<![CDATA[TRAMMART NEWS - Indy Online Weekly Posts]]>Thu, 09 May 2024 22:33:42 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Indy News Online Posts for May 3, 2024]]>Fri, 03 May 2024 07:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-news-online-posts-for-may-3-2024City budget committee sends proposed budget back to explore more options

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, May 3, 2024

Have committee members added some sugar pills to the city’s bad-tasting budget medicine? They sent it back to city staff Wednesday night to explore some suggested options for possible revision.

Longtime Independence resident John Thomas, who contacted Trammart News about the budget prior to the committee meeting, said the prospect of a monthly $27 public-safety fee, a 5.5% hike in the water bill and a voter-approved levy this fall to pay for needed city services is the result of an ongoing “intractable problem“ of loans being repaid well into the future. But on Thursday he acknowledged that the action by the committee shows “their eyes have opened.”

Thomas seemed to represent a view shared by several residents, who said they were reluctant to publicly comment on the issue, though a few wrote emails or letters outlining their objections. “And why would they want to speak?” Thomas asked. “You get three minutes” in contrast with city representatives. By the time a decision is made, there may be approval for “borrowing money to buy a band-aid,” he said.

In fact, a resident did testify. Erin McIntosh, a member of the Independence Parks and Recreation Board, asked that the city pool reopening remain a priority. She also strongly recommended that the land the closed pool occupies – suggested at one point by City Councilor Marilyn Morton as a lot that possibly could be sold – stay included in the city property.

This year, by rejecting the city’s budget proposal, the budget committee showed some common sense, Thomas observed. “Like carpenters, you should measure twice before you cut,” he said. The committee, which is tasked with hours of volunteer work time, is made up of a dozen citizens, equally divided among community members and city councilors.

City Councilor Dawn Roden kicked off the movement to send back the current budget with some new ideas for options, and City Councilor Kathy Martin-Willis appeared to support the concept when she called for an “opportunity to go around the room and share your thoughts, your best cost-cutting measures.”

Instead, the committee approved a motion that allowed the committee members to email ideas to City Manager Kenna West for consideration. Some ideas mentioned at the meeting included an entrance fee for the museum, cutbacks on the summer series with possible payment for the shows and a two-day Fourth of July event rather than three days, so that costs could be cut for Independence Days.

Though City Councilor Kate Schwarzler had suggested passage of the budget Wednesday night wouldn’t preclude some of the cost reductions by city staff, returning it to staff seemed to garner wide support. Two budget committee members, City Councilor Sarah Jobe and community member Jesica Porter, announced they wouldn’t vote to approve the budget as presented. The consensus to come back with exploration of options for the budget committee proved to be unanimous.

One resident who didn’t wish to be quoted by name commented after the meeting that Erin Seiler was a standout as a committee member because she previously stated that a vigorous public campaign for a levy should be undertaken if that remains a choice. “She said this is important information to get out there, and I can tell you that will take a lot of effort and convincing,” he said. The next budget committee meeting is scheduled to be held this coming Wednesday, May 8, in the lower part of the Independence Civic Center at 6:30 pm. ▪
Past track record of city decisions and current tax woes contributed to high city debt

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, May 3, 2024
An online difference of opinion between two city councilors was posted almost immediately in the wake of the city’s budget committee meeting in late April. A community member posted a comment about this year's budget package on the city's Facebook page – it includes a new fee and a proposed levy.

“If you are not familiar with Measures 5 and 50 and the impact they’ve had on revenue generation, then you should do some research,” wrote City Councilor Shannon Corr, who noted that cities are struggling all over Oregon and it has “nothing to do with poor fiscal management.”

The observation drew a prompt response from City Councilor Dawn Roden, who stated
that these tax-limiting measures are approximately 30 years old, an apparent indication
that the problem didn't just arise. Finally, another resident weighed in with a one-word explanation: “Both.”

Perhaps no truer word has ever been posted on a local Facebook page. An editorial analysis confirms that the debt in Independence has escalated. It also is happening in many cities, according to Charles Marohn Jr., founder and president of Strong Towns. But it isn’t just because tax reform is needed.

In an article about why a fiscal cliff looms in many towns, he pointed out that they use “cash accounting” – a form of municipal accounting in a class all its own. “To oversimplify, cash accounting ignores promises and long-term liabilities that cities make, focusing only on the amount of cash coming in and going out,” he stated.

Other financial experts have likened this form of city debt to having a big credit-card bill with low payments but a great credit rating. City services keep being provided; Borrowing continues.

The result? Voters think the city is living within its means “when they are not,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of the non-profit Truth in Accounting, during an interview with CNBC last month.

An example is a public golf course that keeps getting subsidized by the city because it seems worthwhile to some, even though there may be relatively few golfers using it, observed Mark Moses, author of “The Municipal Financial Crisis,” which was published two years ago.

In a podcast on the subject, he cautioned budget committee members that “before your seat even gets warm from sitting down, you’ve got 80% of your budget already spent.”

What appears to have happened in Independence is an intertwining challenge.

The first apparently arose from meeting the preferences of city councilors – led by Mayor John McArdle – who had strong ideas about what could make the city an appealing hub. The second is the ramification of Measures 5 and 50, tax-constricting rules that mean incoming property tax revenues are outstripped by many of the costs for city services.

Below is a listing of how city debts seem to have incurred, according to seven years of observation by Trammart News.

MINET indebted the city. It was co-founded by Independence and Monmouth but failed
to generate enough profit to make payments on bonds initiated to build the municipal
fiberoptic. Eventually, about $10 out of the Independence monthly water bill was earmarked
for MINET’s obligation.

During this period, Councilor Marilyn Morton worked for MINET and frequently spoke highly of the company during meetings. Former City Manager David Clyne confirmed that he eventually insisted that Councilor Morton make sure to acknowledge her employee status with MINET, sometimes recusing herself from voting. A response was sought from Morton on this point, but there has been no reply.

Loans were needed from the city to help MINET make bond payments. Clyne also required that MINET report periodically to the city – documentation that was made available to councilors during his tenure.

Part of those promissory notes, about $4 million, are listed as a “doubtful account” in the latest municipal audit, which was pronounced as unlikely to be repaid when Trammart News requested an explanation by an outside expert. MINET is currently making the bond payments.

Museum sustainability lacked in-depth public discussion. The loan to relocate the museum from the aging church on 3rd Street to downtown Independence required a loan for the building purchase – a pre-existing space that needed refurbishing to accommodate the museum. There were unexpected infrastructure needs. Though the former museum site was sold, for an estimated $350,000 at the time, it was later reported to have provided less than half of the actual costs for relocation and renovation.

At no time during that period was Trammart News made privy to how the museum would be financed in the future – efforts to learn details regarding long-term financing went unanswered, except for a description of the loan.

In contrast, popular museums closest to the Heritage Museum aren't largely city-funded. Polk County Museum, in Rickreall, is a non-profit organization, funded through memberships, donations and fundraisers. The Corvallis Museum is similarly financed by the Benton County Historical Society. The Hallie Ford Museum, located in Salem near the state capitol, is supported by Willamette University. 

Expenses were incurred for development. Independence Landing and the Independence Hotel, owned by Tokola Properties, were incentivized to develop the riverfront property. The development was seen as critical to revitalizing downtown, and it seems to have provided a stronger base for downtown pedestrian use.

Property taxes increased substantially for the land, which was sold for $162,000, once the apartment-townhome complex was built, along with the hotel.

However, it remains unclear whether the hoped-for performance benchmarks have been met – creating significant new revenue beyond re-payments. More than $2 million, for example, was provided for assistance to Tokola, including waivers for system development charges; Former City Manager Tom Pessemier characterized the agreement as a loan, not a waiver.

Essential maintenance was deferred. System development charges weren’t raised in an incremental and timely way, leading to revisions that now require about $50,000 in building fees and permits per home for housing construction. As a result, the builder in the Brandy Meadows subdivision halted construction in two scheduled phases, said Gerald Fisher, public works director, during the second session of the budget meetings. The builder, presumably, is Dalke Construction of Salem, Oregon.

Repeated attempts were made by Trammart News to obtain a response about the debt from the city's communications coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, but went unanswered as was a request for comment from long-time Mayor John McArdle. ▪
An interview with the head of the Central Education Association, Nathan Muti

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, May 3, 2024

INTRO:
If Nathan Muti isn't a household name among Independence’s parents, maybe he should be. As head of what most in town simply call "the teacher's union" – Central Education Association, the local chapter of the Oregon Education Association – he is a visible presence at meetings of Central School District 13J. But he's a high-profile educator among peers, too, a fifth-grade teacher whose students are well prepared for middle school and eager to learn when they get to that big transitional phase at Talmadge.

Known as an idealist with creative lesson-planning that emphasizes hands-on learning, including math taught with beads, blocks and the Socratic method of posing questions, it wasn't much of an interruption for Muti to return to pencils and paper necessitated by an unfortunate hacking attack on the CSD13J. He has always combined old and new, to try to reach every student who might have a learning style different from others.

Muti, who teaches at Ash Creek Elementary School, was a fierce supporter of outdoor school, an invaluable period of learning in a camp-like setting that so many other districts offer. In fact, he brings the outside into the classroom as often as he can with live science projects that also teach math -- bean counting, yes, but with real seeds that sprout and grow.

Muti said he tries to "create a culture" so that the more than two dozen children he teaches daily during the academic year know they are walking into a place and space all for them and their learning. "It isn't easy," he conceded. To find out how and why -- which are the very questions Muti asks of his young students -- Trammart News had a long lunch, and conversation, with the union leader sometimes just called "Mister" in class.

TN: Let's start with a very basic question. How did you end up a teacher?
Muti: Being a teacher, I think, is really a calling. You don't go into it for monetary reasons. You have a chance to be with maybe 25 different individuals for a period of time in their lives that hopefully will make a difference in it.

TN: How did you become a teacher?
Muti: The short answer is: the same way everyone else does. I went to college, in my case Linfield.

TN: Did your family have anything to do with it?
Muti: I always was drawn to that kind of interaction, I guess. I have two younger sisters. This kind of learning is a very social thing. I really love that about it. It is really something to be around so many different personalities on a daily basis.

TN: Was there a moment when you knew this was your goal, to be a teacher?
Muti: Yes, and I remember it. I grew up in Milwaukie. I was a swimmer and a swim instructor. I remember one day as I was teaching swim lessons, thinking to myself, "I bet it would be a lot easier to teach if I was in a quiet and calm classroom...”

TN: I know you had some other experience, teaching in Yamhill County. But you ended up
here, in a district that has some real challenges. Relatively low test scores, high absenteeism, discipline issues.
Muti: Well, for one thing, we are still coming back from covid. I don't know if anyone could have guessed how disruptive that was ... it seems to have resulted in a disequilibrium. I think all teachers are trying to address this – that when school reopened it wasn't an automatic, immediate return to the way things once were. This is going to take some time. I think we are getting there, by connecting it to compassion...

TN: How do you even begin to address that?
Muti: I don't avoid addressing polarizing issues if I can do so in a way that engages students. Topics like whether masks were a good thing, for example. If someone brings something like this up, we can look at it from each other's viewpoints. How do we feel? How do we want to talk about this? Not right or wrong, but what do we have to say, in a respectful way to each other?

TN: You know, I could have really benefited from that when I was growing up, to throw in an unsolicited opinion here.
Muti: I think discourse is so important. So is teamwork. That's why I like it in the classroom. Kids can really learn so much from one another.

TN: That sounds like it takes time and patience.
Muti: I think it takes support, and we are facing labor shortages – teacher's aides and other assistance. I think that kind of support is key.

