By Anne Scheck

For the last few years, Independence resident Harry Bladow has been going to city council meetings to ask a fairly routine question: Why does the water-and-sewer bill cost so much? He and his neighbors usually pay at least $100 a month.

And now, with money for upgrades to the sewer-sanitation system just approved by the city council, he’s worried that even higher fees are on the horizon. So, this past month, Mr. Bladow appeared again, to literally ask a million-dollar question. Make that $10 million.         
             
He wanted to know why the city increased a $6 million loan from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to $9.4 million. “I’d like to have information on that,” said Mr. Bladow. “What is it for? Who pays for it? And when?”  (Photo caption: Harry Bladow, of Independence, stands in front of a farm field that will soon receive reclaimed wastewater from the city for irrigation purposes.)

Though Mayor John McArdle advised Mr. Bladow during the meeting that answers would be provided, there’s already a good explanation – the DEQ. In past years, the DEQ repeatedly contacted the city after wastewater from city lagoons was discharged into the Willamette River beyond the scope of state permits – a result of the lagoons reaching their storage capacity.

Now, new steps toward water-recycling will ease that strain, spraying the reclaimed water on a farm field north of town.  The water, cleansed to a level that makes it virtually odor-free, is being transported by pipes to the farmer free of charge.

The DEQ has approved engineering plans for the recycled water project, affirmed Timothy McFetridge, P.E., senior environmental engineer at the DEQ's Salem office. To help meet the needs from continued city growth, city councilors approved another $150,000 to design a more-comprehensive plan for wastewater collection over the next 20 years.
           
Costs have crept up just to keep pace on current projects. In a recent example, city councilors approved $174,000 more for work at a pump station recently funded for $1.16 million. And extra costs to excavate the field-spraying pipeline – $109,000 – will be added to the original $726,750 price for that. 
             
Why have the city’s costs for wastewater management been ticking up? Perhaps the biggest stressor on wastewater treatment and delivery is the “growth demand” on aging infrastructure amid increased regulations. That’s the view of several attendees at a recent conference of the Oregon Association of Water Utilities (OAWU), which was held in Seaside.
           
However, “growth demand” that is properly managed – with appropriate collection of system-development charges from developers, up-to-date design plans and implementation of them in a timely manner – can actually be beneficial to a utility and system, said Jason Green, executive director of the OAWU.            
           
In Independence “growth demand” is the reason yet another contract was approved – 0f $78,000 – for work near a new subdivision. “Operational records” showed that “during peak wet weather, sewer flows reach the capacity” of a lift station near the new development in the southeast part of the city, according to Kie Cottam, public works director for the city. 
   
This may sound like a lot of money, but “I don’t want you to think that this is the entire project,” City Manager Tom Pessemier cautioned the city council at its last meeting. Mr. Pessemier, who has been on the job less than a year, was confronted with wastewater-system needs as soon as the ink dried on his contract.  

“We’re at that point where we’re taking monies appropriated in the budget and actually putting them to the projects,” he said. As the new city manager tackles deferred maintenance and other aspects of city wastewater, new loans are being accessed. They are in the current budget he worked on.

Budget decisions – almost universally described as being made through an analytical process – are really a reflection of values, observed Ed Dover, PhD, professor emeritus of politics, policy and administration at Western Oregon University.
Asked to explain why budget items seem variable depending on the municipality and its officials, he observed that “you can't separate the act of determining a budget from making a choice of values." It’s really “a process of deciding whether to spend revenue or resources on Item A or Item B," Dr. Dover said.      

The Independence wastewater system is entirely separate from water that comes from taps and faucets. The latter is monitored by Oregon Drinking Water Services of the Oregon Health Authority.  Wastewater is overseen by the DEQ. However, both are seen as essential to public health – and both are expected to require more city investment to enhance capacity in the years ahead. 
          
To OAWU’s executive director, Mr. Green, that represents part of another challenge: future staffing levels. He foresees a possible "void" of trained, certified personnel.
          
"Succession will be a challenge," he said. Water utilities already require mounting technological expertise. "And the majority of the utilities, for the most part, are older systems," he added.

FOLLOW-UP
City Financial Reporting Revisited
 
A new protocol for accounting practices by the City of Independence should prevent the kind of error that was found during an audit this year of the city’s books. This past spring, city councilors approved an addition to the usual financial reporting methods – adding a step that means a consultant will be hired to provide oversight review and draft fiscal statements. 

The plan was formulated after the city’s outside auditor, Merina & Company, detected an error called a “material deficiency.” That requires a “plan of action” to be filed with the office of the Oregon Secretary of State. Contracting with an independent consultant was identified as the solution in the plan.  

The error was an unrecorded year-end entry of bond refinancing for nearly $11 million. Even an easily correctable mis-statement like that one, which didn’t affect the city’s budget, requires a revised approach to help prevent a similar situation in the future, according to Oregon law. 

“The 2019 audit report will be an indicator as to whether or not this deficiency is resolved,” according to a statement by the Oregon office of the Secretary of State. 

The CIVICS LESSON: Preventing DUII Drivers from Being Skyborne

When a low-flying plane this summer caused power lines to break by Riverview Park, the first question asked was “How could this happen?” When the out-of-town pilot reportedly was charged in another county with driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), the next question was “How could that happen?” With both an airport and airpark in Independence, it seems a good time to take a look at how it can – DUII is on the rise.  A motorist who's also an active pilot is required to notify the FAA within 60 days after receiving a suspension or revocation of a driver's license or a conviction related to a DUII. And, when law enforcement officers issue a DUII citation and discover that the driver also has a pilot's license, they are encouraged to contact the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to report it, according to Scott Reygers, an investigator with the FAA in Oklahoma City. A "wallet inventory" conducted during such stops can turn up information showing the driver engages in private or professional flying, he noted. Local police are one way to keep DUII out of the skies. "We are trying to get that message out," Mr. Reygers said. -- AS

The INDY HOP: All Talk, All the Time, Everywhere in Downtown


“Hello, lamp post, what ya knowin’ ?” is a line right out of the hit song “Feelin’ Groovy” by Simon & Garfunkel. And if the duo ever come to Independence, they’ll find their lyrical question answered in the city’s downtown – by a lamp post, of course, and through text messaging. “Good afternoon” is the common greeting at Lamp Post #4, who frequently inquires “What lights up your life?” Among the structures downtown capable of holding a nice conversation are a trash can, a tree, a mural and the city fountain. Hundreds of people have engaged in the two-way talks, with 4,000 questions & responses, said Shawn Irvine, economic development director for the city. -- AS

POLICE BOX

JAIL CAPACITY OVER STRETCHED


As the Polk County jail passes its 20th anniversary, the state’s youngest sheriff has begun confronting the same problem he once saw as a teenage cadet. The jail’s getting too crowded. 

When Sheriff Mark Garton joined the department more than two decades ago, the 195-bed jail wasn’t even built. Then, in 1999, the state-of-the-art structure opened to accommodate the county’s growing incarceration needs. Now, periodically, it’s an under-sized facility again. 

The county grew significantly over the past few years and, with more people, there’s been an uptick in crime – and a higher jail population. But it isn’t just that. 

“We have more folks who have mental health-related issues in jail, who can't be housed with other inmates – because of behavioral issues,” Sheriff Garton explained. So one inmate could be filling a two-person cell, making the other bunk “useless.”

“We really get full when we reach around 170 inmates,” Sheriff Garton said. “We obviously house males and females separately, so if our female numbers are down, we can't fill them with men,” he said.

Fights prevent some individuals from being housed together – there are some inmates who “just can't get along with others,” he observed. Additionally, co-conspirators in criminal cases can't be placed together.  Some in jail have medical issues that warrant separation, he noted.  

Sheriff Garton has taken the issue to the Polk County Board of Commissioners during the past few weeks – obtaining a sympathetic response but no solution is in sight so far.

“Essentially, it’s a huge chess game every day and my staff does their best to keep the number of available beds as high as we can, and maximize our space, but it all depends on who is in custody,” he said.

Where Vets Get Star Treatment

Just being there, listening and caring. A national study shows that’s key in reducing stress for veterans. And, tucked into an office next to a convenience store in Dallas, somebody’s there,listening and caring. The result: The kind of success that can lead to a near-doubling of workload.

“You provide good service to one veteran and they tell another," explained Eric Enderle, the Veteran Services Officer for the county. Mr. Enderle, a US Army veteran, has been tracking numbers since his arrival there more than a year ago. The Polk County Office now is logging 35-70 walk-ins monthly with nearly 300 calls made or received per month.

“He’s amazing,” Craig Pope, chair of the Polk County Board of Commissioners. “What he does over there is hard to believe.”
 
Veterans have someone helping them fill out forms that can seem cumbersome, even overwhelming.  The office has a reputation for timely processing of claims to the Veterans Administration (VA). But when they come to the office to file claims, often "I hear their stories, and I am able to respond to some of those issues, too," he said. How?
“The collaborative effort here is phenomenal," he said.

He cited the "Give an Hour" program, in which licensed, clinical psychologists donate time for veterans in need of counseling.    "But it isn't just that. Maybe someone needs a nice set of clothes for a job interview," he said. He can pick up the phone and get a business suit .

A crisis-intervention team can be called to help address mental-health needs. And recently, county commissioners approved an upgrade in position for Nikki Rak, who’s provided clerical support. Now she’s receiving special training. When she and Mr. Enderle were asked who’d take over some of her prior duties, they both seemed to draw a blank. “I guess we’ll figure that one out as we go,” Mr. Enderle said. -- AS

By Anne Scheck

On a recent Saturday in downtown Independence, opinions on the riverfront redevelopment site were as divided as the busy two-way traffic on Main Street. Bonnie Andrews, co-owner of Melting Pot Candy, thinks the hotel there will be a boon. She plans on selling to its patrons – and to the hotel itself. One of the shop's specialties, "Decadent Dark Chocolate Truffle" goes nicely with wine, she noted. She can picture the gourmet candy being served at rooftop events at The Independence Hotel, which is scheduled to open later this month.

Across the street, at the Riverview Farmer’s Market, some local residents expressed a different view. Several said they think a relatively upscale hotel will be a “tough sell” except during summer’s peak times. And some are worried about increased traffic – the city’s last traffic-system plan is now a dozen years old.

With such diverse views, who is likely to have the clearest crystal ball? Maybe someone with an outside view who is familiar both with small-city government and Independence.
          
“I totally understand why the merchants are excited," said John Oberst, the former longtime mayor of Independence’s sibling city, Monmouth. "And I also get why there is skepticism," he said. But he's "rooting for hotel's success" as the finishing touches are taking place. "What is good for Independence is good for Monmouth," he said.

At a time when there are several long unfinished downtown buildings, including the repurposing of the old city hall, the discussion of redevelopment in Independence continues.  At one meeting in late July, for example, a city official invoked “Stonehenge” as a description of Independence Station.
          
But Independence is no different than many other Oregon towns that have an Urban Renewal District. Through such districts, millions of dollars in incentives and infrastructure can be provided to attract new construction. The big benefit, aside from hoped-for revitalization, is tax-increment financing (TIF) from the redevelopment. It’s designed to return money spent for economic development – by designating the property at a base value, and then, as taxes rise due to the improvements on the land and building, the difference in tax revenue between the new value and the old one can be applied to pay on urban renewal debt.
          
