This is a special edition of The Independent, compiled by residents who sent questions about the developments of the past year. City officials -- and others -- answered the inquiries. They are listed below, in a Q-and-A format.
 
Q: It seems like the city’s debt is around $40 million now. Is that a big debt for a small city?
 
A: At a town hall meeting in West Salem, Rep. Paul Evans was asked about the level of debt in Independence. Rep Evans noted that it is "a lot of money." But he added that Measure 5 has constricted revenue growth for cities -- there are only a few ways for municipalities to optimize legally available funding. One is through the urban renewal district, which enables collection of tax-increment funds. In this way, renewal districts restructure revenue disbursement within that taxing area. Independence is using that route, he explained.
 
Q: How has the level of debt affected the city’s finances?
 
A: Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has performed a rating review annually for the last five years. A significant part of this review is the city’s ability to pay its debt. The city’s bond rating improved a couple of years ago from A- guarded to A- stable; which is reassurance that the city is demonstrating good financial management, according to Gloria Butsch, Independence finance director.
 
Q: The city has been saying they are more visible, but why don't they list the level of debt in the urban renewal district? What is it?
 
A: There are multiple documents which supply this information. The audited financial statements and notes; the statistical section of the audited comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR); and the budget document – Gloria Butsch, Independence finance director. 

Q: Why have city councilors had to ask several times for a report on franchise fees from places like Century Link?
 
A: This report has been supplied multiple times – Gloria Butsch, Independence finance director.
 
Q: Water rates seem high in Independence. Does the money collected for water and sewer go somewhere else?
 
A: About $6.50 of an average bill goes to pay debt on the Independence Civic Center, which replaced the former city hall; About $14.50 goes to pay debt from MINET, the broadband company co-founded by the city with Monmouth -- Steve Donovan, the city’s contracted utility expert.
 
Q: What market share does MINET have in the Independence/Monmouth area phone, TV and data services?
 
A: MINET is currently serving 5,306 of the total available (serviceable) addresses of 6,121 within the two cities, with one or more of MINET’s products ... voice, video, data.  This gives MINET an 86.69% overall (residential and business) penetration rate.  Specific to addresses classified as business, MINET has a slightly higher penetration rate of 88.9% -- Don Patten, MINET general manager.
 
Q: Is it possible to know more clearly how the city’s budget is constructed?

A: Gary Van Horn, one of the city’s budget committee members, observed that it would be beneficial if city staff shared more, including budget-adjustment changes during the execution of the budget-preparation process.
 
Q: Why does the city manager keep mentioning revenue from Independence Landing when it isn't built?
 
A: Both the revenue from the project and the debt from the project are prospective. That said, both have been taken into account as part of the economic modeling to do the Return on Investment (ROI) analysis performed to determine ultimate value to the City both financially and through job creation -- David Clyne, city manager.
 
Q: Is there a GANTT chart for the project? 
 
A: For the public work, there have been GANTT charts prepared throughout for the construction of the work. These of course are modified as time goes on to reflect changes on the ground, which is normal operations. Relative to the private work, Tokola is close to releasing a first GANTT chart for its work on the hotel and ultimately the balance of the project. Again, we expect these to change as circumstances change. DDA (development agreement) provides the basis for the creation of a GANTT chart pursuant to its schedule of obligations found in the appendices. We saw no reason to reformat this as a GANTT chart as the schedule was clear enough in and of itself – David Clyne, city manager.
 
Q: When does the City plan on selling the unsold lots (#5-#7) in Independence Landing? Will they be listing the properties in multiple listings, to broadcast that they are for sale?
 
A: No decisions have been made, at this time, with respect to lots 5-7. They will be put on the market at a time that is deemed in the best interests of the Urban Renewal District in meeting its development objectives -- David Clyne, city manager (Lot 8 has been approved for sale to Young Realty; an article about it appeared in The Independent, December 1, 2017, see trammartnews.com).
 
Q: Does the city of Independence own the Prestige Movie Theater and, if yes, what is the monthly rent they are paying the city?
 
A: No, the City of Independence does not own the theater but does own the land. At the conclusion of the lease period (50 years plus two 10-year options), the City will take title on the theater. Per the lease terms, rent was set at $30 per month plus movie tickets (which are distributed to citizens through various means). Of course, the City also receives other revenue off the project not the least of which is new property taxes; plus many other benefits to the community and area businesses. At over 140,000 customers per year, the local economy is definitely seeing a positive benefit from the theater -- David Clyne, city manager.

Q: What was the cost of this theater project paid by the City?
 
A: It is my understanding that the City purchased the four lots on which the Theater and the public parking lot sits for $554,000. The City was compensated $500 for the sale of the building which ultimately became the Pink House. Additionally, property taxes are estimated at approximately $58,000 per year. The property is located within the Urban Renewal Area – David Clyne, city manager.
 
Q: City staff often refers to "tax-increment financing” (TIF) as an outcome of Independence Landing. What is TIF?
 
A: Using TIF, a local government, typically under the authority of a redevelopment agency, defines a decaying or blighted district where redevelopment is desired. Projects within a TIF district are constructed with debt paid off by  increased property taxes in the district – PSU.

Breaking News: City Councilor Ken Day resigned from the city council Jan 2, after an influential first year.
Follow-up in The Linking Letter.  