TN: And isn't all of this recovery period from the pandemic, as I call it, a burden on teachers as well as students? After being away from the classroom setting and out of the habit of sitting at a desk or listening to an adult for a long period, students can have a difficult readjustment. I get that. But what about the teachers who teach them?
Muti: Yes, it is important to keep in mind that this period didn't just separate students from one another, but teachers from students and from each other. A classroom can be isolating even in the best of times.

TN: It sounds like you are talking about the need for support ...
Muti: There are a thousand different things expected of teachers now. Just so many. I could go on about the many different ways that they are impacted in their profession. This district has a high number – maybe the highest in the state – of students who are living in alternate arrangements, including group homes (for homeless.) It's important to focus on the goal, which is effective classroom engagement for teaching.

TN: I hear you are a very good math teacher.
Muti: I could get carried away with teaching math if I let myself. The way it is being taught now is really giving it the "sticky-ness" that it should.

TN: Do you mean it is not so rote, now?
Muti: Yes. Yes. We really work on teaching what math looks like in the real world. It isn't just numbers and operations on a page. Math is nouns and verbs.

TN: What keeps you from getting discouraged?
Muti: I think everyone gets discouraged. There is a lot of bureaucracy in teaching now. It can get frustrating. But making gains with students actually is very encouraging.

TN: You keep coming back to how you reach for understanding, how important it is not to be judgmental, how jumping to conclusions can be misleading? It's remarkable, really, in a world where it seems so many have strong opinions ...
Muti: The importance of keeping an open mind cannot be overstated. I enjoy people I don't necessarily agree with.

TN: What a skill! If only it could be bottled and available for sale. Is that quality one big reason why you are considered such a leader – and elected to head the teachers' union?
Muti: I don't know. In my own mind I am a Type A perfectionist.

TN: You don't seem to have the rigidity and inflexibility I associate with that label.
Muti: Well, what I mean is I always think that things always could be better than I have performed them, and it keeps me trying to improve. ▪
]]><![CDATA[Indy Online News Posts Friday, April 26, 2024]]>Fri, 26 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-online-news-posts-friday-april-26-2024Independence sweeps MI community awards due to 2023 community contributors

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 26, 2024

MI Chamber Community Award Recipients this year were dominated by people who work or live in Independence, from Independence-based Manuia Support Services, the community provider of assistance for those with intellectual or developmental disabilities, which was recognized as the 2023 outstanding organization of the year to the “Business of the Year,” Brew Coffee & Tap House, the downtown coffee shop-tavern that’s known as the town’s go-to spot.

“It’s been nothing but a good time,” said Mitch Teal, who co-owns the “Brew & Tap” with his wife, Cathy Teal. The pair opened the establishment eight years ago, and soon after that it became Independence’s meet-up hub.

Just across Main Street from the “B & T” is the proprietor of the new business of the year, Emily Samuelian, whose Little Pumpkin Cat Café appears to be the only one of its kind in the state, offering cat adoptions from her cozy notions shop.

And the innovative non-profit of the year, Ash Creek Arts Center, is in downtown Independence, too – at the former library building, now a place that holds art workshops for children and adults. This year’s prestigious “Legacy Award” went to the Monmouth-Independence Community Foundation. Though technically located in Monmouth, the powerhouse force of the foundation, board member and immediate past president, Vern Wells (in photo), is a resident of Independence.

He spent two decades helping build the foundation, which enriches K-12 education programs through grants and other funding to the Central School District. Two members of CSD won education awards: Monica Rodriguez, an Independence resident who was named outstanding educational staff member, and Central High School’s band-orchestra teacher Ed Propst was awarded “Educator of the Year.” (Both are pictured in the inset photo with CSD Superintendent Jennifer Kubista.) A few years ago, Propst was given the “Golden Lark Award” by Trammart News, for making a community difference by transforming the Central High School band into a top-notch performing group of young musicians.

Two award winners from outside Independence were Rick Gydesen, who owned Rick’s Place in Monmouth for nearly 30 years; Joshua Brandt, of Brandt’s Sanitary Service in Monmouth, was named community member of the year. Youth community member-of-the-year went to Haven Winslow.

Phyllis Bolman, Monmouth’s City Recorder, was given the “Distinguished Service Award.”

The event was held in mid-April at the Eola Hills Wine Cellars in Rickreall, and the awards were bestowed by the Monmouth-Independence Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Nicki Marazzani. A presentation by a polished emcee, Sabra Jewell, the communications coordinator for Monmouth, can be found in a professionally produced video of the winners available at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQeaIbc9fQI ▪
Increasing costs for city services prompts difficult questions at recent budget meeting

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 26, 2024

No Independence budget of the past decade appears to have so starkly highlighted the need for new revenue sources as the one this year – if adopted, it includes a $27-per-month fee for public safety, plans for a tax levy to rescue the library and museum from closure and, in an entirely separate action, a water-rate increase of 5.5%.

The $27 public safety fee is scheduled to revert to $10 per month, potentially after the first year.

At the center is a shortfall that needs shoring up – $400,000 already has been taken from the General Fund in a one-time transfer – shrinking financial reserves to below the policy-set limit. The plummet is partly the result of “significant fluctuations” that occurred during an influx
of federal money from the American Rescue Plan in the pandemic, which made the “base budget” for the 2023 fiscal year “harder to see,” explained Rob Moody, Independence’s new finance director.

Independence City Manager Kenna West repeatedly has referenced tax Measures 5 and 50 – strict limitations on the level of tax increases – as causing depletion of city coffers. Many cities are suffering under the same constrictions but two in Polk County – Dallas and Monmouth – took different approaches to deal with the looming financial strain, according to a review of the cities’ records.

Monmouth voters passed a bond for their new city hall, putting it on a long-term tax roll. And, with a square footage of 15,200, it’s substantially smaller than the loan-financed Civic Center in Independence, which is about 38,000 square feet. Monmouth’s police station, unlike the police department housed in the Independence Civic Center, was relocated to a refurbished building that also was bond-approved by voters, for the renovation.

In Dallas, a series of “road shows” to determine budget-tightening public preferences occurred at various venues over the past year, after the city forecast shortfalls. Each of four alternatives was presented in forums, ranging from presentation on an operations levy to creation of a parks and recreation district.

Efforts by Trammart News to obtain a reply about outside commentary on Independence’s recently released budget information went unanswered by the city’s communication coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea. However, City Manager West acknowledged at the first budget meeting that it is “easy to look back and say ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda.’” 

Instead, West advised members of the budget committee to “give the people before you some grace that you would like to have in five years, 10 years and 20 years and focus on moving forward.” 

The move by Dallas seems to have dampened concerns like those that arose at the most recent Independence budget meeting: that a city-proposed levy may be difficult to pass. It was introduced as part of the budget process. “How do we set this up for success?” asked committee member Erin Seiler.

Outside the meeting, a few residents wanted answers to that question, as well. As prices tick up for gas, electricity and water, will public support go down for paying more for other service costs? Some saw the probable need for a school bond as possibly interfering with support for a city levy.

However, "we don’t see this as competing but more as a structural issue with state funding that leads public agencies into trying to find creative solutions to pay for needed services," stated School District Superintendent Jennifer Kubista, who was asked about whether the city levy might splinter votes for funding school improvements.

Another issue has been raised, as well – budget priorities set solely by top city administrators, none of whom live in Independence. Both City Manager West and Public Works Director Gerald Fisher, for example, live outside Polk County – an observation made by certain residents who agree with former City Manager David Clyne that resources have been directed away from popular facilities like the swimming pool.

Clyne wrote a letter to the budget committee requesting that greater priority be given to parks and recreation. Asked to elaborate on his message, he acknowledged that the city is in a financially tight spot, adding that the argument for the current decision-making is to follow a “best practice” strategy. However, “my response is that virtually all cities experience structural deficits due to the impacts of measures 5 and 50, but nonetheless there are creative and appropriate means of balancing services and finances to better meet the needs of the community,” he stated.

Clyne has been an advocate for completion of the Willamette River Trail, near his home. At a recent Parks and Recreation Board meeting, there was a near-unanimous vote in favor of the trail by board members, with only one dissenting vote, by Erin McIntosh.

Though a balanced budget now has been provided to the budget committee, it will meet again over the next few weeks, including May 1, for input from the public and committee members.

( A third article in a series on city debt will appear next week.)▪
Water rates to rise 5.5% to help pay for planned $40 million water treatment plant

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 26, 2024

A projected 5.5% increase in water rates is needed to support a $40 million loan expected to be taken out by the city for building a new water treatment plant – amid hope that future partnerships with other Polk County cities and state or federal money will help reduce that coming debt.

That was the message from the city’s water-engineering consultant, Steve Donovan, who confirmed that the water rates need to rise during a city council work session this past Monday. For now, the “whole strategy is that we are going it alone” without outside assistance, he said.

However, Polk County has agreed to donate to the project “instream water rights” held by the county, which would benefit the public as a water source. Additionally, there are “conversations with Monmouth” about becoming a partner or contributor to the project, Donovan said.

At the earliest, the new rates will be presented to the city council in May, with an effective date of July. However, it may take far longer to implement a new rate schedule, he observed.

In the meantime, conversations are underway with Monmouth as a possible participant and the city will seek revenue from the state legislature and through federal grants. However, though federal funding is a possibility, “it isn’t what it used to be,” Donovan said. ▪
]]><![CDATA[Indy Online News Posts for April 19, 2024]]>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 22:06:36 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-online-news-posts-for-april-19-2024Severe action needed for new budget, including rate hike and voter-approved levy
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 19, 2024

Independence is headed for a risky financial future unless it implements deep cuts and a $27 hike in utility billing along with a voter-approved levy to fund the library, the Heritage Museum and the municipal parks.  That’s the message in the proposed city budget, which was released this week to the committee tasked with evaluating it.

“The effects of a failure to act are immediate and catastrophic,” was one of the conclusions in the 95-page document, which was made public Wednesday, shortly after the Independence Budget Committee convened for the first time this year.

Though subject to change by the committee over the course of the next few weeks – the committee meets again Monday night – the city’s overall financial position was deemed unstable. “A decision must be made to either create additional revenue sources or significantly reduce services including closing non-essential departments to bring the city’s finances back from the precipice,” according to the opening summary, a statement that was signed by the city’s finance director, Rob Moody.

The initial meeting centered on instruction for committee members, to help them move smoothly through the budget process.

Last year, at the conclusion of the budget session, three members voted against recommending this past year’s budget to the city council. At that time, the city manager, Kenna West, said a “best practice” approach was being instituted, one that abandoned budgeting methods relied upon in previous years; The position of city engagement coordinator was eliminated, and a decision was made to close the library on Saturdays. 

This year, more budget-carving is essential, Moody said, noting that there are two main options used by municipalities under such monetary strain: One is to simply cut all departments and programs by a certain percentage, the other is taking a “more surgical” strategy, he said, suggesting that he favors the latter. However, much of the decision-making now rests with the budget committee.

SIDEBAR: An editorial analysis of why transparency seems to be taking a hit as the budget arrives

In kicking off a training session Wednesday night, attorney Robin Klein, assistant general counsel for the League of Oregon Cities, informed budget committee members about their role, including the legal rules regarding their participation.

But one word seemed to be repeated over and again: transparency – the need for it, with a reminder that “these are tax dollars” being allocated for city services, Klein said.

The need for open government was repeatedly highlighted by LOC lawyer Klein, who led the first part of the initial budget meeting. The admonition arrived during a week when transparency was being questioned – both by certain public officials and residents alike.

At the recent city council meeting, an add-on item to support the work being done in the prevention of homelessness by Church at the Park ignited debate among Independence city councilors – and not only because homeless sheltering is seen as a “hot potato” issue. A letter voicing support, which councilors were asked to approve, had been placed on the agenda minutes before the meeting. Objections to such a sudden introduction seemed not to matter to a majority of the councilors – four of them voted yes.