This revenue source has been called “magic” by one of the most well-known experts on municipal funding in the Pacific Northwest, Spokane attorney Jeff Nave. Nearly a decade ago, he took issue with Washington State’s restrictions on TIF in an article for the Seattle Journal of Commerce. TIF is a good thing, allowing “a substantial amount of tax revenue (to) be diverted to the urban renewal agency,” he wrote. TIF is used far and wide, he observed.
          
However, one of the states that Mr. Nave cited as an example of good use of TIF – California, the place where it was invented – outlawed TIF more than five years ago. “City officials love TIF because it is essentially free money for them,” explained Randal O’Toole, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington DC.  The downside, he stressed, is something Californians discovered: TIF can mean comparatively less money for schools and other community services.
          
“Every Democrat in the (California) state legislature voted to abolish it,” noted Mr. O’Toole, who lives “outside the beltway” of the nation’s capital and right here in Oregon. TIF is associated with higher-density projects, like apartments, and TIF takes money away from public services that are funded by property taxes, he asserted.

Why? When taxes are raised, money from those hikes in the TIF district can stay earmarked for redevelopment. However, Oregon is more cautious about TIF than some states – it limits TIF districts to a certain percentage within the city’s urban growth boundary.

Still, debt is a concern because, for some cities, it becomes a funding source, according to Charles Marohn, founder and president of Strong Towns, which researches best-practice policies for cities. In his view, debt should be capped at 10% of a city’s locally-produced revenue. When asked about municipal debt in general, Mr. Marohn, an engineer, called the question a “big, important” one “that we’ve grappled with throughout the history of Strong Towns.”

Last year, a trio of academic researchers took a scientific look at municipal debt, to determine if there are ways to forecast financial stress for cities. Their study, “Local Fiscal Distress: Measurement and Prediction” in the journal Public Budgeting and Finance, found smaller cities are at higher risk of “fiscal distress.” The lead author, Evgenia Gorina PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, was asked about her findings. Put simply, one important factor is borrowing.

“The higher the debt per capita, the higher the odds of fiscal distress,” she explained. Independence, with a population of about 10,000, has a debt of approximately $37 million – the majority in bonds. The city ‘s savings account, called the Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP), has about $4 million in it.
          
In comparison, Monmouth, which has slightly more residents than Independence, has a debt about two-thirds that of Independence, with $10 million more in its LGIP – a savings account that totals around $14 million. Independence’s checking account stands at about $2 million; Monmouth’s is a little over a million dollars.

However, despite its debts – from founding the city’s municipal broadband MINET, from building the Civic Center and from providing incentives to the developer of Independence Landing – Independence has a balanced budget.  It was adopted this past year – at just over $30 million. And one priority is updating the city’s traffic system plan, the concern of citizens who regularly use the downtown area. As for the debt from urban renewal, including infrastructure for the hotel, a pretty upbeat opinion on that comes from one town over, just past the “S Curve.”

"Urban renewal districts are designed to take it on," said Mr. Oberst. As a former long-running mayor, he is in a position to know about the ups and downs of city revenue – Monmouth has an urban renewal debt, too.

Lodging Tax at Hotel Will Bring Revenue, With Strings Attached
 
As The Independence Hotel opens its doors, questions have arisen about how much a room will cost. Inquiries to hotel management have indicated about $175 per night for a double-queen room during weekends – and each room also carries an add-on known commonly as a “bed tax.”

This is one way the city aims to collect revenue, through a “lodging fee” of nine percent applied to the bill for the room. The provision, allowed under Oregon statute (ORS 320.350), also enables the state to collect 1.8%. However, state legislators amended that statute slightly in their last full session, through House Bill 4120, which requires the use of a “specified third party” to be involved in the collection of a bed-occupancy tax.

The bulk of the money collected for the city (70%) has to be used for tourism according to Xann Culver, operating and policy analyst for the Department of Revenue’s special programs. That is “pretty loosely defined, however,” she noted. Asked if it could be applied to festivals in Independence – some of which in the past have not earned back the cost of overhead – Ms. Culver said she thought it likely that this use might fall within the spirit of the law.
 
For a look at questions that have arisen over Independence Landing and other aspects of the Urban Renewal District see insert “Downtown Dispatch.”

The CIVICS LESSON:
Contemplating Public Art Decisions

Statue of Dan Weaver with dog

Cities commonly choose a sculpture similar to the one at the left through use of an arts council, commission or board. Salem has the former, Monmouth has an arts commission and Corvallis uses an advisory board. Independence doesn’t. And, when former Independence City Councilor Odi Campos-Santos questioned the council’s decision to approve a statue for Main Street back in September, he was alone in his objections.  He cast the only dissenting vote for the bronze likeness of Dan Weaver, which now sits beneath the clock on Main Street. Mr. Weaver, the longtime owner of an antique store and a beloved resident, seemed an ideal person to memorialize. 

Mr. Campos-Santos wasn’t expressing disapproval of the selection – only the way it occurred, which was without any public citizen input. It turns out that McMinnville – the city cited that night to councilors as an example of good use of such statuary – has a “Public Arts Council.” It helps determine where art is needed, what it should be, whether donor dollars can be attained and who should be awarded the contract for creating it. 

Already, Mr. Weaver’s likeness is becoming a city icon, but so far the information about him is only available elsewhere. A text request at the site is designed for community engagement. Unlike McMinnville’s statue of war hero Leonard DeWitt, there’s no plaque yet about Mr. Weaver.

The INDY HOP: A Sidewalk Fence For Libations

Tap Station fence

When Jubilee! in downtown Independence applied for a new liquor license to serve cocktails, the coffee-slash-champagne café was halted by a barrier. A real one. Even though it doesn’t even exist – yet. Jubilee! sought to expand its guest area to the outdoor sidewalk, but cars whizzing by on Main and Monmouth worried councilors about safety. After all, ingestion of mixed drinks has been associated with … well, happy times. So a barrier seemed like a good idea. But what kind? City staff apparently are still puzzling over this. Perhaps they need some examples. How about the rustic sawhorses at a Western-themed tavern? The decorative chains strung between two posts at some wine bars? In fact, about the only thing Oregon seems to prohibit is synthetic stucco. Perhaps Jubilee! should just copy another establishment on Main Street that just received liquor-license approval. The Tap Station has a sturdy black metal fence. 

DOWNTOWN DISPATCH
A SECOND LOOK AT CITY DEBT
 
The biggest sources of the Independence city debt are MINET, which was co-founded by Independence and Monmouth 13 years ago, and the Independence Civic Center, which was built nearly a decade ago. The combined price tag for Independence exceeded $20 million at the time.
 
MINET was designed to be self-sustaining with continual payback for its start-up costs. Bonds to build the nearly 37,000-square-foot civic center were to be repaid by Tax Increment Financing (TIF).
    
Instead, both projects remain heavily indebted – a percentage of residential water bills go to payments for each. TIF hasn’t materialized in the amount needed for the civic center.
 
The “Event Center,” the meeting rooms on the lower floor of the civic center, has remained a source of some controversy. It was done without bond financing, for more needed space – with the promise that frequent rentals would subsidize it. Now the hotel will manage it – and one plan that’s been floated would give these private investors full access with no fee, other than custodial and equipment fees.
 
To address the matter, questions about them were put to individuals outside the city who are familiar with the issues – a former mayor and, also, the vice president of Tokola Properties, the company developing much of Independence Landing.
 
John Oberst, former mayor of Monmouth who was on board at MINET’s inception, weighed in on the high-speed municipal fiberoptic – with optimism. He began by responding to the observation that some residents have said they can get less expensive service by subscribing to a different internet provider. A recent hand-out at the civic center underscores that concern – it lists two other telecommunications companies – Spectrum and Century Link – before MINET. It fails to note that the city co-owns MINET. 
 
John Oberst: Residents have been unclear on that distinction. We have to cover the MINET debt because it is really not MINET’s debt, it is the cities’ debt. We own it.  If we don't cover the shortfall, we default. 
 
 MINET General Manager Don Patten walked into a bad situation, immediately got to work to fix it, and continues to make it better. MINET will be generating enough income to pay its operating expenses and cover the debt – and it will begin to pay the cities back for past debt coverage.  
 
The payments to the cities will continue until the debt is retired because the loans were taken by the cities on MINET's behalf.  The difference is that the payments to the cities will be in full, instead of requiring ‘back-filling.’ I believe MINET will begin to repay the cities for the portions of the payments the cities had to cover because MINET wasn't generating enough revenue.
 
The cities will continue to pay the debt, but MINET will provide all the needed funds, and eventually will do that plus begin to pay the cities back for past loan coverage. And, if they get that done, it will be long-term positive cash flow to the cities.
 
Jeff Edinger, vice president of Gresham-based Tokola Properties, has been the point of contact for the hotel development and the planned  apartment-townhouse project next to it. He predicted a July opening for The Independence Hotel, but since then, has been revised to later this month. Mr. Edinger was asked several weeks ago about the negotiations by the hotel and city on use of the Civic Center event center.
 
Jeff Edinger: The Embarcadero Hospitality Group – the company hired to manage and run the day-to-day operation of The Independence Hotel – is working with the city on a mutually beneficial agreement to activate, and manage, the Civic Center Conference Center.
         
(Note: Independence City Manager Tom Pessemier has pledged to bring the prospective contract between the hotel and the city for management of the city’s event center to the Independence City Council for public discussion. Mr. Pessemier, who joined the city last December, just finished his first six months officially on job in July.

UPDATE

A “material deficiency” in city book-keeping, which was identified by an outside municipal auditor, was due to unrecorded “loan proceeds” from the 2017 refinancing of the MINET and Independence Civic Center Bonds. The amount that hadn’t been recorded was $10,915,115. It’s now recorded, correcting the error, which didn’t affect the city budget.

EDITORIAL

Preface: A survey by the Polk County Board of Commissioners to determine rural needs and preferences for internet services hasn’t included the municipal broadband company MINET, which was founded by Independence and Monmouth more than a dozen years ago. The general manager of MINET has called for unity in this effort. In an editorial for The Independent, he explains why he believes collaboration is essential.
 
MINET:  What We Know
 
by Don Patten
General manager of MINET
 
You all know MINET as your great, local provider of internet, phone and TV services.  MINET is all that, and even more:  MINET is also research engine.
 
MINET as a research engine continually adds to its knowledge base to be prepared for opportunity. 
 
Seneca the Younger, born in 4 BC, said, “Luck (success) is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”  MINET embraces this ancient wisdom.  The MINET of today doesn’t take a step or make a change without copious research. 
 
Imagine the research that was accumulated to accomplish the expansion we made into the Dallas, Oregon market.  Other expansion opportunities are being explored, and along with very detailed business planning, this is generating even more research.  Indeed, MINET is a research engine, and todays MINET keeps records. 
 
MINET, as a quasi-governmental agency, feels a kinship and a responsibility to assist other governmental bodies.  Whether it’s MINET’s two owner cities, the Polk County Commissioners, the governor’s task force on broadband, or the state of Oregon Broadband Commission all are welcome to properly access the volumes of research accumulated by MINET.
 
MINET has made presentations nationwide to cities interested in owning or attracting their own broadband infrastructures.  These presentations have drawn from MINET’s own well of research and documentation.
 