The CIVICS LESSON: How Will No to Net Neutrality Affect MINET?
        
Thanks to a new federal decision, broadband companies like MINET that connect consumers to the internet no longer have regulations that guarantee "net neutrality," which had effectively prohibited them from blocking websites or charging variable fees to guarantee faster service or special access to content. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided in 2017 to abolish those rules, reversing a 2015 decision that had determined that the internet should be treated like a public utility, similar to a phone service.
 
Q: What does this mean for subscribers to the local company, MINET, which has customers across the city?
 
A: Now that the FCC has taken action, MINET, in conjunction with its Board of Directors, is in the process of developing a formal policy. 
I do anticipate that MINET will expand upon its existing policy that the sharing of (meta)data will not happen in respect to client privacy to include the NON practice of either data capping nor data prioritization -- Don Patten, general manager, MINET.   –AS  

​The INDY HOP: How Did the Santa Train Santa Do?
 
Q: Since the Santa train was back in town this year, it seems appropriate to ask: Did its most important occupant meet the standards set forth in a December AARP Bulletin that advised the red-suit wearing Mr. Claus's across the land how to perform the role correctly?
 
A: This is a once-a-year job opportunity, so making a list and checking it twice is a good idea for those who hire the jolly old elf. The Santa Train Santa seemed to meet all the requirements. His beard was snowy white -- no strands of gray peeked through. Also, he seemed cheery and ego-less, not the "peacock" personality that can occur in such circumstances, according to the AARP Bulletin. Did he speak Spanish, too? And sign language? It wasn't apparent that he knew either one, but he seemed at ease with children of all backgrounds and his good humor never flagged on a rainy Oregon day. Best of all, he answered every letter put in the big red "wish list" mailbox by scores of children. And Santa proved a wise and wonderful correspondent, mailing the letters he sent with a return address of the North Pole and advising the young recipients that maybe ... he couldn't get them all that they'd asked for ... but that it would be a merry Christmas.  –AS                                                                                                      

 [In September 2017, residents of Independence were requested by The Independent to submit questions for this edition. One resident who raised specific economic issues was asked to write an editorial. It is below.]

Guest Editorial
by Ron Smith
 
Developing a destination hotel in Independence is great step in the right direction to inject some stability into the local economy. Salem doesn’t have one. Polk County has a major hotel which is located on reservation land. Dallas and Monmouth have small motels. High-quality lodging does not exist within a 25-mile radius. Our community could easily serve travelers and business people alike.
 
Primarily because of the few egos involved in the decision-making process related to the Indy Landing gamble, a great idea has become a potential disaster in the making and a desperate attempt to accomplish anything to justify an already staggering taxpayer investment. Let’s start out with location, location, location. Building any structure on a river bank, well below the high-water mark of the flood plain, on the top of a reclaimed landfill, in a well-documented major earthquake zone is not entirely impossible but economically unreasonable.
 
Since 2009 sixty-one businesses have closed their doors on the three-square blocks of downtown. Seventeen of those were restaurants.
 
This is a small town. It has a state highway running through the middle of it. Traffic barely slows down for a stop sign; much less to look for a convenient place to park and patronize what random shop may be open at the time. There are thousands of square feet of empty rental space. It doesn’t make sense to create any additional retail square footage when property managers cannot sustain what is already available. This town is a classic bedroom community. Most locals choose to eat, shop and socialize at locations that are more convenient to where they work. An on-premises restaurant and bar at a hotel lacks successful business logic. Any additional redundancy will diminish necessary local support for this project and force a few more existing establishments into the tidal churn of Independence.

Relying on the wine industry to provide enough tourism to support a local hotel is an ill-advised idea involving an already over-saturated niche. Every local vineyard attempts to attract potential customers to visit their own tasting rooms. Why would any connoisseur travel and spend the night here?  McMinnville is running continuous commercials on national satellite channels to visit their existing wine tourism network and they already have hotels. Dundee Oregon has 24 tasting outlets. Sober up or wake up to this potential Achilles heel. Yamhill county beat Polk out of the starting gate on this opportunity a long time ago.
 
Here is just an estimation of how much taxpayer money has been spent in making the riverbank resemble an economic opportunity. The City paid at around $800K for the gravel pit. Then the tab for filling all the holes and pushing the contaminated soil to the four corners of the property was another $500K. $50K was spent for an out sourced entity to market the development without any guarantee that if they couldn’t find a taker, the taxpayers would get their money back.
 
So how many registered voters residing in the city limits think it’s a wise idea to give up two million dollars’ worth of system development fees as bait to lure outside stakeholders into coming here and siphoning off the revenue potential of this project? These development fees cover the existing costs to the local taxpayers relative to the money invested in making the riverbank resemble an economic gamble. The argument of “We’ll make it up in hotel taxes,” doesn’t justify the expense.
 
City hall has painted itself into a corner with this landing gamble. It has made numerous mistakes and poor business decisions in the past, which continue to cost the taxpayers; there is no margin left for trial and error.
 
A hotel is a good idea that has not reached a destination but merely a reference point. The minds that created Independence’s problems may not be the ones capable of creating the best solutions. The lid is cracked on a Pandora’s Box of potential consequences which can all be avoided or exploited. 2018 is the year everyone should be paying very close attention to which direction this town is heading.