However, Trammart News received multiple responses from residents who felt left out of the process – one called it an example of hidden ramrodding. Paul Sieber, a Monmouth resident who attended the meeting, was asked his opinion – and he made a more nuanced observation.

“There was no opportunity for public input,” he said. Asked why he attended a meeting in Independence, a place he doesn’t live, he quipped: “Well, there was nothing good on television.” 

A second meeting-related incident this past week seemed to signify doubts about city openness, as well. Skepticism arose at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting. The question: Would some city regulations, such as system development charges, be enforced on developers under a proposal the HPC was asked to consider, which would allow new homes to be built on lots with existing houses?

At their April meeting, HPC Chair Jennifer Flores, noting that parts of the city’s water-sewer system are in need of repair, wondered if development fees could be counted on, and cited the construction of Independence Landing several years ago. “It didn’t happen before,” Flores said, adding “it makes me really cautious.”

About seven years ago, the city entered into an agreement with the developer for Independence Landing, Tokola Properties, to provide “financial assistance” of about $2 million, to pay for the estimated costs for building permits and system development charges for the project. The waiver, which a past city administrator described as a loan to the developer, came to light after a budget committee member at the time, Gary Van Horn, requested a copy of the disposition and development agreement with Tokola.

The third instance this past week seems related to the sudden warm weather after a cold snap, which had led to what appears to be a Willamette Valley Inversion, a time when foul odors are likeliest to arrive around the city’s sewage lagoons. However, this week neighbors nixed the idea of smelly air as a problem.  “It doesn’t usually stink unless it goes really cold to really hot,” said Ashley Rice, who lives nearby, who agreed with her neighbor that it happens too few times annually to be considered a true nuisance.

Still, some remained confused about when the project to renovate the lagoons will be done. In a widely broadcast video on the lagoon biosolid removal, Public Works Director Gerald Fisher states: “When we get the project completely finished, the plant will be set up to handle all the flows for the next 20 years of both population growth and commercial and industrial growth.” However, so far there is no estimated time of when that will be.

Several inquiries to the city’s communication coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, failed to receive a response to this question:  Do you as a city representative have any response to the concern expressed by some residents of allegations transparency is lower than desired in some public-meeting situations? ▪ 


Talmadge science students capture little creek creatures in Dave Beatley’s class
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 19, 2024
 

They’re often tiny, sometimes crawly, occasionally slimy and they come in a wide variety when the water where they live is healthy.

They are the macroinvertebrates of Ash Creek, and Teacher Dave Beatley and his sixth-grade class have been catching and counting them to help track their numbers over time, to assist with ongoing state-wide research.

For years, Beatley has been utilizing Ash Creek, which flows right by Talmadge Middle School, for science teaching purposes. He is the recipient of local grants from the Ash Creek Water Control District and the Monmouth-Independence Community Foundation. “We've also received a lot of support through grants from the Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society to do stream work,” Beatley said. 

Talmadge Middle School is part of the "StreamWebs Stewardship Network," an online platform that has been set up by Oregon State University, along with a few other partners, to receive data that's recorded on the creeks and waterways of the Willamette Valley. This past March, the class at Talmadge submitted counts that included juvenile flies, snails and beetles.

But the insect that the students found in greatest quantities were caddisflies – a class favorite. The larvae, which look like mini caterpillars, build encasements from material they find, often pine needles, and can resemble moving debris when wriggling through water. One that was relocated to the classroom aquarium – now named Jeremy – built a shell-like enclosure from aquarium rock. As Jeremy lurches along the bottom of the aquarium, he looks like a tiny mobile rock pile.

Besides adding to the stream studies on the network – where students submit the findings – another priority is to familiarize them with taxonomy, the physical ways to distinguish animals and plants, Beatley said. "We keep it simple," he added. The students contrast and compare aspects of macroinvertebrates – like damselfly larvae and aquatic worms – in water samples 
they take from Ash Creek, by using magnifying scopes to see the little bugs' appearance in more detail.

Previously, Beatley's young scientists built bird-nesting boxes and placed them along Ash Creek and, though they hoped to see wood ducks in them, swallows and sparrows showed up in significant numbers, and became occupants in some of the smaller birdhouses. Then, the Luckiamute Watershed Council undertook a project to clear the blackberry bushes and restore native vegetation. Their return of native plants created a blaze of color in some spots.

Now, Yellow Monkeyflower and the purple blossoms of Lupine and Camas are flourishing along the creek, creating pollen for reproduction – pollen that meant Beatley was fighting both an allergy reaction and dense brush as he walked. The lush vegetation helps keep the soil intact, he explained. The blackberries, which are invasive, may look like pretty fruit-bearing bushes but "they choke out everything," he said. Now, "most of the native plants are doing really well," he said.

This past year, part of the focus was on pollinators – and the students made nesting boxes for them, too. But the 6th-graders, as well as Beatley, were puzzled about why the Mason Bees utilized only some of the paper tubes placed in them. It turned out that soda straws made of paper and of a certain size suited the bees just fine – but they were disinterested in any that deviated from these specifications. Like so much in science, this wasn't the learning intent, but it provided a biology lesson, Beatley affirmed.

"The goal is to have respect for nature," Beatley said. Some members of the class immediately enjoy getting outside to tackle science projects; Others are more reluctant to explore the leafy creek-side site. Initially, "I think some may worry about getting too close to nature," he said. But learning to like the outdoors is great for kids, he stressed – it gets them off computer screens and into the natural environment. In terms of growing brain power, "the connections you make here are different," he said.

A lot of the science takes place inside the walls of the classroom, Beatley said. But, even then, it is "very hands-on." Most students are engaged by that kind of learning, he explained. Chemical reactions of gases, for example, are well liked – identifiable by the properties they exhibit. Acetylene has a bright orange flame. Hydrogen lacks a flame but makes a pop like a flying cork. Sulfur gives off an instantly recognizable odor: rotten eggs. There is no demonstration for methane, which is human gas. "I tell them cows make a lot of it," Beatley said.  (Disclosure: Trammart News plans to purchase and donate a pair of binoculars to the class)▪ 



A committee forms to educate the public about poor condition in some schools
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 19, 2024 

A facilities committee to help raise public awareness about the deteriorating parts of some Central School District buildings, including a decrepit boiler room, will meet twice a month to design an educational campaign to launch in the near future, according to Emily Mentzer, CSD’s communications coordinator.

The committee, comprised of about a dozen members, met for the first time in mid-April. The inaugural task was to create a flyer, which can be handed out and posted.

However, committee member David Clyne said he wanted more information than the draft of the handout so far seems to include – a proposed solution. “I am not sure what my mission is,” he said.

The aim is to inform residents about the problem, not to promote a possible bond – yet. “But it feels like the decision is being made,” observed Clyne.

If so, asking voters to pass a bond promises to be a tough challenge – there may be a similar proposal on the horizon, as well. If the Independence budget is adopted as it was presented this week, a call for a city levy is in the works for a future ballot. 

In a past survey of the CSD community, a large percentage were unaware of the facility needs of the schools, Mentzer pointed out. About 20% thought the facilities were suitable; 33% didn’t know a problem with them existed.

Targeting that segment will help, she said.

Vidal Pena, a former school board member, suggested that none of the signage, posters or flyers use a picture of the CSD building. Instead, it should be the school buildings, he advised. School board member Susan Graham, who is also serving on the facilities committee, agreed that “this is the message we want to convey,” that the aging infrastructure is affecting the students' educational experience.

The issue arose as the district prepares for the loss of federal stimulus funds, known as Elementary and Secondary School Relief, which was awarded to schools under what was known as the “CARES” legislation, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in March 2020. ESSER funds are being phased out,  according to the US Department of Education. 
CARES Act ESSER funds helped school districts address the impact of the pandemic, including reopening – a time when many students were found to be woefully behind.

As the district plans a future without ESSER, post-covid changes continue to affect other sources of revenue: Absentee rates jumped, and they have had a serious impact – schools receive money based on daily attendance rates, and that has significantly dropped. Additionally, the district’s expected growth in enrollment for the 2023-24 school year showed a downturn of 100 students instead, according to figures released by CSD.

A report to the school board in early April by Superintendent Jennifer Kubista indicated there is no money for the necessary infrastructure repairs. ▪ 

]]><![CDATA[Indy Online News Posts, April 12, 2024]]>Fri, 12 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-online-news-posts-april-12-2024BREAKING NEWS: School district to seek bond; City council divided on homeless letterBy Anne Scheck

Trammart News Service, April 12, 2024

SCHOOL NEWS 

Budget cuts lie ahead for Central School District 13J and so does the need for a bond – there is no money available to fund all of the improvements necessary to school facilities, where needed repairs range from fixing some corroding tile floors to repairing water-dripping roof leaks.

“We know we need to make improvements to our infrastructure,” said Superintendent Jennifer Kubista in her report to the school board Monday night. “We know our facilities need improvements,” she added.

Renovations to buildings don’t qualify for the usual revenue schools receive. “In order to make improvements to our facilities we would need to ask our community to support a bond,” she said.

It isn’t simply that the level of state revenue the district receives won’t meet the CSD 13J’s educational budget – lower enrollment and high absenteeism will continue to take a financial toll, Kubista explained. This year, there were 100 fewer students than the previous one, as families chose online educational options, charter schooling or out-of-district transfers.

The Eugene-based consulting firm, Funk/Levis & Associates, which conducted the survey to evaluate support for a bond last year, will assist the district in formulating a campaign for public education and outreach about the need to fix facilities in disrepair. The first meeting for the “Facilities Committee” is Monday at 4:30 pm in the CSD Annex, at the southeast corner of 16thStreet and Hoffman Road.

CITY NEWS

A new agenda item that was a letter of city support for a homeless program – introduced toward the end of the Independence City Council meeting Tuesday night – drew opposition from two city councilors that the addition was too sudden to give the public a chance to see it.

“I saw this 10 minutes before the meeting,” said City Councilor Sarah Jobe. Councilor Dawn Roden had the same objection, calling it wrong to “sweep this onto the desk moments before city council.”

The letter was drawn up to convey support for housing solutions by Salem-based Church at the Park, which has proposed sheltering sites for the homeless at two Polk County cities, Monmouth and Dallas. It is the same non-profit organization that eventually was dropped for plans to use a church-owned lot near Stadium Drive in Monmouth after a public outcry by neighbors.

An email request for approving the letter came from City Councilor Kathy Martin-Willis, who received it and forwarded it on to the city manager a few days before the city council meeting. Martin-Willis is the council’s representative to the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance.

A city emergency prevented it from being placed on the meeting agenda, City Manager Kenna West explained. A water-main break put the city on a “boil water” alert Friday, so the letter wasn’t added as an item until shortly before the meeting, she said.

Following the meeting, several residents contacted Trammart News with a request to have their comments included as a reaction to the matter, so interviews will be conducted this coming week for a second look at the issue – the follow-up article will appear April 19. ▪


Independence woman receives Congressional Gold Medal as a trailblazing WWII Rosie the RiveterBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 12, 2024   

Eighty years ago, Independence resident Clarice Lafreniere was a welder helping with the war effort. This week, she got the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition for her work. 

Along with more than two dozen other “Rosie the Riveters,” a group comprised of female defense workers during WWII, Lafreniere received the nation’s highest civilian honor in Washington D.C., at a ceremony that celebrated the jobs they performed.

However, for many, it wasn’t only a crucial contribution to the war effort during a male labor shortage but a turning point in their lives – it proved that women could do difficult, physically demanding jobs that once were the sole domain of men – making munitions, building planes and ships. “I learned I could do anything I wanted to do,” Lafreniere recalled.

Posters of “Rosie the Riveter” – the iconic woman with her hair in a red polka-dotted kerchief, hoisting her arm as she rolled up her sleeve – were all around the nation’s capital. Lafreniere wore red polka dots, too.