The General Manager of MINET has been called – repeatedly – to Washington, D.C., to confer with Senate Committees about deployment of broadband to rural areas.  What he – and MINET – knows has become valuable to Senators as they make national-level broadband decisions.
 
Does MINET carefully guard this information?  Unconditionally.  Sensitive business done by MINET’s Board of Directors is restricted to executive session.  Sharing information with other governmental agencies would be done with the same expectation of confidentiality.  Senate sessions are closed.  Take-aways from presentations are restricted to generic information.  
 
But via the government-to-government conduit, MINET is comfortable – even eager – to share its informational wealth.  Those respective agencies, as noted above, have but to ask.

TRAUMA LESSONS FOR THE STREET & ON THE JOB
        The Independence Police Department Embraces New Approaches

Using a soft voice and leaning forward in a sympathetic stance, Officer Grant Hedrick gently questioned the person who had just been the subject of an emergency call – the cowering man was convinced he was being watched by an outside force of some kind. "What is it that is bothering you?" Officer Hedrick asked. "Can I help?" The man, hunched over, began to straighten, then mumbled a response. 
 
Officer Hedrick slowly continued his line of inquiry. “How are you feeling?” Then he asked if there was anything the man might need – including some medicine he might have on hand. If so, what was it? Where was it kept?
 
As the seconds led to minutes, the conversation became two-way, and it appeared that a sense of trust was being established. "That was really good," said Sgt. Tyrone Jenkins of the encounter. 
 
It was all part of a training exercise being overseen, in part, by Sgt. Jenkins, the coordinator at the time for the county sheriff’s office of crisis- intervention-team training. The training program, which was held at the Independence Civic Center last December, asked first responders and police officers to role-play difficult and troubled individuals who often are reported by 9-1-1 calls.  
 
Then Sgt. Jenkins and others observed as certain attendees – Officer Hedrick among them – used the tools they learned to deal with a peer pretending to be in the throes of a mental health crisis.  
 
Officer Hedrick earned praise from Sgt. Jenkins for continuing to prod in a non-confrontational way while gathering facts that could help determine what the man was experiencing.
 
What did this distraught person see that was so unusual? (It wasn't what he was seeing – he knew he was being spied on through the wall). Where was the threat in the wall? (It was the light socket). The steady, soft-toned talk was effective, the sergeant observed. 
 
Officer Hedrick, who joined the Independence Police Department four years ago, demonstrated what Sgt. Jenkins said is the kind of soothing presence needed when dealing with the challenge of someone in an altered mental state.
 
A few in attendance ventured a guess at what the symptoms showed, as the example unfolded. Was it schizophrenia? A psychotic episode? A drug-induced break with reality? 
 
Sgt. Jenkins cautioned that trying to determine an underlying cause to diagnose wasn't the aim. The approach – neutral, non-threatening and reassuring – was a way to obtain information and avoid physical force in taking the person into custody. In short, to build rapport through empathy while still maintaining officer safety.
 
Why is this so important? Being able to understand and manage emotionally overwrought individuals, some of whom have serious mental health issues, increases the capacity of local first responders and law enforcement in several ways, according to the Oregon Center on Behavioral Health and Justice Integration, a partner of the Oregon Health Authority.  
           
Newer approaches, such as those that were the subject of the December training, cut down on incarcerations that could be considered inappropriate; Provide the means to better identification of individuals who need help from mental health providers; Foster relationship-building among agencies, leading to better access to mental-health assistance.  
 
And helping law enforcement personnel broaden their perspective on criminality is important to Independence Police Chief Robert Mason. A decade ago, Chief Mason didn't consider the Independence Police Department to be first responders for those in a mental health crisis. He'd always appreciated that the "human element" could de-escalate a situation – the trusting connection that some police officers seem capable of making with an alleged perpetrator when an arrest is made. Now, that quality isn't just seen as valuable. It's essential, he said.
 
"Mental health is a big issue," he said, an observation backed up by data. A third of those with serious mental health issues go without services in any given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The result: Anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress, are part of the mix in the commission of crimes.
 
For example, one of the IDP officers recently answered a call in which an instance of stealing grocery items was reported by a local market. When the officer showed up, the alleged thief hurled one of the items at him. "This officer almost immediately suspected schizophrenia," Chief Mason recalled. So instead of arresting the man, the officer engaged him in conversation, then followed him home. That's where he left him – at home.  
          
He (the officer) was pretty convinced he was delusional," Chief Mason said. The next day the man was taken into custody, from his home, without incident. "I have to say, when I heard about this, I had a few questions," he said. However, upon learning the outcome, "I couldn't say it wasn't the right decision."
 
Another change is the reliance on Salem's dispatch center, where recipients of those urgent phone calls seem very skilled at predicting when mental health issues are playing a role, he said. "Some of these people can tell just by the tone of the voice of the caller that something (psychologically) is going on," he said. In such cases, a Mobile Crisis Team may be called, which includes an officer trained in handling mental-health emergencies teamed up with a qualified mental health practitioner.
 
There are three main reasons for the rise in mental health-related police calls, according to Chief Mason. The first is that institutionalization often is a last resort. There used to be facilities to house the homeless who are suffering from a mental health crisis, but the state has closed many of them (see Q&A insert topic, State-Mandated Facility Closures).
        
The second cause is the rise in addiction, particularly to opioids. "We see this even in a small town," he said. Among some residents, the addiction may not surface for a relatively long time. "They're high-functioning, and then they're not," he said. And mental health is compromised. "They go hand-in-hand," he said.

The third reason is the rise in youth crime that seems linked to higher levels of maladjustment. However, this younger-based mental-health epidemic isn't yet fully understood. Is it because home-based discipline that teaches good boundary-setting has gone out of fashion? Does it have to do with the rise in social media, which is making face-to-face conflicts harder for teens and young adults to manage?
 
Is it the wider availability of drugs – marijuana now is legally kept in many medicine cabinets, along with prescription drugs?
 
"We don't know why," he said (see Q&A insert topic, Youth Behavior Changes & Drug Use).

Ten years ago, the quality of gentle persuasion was not one that sprang to mind when he was interviewing prospective police candidates, the chief said (photo at left). "What we look at now in hiring has changed," he explained. "The idea that bigger, stronger is better – not so important anymore," he said. Where once the criterion was "who looks like they can handle themselves in a fight" now it has become "who has good critical thinking skills?" (see Q&A insert topic, New Challenges and New Approaches)

The Independent Q&A:
Top Public Safety Officials on Trauma, Homelessness, Mental Illness and Other New Job Demands

Youth Behavior Changes and Drug Use

There are reports that trauma is impacting younger populations, and that, due to lack of treatment access, there is rising drug addiction in youth. Children are said to be coming of age without coping skills but with more access to illegal, self-medicating drugs. Is it true of Independence? 
 
Independence Police Chief Robert Mason (photo at left): The age of kids who are having serious problems seems to be getting younger. I don’t have any stats to back that up. In general, that’s what seems to be happening. And there’s more co-parenting without living in the same house, which can be difficult. 
 

Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton: Yes, I feel we are seeing this more and more – younger and younger kids being victims of serious trauma that end up addicted to some kind of drug as a result.  I think that drugs – alcohol, tabaco, marijuana, prescriptions and other illicit drugs – are pretty available to minors, some more than others. 
 
Deputy Chief Neal Olson, Polk County Fire District No. 1: I absolutely agree that trauma is impacting our younger populations.  We are seeing an increase in calls for service regarding mental health in children.  Although we do not see a large number of these patients, we often respond to the same patient multiple times with more severe problems than I have witnessed in years passed.  As the adult population experiences an increase in mental health issues, we can expect to see those same problems in our youth.  As adults struggle with drug, alcohol and other addictions, so do youth.  I believe children are self-medicating much more easily and drastically than previous generations, specifically using marijuana.  
                                                               
Police Chief Mason: I think there is still a lot to learn about how we address these issues. Do we want 11-year-olds locked up? No, I don’t think we do.
 
Why are these problems surfacing now?
 
Police Chief Mason: A kid who used to act up got disciplined. But what can happen now when a child is seen as out-of-control? We get calls now from parents saying “I don’t know what to do. My kid says if I do anything they are going to call the Department of Human Services about me.” So, there are parents out there who don’t believe they have the right to discipline their kids. They don’t feel empowered to deal with it. Some are afraid of the system.
 
Sheriff Garton: Parents may be working one or two jobs, going to school, etc., and not be able to be at home as much as they once were.  In some situations, there are kids raising kids, so when kids have to deal with trauma they don’t know how and may turn to drugs in an attempt to cope because they don’t know any better.  
 
Deputy Fire Chief Olson: I think these problems have always been here.  However, we are learning more about mental health, as a society, and addressing it.  We are talking about trauma, we are talking about mental health, we are talking about drug addiction.  We have come to a breaking point, a point where we can no longer ignore mental health and addiction.  
 
State-Mandated Facility Closures

What about the adults who have mental-health issues, and then literally end up on the street?
 
Police Chief Mason: We get asked by the public to deal with this -- the homeless. But we can only do something about it if the people who own the property don’t want them there. We’ve had people say: “Well, why not take them to Salem? It is more equipped there to handle the homeless.” They don’t comprehend a homeless person wanting to be here, seeing this as their home, not wanting to leave. It can be hard to understand.
 
Sheriff Garton: It's not a crime to be homeless, unless there is trespassing. But we get calls from people who want us to go deal with someone who is sleeping on a sidewalk or something like that.  We don’t have any true homeless shelters in Polk County, so it makes it difficult at times. We are not really the best people to deal with the homelessness issue, so we utilize the Polk County Resource Center, which has many services co-located within their office and can typically begin helping the situation immediately.   
 
Chief Ben Stange, Polk County Fire District No. 1: We’re called upon for mental health issues among the homeless population. Communicating with these populations can be difficult. Our interactions are very brief and the help they need is obviously long-term. For us, however, the mental health problems in the homeless population aren't as large as in some other areas of the state. What people ignore, however, is the larger issue of mental health issues that manifest in a different medical condition. 
 
Do you know how frequently that is happening?
 
Fire Chief Stange: It is extremely difficult for us to track this. We get dispatched on some calls in which the primary complaint is a mental health issue. But more often, we get dispatched on diabetic issues, hypertensive individuals, or people with various other medical issues that are taking place because their mental health issue has kept them from taking the steps to prevent these issues. 
 
Can you elaborate?
 
Fire Chief Stange: This includes things like scheduling and keeping medical appointments, and filling and taking the appropriate medications, assuming the person is in a financial position to have access to these things. When we chart these issues, the manifestation is a physical health problem and we have short-term ways to help treat those health issues. The longer term, and additional underlying issue, is the mental health issue.
 
Deputy Fire Chief Olson: It is no longer "somebody else's problem.” I think the drug epidemic is compounding our mental health problem.  Years ago, the drugs available were primarily opiates -- heroin and opium – and marijuana, alcohol and some amphetamines.  Today, science has changed the face of the drug world, both legal and illegal. Marijuana is available in a
variety of forms and concentrations (with far greater potency). 
                                                                                                   
New Challenges and New Approaches

Has this changed the approach you use for doing your job?
 
Police Chief Mason: Today, the ability to communicate well and to arrive at a really logical conclusion given a set of facts is much more important. Society now is demanding that you cannot treat every situation as if the situation is a hammer and there is a nail. The core job has changed a lot. Using critical thinking skills on the job and finding solutions is essential.
 
