City grapples with high debt amid report incorrectly showing MINET as half the cause
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, December 8, 2023
INDEPENDENCE – A recent report showing the city’s debt at $37 million, which was confirmed “high” by the city’s financial director, apparently wrongly attributes half that amount to MINET, city documents show. City Manager Kenna West declined to comment on the alleged error when asked about it after the meeting, advising “you can wait till the next city council meeting” for a response to what appears to be a $10 million mistake.
The report was given at a work session on the city’s debt, just before the last city council meeting. Noting the debt level, City Councilor Dawn Roden asked Rob Moody, the city’s contracted finance director, “Do you think this is a high amount of debt for a city this size?”
“It is,” Moody responded.
City Councilor Sarah Jobe also inquired about the loan for the Independence Civic Center, which past estimates have put at about $10 million. “Where does the city hall debt fall?” she asked. City Manager Kenna West said that questions about the debt-listing document would be answered after more research but cautioned that the city’s financial department is “understaffed.”
Independence City Councilor Marilyn Morton, who also attended the work session, observed that because MINET is now operating in the black, half of the city debt is being taken care of by the municipal fiberoptic. "Basically, half of that is the MINET debt, which at this point in time, am I accurate in saying that MINET is paying all of their load on that? So, we are actually only paying half of this (city debt)," she said.
However, in figures calculated by perusing past financial summaries, the amount of MINET debt is between $8 million and $9 million, and closer to $8 million. More uncertain is the loan amount that appears to be owed for the construction of the Independence Civic Center – the loan for the civic center seemed to be missing from the list of indebtedness provided at the work session.
Morton, who was queried by email along with Mayor John McArdle and City Manager West, said she “chose not to respond” when asked about her lack of reply to Trammart News’ debt estimates during a chance encounter at a coffee shop. Multiple efforts to obtain information on the issue from the city’s communication coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, went unanswered. No reply from Mayor McArdle was received, either.
A video of the meeting is posted on the city’s YouTube channel. ▪
One woman’s fight to make sure the library is no longer the home address for a sex offender
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, December 8, 2023
INDEPENDENCE – When Laurel Yourkowski discovered that a homeless man on the sex-offense registry had listed his home address as the Independence Library, she sprang into action – and advocacy.
Initially, she was told by several she contacted, including those in local law enforcement, that the convicted felon had the same rights as everyone else to a facility that serves the community, even one that’s commonly used by children. However, she persisted.
She took her findings directly to the Independence City Council, where – with backup from City Councilor Dawn Roden – her voice apparently was heard. She also credits Polk County Commission Chair Jeremy Gordon with helping to raise awareness of the issue once he was contacted. Gordon attributes the outcome to a joint effort at problem-solving. The library is no longer the man’s home.
“Conversations were already underway before I was alerted,” Gordon stated. Independence Police Chief Robert Mason “made the necessary adjustments” in consultation with Polk County Community Corrections, Gordon said. “I simply kept Laurel abreast of the situation,” he added.
This isn’t how Yourkowski sees it, however. She said she was disheartened by the initial response of Independence city officials, so she addressed the topic during public testimony at a recent council meeting.
The public sex-offender registry – with the man’s home address as the same as the Independence Library – could be a deterrent to use by residents, she asserted. “We should move somehow to change the public library address away from the sex offender’s address,” she said.
City Councilor Dawn Roden agreed, and asked Chief Mason how this situation could “slip” through the city’s safety net.
“I think this person sleeps regularly at the library,” Mason acknowledged. However, his sleeping occurs outdoors; homeless individuals cannot be prohibited from doing that under the law, Mason noted. “People can sleep where people can find shelter,” he explained.
In an email to Gordon, Yourkowski cited an Oregon statute that bars such convicted criminals from being in a location where children regularly congregate. A short time later, Yourkowski was notified of the man’s change of address.
Asked why she had been so tenacious – Yourkowski lives out of town and doesn’t have children – she said she has friends among local families, and it seemed “like the right thing to do.” ▪
School District bond committee recommends against trying for new voter-approved bond in near future
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, Dec. 8, 2023
INDEPENDENCE – The representative of a consulting firm hired by Central School District 13J to explore whether residents would support a new school bond advised against going forward with the proposal, which a survey shows doesn’t have the public support to justify the effort and expense of a campaign.