In fact, when she sat down for an interview with Trammart News before her departure, the white-on-red dots was the material of the blouse she wore.

Lafreniere, who is originally from Colorado, got married there in 1939. After the couple had a son, she and her husband decided to move to the Pacific Northwest.

Her daughter was born in Oregon the night Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese.

Lafreniere remembers blackout curtains were placed on the hospital windows, as a precaution in case the bombers proceeded to the west coast. About a year after the baby was born, Lafreniere arranged to have her mother care for the two children, and she began working at Kaiser Shipyard on Swan Island in Portland. 

She worked as a welder and “burner,” forging metal with an instrument “that looked like a big gun with a rod and a flame on the end,” she explained. It was heated to such high temperatures that it melted steel. “You had to move very steadily, “ Lafreniere said.

“Everybody had to be a fast learner,” she added. Clad in leather overalls, wearing long gloves and a helmet equipped with a glass shield, Lafreniere worked the night shift for three years. Sometimes sparks flew all around her as she toiled.

When the war was finally over, “I got fired,” she recalled. But she continued to work other jobs, ranging from the former department store Meier & Frank to the DMV, where she initially wasn’t allowed to give driving tests, Lafreniere noted. Getting behind the wheel was strictly limited to the expertise of the men. Nor could she wear pants. “I really resented that,” she said. 
Eventually, Lafreniere became an office manager.

She looks back on the change from those wartime days as a young bride, when she was ineligible for a credit card and couldn’t qualify for a mortgage, all because of her gender. “I do think we did get things started,” she said of the progress women made after the “Rosies” filled male vacancies. 
Still, she thinks women have more gains to make. There shouldn’t be wage gaps she continues to read about, she said.

These days, Lafreniere keeps up to date with the news in so many different ways, since the internet expanded far beyond the radio broadcasts upon which the population once depended.

Lafreniere resides with her granddaughter in town, but she continues to be socially engaged with members of her own age group, organizing get-togethers like a monthly pinochle game. Having passed the century mark herself, Lafreniere is often asked about the secret to a long life.

Though she had hard times, “I never felt I suffered much,” she said. So, is optimism the key to longevity? “I think maybe it has to do with resilience,” she replied. ▪ 


Cafe Brarlin saying goodbye to place on Main StreetBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 12, 2024

The clientele grew steadily at Cafe Berlin over the past several months. But the opportunity for consuming the comfort food cooked up by Alice Kollinzas at the cozy eatery is coming to a close. The lease isn’t being renewed.

Cafe Brarlin may be gone within days, along with the aroma of freshly baked bread and buttery cookies that often wafted onto Osprey Lane.

Kollinzas and husband, Ben Jackson, created a unique menu that included vegetarian and vegan selections, such as the “Existential Sandwich,” a creation with tofu and cole slaw tossed with ginger vinaigrette, which earned a following among those with dietary restrictions for health reasons. “One guy came in, he was so happy – we had things he could eat,” Kollinzas said. The “crunch salad” was another favorite, made with fresh organically grown ingredients, often right from the local fields of Lucky Crow Farm in Monmouth.

Though both Jackson and Kollinzas grew up in rural Oregon, they spent years in Portland pursuing their vocations. Kollinzas has a music degree from Portland State University and Jackson has a fine arts degree from Southern Oregon University. Both were involved in the music scene. Kollinzas worked in restaurants, learning the ins, outs, ups and downs of the food-service business. Jackson worked as a courier and as an art installer-handler in galleries and for private collectors, while doing freelance painting and design commissions.

After they bought a four-acre parcel in Dallas, they decided to open their own place, labeling it “Cafe Brarlin,” a noun Kollinzas created to refer to her husband, a blend of  Bro and Darlin. Married 13 years, the two have been together for more than two decades.

They opened Cafe Brarlin on the ground floor of a former house on Main Street, just north of the Independence Civic Center.

This spring, the lunchtime crowd often “slammed” the small restaurant, where the turkey-avocado sandwich, the “Turkey Lurkey,” along with the “Dale Cooper” chicken sandwich, were favorites.  The climb in profitability was a source of great satisfaction, said Kollinzas. But though success increased, other factors proved more problematic.

After helping with the remodeling project for seven months, fixes that they anticipated never materialized, such as highly visible signage that identified the building as commercial space, the two said. Since the businesses are housed in a refurbished home, that proved more important than they initially realized. It was confusing to some who were seeking a sandwich and baked goods shop that had been recommended by a neighbor or friend.

Options that some downtown businesses took to engage in the community – joining the Monmouth-Independence Chamber of Commerce or the Independence Downtown Association – weren’t undertaken by Brarlin. The first year was a time of immersing themselves in the business, they stressed.

But word-of-mouth traveled quickly – Kollinzas' cookies practically became the stuff of local legend. They were seen as tasting fresh-baked days after being put on a counter or bin at home. 
So, what happened? Why are they leaving so soon? The notice of non-renewal that Brarlin received from owner Yul Provancha indicated only that "expectation(s) do not align.” Asked about the Brarlin departure, Provancha replied with a simple statement: "Make sure you get all of the facts."

The city wasn't very responsive to inquiries about codes and permits, Jackson said. Trammart News seemed to have the same difficulty: An email, letter and phone call to the city’s communication coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, requesting a response to the couple’s observations went unanswered.

The couple said they learned the "hard way" a few lessons they think will help guide them if they decide to open another restaurant. They would insist on at least a three-year contract – with a lot more detail, precisely spelling out responsibilities. Their advice: get a business lawyer to give the proposed agreement a good going-over before signing, including a provision for labor if that’s being done. 

Meanwhile, they will be taking a break from a storefront operation as they regroup and rebuild. 
By the second week of May, Brarlin will be at the Independence Farmers' Market in the Umpqua Bank parking lot on Saturdays and at the West Salem Farmers’ Market on Thursdays  "We are not giving this up, we are changing venues," Jackson said. ▪ 

]]><![CDATA[Indy Online News Posts, April 5, 2024]]>Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-online-news-posts-april-5-2024Sunset Meadows Park getting a nature-oriented playground with other features, and some controversyBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024

A ground-breaking celebration for the new park at Sunset Meadows was held under sunny skies this week, but questions remain about the single bid that was accepted by the city to build the nearly $460,000 play area and gathering spot.

But several were happy to see the start of a park they have long awaited. “It is about time,” said Linda Hoover, who has lived in the same vicinity for more than 25 years. Like others in the neighborhood, she’s glad to see it finally becoming a reality after more than 10 years since it was announced.

However, some residents said they wondered where the money is now coming from, given the delays. “It would have been so much more economical to do this sooner,” said one. Recently, reports of the city’s strained budget have become public knowledge among some, due to budget cuts that closed the Independence Library on Saturdays. 

Inquiries by Trammart News about the park plans last week – following a divided vote at the city council on whether to fund the facility for nearly $460,00 – went unanswered. The evenly split ballot was decided in favor of the plan after the mayor cast a “yes” vote.

At that meeting, City Councilor Sarah Jobe expressed surprise – the sum is far more than the $75,000 in grant money that was often cited as the source of funding, she noted. In fact, in Mayor John McArdle’s “State of the City” speech earlier this year, he identified that grant money as paying for it.  

“With the help of a state grant, we will be installing nature-play equipment and seating,” he said at the time. 

Yesterday, before his address at a public function, Mayor McArdle was informed by Trammart News of failed attempts seeking clarification on the issue from the city’s communications coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, who was contacted by email, hand-delivered note and phone calls.

“Thank you for sharing that,” McArdle responded. “Kenna West is his supervisor,” he added, referring to the Independence city manager.

McArdle declined to comment when told that, after months of attempting to try to get the city’s side of financial concerns, Trammart News will be forced to make public records requests that will take up “valuable time of the city recorder,” when they might be easily answered by the tax-supported communications coordinator.

Later in the day, Jonathan Jay, who chairs the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, clarified some of the information that initially seemed to be missing. “Glad to help,” he commented.

Jay confirmed that Parks & Rec never discussed the current plans as they appear now, and that may have been one reason for the confusion. 

The 2015 Master Park Plan – a document to which Independence Public Works Director Gerald Fisher frequently alluded – was performed at a time when not all of the streets were constructed around the grassy area now destined for a playground and benches. The southwest subdivision was still in development, Jay pointed out. One of the main thoroughfares was titled “Birch,” a street that doesn’t exist there, he said.

The construction contract for the park improvements was awarded to GT Landscape Solutions in the amount of $457,112.20. In response to the sum, Councilor Dawn Roden introduced a motion at the meeting to deny the bid, apparently so that more than one bid could be sought. The motion failed.

Prior to the vote, Fisher explained: “The price seems high, but I am not shocked by the price.” Roden countered that she was “extremely shocked by the price.”

“I think it is totally inappropriate to go through with this, at this price,” she said.

Councilor Kate Schwarzler observed during the meeting that those funds are available through system development charges that builders pay.

However, the amount of money in the current budget shows the Parks SDC fund is only $434,735. Sunset Meadows Park also received $75,000 from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and a private donation of $50,000. Pacific Power has donated $3,500 for the installation of trees.

The vote against funding the park at an amount that exceeds the current SDCs occurred when councilors Roden and Jobe dissented; Councilor Shannon Corr was absent from that March city council meeting and counted as a “no.” Passage was affirmed when the mayor broke the tie. ▪ 


SEDCOR got fast feedback during report on housing to the Polk County Board of CommissionersBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024       

When representatives of the Salem-based Strategic Economic Development Corporation (SEDCOR) paid a visit to the Polk County Board of Commissioners to give their annual report this week, the commissioners gave them one, too – personal observations of deeply felt workforce worries.

The high cost of living is creating tough workforce challenges in Polk County. Living “where you work” has become harder, said Commissioner Jeremy Gordon. “I got into my house by sheer luck before the prices skyrocketed,” Gordon said. 

He and his family probably wouldn’t be able to afford the house where they currently live if they were buying it now, he added. In fact, he wouldn’t be able to pay the typical amount for a one-bedroom apartment with the mortgage payment he and his wife currently make, he pointed out.

SEDCOR’s president, Erik Andersson, and Alex Paraskevas, Polk County’s business retention and expansion manager, presented a year’s worth of experience and tracking of organization projects in the Willamette Valley. Although the global marketplace for regional goods and services seemed to be an important feature of their presentation, Board of Commissioners Chair Craig Pope urged “refocusing the center back a little bit.” 

Pope expressed deep concern about the cost of food for local consumption, as well as housing prices, and urged SEDCOR to not forget “the challenges we have right in front of us every day.”

Costs that interfere with workforce recruitment have been a source of concern by SEDCOR, as well, Andersson confirmed, explaining that a program underway in Newberg that involves the city government and local employers in an effort to meet the need for “missing middle housing.” For instance, many Newberg school district teachers live outside the area now, a fact discovered during a recent snowstorm, Andersson said.

He offered his own first home ownership as an example of the wage mismatch for securing housing. Thirty years ago, he bought a home in Port Townsend WA for $105,000; It is currently valued at $650,000. 

However, the job he had when he made that purchase paid an annual salary of around $60,000 – that same job today probably doesn’t exceed a salary of $90,000, though the home is worth six times what it was when he lived in it.

Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst asked Andersson to share more details about the Newberg program, which seems to have affordable housing as its goal. “Can you expand on that?” Mordhorst asked.

Zoning for multiple units, less emphasis on aesthetics and installing system development charges that make those fees easier on developers all have been proposed, Andersson said.

Pope stressed that “It’s not just mortgages, it’s food supply.” Dairies have been closing, including the one in Rickreall, and grain and vegetables aren’t being produced in Oregon in the numbers they once were, either, he said.