Fire Chief Stange: We have a relatively young workforce. Most of our Firefighter/Paramedics are in their thirties. So, I think most of us have grown into our careers as this issue has received increased attention making us very conscious of it. I think the result is that our personnel focus a lot of their frustration at the system and not at the individual. 
 
Sheriff Garton: Our job has changed a lot, especially in the last 10 years and it's going away from what you typically see on TV to more communication-based policing, along with community policing strategies. We hold different trainings than we have in the past, including crisis intervention training and conflict resolution. We have to adapt the best we can to every possible type of situation, because that’s what is expected of us. 
 
Specifically, what are some the steps you are taking?
 
Sheriff Garton: We have also deployed a Mobile Crisis Response Team that works everywhere in Polk County. This team pairs a deputy sheriff with a mental health clinician who responds to mental health-related calls throughout the county.  They’re really busy handling their own calls along with helping each individual agency in Polk County with mental health related calls, as well. This team has shown progress since its inception in late 2016.   We are now able to deliver critical mental health service at the time of crisis, not days or weeks later.  This is a complete shift from where we have been – and it has produced positive results. 
 
Fire Chief Stange: In our strategic plan, adopted by our Board of Directors, one of our objectives is to "create process to help customers become less dependent on emergent response." The action steps are largely centered around creating an algorithm to follow in order to ensure that the patient is receiving the services they need. So, this is something we are very aware of, and interested in, being a part of the resolution.

The CIVICS LESSON:  When Unbuckled Breaks the Law

Thanks to a transportation grant, the Independence Police Department (IPD) recently conducted a special patrol effort to determine violators of the state’s seat-belt law. Officers volunteered to work overtime to scout for people not wearing the safety restraint. Regular IPD patrol staff conducted business as usual, while other officers looked for “telltale signs of non-compliance,” such as hanging straps, according George Lopez, a former IPD officer. “We can generally see when people are hurrying to get them on as we walk up to their vehicle, which helps confirm what we had observed before stopping the vehicle,” he said.  

The INDY HOP: Historic Code is a Sign of the Times

 Just when you thought code revisions at the City of Independence would reduce  confusion over what is permitted, along comes … historic signage!  Recently, the city’s Historic Planning Commission grappled with the code in a  long and intense session, as new business owners of The Pearl on C Street,  Kathryn and Jeff Tharp, sought to hang a sign at their shop. At issue: Where it  would be hung, how it would be posted, the manner in which it would be viewed  and the materials proposed to create it. Following close examination of  a photo – showing the shape, size and appearance -- the pair won approval.  Who knew controversy could ignite over an item most people read only for identification purposes, without giving it a second
                                                                                  thought? Well, one sign expert foresaw it, actually.

In a reference on the city website, Michael Auer, a historic preservation authority, labeled sign-evaluating tasks “a major paradox.” He served the National Park Service in that capacity. A call to Mr. Auer elicited this response: “I wouldn’t be too terribly comfortable speaking on a matter before a local review board.” However, Ed Matteo, who owns Independence Nursery and Water Gardens, seemed at ease addressing sign complications. His business displays a sign with the city name spelled wrong (see photo). “It’s been that way for years,” he said. “Only one person noticed it.” With its colors fading, he expects to get a new one in the near future “with all the right letters.” 

The Annual Education Issue
        CHS 2019 Graduates Choose Money-Saving Education Options for Future
 
By Anne Scheck

Meet Terri Churchill. Or maybe you already know her? She’s known as the super-mom volunteer of Central High School’s (CHS) graduating class. She (pictured above) and other parents organized fundraisers so effectively this year that a drug-and-alcohol-free party for 2019 CHS seniors – a trip to Bullwinkle’s Fun Center in Wilsonville – cost the graduates nearly nothing.
 
She’s hoping the same is true of her son’s post-CHS education.
 
“I’m still paying for my own college debt, so I’m happy he’s thinking about ways to avoid that,” she said. For her son, Kobie, who’s interested in mechanics, an apprenticeship is a likely option, she said. Like many in CHS’s class of 2019, he won’t be pursuing more education in the traditional pack-up-the-suitcases and off-to-the-dorm kind of way that seemed popular in the past. 
 
“In the current state of American politics and economics, a four-year university and dorm life simply isn’t nearly as accessible as it used to be, so it’s natural that this generation of high school graduates wouldn’t gravitate in that direction,” said CHS student Amanda Larios, who seemed to be speaking for many of her classmates.
 
From seeking trade-skill training to opting for part-time enrollment in college, many of this year’s seniors are finding ways to slash the costs of higher education. This year's graduating class isn’t the first one that’s affected by the threat of college debt, but it seems to be a group that is more reluctant about taking substantial loans for college.
 
It’s also a group that shows an inclination toward finding the right fit in this economy – trade, apprenticeship and "gap" year options, said Marco Aguirre, college and career coordinator for CHS.
 
Interviews with several of the CHS’s graduating class – even with some students who consider themselves highly academic – indicate that many are heading to community college rather than a four-year campus. “I just don’t want the debt that comes from going straight to a university,” said one honor-winning senior.
 
Also, trade school and other vocational training now is viewed as secondary education, explained Van Holstad, who teaches social studies at CHS. These training programs – from drone-building to culinary arts – can be appealing because they don’t carry the same cost as a traditional four- year degree, he noted.
 
“This allows them (students) to start accumulating savings right away, without having to repay large loans,” he observed.
 
Twenty years after Oregon high school students climbed to a new peak enrollment at four-year universities, Oregon still puts more dollars into higher education than a majority of other states. However, expenses on these campuses continue to grow faster than the state revenue allocated to them.
 
Some students at CHS are headed off to four-year schools, including private institutions like Willamette University in Salem and the University of Portland. But the “Oregon Promise,” a tuition subsidy at two-year state colleges, makes Chemeketa Community College a major draw.  (The “Oregon Promise” is available to most students who graduate with a 2.5 grade-point).
 
Since its start nearly five years ago, the “Oregon Promise” has increased enrollment at the state’s community colleges by four and five percentage points, according to a study that evaluated its effects, published this spring by Oded Gurantz PhD, assistant professor at the University of Missouri’s Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs. (See CHS Principal Donna Servignat’s profile in The Bulletin Board.)                                                          
 
And worries over money can go a long way toward derailing even high academic achievers once they unpack those suitcases in a freshman residence hall. In an investigation that followed the entering class of a large public university, those students who didn’t feel pressured by debt – a situation researchers call “feeling financial security” – performed just as well as their SAT scores and high-school grades predicted they would.
 
But this wasn’t true for the very same academically-oriented, high-level freshmen students who had “significant concerns about meeting their financial obligations in college,” according to the study’s author, Carrie Leana PhD, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
“Students who were worried about paying for college were less likely to realize their academic potential,” she concluded. "The cost of college is pretty daunting," agreed Paul Evans, Oregon state representative for Independence and an alumnus of CHS. However, that isn't the only reason for the shift away from signing on for four continual years of higher education at a university, he said. The workforce needs are changing -- there is a growing need for trade talent, he said.
 
At one time, that was solved – at least partially – by joining the military, Rep. Evans explained. However, those technical-training programs have declined while others in the private sector have grown.
 
To some extent, this new model represents a kind of “apprenticeship programming,” allowing students to get the sort of hands-on education that often allows them to work while learning. "It's a trend we need to pay attention to," he said.
 
Such high-school graduates are showing "an ability to think innovatively," he observed.
 
But CHS’s career counselor Mr. Aguirre cautioned that some students need to explore funding alternatives more fully. There are scholarships available, said Mr. Aguirre, who has helped some students locate those resources. For example, he found scholarship money for a student who wanted to get auto-mechanic training – and for whom even the price of that program was a barrier. "You don't have to have all this debt," Mr. Aguirre said.

CHS Moms Say Their Grads Found Ways to Cut Costs

At a parent meeting in preparation for the CHS senior trip, several mothers of graduating high school seniors said their children were cutting the costs of higher education by going a route than wasn’t taken so often by their diploma-earning predecessors a decade ago.
 
One reported that her offspring will attend Western Oregon University – but live at home, not in a residence hall, to save money; Two of the CHS grads are headed off to two-year community college programs, one with vocational training in mind; Another is taking some time to decide the best course of action, which in the past was referred to as a “gap year” but not now. Today it’s often called a “work year,” a period seen as a way to make a more-informed career decision and earn money for whatever educational  path lies ahead.

The CIVICS LESSON:  Student Success Act Passes
       Central District’s Superintendent Weighs In On New Law
 
The Student Success Act, which flew through the legislature this spring and is expected to inject about a billion dollars into Oregon public schools this next year, comes with a few strings attached. School districts must develop a “continuous improvement plan” and show evidence of it, such as frequent meetings with parents and teachers aimed at improving outcomes.
           
Asked about this provision, Jennifer Kubista EdD, superintendent of Central School District 13J, said administrators are still waiting for more guidance from the Oregon Department of Education on the issue. But she’s been holding public forums for the past several months at schools throughout the district.            
 
“I believe our approach, through the community and staff chats, meets part of the criteria.” she said. “Once the draft strategic plan and continuous improvement plan is developed, we will again have several community meetings for community, families, and staff to review and give additional feedback,” she added.

The INDY HOP: The Rumor Mill and Roth’s Grocery
      Will Central High School Students Lose A Lunch Venue?
 
The rumor mill has it that Roth’s grocery store, the lunch haunt of many a Central High school student, may be moving up Monmouth Avenue to the “S Curve.” Executives at the store’s headquarters, in West Salem, declined to comment on this widely speculated relocation. However, clerks at the store say if there is a westward move to the site a few blocks away – which isn’t certain – they’re going to miss some of the CHS regulars who pop in around noontime for cheese sticks and ice cream bars.
 
The vocal, fast-moving CHS consumers seem reflective of a finding this spring by Piper Jaffray, an investment banking group, which surveyed teens to determine where they put their money. Top spending for male adolescents was on food; Meal and snack-buying came in at number two for their female peers – behind shopping, with shoes leading that list of purchased items. It’s not known what percentage of Roth’s clientele is represented by those food-seeking forays from CHS customers coming across the street. But dining on food items from the grocery aisles now practically is a panther tradition.  

THE BULLETIN BOARD
           Central High School Principal Looks Bock on Her First Year

Many of the students of Central High School’s 2019 graduating class have something fairly significant in common with their principal – community college. Some CHS seniors are seeking the same advantage at a two-year institution that Principal Donna Servignat (photo at left) sought when she started her college education – substantial cost savings.
 
Eventually, Ms. Servignat went on to a four-year university, then got a master’s degree and taught French before moving into school administration. Then, after serving as one of four vice principals at Hillsboro High School in suburban Portland, she was hired for the top job at CHS.
 
She stepped into a role preceded by three previous years in which different principals were at the CHS helm. That makes her the fourth principal in as many years. How is she feeling about her first year on the job? Just fine, she said. But that’s not the way others say they perceive her. An unofficial poll of teachers and students buttonholed in the main CHS hallway this spring for their opinion say she’s not doing fine, she’s
                                                               doing great.
 