The bond, which would have gone on the next election ballot, was being considered to raise the money to renovate and refurbish aging infrastructure at schools. “Based on our research, the timing is not right to pass a bond measure during the May 2024 election,” said Anne Marie Levis, president of Funk/Levis & Associates, the Eugene-based company that assisted in exploring the feasibility of adding a new bond to the spring ballot.
The telephone survey was conducted in early October, two weeks before most residents received their annual property-tax bill with an increased tax amount due to school-bond payments.
The recommendation to delay a bond effort was based on a telephone survey of 400 people, which showed that those strongly in favor of a bond were roughly equal to those strongly against it. Hearing more information about the need for it didn’t shift those numbers, Levis observed. For a bond to have a good chance of passage, more support should be documented – 60% affirming support is a good sign, she said.
The bond committee, which convened months ago, consisted of 14 people, mostly community members, and involved Independence-based Creo Solutions as well as Funk/Levis.
Other reports from the school board meeting indicated reading success is being attained at several levels through more-frequent assessment – progress-tracking tests are now done three times annually to target some students for more intervention.
However, youths who are jumping from one school setting to another – fifth grade to middle school, eighth grade to high school – often lag in this tough transitional period. This can take a toll on academic growth, according to Julie Heilman, CSD’s executive director of teaching and learning, and Ashley Wildfang, CSD’s elementary director of teaching and learning.
The topic of absenteeism was pushed back to early 2024, but outside the meeting, Brian Flannery, the school district’s executive director of assessment and human resources, said that homelessness is an issue for the students contributing to the relatively high absentee rate in CSD. “The K-12 student focal group with lowest regular attender rate last year was our students navigating homelessness,” he stated. “There are many barriers and stressors that these students, and their families experience,” he said. This issue will be revisited when the matter becomes an agenda item in the near future. ▪
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, December 8, 2023
INDEPENDENCE – A recent report showing the city’s debt at $37 million, which was confirmed “high” by the city’s financial director, apparently wrongly attributes half that amount to MINET, city documents show. City Manager Kenna West declined to comment on the alleged error when asked about it after the meeting, advising “you can wait till the next city council meeting” for a response to what appears to be a $10 million mistake.
The report was given at a work session on the city’s debt, just before the last city council meeting. Noting the debt level, City Councilor Dawn Roden asked Rob Moody, the city’s contracted finance director, “Do you think this is a high amount of debt for a city this size?”
“It is,” Moody responded.
City Councilor Sarah Jobe also inquired about the loan for the Independence Civic Center, which past estimates have put at about $10 million. “Where does the city hall debt fall?” she asked. City Manager Kenna West said that questions about the debt-listing document would be answered after more research but cautioned that the city’s financial department is “understaffed.”
Independence City Councilor Marilyn Morton, who also attended the work session, observed that because MINET is now operating in the black, half of the city debt is being taken care of by the municipal fiberoptic. "Basically, half of that is the MINET debt, which at this point in time, am I accurate in saying that MINET is paying all of their load on that? So, we are actually only paying half of this (city debt)," she said.
However, in figures calculated by perusing past financial summaries, the amount of MINET debt is between $8 million and $9 million, and closer to $8 million. More uncertain is the loan amount that appears to be owed for the construction of the Independence Civic Center – the loan for the civic center seemed to be missing from the list of indebtedness provided at the work session.
Morton, who was queried by email along with Mayor John McArdle and City Manager West, said she “chose not to respond” when asked about her lack of reply to Trammart News’ debt estimates during a chance encounter at a coffee shop. Multiple efforts to obtain information on the issue from the city’s communication coordinator, Emmanuel Goicochea, went unanswered. No reply from Mayor McArdle was received, either.
A video of the meeting is posted on the city’s YouTube channel. ▪
One woman’s fight to make sure the library is no longer the home address for a sex offender
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, December 8, 2023
INDEPENDENCE – When Laurel Yourkowski discovered that a homeless man on the sex-offense registry had listed his home address as the Independence Library, she sprang into action – and advocacy.