This week, a report on “job polarization” in Oregon – high-paying jobs compared with middle- and low-paying ones – showed dramatic differences, according to figures released Wednesday by Oregon’s Office of Economic Analysis. Jobs that generate middle-income-earning wages – those typical of office administrators and teachers, for example – dropped 6% while higher-paying jobs substantially increased.

Typically, when the middle part of overall income distribution declines in a city or state, the middle class shrinks there, too. Meanwhile, housing costs continue to tick up. 

A little over a year ago, Joshua Lehner, senior economist for the state, reported that more than half, or 54%, of renters don’t have enough income left over after paying rent to afford even the “basics.”

After the meeting Mordhorst stated that he believes it’s more difficult today for young adults to gain the same advantages previous generations did – more money is needed just to support a medium lifestyle. Gordon has reiterated the same message in presentations, as chair of the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance. Recently, he received an award for “exceptional leadership” from the Mid-Valley Council of Governments for his work. ▪ 



Meet Dr. Matt Friesen, an Independence resident who authored a book to help college studentsBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, April 5, 2024

Matt  Friesen of Independence has published a book that's not just for college students, but that's certainly his aim. For anyone in a book  club that loses track of multiple characters and for any high school  student who feels overwhelmed by facts and figures that appear in long  descriptive paragraphs, this book is for you, too. Titled "Dr. Matt’s Gutsy Guide to Reading in College,"  it  is an easy-to-read — no huge and unfamiliar words! — guide on how to read dense text. As Friesen notes, college is a time with "hundreds of  pages coming at you."
Friesen  will  be at Brew Coffee and Tap House, in downtown Independence, at 1  pm on 
April 20 to talk about the book. Recently, in an  interview with Trammart News, he describes 
his own academic journey, which helped prepare him with the kind of experience that proved  beneficial for authoring this book. And he shared observations from  years of working with college students.

TN:  Well, it may seem a bit off-topic to start with my own college days but  I liked your book so much for addressing the fact that the way material  is studied — the thing I call study habits — is so important. Because I sure went down a few rabbit holes as a freshman.

Friesen:  I think that can happen a lot. I think it is a matter of figuring out learning. I think one unfortunate part of college is that it can be discouraging if you have difficulty. I saw this as both a faculty member and as a college advisor. 
TN:  There seem to be more supports now for entering freshman. But, in some  ways, it still seems like a sink-or-swim challenge, so different from  high school. I liked how your book seemed to address the kind of student I was — I arrived for college a little bit in awe of a campus,  frankly, unlike some.  

Friesen:  The book is  written with traditional, non-traditional, and first generation  students in mind. Sometimes “student support” books can be written primarily with 18 to 22-year-olds in mind. While this book certainly has  those students in mind, it’s also written for those who are the first in their family to go to college and those who are returning after being away for a while.

TN:  There are a lot of books aimed at helping students learn. Why did you think another one was needed?

Friesen:  Mine was written with the student at the center. Many books written to support students put the classroom or a list of the “right ways” to do college at the center. This can sometimes create a list of great ideas that are also pretty unrealistic for today’s students. I worked hard to  imagine every sentence landing in the ears of a student who is juggling jobs, taking care of kids, managing finances, and learning all the university’s mysterious rules and policies.

TN:  Is there anything about today's college student that seems strikingly different from when you were an undergraduate?

Friesen:  A lot has changed. A lot has stayed the same. One big change is that  college costs so much now. There is so much money at stake with some of these students. They are working multiple jobs, trying to pay for it. The balancing act is just such a challenge ...
TN:  I know you have seen this up close as a faculty member. I seem to  remember you from Western Oregon University. Full disclosure: I am a  student there, off and on.

Friesen:  I  worked with many of the “non-traditional” students during my time at WOU. Their diligence was inspiring and was at the front of my mind when  writing.

TN:  You also were a faculty member at another university. Is that right?

Friesen:  I was on the faculty at Bluffton University in Bluffton, Ohio. It has  about a thousand students, in a small town of about 5,000 people. I  learned a lot there. When I came here, I worked at WOU

TN:  Do  you miss anything in the Midwest? FYI, I hail from Kansas and was born in Missouri. OK, after this question I promise to quit referencing myself ...

Friesen:  There is a lot to miss from the Midwest. A lot of it has to do with the land and the weather. There were dramatic thunderstorms, not dangerous but loud. The sunsets were really spectacular, too. It  looked like  painted sky above the horizon. In Ohio, there was this tremendous sense of space — landscape permeates everything.

TN:  But you were enticed by the west coast, as so many are?

Friesen:  Yes, but it was like coming home. I got my PhD in sociology from the  University of Oregon. Oregon is a hard place to leave and a great place  to return.

TN:  Yet you settled here, in Independence, not Eugene.

Friesen:  Well, WOU hired me to advise college students (in the office of Experiential Learning Service Learning Career Development WOU). And I  really love the downtown here in Independence. So we live here.

TN:  So, you have been a college professor, and worked in college advising, and now you've become an author. Anything else?

Friesen:  Now I work from home, doing data analysis. I guess you could call it "IT."

TN:  I think that, in itself, is an important lesson for today's college students. There may be different careers in your future, not just the one you've trained for in a college setting.

Friesen:  Yes, and that's why the book is for adults in college, too, not just  those coming from high school. Learning — and using reading to do that — is a marathon, not a sprint.

TN:  Apart from the guide your book provides, what have you learned about college students that is important.

Friesen:  Find your group. That is just so important. Find your people. Connect with them. That is really essential to the college experience, too.

TN:  Anything else that college students, particularly those who are the  first in their family to go to a university, might benefit from?

Friesen:  Don't lose your confidence. This is one reason I wrote the book. Say you get grades you think are bad — they don't say who you are. They say you can do better.

TN:  Let me say I love that sentiment. I was such a slow starter ...

Friesen:  A lot of college students are, and it can feel very lonely. But it's  not the whole story. It is just the start of one. Writing this book was a way of showing how reading — a foundation for study — can be broken  down into steps that can make it more effective, in a very  straightforward way.

TN:  Thank you for what seems to be an inspiring take on reaching success in  college for those of us who, at first, found it to be — or currently  find it to be — a real struggle, at least initially. ▪ 

]]><![CDATA[Indy Online News Posts, March 29, 2024]]>Fri, 29 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-online-news-posts-march-29-2024A rate hike for Brandt's Sanitation Service is on the way, effective this May

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 29, 2024
       
A 7.9% increase to current rates charged by Brandt’s Sanitation Service for trash pick-up and recycling will go into effect this May. It’s the second fee hike in the past two years for the Monmouth-based company.

The increase was approved by the Independence City Council at its most recent meeting.

In a separate development, Independence’s leaf pickup program may become part of Brandt’s operation in the future through additional yard debris pick-up, due to city budget constraints, according to the head of the company, Joshua Brandt, who spoke at the city council meeting.

The challenge for any additional services is to “figure out how we can make those changes and try to have it not be so dramatic to everyone, the customers,” he said.

The pressure to keep costs down is a continuing one: Across the nation, rising charges for collection services have been reported due to factors ranging from increased landfill fees to growing labor costs. The situation is one that is no longer simply “creeping up” but now is “leaping up,” reported one regional trash service provider in California.

In Oregon, for example, the standard minimum wage increased from $13.50 to $14.20 this past July, according to the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries.

Brandt’s Sanitation Service, a family-owned business, has been serving the Independence and Monmouth communities for more than seven decades. ▪

Polk County Commissioner Jeremy Gordon shares the developing county program on homelessnessBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 29, 2024
           
The saying goes that all politics is local. In  addressing homelessness in Polk County, Commissioner Jeremy Gordon was  handed a political "hot potato" that isn't local at all — in fact, it is  involving multiple cities. 


The  funding that Polk County received from the state to help meet the  challenge of homelessness is a cross-county collaborative effort with  multiple public agencies, ranging
from  school districts to police departments. Gordon, who helms the effort,  observed that it includes the cities of Independence, Monmouth, Dallas,  Falls City, Willamina and the Grand Ronde community.

In  a presentation to the Independence City Council in mid-March, Gordon  explained the program. Called PATHS, an acronym for Partners Aligned  Toward Housing Solutions, a chief goal is prevention — keeping  homelessness from happening before it hits at-risk families or  individuals.

“That’s  the core of our goal here,” Gordon said, noting that PATHS meetings are  now held every other month with community leaders.  PATHS is detailing  who these “struggling community members” can be. They “could include the  check-out person at the grocery store, the people you volunteer to  serve at the local food bank, your favorite barista making your coffee  in the morning, or your child’s classmate,” according to the initial  PATHS report. 
The  problem of homelessness has been dubbed in media reports as this  decade’s “hot potato” issue, a term that seems to have been coined eight  years ago by the Los Angeles Times, when homelessness was identified as a pressing problem with proposed solutions that almost invariably cause controversy.

The  backlash has proven so formidable that a non-profit Canadian group  battling homelessness calls themselves the “Hot Potato Initiative.” In  Monmouth, a proposal to use a church lot for a modular shelter, which  quickly reached “hot potato” status, was dropped after a sustained  outcry by neighbors.

Gordon  explained that it isn’t only collaboration that PATHS is undertaking  though, obviously, that’s key. There is also emphasis on data-gathering,  as well — the evidence being collected can help show where and when “we  may need to change course,” he said.

For  example, analysis shows the growing homeless rate has been affected by  the lack of affordable housing. The vacancy rate across the county is  “very low,” Gordon pointed out. Meanwhile, the median rent has climbed  to an all-time high.

The  average rent in Polk County rose hundreds of dollars from the four-year  period of 2011-2016, a baseline period for the report. Currently, a  two-bedroom apartment in Polk County typically is about $1,500 monthly,  according to PATHS.

The  findings so far indicate that 45 households, including 22 families, are  homeless; 114 people are sleeping in cars, with 33 minors experiencing  homelessness, he said.

When  Independence City Councilor Sarah Jobe pointed out that some statistics  in the city council agenda packet included a report on homelessness  that listed an overwhelming majority of Independence households receive  assistance from the Department of Human Services, Gordon said he would  check those numbers. He followed up later by stating that he would  notify DHS of the possible error.

The  PATHS presentation appeared to be an introduction to the work performed  so far, which is ongoing. Trammart News will follow the developments.  ▪ 



A Marine who served in Vietnam shares a remembrance from his time there, a lesson for lifeTrammart News Service, March 29, 2024 

Billy Whisenant, of American Legion Post 33 in Independence, wrote the following memory about his time in Vietnam. With very light editing, it appears just as he composed it. Trammart News requested the essay for its deeply affecting account of a wartime experience – it is one from which so many can benefit, an account illustrating how, even in the darkest of hours, a small sign like a single flower can become a lifelong token of remembrance and restoration. It’s an inspiring tribute for National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

The White Bloom 
By Billy Whisenant

When I was 19, I was enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, and I was stationed in Vietnam in an area known as Dong Ha. I had only been in Vietnam for two weeks and was waiting to be assigned to a unit.

An old-timer, the term for men who had been in Vietnam and close to being able to rotate out, asked me one day if I wanted to go to graves registration. It was an opportunity to take a drive in a Jeep, and to get away from the sitting and waiting with not much to do in that time.

When we arrived at graves registration there were a row of bodies, all Marines. They were not yet in the body bags. There was a body bag lying beside each body.

I remember seeing the tag on the toe of one of the bodies that were used to identify them. I can remember the bodies, or at least some of them, being in parts. As I walked past, I immediately knew what death was. It was something that I had never experienced or seen so much of at one time.

I counted 12 Marines in that row and, as I raised my head from the downward right angle I had been viewing and understanding death, I saw a dead-looking bush ahead of me, about 10 feet to the left of the path I was on.