As she reflects over the past year, Ms. Servignat called it one of learning -- about the students, the teachers, the families, the place. It was a time of “building relationships,” she said.  But it came during a period of some tumult, of such acute budget tightening that regular school was called off for a walk-out that convened at the state capitol as teachers and others protested for more state educational funding. 
  
In an educational era when collective-bargaining clashes are common and high schools face challenges ranging from student mental health crises to pressure for pumping up scores on statewide testing, “I think it's important to believe in ‘positive intent,’” Ms. Servignat said.
 
No matter what the point of contention is, “advocacy is coming from a place of passion,” she stressed. The perspective of “positive intent” helps keep her from taking anything too personally, she added.       
 
Known as a good listener, Ms. Servignat said it takes more than hearing what’s said to reach conclusions about festering issues. Nor is it simply the ability to come up with a compromise. “It’s not just asking ‘How can I give a little?’ to make something work out,” she said.                                         
 
She doesn’t think she achieved this personal style on her own. She got a big part of it growing up as the daughter of a teacher, in San Diego. She often assisted in her mother’s classroom after school, sometimes by helping students with their homework. “It was an early connection to the people-oriented aspect” of the profession, she recalled. This early mentoring led her to become a tutor, which helped her earn money in college.
 
She also gained confidence and poise through performing arts, which also are a big part of life for some students at CHS. As a teenager and college student, she acted in plays and musicals. But it wasn’t just the time on stage that provided personal growth – she learned organizational skills backstage, too. Putting on a theatrical production required attention to detail and meeting deadlines, which helped her prepare for a career in fast-changing education.
 
Making swift transitions are a current part of her personal life, too. She’s the mother of two adolescents, and she commutes from the Portland area to CHS. “Seeing (my own) kids go through these changes has been very helpful,” she said. And, as for the drive down the I-5: “I love coming to work every day,” she said. “I really do.”

In fact, the high variability is her favorite part of the job, she said. And she especially loves the flexibility of life at CHS. At Hillsboro, “we had to align with three other high schools,” she said. “Here it’s easier to shift, to change and to adjust,” she said.

By Anne Scheck

As city staff toil over finalizing a new budget, two revenue-generating predictions need revising -- the May opening of the Independence Hotel and the spring construction of Osprey Point. 
 
July is the soonest the hotel is expected to open for the public; Osprey Point remains a vacant lot, with plans for a mixed-use development. Both buildings were forecast to become the first two businesses of urban renewal along the riverfront, now called Independence Landing.  
 
In fact, the Independence Hotel and Osprey Point were listed as commercial factors in the message of the adopted budget for fiscal year 2018-2019. “This budget is built upon realistic assumptions, a lot of operational planning and a keen eye toward managing the public’s resources responsibly and sustainably,” wrote former city manager David Clyne before referencing this month as the opening date for the hotel and springtime as the period of near-completion for Osprey Point.  
 
As Independence heads into summer with a $37-million debt, last year’s promise of new tax revenue from the city’s urban renewal program seems worthy of a closer look – the city now is more indebted than many of its municipal counterparts. 
 
And city spending appears an upward trend. For example, in the fiscal year of 2018-to-2019, a $4 million gap lies between the nearly $23 million projected requirement for 2018 and the almost $27 million for the proposed 2018-19 budget. 
 
That $4M difference can be met by grant money when it’s obtained, and most funds have a budgeted contingency account, according to the city’s finance director, Gloria Butsch.  
 
As she explained: “We do not generally budget for receipt and expenditure of a grant unless we already have some kind of commitment from a grantor.” (For an explanation of the city’s most recent grant application, see “Grant Would Make City Ground Zero for Ag Tech,” in Downtown Dispatch.)
 
Independence has been counting on more tax revenue in the form of what is called tax-increment financing (TIF), which is future tax money from transforming the riverfront into development. The taxable value of land at Independence Landing is expected to increase substantially as construction occurs, and the new tax revenue -- the TIF -- can be used to repay the money that the city initially provided to fund the project. And the TIF can be used in other ways by municipal governments, as well. 
 
In fact, the TIF is an important goal in most urban renewal programs, like the one in Independence, where the city designated an area in need of improvement as an “urban renewal district.” Independence Landing, which once was home to a concrete company by the Willamette River, lies inside the boundary of that district. Under such urban-renewal efforts, bonds can be sold to raise money to acquire land.
 
The bond money also can be used to create incentives for developers, including discounts on the purchase price of the property. For example, at Independence Landing, the city paid $800,000 for the land and invested more than $400,000 to grade the property. Tokola Properties paid $162,000 for the parcels by the river, and pledged to build the hotel, apartments and townhouses at the site. 
 
Independence also sunk several million dollars into building a new street there – Osprey Lane -- and other infrastructure necessities, including a traffic circle.
 
As a result, the TIF has been repeatedly cited by city staff as one way that Independence can address and manage the city debt, which is comparatively high when contrasted with neighboring towns.  
 
In Polk County, Dallas has a debt level about a third that of the one in Independence. Monmouth’s debt is just under two-thirds of the Independence debt load – and Monmouth's obligation is 10% higher for repaying what's owed for MINET, the municipal fiberoptic company that Independence and Monmouth co-founded. 
 
In 2016, Independence estimated that about half of its share of the MINET debt -- nearly $13 million -- is “non-collectible,” technically labeling it a “doubtful account.”
 
But, in recent years, MINET has paid more toward that debt than in the past, reducing the amount the two cities are required to pay annually. Additionally, the TIF money has been proposed as one way to ease that loan burden, as well.
 
“Independence behaves as if it’s a city of 50,000,” observed Sean O’Day, executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments. Asked whether that’s worrisome or admirable, Mr. O’Day said the answer lies in the future.  

It’s got 75 rooms, a new name and million-dollar views. It’s the Independence Hotel, and it’s taking applications this month for personnel. 

“Our goal is to have the hotel open to the public by the Fourth of July," said Jeff Edinger, vice president of Tokola Properties, based in Gresham OR. The July holiday weekend is a "sliding date,” he said. However, guests are expected to be able to start reserving rooms in June.

Both “The Independence Hotel,” and “The Dundee Hotel,” located in Dundee, will fall under the Trace Hotel brand. There are plans for additional Trace hotels, as well, he said. 

The parking lot, which flanks the hotel, will have 80 parking spaces. Asked if parking would be a challenge -- complaints about it have continued to grow on downtown's Main Street -- Mr. Edinger observed that when parking starts to become an issue it can be viewed somewhat positively.

"It can be a good thing," he said, explaining that this may mean a more heavily utilized downtown.

Almost every merchant on Main Street, along with Independence City Manager Tom Pessemier, believes that the new hotel will be good for the city. "It's a great addition for us," Mr. Pessemier affirmed. But how great? Generally, what influences hotel occupancy -- apart from natural tourist demand -- is marketing and economics, according to city planners.
 
Promotion for the hotel doesn't seem to have begun, but Oregon has an economist, Josh Lehner, who regularly reports on the health of the state economy. So he was asked to weigh in. Oregon's economy remains strong, he said, though spending has slowed some. And it shows a clear “demographic impact,” said Mr. Lehner, of the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis. In older households, “we see things like car and furniture sales decline the most,” he noted.
 
Yet baby boomers are typical hotel customers. They take four-to-five leisure trips annually, according to a 2019 AARP poll. And about half of “boomer” travel is expected to take place domestically -- many vacation plans are the kind of “getaway” that can mean regional trips.        
 
The Independence Hotel has geared up to attract a younger crowd, too -- outdoor enthusiasts, like bicyclists, with "bike-friendly" touches. Nearby vineyards are expected to draw wine buffs. 

 Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch? A sweeping new law, the Student Success Act, means hungry public-school students can get no-cost meals more easily. That could be important for Central School District 13J, which has racked up thousands of dollars of debt to provide free lunches. This spring, when Gov. Kate Brown signed the act into law, it meant about a billion- dollar package annually -- and its likely to more than double the number of schools able to offer free lunches.  An estimated 762 schools with the highest need will be able give meals to all children and youth at no charge and without applications, which have proven a deterrent to families fearful of the forms. 
 
"Giving more schools and families the tools to focus on serving good meals to kids isn't just good for reducing debt," said Matt Newell-Ching, public affairs director for Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon.  "Decades of research shows students who eat school meals are more likely to do better in school and life," he said. For the remaining estimated 484 schools, targeted support will be undertaken, in part by raising family-income eligibility, he said. Oregon would be the first state to enact this expanded policy.  

It may be time to add an address to the city's famed Ghost Walk.

Sarah, a gentle soul, seems to be residing at the pinkest place in town -- The Pink House Cafe, in downtown Independence. "We were contacted by Big River Paranormal, which had conducted research on the area and indicated they had identified this house," explained Brenda Farley, owner of the restaurant.  The nearly 20-year-old company recently conducted an on-site investigation for suspected ghostly phenomena at the home-turned-restaurant, which was built in the 1870s. The results were promising -- and a second visit is in the works.
 
But Ms. Farley doesn't need any follow-up to know there's a ghost. "I'd hear noises upstairs, creaks and clangs, but it just felt like, if there was something there, it didn't want to do me any harm," she said.
 
Once she felt a gentle burst of air lift her hair while she sat quietly at one of the dining tables. It felt like a tender gesture from a “friendly, female presence," she said. So she's given it her favorite name: Sarah. Will Sarah qualify for the Ghost Walk? Ms. Farley isn't sure. So far, the event doesn't seem to feature spirits that are really nice to have around.

Can you imagine a town center that combines agriculture and technology? Independence’s economic development director can – and he’s applied for a federal grant of $650,000 to make that "hub" happen in the city’s downtown.
 
The project aims to create a three-year program of opportunities for higher-level learning in agriculture and technology, and it’s also designed to help people from different backgrounds interact -- ideally farmers and technology professionals. Indy Commons will provide the core office space.   
 
The grant proposal includes matches of in-kind services from about a dozen prospective participants, many of whom already have been attending “Ag-Tech” workshops and meet-ups that the city’s been hosting since 2015. “It is just taking what we've been doing and putting it on steroids," said Shawn Irvine, Independence's economic development director and the author of the grant. The City of Independence will kick in $20,000, Mr. Irvine said. 
 
Independence will be assisted by the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), a group that has been helping with the ag-tech effort for the city since its inception. 
 
“TAO will play a role as a connector and amplifier,” Mr. Irvine said. “We’ll be relying on TAO’s expertise, to help us spin up the first couple of events.”                              
 
The goal is problem-solving and, just as importantly, community bonding. One example is the "reverse pitch" competitions "where farmers come in, maybe wanting a solution, and ideas are bounced around," he said.  
 
"Then various teams pitch their solutions," he said. "The result could be finding an idea that will hit one out of the park," he added. "Or it could simply be relationship-building." 
 
The city has listed Oregon State University (OSU) as a partner; That university has specific faculty  and representatives from across campus who can provide expertise, Mr. Irvine said.
 
Steve Clark, vice president of university relations and marketing at OSU, explained that “while these efforts are not part of formal agreements with the city or the grant application, they are significant examples of collaboration and partnerships that OSU engages in with many cities, local governments and other entities in our region.”
 
OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and the university’s Advantage Accelerator “are among the many partners with the city of Independence regarding this grant application,” Mr. Clark added.
 
OSU’s Advantage Accelerator will work with the city to provide access to information about how to launch start-up businesses, commercialize research and take business ideas into the marketplace, he added.  
 
