today in honor of the new Year. May it be a year filled with joy. Cloudy Hi: 46 Lo: 33 tue northWest Senior and Disability Serv- ices will offer a bilin- gual dining center at Monmouth Sen- ior Center. 11:30 a.m. Free. Showers Hi: 47 Lo: 35