There was one white bloom on that dead-looking bush. The thought that came to me upon seeing this white bloom was that, as long as I am alive, I can perceive the beauty in that one flower. That flower represented life to me.

To continue my thought … that as long as I am alive, I can see that beauty, and that I will do everything I can to stay alive because of my very recent understanding of death.

This experience was one whose meaning has remained with me. Within the past five years, I have come to believe that, when we are completely engulfed by our day-to-day activities, functions, or responsibilities, that we can sometimes forget to look for that beauty that is always around us.

I have had times where I forgot to look for that beauty. In this time, I remind myself to always look, to be aware, to not be too absorbed with my circumstance no matter what it might be, and to not only see but appreciate the truth that beauty is around us and within us. ▪ 

]]><![CDATA[Indy Online News Stories March 22, 2024]]>Fri, 22 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-online-news-stories-march-22-2024Two city councilors call nearly half-million-dollar for park additions at Sunset Meadows too highBy Anne Scheck

Trammart News Service, March 22, 2024  

Nearly $460,000 to build a nature play area at Sunset Meadows Park was approved at the last Independence City Council meeting — but two councilors who questioned the process voted against it, calling the amount excessive.

“Oh my gosh, a half million dollars for this park?” said Councilor Sarah Jobe. She was joined by Councilor Dawn Roden, who urged the council to consider the deficit that the city is facing and the fact that the sum needed comes from a single bid. “I cannot believe we would bring this to the council with one bid,” Roden said. Both Roden and Jobe called for more bids.

A question about the bidding process by the city, in which the bid advertisement was found by Trammart News to include a requirement for interested parties to register with an outside agency prior to submission, went unanswered by the city’s communications coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, despite several attempts to obtain an explanation.

The nature-play area at Sunset Meadows Park, which was designed in part years ago, includes wood logs with netting, park benches, a slide and a swing set. The nature-play addition also requires drainage and other infrastructure, according to the plans.

Other cities seeking park improvements and similar infrastructure in the same period didn’t include this same pre-registration step with a separate company, according to several ads for bids that were published during the same period in the Journal of Commerce, where the city’s ad appeared.

Councilor Kate Schwarzler pointed out that the money for the Sunset Meadows Park infrastructure comes from a specifically designated fund for parks that is funded by system development charges from builders. Those funds are available and “dedicated to the SDC process,” she explained.

However, the amount of SDC money in the current budget shows the fund to be $434,735 — a sum more than $20,000 below the bid. The fund was confirmed as the one being utilized by Independence Public Works Director Gerald Fisher at a recent Parks and Recreation Board meeting.

Sunset Meadows Park also is the recipient of $75,000 from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and has received a private donation of $50,000 for the upgrades, as well, Fisher said. Pacific Power has donated $3,500 for the installation of trees.

In a vote in which Roden and Jobe dissented, the construction contract was awarded to GT Landscape Solutions in the amount of $457,112.20.

Though the Sunset Meadows Park nature-play addition was repeatedly referenced by Fisher, a city councilor and other city staff as being warranted in the City Parks Master Plan, no listing of this project as a priority could be found in the Independence Parks and Open Space Master Plan by Trammart News, and continued inquiries will be made.  ▪ 


The new chair of the Historic Preservation Commission is a familiar face – and a voice for changeBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 22, 2024

Jennifer Flores, the new chair of the Independence Historic Preservation Commission, became intrigued by the city’s historic preservation process from what arguably was a near-death experience associated with it.

Nearly a decade ago, she had identified a big tree in her yard as old and hazardous – but she got no traction with city staff over that declaration. The tall tree was seen as a historic asset.

“What caused me to join the Historic Preservation Committee was a 100-foot Bigleaf Maple,” she recalled, explaining that it was “a beautiful but very sick ‘historic’ tree.”

Then, one day, a crashing thud proved her assessment wholly accurate. The maple “took out my neighbor’s truck and almost me,” she said. “Eight years later, I'm still here.” Last week, with the departure of the chair, Curtis Tidmore, she was elected to replace him.

Flores has never been just a mere presence on the HPC, the acronym for the board to which she was appointed. She has made her opinions known almost since the day she accepted the seat. 
She called the apartment-townhome complex by the Willamette River, Independence Landing, a place that looks like a bunch of boxes. She decried the fact that a natural brick color, like the one previously on the exterior at Umpqua Bank downtown, would be painted over in light tones of whitish beige.

However, her most ardent pursuit of preservation has been in the service of trying to make people more aware of it in the historic district, which encompasses most of downtown, with a few notable exceptions. (One is the plan for what several have dubbed “the container house,” a lot that won approval for a design that looks like modern housing in Iceland, according to critics.)

Flores has been pushing for changes to better spread information, including the insertion of a line at the bottom of the utility billing that’s given to new homeowners or residents of Independence that would, essentially, state “if you own, rent, or otherwise live in a historic home and want to make external changes, please contact” the appropriate city staff member. 
There are so many aspects to owning a historic home that individuals who live in them need to know, she pointed out.

She also has been calling for short videos with similar information to be placed on social media.

“We have some younger homeowners who aren't of the ‘paper generation,’” she explained. 
Her first meeting as chair was no exception. She had an idea to make the city website easier to use for homeowners in the historic district. Finding information at one click rather than navigating different categories to find information would be beneficial, she said, suggesting “a single button on the home screen that says, ‘Here is all you need to know.’” ▪ 


The problem of succession on farms rears its head again in recent meetings and the state legislatureBy Anne Scheck

Trammart News Service, March 22, 2024

Who can save the family farm? Someone needs to – total farmland is down 4% and farms have decreased 5.5% in Oregon. “We are going to be looking for first-generation farmers,” said Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, the newly appointed director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, who was named to the post in 2023.

“We need to encourage our young people to explore agriculture,” stressed Hanson, who was deputy director of ODA for more than 15 years before taking the helm of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board about two years ago.

A newly released Agriculture Census by the USDA, which was completed in 2022 and is conducted every five years, shows a steady dip in the percentage of farms, farmers and farmland in the Pacific Northwest – findings that are troubling, Hanson told attendees at the annual SEDCOR Ag Breakfast recently, which was held at Mid-Willamette Valley venues in both Polk and Marion counties. The situation is serious, she said. But there are some countermeasures. Organizations like “Friends of the Family Farmers,” which is active across the state, offer engagement programs that enable work and study with participating farmers and ranchers.

The same topic dominated meetups that ranged from one at the Rickreall Grange, which showed a film documenting the history of land-use protection in Oregon and the fight for those laws, to the annual conference of the Nut Growers Society in Salem, where an entire session was devoted to succession.

At the Rickreall gathering, State Rep. Anna Scharf observed that one of her children told her flatly that farm life wasn’t going to be a professional fit in adulthood. She said she’s not certain about who will take over their family farm when that day arrives. Scharf, who represents the 23rd House District, which includes portions of Polk County, quipped: “Maybe I should have had more children.”

A staunch advocate of farmland retention and protection, Scharf also is worried about other farmers who are struggling with the same succession issues. Some offspring don't want a 365-day, no time-off job that involves stressors that may include constant decision-making amid periods of intense labor, she added.

The succession issue, along with other farmland-related matters, seemed to surface more intensively recently – perhaps due to the short session of the Oregon lawmakers. Two significant pieces of legislation came into wide focus over the past few weeks.

House Bill 4026 passed the House and Senate with an impressive bipartisan vote, prohibits land-use changes to be put on a referendum ballot.  Senate Bill 1537, which is supported by Gov. Tina Kotek, would put millions toward solving the state’s housing shortages and homelessness – a broad measure that’s causing debate because it allegedly enables some avoidance of Oregon’s stringent land-use laws. ▪ 

]]><![CDATA[Indy News Online Stories for March 15, 2024]]>Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-news-online-stories-for-march-15-2024Independence City Manager Kenna West gets contract for new salary of $160,000 annually

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 15, 2024

The Independence City Council on Tuesday approved an annual salary of $160,000 for City Manager Kenna West, with an additional $670 per month for a car allowance. West was named to the position in May 2022.

The vote was unanimous.

The contract includes all the benefits afforded previous city managers, plus an agreement to pay $2,000 yearly for maintaining West’s membership in the Oregon State Bar. The organization oversees and regulates law practice in the state.

In making the decision to increase West’s salary, Independence surveyed other Oregon cities, to determine the levels of pay for other city managers.

In nearby Monmouth, for example, the current ad for a city manager – the city has an interim top administrator until a permanent city manager is appointed – offers the job at a negotiated amount between $140,000 to $170,000 a year. ▪
Monmouth Independence Climate Group announces the "Imagine Our Future" event and invites submissions

By Stephen Howard
for Trammart News Service, March 15, 2024
Earth Day this year will celebrate works from local participants in the "Imagine Our Future" showcase by the Monmouth-Independence Climate Group, now receiving submissions for its second year of the event. "We’re inviting everyone in our community to share their vision of a positive, sustainable future with each other through creative writing or visual art," said Stephen Howard, one of the primary organizers. "Too often the words 'sustainability' and 'the future' prompt images of despair or sacrifice," or both. "We would like to help our community change the narrative about our future."

Submissions for the event are open until the end of March with Earth Day launch on April 22 of the submitted works. The site for the showcase is at the link, including a link to last year’s submissions:
https://mitown-climate.org/imagine-our-future

Howard explains the genesis of the showcase, his involvement and the group itself.

The Imagine Our Future project started in a quiet period between our group’s education and
advocacy efforts. It is easy to slide into doubt and despair about what the future might hold in
store for us if we don’t address climate change quickly enough. Those fears can turn people
away from facing the problem instead of towards it.

In the spring of 2022, I came across an art and literary movement called solarpunk which aimed
to envision what the world might look like if we got things right: if we addressed climate
change well and took care of each other while doing it. I suggested we might try doing
something like that on the local level, and the Imagine Our Future showcase was born.
We reached out to local art groups, writers, and educators — both to let them know about the
project, and to see what the creative people in our community might need to participate in our
project. As a programmer and a writer I helped take the idea for the project and the feedback
from the community and built the showcase website and submission process.

TN: You have invited anyone in the community to envision the future through visual art or
the written word. Do drawings from children qualify as entries? And, if so, what would
you like to tell youth about how to look at climate change to get ideas?

We absolutely want drawings from children to be part of the showcase. Kids should know that
climate change can feel like an overwhelming problem to adults too; but we don’t have to fix it
all at once. They should know that we already have most of the tools we need to fix things right
now, and we can still have a fun, promising future.

For ideas, we have a handful of different starter ideas on the showcase website, and lots of
short summaries on different kinds of climate solutions they can include in their art.

TN: When you received submissions last year, did any surprise you in terms of views on
sustainability -- was there some writing among them, for example, you had never thought
about yourself?

I really appreciated how many of the submitted pieces took time to show how we were caring
for each other in the future. When working on climate solutions it’s very easy to spend a lot of
time on the technical and political parts of the process. Those are important, but it’s good to be
reminded that this will only be sustainable if we make sure everyone has what they need, both
materially and socially.

TN: Climate change often is regarded as a future event but even with our current weather
you frequently hear people say the extreme rains or recent snow is a a result of "climate
change." So it is here already?

This is one of the hardest parts of communicating about the climate crisis. It progresses at a
pace that is hard to notice day to day, but is easy to identify looking back over time. The
increased frequency and intensity of weather events and natural disasters are the clearest
indicators to the public that climate change has arrived. But it is important to remember that
every bit of future warming we can prevent makes a difference in how much more extreme
these events can be in the future.

TN: The "Imagine Our Future" showcase seems like a good way to provide outreach for
this issue. Are there any other efforts by the climate group that people should know
about but haven't received much visibility?