Business Oregon also confirmed its intention to provide $125,000 over three years if the grant is funded, though the contract with Independence hasn’t yet been executed, according to a spokesperson for the Salem-based state organization. 

Five years ago, Gregg Peterson bought the Independence Grill and Bar, and then spent most of his time at the griddle, the oven and the stove. Nonetheless, he became a familiar face on Main Street.  
 
Recently, he sold it to a new owner, Jeaneen Greenberg – with assurances to his customers that he’d stay in the kitchen as chef.
 
However, this month he heads out to help manage a restaurant chain, leaving behind the town’s most spacious eatery. 
 
"It is time to move on," he said, but it's also hard to "step back" from the clientele he built. Asked if he had any words of wisdom to impart to other “Indies in Indy,” he said: “Only that it's a challenge every single day, so every single day these businesses need local support." 

By Anne Scheck

Tom Pessemier, the city manager for Independence, has a dual background in engineering and economics. He was chosen from a relatively wide field of applicants presented to the city council after a Portland-based search firm had culled them down to a handful of prospective city managers.
          
He was selected after a day-long session of deliberations by the councilors, as they consumed copious amounts of coffee and tea, conducted interviews with all final candidates, and then evaluated them over several hours.
          
Mr. Pessemier, a father of four, was tapped by the council to lead the city. But he was a popular choice by the public, too, according to interviews with those who attended an open house for the candidates prior to his selection. He steps into the role as city manager as Independence faces some old challenges, such as infrastructure needs, and a new budget, which now shows a debt of about $37 million.
          
What follows is an interview with City Manager Pessemier. No question put to him was declined. Questions by The Independent are in italics, Mr. Pessemier’s answers appear in regular text.
 
 
-- In your role as city manager, what is your top priority? 
 
 Right now my priority is the budget. It is what we've been working on, so that is what has been on my mind. 
 
-- What is your impression of your new workplace so far?
 
I think the staff is doing a good job and everyone cares about this community
 
-- You got a nice, clean bill of health from the auditor who reviewed the budget. She was very flattering about it at a recent city council meeting. But a budget is not the same as debt. The city seems to have a debt higher than many of its size in Oregon. How are you going to address that?

I am not really worried about the debt. It is spread out all over many different funds in the budget, and being managed. We will have to make thoughtful decisions in the future with utility rates in mind so we do not have increases that would impact residents.
 
-- Is there any one goal you have going forward?
 
I think it is important no matter what decisions get made or don't get made that we need to have the public engaged. If you look at cities who have public engagement, there is more support as a city grows. And there will be more development here. The city is growing but we need to manage that growth in a way that does not change the character of Independence. 
 
-- Are there any cities you consider model examples?
 
Well, I worked in Sherwood and many of the cities in the Portland Metro area I think have done a lot of good things. But I also think that is true of Silverton and other cities in the Mid-Willamette Valley. Again, one piece of successful city development is public engagement. 
 
-- What about Monmouth? Do you see a partnership there? 

Scott McClure and I get along very well. The cities have a lot of shared interests. 
 
-- After degrees in economics from OSU, and civil engineering from PSU, you ended up a community development director in Sherwood. How did that happen?
 
I worked in construction during summers to pay for school. I was skilled in AutoCAD (computer-assisted programming for drafting). Then I was an engineer for 15 years. I got a job with a company where I had a variety of work -- I had to understand policies, how they could affect a project. I learned a lot about planning, city government, policy. I got interested in things that led to this work, and all of that previous experience has been very helpful.
 
-- But what about your background in engineering? 
 
Engineering is great because you can use engineering principles in much of what I do. I think metrics are important. It makes you evaluate things on a regular basis. With engineering, you have to meet milestones in building. This is helpful in all areas. I know Chief Mason is using metrics -- he probably uses a lot of them for the police department. And they're doing a good job and with metrics it is easy to measure their effectiveness. 
 
-- Are there any special tools to help you navigate city management? It seems so multi-faceted.  
 
An organization, ICMA (International City/County Management Association) has a lot of helpful information. They put out a huge manual of metrics for cities, which has lists of items to consider when developing a plan to measure how each department is doing.  It's just something to consider -- maybe incorporate some of the recommended practices, depending on the situation. Cities are different so there isn't one way that works for everything.  (See Downtown Dispatch for a look at infrastructure demands.)
 
-- You make a daily commute from Sherwood, where you have a home, what drew you to this Mid-Willamette city? 
 
I love this town. Look at it -- the river, the downtown. There are towns I wouldn't have been interested in. But there is so much to admire here. 
 
-- But our schools are relatively low-scoring, unlike Sherwood. Is there a way the city can help strengthen the education here? 
 
The superintendent, Jennifer Kubista, is amazing, and great for our community. I met with her and plan on meeting with her regularly, and on our partnering with the school district. Cities do better when citizens are engaged, and I think the more parents you have who are engaged in their child's education, the better for the school.  (See Insert, Bulletin Board)
 
-- I understand that several years ago you took up beekeeping, and that you have a couple of hives buzzing at your home in Sherwood. Is there anything beekeeping has in common with city management? Anything that applies to your job here?
 
The thing about beekeeping is everything you do has an impact. Every year is different. The weather is different, the conditions are different. You have to be adaptable with bees all the time, determining what they need to be healthy. Are things going well? It's complex. You have to be organized, and you have to keep learning. 
 
-- So bees have taught you a few lessons you apply to your professional life. Is there a way to master that learning curve early on, without losing honey or hives? 
 
When you work with bees, you have questions come up.  And, because there is community involved in beekeeping, there are others who may have answers. So that is one thing. You have a group of people who can help. You have people you can talk to -- and that is a good for managing anything. Asking and learning from that.

The First Amendment – at times one of the most misunderstood parts of the Bill of Rights – just got more confusing, if an example right here in Independence is a common occurrence. A few weeks ago, a group of civic-minded individuals met at the Independence Library to judge an oratorical contest on the constitution. The effort was headed by Billy Whisenant, of American Legion Post 33. His wife, Rhonda, served as timekeeper. Steve Russell, a member of the Post 33, served as a judge, as did City Councilor Marilyn Morton. Evan Sorce, chief of staff for Rep. Paul Evans, also helped officiate. A sophomore at Central High School won the right to continue on to higher competition. But a posting on Trammart News’ Facebook site was rejected by Facebook after a $20 payment was submitted to “boost” the reach of the announcement.
 
Under relatively new community standards, Facebook bans objectionable text in a paid “boost” – and that seems to extend to some ads with political or government content. Apparently, the local American Legion Post meets that criterion. So does an even more recent post on MINET, which explained the expansion of Independence’s municipal fiberoptic. In both cases, the message was rejected by Facebook in a short email: “Your ad isn't approved because it doesn't comply with our Advertising Policies.”  In a brief article on this subject, Eric Goldman, a law professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, has countered that Facebook engages in press activities and is entitled to free speech and First Amendment protection. However, under Facebook’s own rule known as 10a, Facebook may restrict ads related to politics and issues, and that can be interpreted as relating to any national legislative issue of public importance.

A group of caffeine-appreciating (and champagne-imbibing) women who met at Jubilee in downtown Independence last month came up a list of drinks and songs to help beat the winter blues. This is serious stuff! Seasonal Affective Disorder is a Real Thing! Here are the results: Drink Red Bull while listening to "Here Comes The Sun." Hydrate with green tea while playing "I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone." Grab the mini-marshmallows and put them atop hot cocoa, and sip while singing "Let the Sun Shine In." And, of course, espresso is the drink of choice for enjoying the classic song "Walking on Sunshine."

By Anne Scheck
 
Victoria Kruljac will finally get the city-approved vinyl fence she’s fought to build, thanks to a recent change in the municipal code – but she’s feeling far from victorious about it. 
 
Planning and zoning revisions are being recommended to the Independence City Council, and lifting the ban on vinyl fencing was one of the most recent ones.  “I waited to do this under approved ‘codes,’ ” she explained -- unlike other residents who installed vinyl fencing “without filing an application or paying for a permit.” So, when the new picket fence look-alike is placed around her yard, to her it will represent extra money and time she undertook to wait for the change. "I guess I am now wondering why this wasn't processed as a single item. Why did it have to be done with all the other (development code) changes?"  
 
“This was put on the back burner for ten months," she added.
 
Meanwhile, her yard was landscaped with water fountains and paths of decorative rock. Then a vinyl trellis was added -- minus the fence.
 
Reversing the vinyl-fence ban is but one of scores of new coding additions or clarifications to come before the city council in recent months. City staff sought to update city codes this year, to make them more consistent and contemporary. The changes range from specifications for a walkway between a new home's driveway and the front door to a clause preventing neon signs on storefronts along Main Street, unless they confer historic significance. 
 
Ms. Kruljac provided photos showing vinyl fences all over the city, and, in some of the pictures, the wood fences near them looked undeniably shabby and weathered by comparison.
 
She wasn't successful in getting an answer to her stated problem months ago, but she did secure a promise from city councilors, at that time, that they likely would revise the prohibition on vinyl fencing once the code came back to them for a final decision. And now it has.
 
For anyone who thinks public testimony doesn’t count, Ms. Kruljac is proof that it can make a big difference. In fact, at every step of the way, sharp-eyed citizens seemed to have an impact on certain proposed provisions. When plans were unveiled for a $225 home-occupation fee amid other items on a new community-development fee schedule, downtown resident John Bodnovits showed up to a council meeting to object. He pointed out that some residents make hand-crafted items to sell around the holidays, giving them extra needed money.  Subsequently, the home-occupation fee was dropped.
 
After some discussion by city councilors, a “historic review” fee was nixed, as well – it would have required $150 upfront from homeowners who wanted to do new construction or to refurbish a historic home. 
 
Along the way, the process of undertaking proposed code revisions seemed to hit other communication snags. In one rather strongly-worded exchange, members of the Historic Preservation Commission seemed to take to task Zach Pelz, the city’s contracted city planner, for allegedly failing to write up changes they thought reflected their intent.    
 
Commissioner Curtis Tidmore, who later acknowledged his statements were “harsh,” explained: “My comment was only to clarify the process going forward and I am quite confident it will move forward without any hiccups.”
 
Asked about this after the meeting, Mr. Pelz said Commissioner Tidmore’s criticism at the meeting pertained to a “non-substantive grammatical edit made by staff”  in some of the proposed wording to code changes brought before the commission. And the city council’s liaison to the Historic Preservation Commission, Tom Takacs, agreed. However, Mr. Takacs concurred with Mr. Tidmore that there seemed to be some miscommunication between the commission and city staff.  “I think there is some merit in that,” he said of the observation. 
 
City Councilor Takacs, as well as City Councilor Marilyn Morton, both had asked for clearer definitions of some of the coding language during a council meeting. It never seemed to materialize. When contacted about this, City Manager Tom Pessemier, who is new to his position with the city, declined to comment (the councilor requests were made at meetings before he arrived).  
 
If all of this sounds like a situation that’s a cause for concern, it may instead only be a sign of Independence’s growing pains.
 
In its most recent podcast on state planning issues by the Oregon chapter of the American Planning Association, small-town city planning is discussed with candor and in detail by two certified planners – Nick Snead from Madras, Dustin Nilsen from Hood River – who describe their jobs as positions they love but also a constant source of  “challenge.”
 