Initially, she was told by several she contacted, including those in local law enforcement, that the convicted felon had the same rights as everyone else to a facility that serves the community, even one that’s commonly used by children. However, she persisted.
She took her findings directly to the Independence City Council, where – with backup from City Councilor Dawn Roden – her voice apparently was heard. She also credits Polk County Commission Chair Jeremy Gordon with helping to raise awareness of the issue once he was contacted. Gordon attributes the outcome to a joint effort at problem-solving. The library is no longer the man’s home.
“Conversations were already underway before I was alerted,” Gordon stated. Independence Police Chief Robert Mason “made the necessary adjustments” in consultation with Polk County Community Corrections, Gordon said. “I simply kept Laurel abreast of the situation,” he added.
This isn’t how Yourkowski sees it, however. She said she was disheartened by the initial response of Independence city officials, so she addressed the topic during public testimony at a recent council meeting.
The public sex-offender registry – with the man’s home address as the same as the Independence Library – could be a deterrent to use by residents, she asserted. “We should move somehow to change the public library address away from the sex offender’s address,” she said.
City Councilor Dawn Roden agreed, and asked Chief Mason how this situation could “slip” through the city’s safety net.
“I think this person sleeps regularly at the library,” Mason acknowledged. However, his sleeping occurs outdoors; homeless individuals cannot be prohibited from doing that under the law, Mason noted. “People can sleep where people can find shelter,” he explained.
In an email to Gordon, Yourkowski cited an Oregon statute that bars such convicted criminals from being in a location where children regularly congregate. A short time later, Yourkowski was notified of the man’s change of address.
Asked why she had been so tenacious – Yourkowski lives out of town and doesn’t have children – she said she has friends among local families, and it seemed “like the right thing to do.” ▪
School District bond committee recommends against trying for new voter-approved bond in near future
By Anne Scheck
Trammart News Service, Dec. 8, 2023
INDEPENDENCE – The representative of a consulting firm hired by Central School District 13J to explore whether residents would support a new school bond advised against going forward with the proposal, which a survey shows doesn’t have the public support to justify the effort and expense of a campaign.
The bond, which would have gone on the next election ballot, was being considered to raise the money to renovate and refurbish aging infrastructure at schools. “Based on our research, the timing is not right to pass a bond measure during the May 2024 election,” said Anne Marie Levis, president of Funk/Levis & Associates, the Eugene-based company that assisted in exploring the feasibility of adding a new bond to the spring ballot.
The telephone survey was conducted in early October, two weeks before most residents received their annual property-tax bill with an increased tax amount due to school-bond payments.
The recommendation to delay a bond effort was based on a telephone survey of 400 people, which showed that those strongly in favor of a bond were roughly equal to those strongly against it. Hearing more information about the need for it didn’t shift those numbers, Levis observed. For a bond to have a good chance of passage, more support should be documented – 60% affirming support is a good sign, she said.
The bond committee, which convened months ago, consisted of 14 people, mostly community members, and involved Independence-based Creo Solutions as well as Funk/Levis.
Other reports from the school board meeting indicated reading success is being attained at several levels through more-frequent assessment – progress-tracking tests are now done three times annually to target some students for more intervention.
However, youths who are jumping from one school setting to another – fifth grade to middle school, eighth grade to high school – often lag in this tough transitional period. This can take a toll on academic growth, according to Julie Heilman, CSD’s executive director of teaching and learning, and Ashley Wildfang, CSD’s elementary director of teaching and learning.
The topic of absenteeism was pushed back to early 2024, but outside the meeting, Brian Flannery, the school district’s executive director of assessment and human resources, said that homelessness is an issue for the students contributing to the relatively high absentee rate in CSD. “The K-12 student focal group with lowest regular attender rate last year was our students navigating homelessness,” he stated. “There are many barriers and stressors that these students, and their families experience,” he said. This issue will be revisited when the matter becomes an agenda item in the near future. ▪
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