About three years ago we worked with both cities to pass climate resolutions that recognized
the crisis and pledged to take local steps to address climate change. We hosted a home
energy efficiency forum at the Monmouth Library last year. A couple of our members write
climate related pieces in the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Polk Itemizer-Observer. We are
also actively working on drafting a community climate action plan that we hope can be a
resource for the cities, the school district, businesses, and families.

TN: What are one or two actions you might recommend that people can do right away, in
their daily lives, to address climate change?

On our website, the resource guide for families and individuals starts, “Step One: It's ok to talk
about climate.” If you are concerned about climate change, you should let the people in your
life know it. Solutions only happen if people are thinking about the problem in the first place.
The important thing about taking personal climate action is that it be something you can
embrace as a new part of your life. For some people that might be learning a few vegetarian
dishes to add to their diet. Others might try taking the trolley or walking to work. Others might
be looking at the more affordable new electric vehicles that are starting to hit the market. The
best climate actions are the ones you can sustain and feel good about.

TN: How long has your group been engaged in this effort? I understand representatives of
both Monmouth and Independence are involved -- is it an M-I project or does it now
extend across Polk County?

The Monmouth-Independence Climate Group has been meeting since 2019. We have
members from both cities. A few folks from Dallas have attended some of our monthly
meetings, but until we have some dedicated members from there our focus is on the MI
community specifically. It’s important to us that any expansion of our efforts be led by people
who live where the changes are happening.

TN: If someone would like to become involved in your group, how would they do so?

People are welcome to reach out to us via the contact form on our website. We have both a
general mailing list for people who want to know what we’re up to, and a monthly online
meeting for people who would like to be more involved. They can also let us know if they have
public locations to put up posters for the Imagine Our Future showcase.▪
City Debt. First in a series that takes a look at the financial crisis of Independence

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 15, 2024
Is Independence broke?

This question began circulating after a recent city council meeting, following approval of fees for housing construction that caused multiple developers to say they will no longer work in Independence – citing new more-than-$50,000-per home costs to build.

If so, Independence is facing a serious money crisis, according to several of those associated with the city. An analysis by Trammart News confirms that finding – two indicators of municipal fiscal distress support it.

The per capita debt now exceeds $4,000 per person; Independence’s tax revenue barely pays for the police force.

The city manager, Kenna West, and communications coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, haven’t responded to numerous email inquiries about the debt by Trammart News. However, two city councilors – Shannon Corr and Dawn Roden – have publicly expressed worry over city finances.

City Councilor Corr observed that “we already are in a hole – already in a deep, deep hole.” Corr made those comments as building fees were being debated. Councilor Roden asked about the possibility of declaring municipal bankruptcy. If builders flee, “this isn’t going to work. It is not going to pencil out,” Roden said, referring to the recently adopted hikes, called system development charges.

The tipping point appears to be a plan for a new water treatment facility, which will require millions of dollars for acquisition of land south of town and millions more for construction and technology. Current estimates put the price at $44 million. A $10 million loan for the design recently won approval by the city council.

The loan, when added to the city's present nearly $37 million debt, appears to show two troubling signs for Independence.

Towns fall short in a “financial strength test” when they exceed a debt of $3,500-to-$3,600 per person, which is calculated by dividing the amount of city debt by the number of residents. Another measure of strength is the ability of a city to pay for municipal services with tax dollars.
The first test was shared by financial authority Robert Barron. Before the pandemic, he spoke at a Salem City Club presentation, prior to departing from his Salem position as finance director for a regional job.

The second test of strength is a generally accepted one: How well do tax revenues fund city operations? The city's property tax revenue isn’t even able to entirely cover the police budget, Mayor John McArdle affirmed in his annual “State of the City” address recently.

The circumstances appear to have prompted Councilor Roden to ask about the plausibility of bankruptcy at a recent city council meeting – if the city filed bankruptcy on its outstanding debt, would that mean the money needed for the water-treatment facilities could be made available without placing such a heavy monetary burden on builders?

“You simply are taking local control away from you and putting it in the hands of a federal judge,” warned Steve Donovan, the water-engineering consultant on the project.

The debt was an issue raised a seven years ago, after the city’s auditor at the time, Kamala Austin of Merina & Co., presented the results of the municipal audit. Austin cited it as an area of concern.

After that occurred, Trammart News approached State Rep. Paul Evans to determine if bankruptcy could provide a potential option for local governments in Oregon. With very rare exceptions, the answer is no, Evans verified.

Although many in city management across the state have attributed the financial stress on cities to the limits on taxation – specifically the constraints of Measures 5 and 50 – Independence appears to be in more severe difficulty than Monmouth, its neighboring town.

Months ago, a longtime resident of Monmouth who works in both cities explained that the money-managing approach taken by the two towns is strikingly different. For example, Monmouth voters passed bonds to finance its city hall and police station – dollars that come from property-tax billing and not city coffers.

Independence, in contrast, took out loans for its city hall and police department, and added an event section, transforming the building into a “civic center. “ Another loan was taken out by Independence when the city opted to relocate the Heritage Museum to a building downtown.

The total cost to both cities appears to be about the same, substantially exceeding $10 million. But Monmouth relies on tax rolls to make those payments. Independence allocates the money from city funds.

(Next in series on Independence debt: Why funds for park improvement proved controversial) ▪
]]><![CDATA[Indy News Online stories for March 8, 2024]]>Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-news-online-stories-for-march-8-2024Where the sidewalk ends in Brandy Meadows, builders say development will, too--due to high fees

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 8, 2024

Builders in the southwest section of Independence – the site of the city’s newest subdivision, Brandy Meadows – have announced plans to abandon future construction there, citing development fees that have increased to more than $50,000.

A resolution unanimously passed at the last city council meeting hikes system development charges for water from $3,307 per home to $22,567, an addition that now makes total building fees so expensive it effectively shuts down the 226-lot project by Allied Development of Scottsdale Arizona, according to representatives of the company.

“It will kill this deal,” said David Hill, senior vice president at Allied.  “Developers will not build in your community because the SDC rates will be cost-prohibitive,” added Mike Connors, Allied’s attorney. Both men joined the meeting remotely and requested a 90-day period before the vote finalized the proposal, though no extension was offered.

Citing a need to keep the cost burden for needed infrastructure away from the billings of residential rate payors, the city council approved the increase. The approval comes in the wake of plans for a new water treatment plant – a $10 million loan from the state already has been secured to finance its design package.

After the meeting, a builder identified as one of the most trusted names in construction across the Willamette Valley, said he will also call a halt to his work in completing the remainder of the Brandy Meadows subdivision. “It just doesn’t pencil out” with the adoption of the new SDCs, said Larry Dalke of Salem-based Dalke Construction.

Dalke was described by business colleagues as an industry leader for his fair-minded business practices and high-quality homes, including longtime Independence resident David Setniker, who owns a large portion of land in Brandy Meadows.

At the city council meeting, Setniker warned: “They are going to walk and you are not going to have anything.” He also offered potential well locations on his own land to help meet the pressing demand for water by the city.

Despite warnings by Connors, Allied’s lawyer, that the high SDCs could cause state officials to perceive Independence as failing to meet housing affordability standards – possibly jeopardizing millions of infrastructure dollars in prospective state allocations – Independence City Manager Kenna West called the potential funding from SB 1537 “a drop in the bucket.”

“The fact that they have $200 million on infrastructure funding is a drop in the bucket,” West said, in an apparent push for passage of the new SDCs.

A few weeks ago, Mike Erdmann, chief executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Marion & Polk Counties, met with city staff to address some of the objections about the SDCs, a meeting that resulted in lowering them by about $2,000.   Asked why not all builders said they are leaving  Independence, Erdmann said that any builder who has already purchased lots really has no choice. “They already have a sizable financial investment they can’t walk away from,” he explained.

“What I do believe will happen, though, is that developers won’t move forward with creating future residential lots as they’ll have tremendous difficulty finding buyers for those lots,” he explained.

Mark Bybee, of Bybee & Associates, told councilors he is now building in Dallas OR and doesn’t plan to continue in Independence. “We just cannot sustain it (here),” he said. ▪ 

Central School District announces recovery is underway from the recent cyberattack but slow-goingBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 8, 2024

As Central School District works to resume all online functions after a recent cyberattack, teachers and students will be “learning like it’s 1985” – and some of them have been dressing for that era, too, said CSD Superintendent Jennifer Kubista.   

Neon clothing, big hair and other four-decade-old fashion trends have been adopted by some school staff, faculty and students as part of the adjustment to what Kubista called a new “pen and paper” time until Wi-Fi is fully restored.

Some of the perpetrators – from a group known as Lockbit – have been apprehended. Thanks, in part, to forensics experts provided by the school district’s insurance – as well as help from various local agencies – the process is now underway “to safely rebuild and restore our entire network and system,” Kubista said.

No ransom was paid and the only immediate cost to the district is payment of the deductible for the insurance policy. “We are really in a good position,” Kubista said, adding that there is an intense effort to get all desktop computers, including the software for PowerSchool, completely back up and running. Certain student information systems – Google, website and email – were relatively unaffected, she noted.  

The Lockbit cybercriminals, as they are sometimes called, have been targets of the US Justice Department in recent years, resulting in multiple arrests of the hackers, often described as “Russian Nationals” in news accounts.  

Over the past several weeks, the organization – considered one of the most prolific ransomware attackers in the world – was dealt a crushing blow through detection and suppression of its network operations by federal and international authorities, including the FBI. CSD’s system was one of its latest victims.

Kubista thanked the “community partners” who helped during the crisis. They include Independence Police Chief Robert Mason; Jason Kistler, the IT director for the City of Independence; PJ Armstrong, general manager of MINET, which delivered “hotspots” to some school areas; Evan Sorce of Western Oregon University – WOU delivered internet service to teachers in buildings, as well as providing printing services; And Willamette ESD, which took on some of the functions ordinarily performed by CSD staff.

The investigation is continuing, Kubista said. If it is found that information was compromised during the attack, those who may be affected will be notified “consistent with relevant laws,” she said. ▪ 


County probation officers are teaming up with behavioral health staff to meet the needs of offendersBy Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 8, 2024

County corrections staff and behavioral health specialists have teamed up to offer a voluntary program they hope will help reshape the lives of individuals on parole and probation who are battling mental illness. 

In a presentation to the Polk County Board of Commissioners this past Tuesday, the aim of the program was explained: To reduce the level of repeat offenses for parolees or those on probation by meeting their mental health needs. “The hope is to find improvement” in both the lives of the participants and in guarding public safety, said Alba Garcia, health services supervisor for Polk County Behavioral Health.

Called FACT, an acronym for “Forensic Assertive Community Treatment,” the program has been providing services to approximately 35 clients since its inception in April 2021. An estimated 40% of those who are jailed are impacted by mental health issues, observed Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton, when asked about the percentage of those taken into custody who have mental health disorders.

Those in the FACT program struggle mentally and emotionally in ways both big and small, said Jim Rydzewski, probation officer for Polk County Community Corrections. One example is a woman who appears to have schizophrenia – but denies it.

In and out of the criminal justice system, she just wasn’t able to respond appropriately in fairly typical circumstances, acting disruptively and seeing “the world as being against her,” he said. She was homeless and in need of intervention.

Thanks to FACT, she’s now housed and complying with medication; Her day-to-day functioning has improved to the point that see seems ready for the next step, which may be employment, he said.

Both Garcia and Rydzewski observed that FACT helps build relationships, a result that seems to translate into greater engagement – and commitment – among staff with members of this at-risk group.  Access to the program is limited to the individual's time they are being supervised by the Polk County Criminal Court system.

“As individuals meet the milestones of improvement and adequate life management, such as self-care and medication compliance, their involvement and contacts with the program decrease based on their individual needs,” explained Jodi Merritt, director of Polk County Community Corrections Community Service Programs Juvenile Department.