City codes are seen as one of the most debated parts of city regulations.
 
A request for variance, which refers to an approved departure from a stated regulation in the code, is a common request by builders and homeowners alike (see The Civics Lesson on back page, “Cracking the Code: A History Lesson from Colonial America”). 
 
On any given day, a small-town planner may field calls that go from a dispute by neighbors over a patch of unmowed grass to an inquiry from a school district representative on the municipal code to a request for immediate information on a land-use question. And there is no insulation from the local population. Even a trip to the grocery store can mean an encounter with someone who has an opinion on a City Hall action. 
 
When contacted and asked about Independence’s code updates, Mr. Snead, the community development director at Madras, explained “most cities have common issues but the solutions are somewhat nuanced.”
 
“Nuanced” is not the word Victoria Kruljac would use to describe her wait for an approved fence. Across town, in residential yards, there’s vinyl fencing that she was barred from building.
 
“I have no bad feelings about those who installed vinyl fencing before the code change – just the city for making it so challenging,” she said          Recently, the city hired a senior planner, which means now there will be a full-time city staff member devoted to that job, Fred Evander.  
 
“He will be our first City employee doing planning work for some time,” according to the city manager, Mr. Pessemier. He added that Mr. Pelz, who worked under contract and was on-site only part-time, “has done a praiseworthy job.” 
 
Mr. Pelz and his firm, AKS, will continue to do overflow planning work on a contract basis for the city. And, if the podcast by Mr. Snead and Mr. Nilsen is correct, there is plenty of need for more planning help lying ahead in a small town like Independence. 
 
                    ___________________________________________________________________________________________
 
In this issue, a new insert to The Independent makes its debut. "The Bulletin Board" will be covering educational topics periodically. This one features local veterinarian Robert Archer DVM, who is helming the Rotary Exchange program and seeking host families.
 
“As a host parent, I found hosting to be a way to travel without leaving home,” he said.
 
 “As a member of the Rotary exchange program, I would say that none of the benefits received by the students we host, the students we send overseas, our schools, and our communities could happen without host families and that we are always needing more,” Dr. Archer said.

The historic beginnings of almost all city planning codes in America are attributed to a centuries-old document called The Laws of the Indies, which was embraced as a go-to guide for new cities by King Philip II of Spain. When the king sent explorers to America in the mid-1500s, they established the Florida town of St. Augustine. Philip II, the world’s most powerful monarch, also was a ruler who today might be described as a policy wonk. He thought American colonies should develop in an orderly fashion, so he put forth ordinances, The Laws of the Indies. The laws required some city buildings to be accessible for services and mandated that central plazas were square or rectangular, in order to safely accommodate a crowd of people. The idea that a town needed to be configured a certain way for the benefit of its inhabitants took hold in the United States, and now vestiges of The Laws of the Indies can be seen in any municipal code. The story of The Laws of the Indies and King Philip II are part of the archives of the American Planning Association in Chicago. 

Independence celebrated a birthday recently, and the Heritage Museum gave out bags of swag -- including a historic recipe book -- right along with delicious chocolate cake. Called “The Oregon Trail Cookbook,” this free tome of wagon-trail food contains a simple recipe that would be hard to do in the kitchens of Independence: “Roast Moose.” It is so easy it involves only a single step. You just put a big piece of moose roast on greased foil, add ingredients you want, wrap and bake it in the oven. The hitch is that there are relatively few moose in Oregon, and sightings are considered so exciting that they are to be called in to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Supermarkets throughout the state don't seem to be any help either -- none stock moose meat. Even national grocery chains don't have it anywhere on the west coast but Alaska. So the easiest-to-use recipe in the entire give-away cookbook cannot be utilized. This would be sad news except that a revision guarantees success. Throw in a rump roast instead. It tastes just as good! Or wait ... maybe it doesn't? You’ll never know! Because there’s no moose meat in Oregon except the live kind on hooves near Wallowa, and hunting them is forbidden. 

By Anne Scheck

An old saying goes that if at first you don’t succeed, try again.  And that’s just what the city is doing with a plan to upgrade the municipal wastewater-and-sewer system near downtown, the Riverview Pump Station. But when the city solicited bids for the engineering work last year, the proposals all came back with price tags of more than $1 million – a cost deemed just too high. 
              
The second time around, things look different. The city plans on beginning construction as soon as a new bid is selected. “This will add capacity and redundancy to the pump station,” stated Tom Pessemier, the new city manager. That means not only will the pump station work under higher-volume conditions, but back-up equipment will help keep flow running smoothly, even if there are breakdowns. “I think we have the discharge situation well in hand with the improvements expected to be under contract soon,” Mr. Pessemier said.
            
As these infrastructure improvements roll out, Independence is embarking on plans it laid years ago, when the “Southwest Independence Concept Plan” was approved. That plan includes approximately 270 acres at the southwest corner of Independence – land brought into the city’s urban growth boundary in 2008. The goal: More residential housing.

But along with a fairly jubilant open house that the city held on the concept plan a decade ago – complete with splashy graphics and maps – was a seemingly more somber advisory. The city needed additional water-and-sewer facilities. Now that is an even more pressing need, as a hotel heads for completion at the downtown riverfront section, Independence Landing – apartments and townhomes are scheduled to break ground there soon, too. 
          
The first steps will include the additional pump station, as well as upgrades to its existing ones. That seems to have satisfied the DEQ so far,which had been citing the city off and on for non-compliance issues over the past few years, due largely to periodic discharges into the Willamette River.

The lending agreement with the DEQ for nearly $6 million remains unchanged. But though the terms of the loan are unlikely to change, the city needs to submit a "nuts-and-bolts" plan for recycling, noted Tim McFetridge PE, senior environmental engineer for the DEQ, who oversees the state's western region. The DEQ requires all substantial wastewater-and-sewer treatment changes to go through a review as a part of the DEQ lending process. 

“As far as sanitary sewer discharge goes, the City has been working closely with the DEQ and the state on short, medium, and long-term plans,” Mr. Pessemier said. The short-term solution is to better manage the treatment plant in the summer, which proved effective in preventing any discharge during the summer months this year, he said.  
           
In its pre-design report to DEQ, Independence laid out plans to refurbish four pump stations for its sewerage system and construct a new lagoon. The plans also include an irrigation pump for dispensing treated waste-water to surrounding fields. The irrigation facility will be built to "treat waste-water at a higher level" than is currently being done, so that it’s adequately cleansed for use on farm fields. 
             
That last project “will be out to bid in the very near future and will eliminate any discharges for many years to come,” according to Mr. Pessemier.  Almost immediately after funding was secured from the DEQ, “we began design of the wastewater effluent irrigation project,” explained Kie Cottam, public works director for the city. “We have already had the first review of the plans at the city level and expect DEQ review and approval when they are complete.” 
 
“The City has worked closely with DEQ on the plans,” said City Manager Pessemier. “The improvements from the loan will resolve the concerns that the DEQ has expressed for many years to come.”   

As the city embarks on its program for enhancing capacity to the water-and-sewer system, other infrastructure needs also loom ahead. 

A street census, which was conducted by an engineering firm a few years ago, has expired – meaning that the precision in the report was mandated for a particular time period, and it can no longer be applied as an engineering design. However, when asked about this expiration last year, Shawn Irvine, the city’s economic development director, suggested that the findings can help prioritize which streets need attention first, as the city begins to address those issues. 

Another lingering concern has been the city’s Transportation System Plan (TSP), which is now a dozen years old and, in the words of several city staff, “out of date.” With the construction of Independence Landing, significant parking and traffic increases are predicted. Asked about the TSP at the last city council meeting, Mr. Pessemier said it will be moving ahead. A grant has provided most of the funding.

The financial cost of equipping the city’s municipal broadband, MINET, with needed upgrades and the way in which that revenue is generated, will be a subject of future MINET board meetings, according to MINET’s general manager Don Patten.

The necessary steps to “refresh and escalate” the technology and the “associated financials” necessary will be reviewed and considered by the board and members of the finance committee, he said.

The discussion of MINET’s concerns about the long-term integrity of MINET systems, which operated on an earlier generation of technology, has been done over past months, according to a posting by the company on its website following outages in early December. 

“At MINET some parts of the system are over 10 years old.  And while those parts are not relics, since MINET systems are serviced and tested regularly, it is nonetheless difficult for older equipment to keep pace with technology,” stated the company announcement.

In some ways, MINET has been a victim of its own success, one board member suggested. It nearly doubled its client base over five years, reaching a “remarkable” customer-penetration rate of about 80%. But that put a strain on the aging system, company officials confirmed. Higher-level technology appears to be a critical need.  

Since MINET was formed, Independence, along with its co-founder Monmouth, has taken out about $27 million in loans on behalf of the fiber optic company, anticipating that MINET would generate enough revenue to cover both operating costs and the loan payments. Recently, it had been paying significantly more toward the debt, though Independence has continued to pay the lion’s share of its obligation to the debt. 

In 2018, year-end bonuses were given to MINET employees, a board action, to reward the work staff had done over the last few years and, specifically, to recognize them for bringing the Dallas opportunity to fruition. The “Dallas Opportunity” refers to the expansion by MINET into that city through a new corporate partner, AFO, which is operating Willamette Valley Fiber, the company that will serve Dallas. 

Options for expansion are an important piece of the financial viability: MINET is a for-profit enterprise of the cities, and the cities are sole investors, Mr. Patten said.
          
Although Oregon regards telecommunications companies under the auspices of the public utility commission, Mr. Patten said his own definition differs. He defines a utility as a “monopolistic or minimally competitive operational environment.” In contrast, MINET competes daily and directly with companies ranging from CenturyLink to Charter/Spectrum, among others. 

When it comes to state taxes, “things really do look different in Oregon.” That’s the view of Lane Shetterly, a longtime lawyer in Polk County and the recent facilitator of a sharply divided panel on Oregon taxation, held by Salem City Club. However, it was Moderator Shetterly, of Dallas, who may have given the discussion its most memorable moment by pointing out that the $23.6 billion state budget is only 93% funded by Oregon’s comparatively high income tax – with an anticipated $630 million shortfall after paying for education, human services and public safety.  Yet a rebate of nearly $700 million is expected to be returned to taxpayers, thanks to a booming economy that means the actual revenue for the state will exceed the economic forecast by at least two percent. In this situation, the rebate – commonly called "kicker" – is given back to individual taxpayers in the form of a tax credit. In one fell swoop, allocating this kicker to the state would wipe out the budget hole. But it's a popular and constitutionally mandated feature of the Oregon tax law. And it's unlikely to think that Oregonians would ever want to allocate it this way, observed Mr. Shetterly, a former state legislator. So even a substantial kicker won't help lick what's ails the state budget. --AS

A symposium on the Oregon Trail is going to be held this March in Independence. But if you want to see it you may have go a "fur piece." That's the advice from folks in Missouri, and they have good reason for giving it. They also claim rights to the Oregon Trail -- as a starting point for the one that ended here. The meeting will be held at The National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence MO. If you decide to make the trip all the way to the show-me state, hats and jackets are recommended. "Though we fully expect sunny skies and 70 degree temperatures, Missouri weather can be unpredictable in March," according to conference organizers. --AS

By Anne Scheck
 
There’s a corner downtown where, in less than a minute, you can grab some hot wings, toss in a tube of toothpaste, add a can of vegetables and start to gas-up your car. It's Jimmy'Z, a place local’s call Indy’s one-stop shop – possibly the closest thing to a mercantile of the city’s past.  
 