“Success is relative and different for every participant and is based on each participant’s individual challenges and mental health needs,” Merritt added.

Upon successful completion of supervision, FACT participants may have the opportunity to participate in a similar county program, even when they are no longer “justice-involved,” she said. 

The FACT program relies on appropriate funding levels and staff to be provided at full capacity, according to county officials. However, it is likely to remain available for the foreseeable future, they confirmed. ▪ 

]]><![CDATA[Indy News Online stories for March 1, 2024]]>Fri, 01 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMThttp://trammartnews.com/indy-online-weekly-posts/indy-news-online-stories-for-march-1-2024"State of the City" presentation by Indy's mayor showcases milestones amid new challenges ahead

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 1, 2024
      
Independence is a town filled with “cultural gems,” ranging from the MI Trolley to the Heritage Museum, but it’s grappling with the same financial strain affecting other small cities across the state, according to Independence Mayor John McArdle, who issued that message Wednesday morning during his annual “State of the City” address.
 
“We, like cities all over Oregon, are facing increased (funding) challenges as we try to fund our basic services,” Mayor McArdle said. The city's property tax revenue "doesn’t even cover the police budget,” he added.

Though the mayor was present, the nearly three dozen attendees viewed him in a video shown at the Monmouth City Hall, this year’s venue for the event. 

In it, McArdle credited “successful grants and strong partnerships” with helping the city meet its goals. The hard work of clinching grants and forging collaborative partnerships, such as with the sibling city of Monmouth, has helped Independence attain some of the city’s success – showing a capacity “to do more with less.”

The mayor noted that millions of dollars have been added to the city coffers – a result of federal and state assistance by Oregon legislators including Rep. Paul Evans and Sen.  Deb Patterson – to help build infrastructure, such as the much-needed Chestnut Street Bridge and the realignment of Polk and Main streets. 

He cited a community center as a future amenity and more housing as a necessity. “We can’t say we don’t want to grow,” McArdle said.

In the video, he stressed that Measure 5 and Measure 50 – tax measures that limit tax increases in Oregon – have seriously impacted the city, citing cuts in the recent city budget. “We had to do it,” he said. 

Calling Independence the envy of other similar cities in Oregon, the mayor pointed out that, to stay the course, fees and levies cannot be ruled out. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” McArdle said. 

Please note: Nicki Marazzani, executive director of the MI Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event, is providing a link to Mayor McArdle's address -- https://youtu.be/auO5RIcUW7U?si=4dNJDWrceyvCy0p5  

Thank you, Ms. Marazzani from Trammart News -- the recording allowed a quote in the initial reporting to be expanded and clarified. ▪ 


Recent memories of Ukraine: A story of a homeland torn by war from a local exchange student

By Nelia Omelchenko
March 1, 2024


Nights with air raids, days with power cuts. Classes in basements, soldiers in the street.
Those were just some of the changes we felt in Ukraine, amid the sorrow and destruction of a full-scale Russian invasion that engulfed us in war.

I’m Nelia, a 16-year-old FLEX exchange student from Ukraine, who came here in August for a year-long stay arranged through ASSE International. And I’d like to describe for you how our typical day was running back home.

Mornings usually start with checking to see whether you have electricity.

Last winter, we suffered massive power cuts in Ukraine. For a certain period of time, we only had about two hours of electricity per day in my home Sumy region.

Our last power cut came in the spring, as everything has now been repaired. But the habit of making sure to turn off the light on time still persists for the majority of us.

Upon waking up, we were having to count how many hours we needed to cook, clean and study, versus things that are possible, at least theoretically, without electricity.

That kind of time management is tough. Hopefully, we won’t need to do that from now on.
Just as people all around the world learned to keep masks in every pocket during the pandemic, Ukrainians have learned to carry flashlights with them, and sometimes have extra generators at home.

Then it’s time to go to school. There’s a high possibility of meeting many defenders.

The city that I describe is Sumy. It lies in the northeastern part of the country, which shares 350 miles of border with Russia.

Sumy is not a battlefield itself, though proximity to Russia makes its outskirts prone to frequent attacks.

Badly injured soldiers and destroyed civilian buildings never fail to remind us of what is going on. But their reconstruction, through prosthetics in the one case and bricks and mortar in the other, imbue us with a strong belief that we will overcome this dark period of our history.
Classes at school are still productive. Teachers do their best to continue to instruct at a high level. But classes are punctuated by sporadic air raids.

Maks, a 16-year-old classmate of mine, has learned to predict local air raid sirens five minutes in advance.

A student of politics, statistics and analysis, he follows the pattern of air raid alerts on an online map. That way, he can see when our turn is coming.

That way, everyone has five more minutes to get down to the basement. Without any sense of fear, everyone in the school heads to the shelter.

Kids aren’t afraid of the danger posed by the missiles anymore. They just go downstairs to study, socialize or play together until it passes.

Some classes pay attention to managing stress, coping with mental issues and giving first aid to injured people.

NATO’s acronym MARCH is known now by the majority of students. It directs students to check for life-threatening conditions in an injured person in a specific order. M stands for massive bleeding, A for airways, R for respiration, C for circulation, H for head injuries and hypothermia.

Moreover, students have developed one more after-school activity. Some of them are staying after class to make camouflage net for the army under the direction of teachers.

Then it’s time to come back home, the streets are still crowded with busy people, as if it were peacetime. However, the billboards they pass now show them how to contribute to charities or help the army, and restored cafes play a warfare genre of music.

There’s no need to imagine these melodies as tragic or full of sorrow, though.

The majority of the wartime music is dynamic and positive. Its main aim is to emphasize Ukrainian military milestones and maintain the spirit of future victory throughout the society.
One of the most popular songs is “Pes Patron.” It tells of a little Jack Russell terrier named Patron, which means “cartridge” in Ukrainian.

With his light weight and keen sense of smell, this dog can detect explosives safely. One of his first assignments was locating Russian mines in the city of Chernihiv, lying in the north, which was liberated on April 2, 2022.

Owing to the hard work of this tiny dog, more than 250 mines were neutralized. Now Patron has his own bullet-proof vest, national recognition and a song commemorating his role in the war.
As you might expect, even very young kids know the lyrics. They are keen on repeating: “Who’s in charge of this region? Patron the Dog, Patron the Dog!” The song was written in Ukrainian, of course, but that’s a word-for-word translation.

Human civilians are also doing their bit.

Karina, a 14-year-old, spends her free time selling hand-made patriotic accessories. She has been doing that for more than a year, and her contribution to the Ukrainian Army recently passed the $3,000 mark.

“I’m not supporting certain people,” she said. “We try to help everyone. I do it because I want to do my bit; I want Ukraine to live.

“We attempt to supply soldiers with whatever they need. Mostly it’s special equipment or medicine.”

Evenings still see families gather together, as in the past.

Some of the chairs may be empty, though, as some relatives may have already given their lives for the peaceful life of future generations. That helps us not to give up, to fight and to defend what we believe in.

Warm evening conversations have changed to news updates on military progress of the day.
Skill at making “trench candles” has marked my personal contribution.

A trench candle is a metal box or can filled with rolled paper and a mixture of wax and paraffin. Soldiers use them to warm up, heat their food or serve as a source of light.

They are popular with our defenders, as they can be re-lit repeatedly for a long period of time. Civilians are highly encouraged to create them, which serves as just one more thing shifting our reality.

It’s necessary for us to talk about the war, as it’s been dominating our lives for two years now. We appreciate it when nothing and nobody is forgotten.

Despite escalating sound of air raids sirens, time to sleep eventually comes.

Will the night bring drone or missile attacks? We are getting used to differentiating.

If the news channel warns about drone attacks, the biggest concern is the quantity. If the warning is about missiles, that’s not the case, as just one can wipe out your whole house.

Either way, the chain of actions is the same. You either head to the basement or go downstairs and follow the “two-walls rule.”

You need to make sure there are two reliable walls between you and outside locations. You also want to avoid windows or other sources of glass.

We spend so many nights sleeping in cold shelters and narrow corridors. Tomorrow may be a new day, but it will feature the same wartime routine.

We Ukrainians recognize and highly appreciate all the support we get around the world.
Peaceful protests, warm words of support, little blue-and-yellow accessories and stickers, donations and army supplies. It’s all noticed. It all makes a difference.

I want to convey our infinite gratitude to everyone who believes in and works for Ukrainian victory!

Nelia Omelchenko is a 16-year-old exchange student from Sumy, Ukraine, just across the border from Russia. She arrived in Oregon in August to spend a year with a local family. In her native land, her life has been disrupted the last two years by a full-scale Russian invasion, marked by missile and drone attacks. As a youth journalist, she drew on a wartime diary she’s been keeping for this article. Her article is reprinted with special permission from the News-Register in McMinnville OR, where it first appeared. ▪ 


A newly annexed area for the city arouses opposition and worries

By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, March 1, 2024
      
A majority of the Independence City Council voted Tuesday to annex nearly eight acres outside the city limits but inside the urban growth boundary –  simultaneously approving a zoning designation that makes it a potentially new subdivision, despite substantial opposition that included one of Independence’s former city managers, who called it a revenue-draining move. 

City services such as police support for a new development there would mean “a net drain on the general fund,” said David Clyne, who preceded by a few years current City Manager Kenna West as Independence’s city manager. He was among the attendees who raised objections. 

Opponents of the action aired their views both in writing and in personal testimony. Sarah Ramirez, a neighbor who lives nearby, told councilors that more information was needed about the residential zoning change for the pastoral lot, “seeing that this will probably be developed shortly.” The property to which Ramirez referred is on Corvallis Road, a little over a half-mile south of the Independence Civic Center 

However, City Planning Manager Fred Evander explained that any housing proposal would need to go through many procedural steps before that could happen. 

The owner of the parcel, Brendan McMullen, testified that he plans to put affordable homes on the acreage. “I have a strong passion for affordable housing, and I hope to do that someday,” he said. When asked about his definition of affordability, he described homes ranging from 1,000- to 1,500-square-feet, priced below market levels. 

City Councilor Dawn Roden requested that the resolution for annexation and zoning be split into two parts, so that the zoning recommendation could be discussed separately from the plan to annex the land.

City Manager Kenna West countered that it was one application and “we cannot bifurcate it.” 
However, the development code entry that was cited as supporting the dual action shows only that an annexation-plus-zone change can be undertaken “when requested concurrent with one another” – not as a requirement. An email inquiry for clarification sent to the city’s communications coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, as well as to West, went unanswered, despite several requests over the code’s language.  

The inquiry by Trammart News was undertaken after some of those who attended the hearing asserted that the city is routinely engaging in attempts to push through plans without fully considering citizen perspectives. 

For example, some in attendance expressed appreciation for an observation by Councilor Roden to city staff that tying annexation and zoning together was due to the way they chose to write it -- not the result of a rule. “We have mixed the two,” Roden said.

Others at the meeting made similar comments after the hearing. “I’m concerned further meetings will be handled the same way,” said Kathy Hill, who owns the property adjacent to the annexed plot. She found the agenda “unclear,” as well as the notification she received.  She’s concerned city officials “won’t take our concerns into the conversation,” Hill stated, noting that her seven acres sits beside the new zone and “will be the most impacted.” 

Hill lives on land passed down by Independence founders Henry and Martha Hill, from an original land patent in the wake of Oregon’s Donation Land Act of 1850. The pair were generous land donors to the city, she pointed out. 

Both Councilor Roden and Councilor Sarah Jobe voted against the resolution to bring the land, as well as a new zone, into city limits. The vote was 4-2.

(Note: Next week, Trammart News will cover a unanimous decision by the city council to adopt System Development Charges for water that will cause SDCs for new construction to exceed $50,000 per home – a vote that has caused several builders to say they won’t be undertaking future building projects in the city.)  ▪
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