“I get that a lot," said Jim Newbeck, the owner. The gas-and-store operation now has a new Western-style, two-story building, drawing comparisons to an old-time general store. 
 
Within a four-block downtown area, scores of businesses have closed in Independence over the past several years – many after very promising starts. Why has Mr. Newbeck shown such stability? After years of seven-day-a-week toil, he credits success to two factors: Long hours of work and tight attention to customer preferences. For instance, the jalapeno peppers that fly off the shelves aren't really what he likes to eat. But hungry customers do.  
 
Like many businesses that appear to be thriving as 2019 rolls in, Mr. Newbeck never stops exploring ways to branch out. When The Independent took a look at downtown businesses this past year, those that seemed to be increasingly robust after at least two years have some common characteristics. Growing revenue streams is one; Non-stop effort is another. 
 
Multiple revenue streams helped Katie Schaub survive and flourish -- and also sometimes suffer complete energy depletion as a side effect. Ms. Schaub owns The Ovenbird Bakery.
 
During one week this past winter season, for example, she taught a class on how to bake apple turnovers, provided the annual holiday lunch for the Rotary Club and went into a cake-baking, pastry-making, cookie-producing frenzy as she tried to keep up with the demand at the shop and by customers who were hosting parties and giving edible gifts.
 
"You have to really love it and want it," she said. And what about the dream of every business owner to be a boss? "Well, you work for everyone who walks in the door," said Ms. Schaub, with a laugh. 
 
At Brew Coffee and Taphouse next door, Mitch Teal’s innovation quite literally is reflected in the shop’s very name. How many coffee houses double as a corner pub? None but his in Polk County. "We thought it was a new idea," said Mr. Teal, who co-owns Brew Coffee and Taphouse with his wife Cathy.
 
As an established business duo in Salem -- the couple owns tanning salons there -- Mr. Teal felt sure they were right when they identified Independence as an "up and coming community." Within the first year, the coffee-shop-plus-tavern proved them right, operating "in the black," he said. In fact, profits from coffee "edge out the beer by just a tad," he said. 
 
Mr. Teal underscores an observation made by Mr. Newbeck: Customers need to be provided what they want. "We had this idea we were going to sell popcorn and trail mix," Mr. Teal recalled. That idea soon got axed. "Well, what I thought was best just wouldn't work," he said. People wanted food -- good food. "So now we buy from other downtown businesses -- the Naughty Noodle, the Ovenbird Bakery -- and that's now about 25% of our business," he said.
 
The multiple offerings -- a great cup of mocha, a craft beer, oven-fresh pasta, cheesecake – simply meet a consumer desire at his establishment, he pointed out. “We will very soon be offering gourmet cupcakes, cake and pie from local suppliers using no artificial food coloring and locally-sourced ingredients,” he said.           
 
The work is “exhausting,” Mr. Teal agreed. But his wife shoulders a lot of the paperwork, which is her forte. In contrast, "I seem to be the networker," he said. That's in evidence during meetings of The Independence Downtown Association, where he is a regular attendee. Asked why he is always in a chair there when other merchants may be absent from the meeting, Mr. Teal explained that he’s afraid he’ll "miss something" by not showing up. This seems to be a familiar refrain by successful business owners in town.  
 
Mr. Newbeck concurred that complacency can hurt the bottom line.  
 
Like Mr. Teal, his business benefits from repeat customers. Jimmy'Z has "regulars" who come in several times a week, including a few who dash in for biscuits-and-gravy to start their day, noted Jasmin Shellenbarger, who works at the store on college vacations. She's the daughter of Mr. Newbeck. Like her sister, Nicole Newbeck, who always seems to be there, they cultivate business the old-fashioned way -- with a cheery, service-oriented approach. 
 
One advantage for some of the “regulars” at Jimmy’Z -- including workers at a local construction company – is the ability to run a monthly gas tab. Employees sign in, fill the tank, and go. The account is settled at the end of the month, saving time and hassle since the bill is paid in one fell swoop every few weeks, Ms. Shellenbarger noted.  
 
Down the street, at Same As It Never Was, Lisa Cox’s vintage-business model is somewhat similar to Mr. Newbeck’s. In fact, when asked about Ms. Cox’s mid-downtown store, Mr. Newbeck observed that "she really seems to know what she is doing." 
 
At her sprawling store, Ms. Cox offers everything from greeting cards made by a local teenage photographer to hand-made candles by a mid-valley artisan. She also picks up high-quality furniture that’s in need of a facelift and restores it. 
 
When Ms. Cox moved to the middle of Main Street's most commercial block, she got more than the needed square footage. She got the space to offer some craft classes, such as sign painting. "I feel like everything we wanted to do, we can pursue now," she said.
 
With the increased work area, she can customize almost any item in the store, she said. One example is the bookcase by her counter. A man wanted one just like it for his daughter's room, but the family occupied a home reminiscent of an old-style farmhouse. And the dark wood didn't suit it. 
 
So she painted the piece a subtle golden white, then "distressed it," she explained. Now slight slivers of satin-brown wood peek through a cover of buttery cream. Ms. Cox stressed that she depends on the local crafting community – from a macramé weaver to a frame-maker – to keep her stocked in one-of-a-kind items, which she sells on consignment. 
 
Mr. Newbeck, a former carpenter, is reminded daily of how far he’s come, just by looking across Monmouth Avenue. It was just over a dozen years ago that he was a construction worker on the still-unfinished Independence Station, just across the street.
 
"I'd go over to buy something on a break," he recalled of his early visits to the place he now owns. "And I would think 'Well, this is so great to be working so close to home.' "  
 
In fact, he began to dread the thought of returning to long commutes for job sites, like Portland. And he'd gotten to know the owner of the gas station, who seemed amenable to selling the place. 
 
He put everything he had into the purchase -- including taking out a second mortgage on his home. In those early days, he'd stand behind the cash register, run out to pump gas and then try to get paperwork done.
 
Across from the gas pumps, the uncompleted Independence Station still stands. And since the days he hoisted a hammer there, the little store where Mr. Newbeck spent his break time has changed a lot -- and continues to be his way of life. 

 As 2019 unfolds, the City of Independence is faced with a growing shortage -- and this time it's not about money. It's human capital. Volunteers have been ticking down, right along with the inch count of autumn rainfall. Loss of volunteers is a common municipal problem, but it has been far less so in Oregon than in many other states. A federal report conducted five years ago, Volunteering in America, showed Oregon -- behind Utah and Minnesota -- is among the top three states for civic engagement. However, Oregon has been following the same downward trend, though less dramatically -- and Independence is no exception. City events, like summer festivals, rely on citizen help. So do the commissions and advisory boards that run them. The lack of that means the city is faced with paying more for police and security personnel to staff these venues, according to  Juventino Banuelos, an officer in the Independence Police Department who presented the declines at a city council meeting this past year.

As Independence's second annual mystery dinner approaches this month, on Jan. 12, those affiliated with the production are hoping that whoever plays the female lead -- and that person had yet to be announced at press time -- will be able to master a "really good scream." It's essential to the play. But what constitutes a good theatrical scream? For this, we turned to a known expert, Fire Chief Ben Stange, a trained paramedic who has rushed to the site of many emergencies, and, perhaps more importantly, is the father of three relatively young children -- something that develops a keen sense of what wailing can sound like, as any parent knows. Also, it's been said that a scream really is the human equivalent of a firetruck siren. So Chief Stange's opinion is of utmost and unquestionable accuracy. Here it is:  For a scream to be believable, it should convey terror by being both "summoning" and "alarming" to any audience member who hears it, he advised. To be truly "blood-curdling," the scream needs to be high-pitched and "rest on one note," Chief Stange added. It also should be very loud and fairly long-lasting. However, no actress short of an opera star can sustain a scream for more than a few seconds, he said. "You really cannot go for very long without taking a breath due to the rush of adrenaline," he explained.

By Anne Scheck
 
He was combative and poised for a fight. But when officers responded to a report that a man was loudly fending off a frightening encounter, they quickly realized that the scene of the crime was all in his head. The man was convinced he was back in California, facing a past threat. 
 
The police couldn’t seem to convince him otherwise. Then the man saw an unmistakable sign that proved he was, in fact, in Independence -- where nobody was out to hurt him. "Finally, seeing the word 'Oregon' on an official badge, which was shown to him, made him understand he was not where he thought he was," explained Independence Police Chief Robert Mason, who, after more than two decades with the department, quite literally considers such incidents all in a day’s work. And that work is community policing, a strategy aimed at building relationships of trust and rapport.  
 
The kind of community policing being practiced in Independence – which now goes by the added term problem-oriented policing – is essential, according to interviews of officers ranging from deputy sheriffs to police sergeants at the annual meeting of the Oregon Peace Officers Association late last month. “Building rapport with the community is so important,” said John Kilcullen, a former police officer and lawyer. Mr. Kilcullen was at the meeting to help raise awareness of Concerns of Police Survivors, a support group for surviving families of deceased police officers. (Mr. Kilcullen’s son, Chris, was slain in the line of duty seven years ago in Eugene.)
 
Community policing can increase resources, Mr. Kilcullen explained. When community residents feel positively toward local police, the outcome is supportive citizens -- and they’re more likely to inform officers about possible crimes. Establishing trust by friendly outreach translates into “good sources of information,” concurred Larry Schrenk, Mr. Kilcullen’s former colleague on the police force.
 
Increased stressors, such as relationship difficulties, substance abuse (including opioid dependence) as well as money, job, and housing loss are reported to be at an all-time high -- and the reason for an increase in the Oregon suicide rate, according to a study released this past summer by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
"We are seeing more of the EDPs -- emotionally disturbed persons -- than ever before," Chief Mason affirmed, although the precise reasons aren't apparent. Is it that the Great Recession caused pressure on families from which some never emerged? Is it that the fabric of families has changed over the years, with fewer having a wide and supportive safety net to fall back on? The chief believes it's multi-factored, and that it has made community policing even more important. Gentle, polite questioning of some suspected law-breakers, particularly those who seem most distraught, has replaced the dispassionate command presence of the past.    
 
His officers have learned de-escalation techniques that ratchet down outbursts, often simply by listening and engaging in conversation. From an out-of-control rant by a troubled youth to a PTSD-related flashback in a veteran, "we have reduced our use of force," he said, adding that this behavior is now seen as a form of "suffering" rather than a violation. 
 
"We have to handle more calls in which someone is acting out or seems threatening," the chief said. Treatment facilities for mental illness are now  far more limited than they were 25 years ago, Chief Mason added. At times, this has meant that a specially trained mobile crisis response team is called; This is a team that pairs a Polk County mental health worker with an officer or deputy that is specially trained to handle crisis calls. Polk County has two of these teams.
 
In August, a review article published in the journal Policing and Society noted that police are dealing far more with what might once have been called issues of public health, particularly those involving mental instability, including delusional behavior and trauma. "We see this kind of thing -- it’s not that uncommon," Chief Mason explained. 
 
Many of the calls received by the Independence Police Department fall into one of three categories: Theft or property disputes, domestic disputes or animal-related reports.
 
In fact, one of Chief Mason's most memorable calls was about a goose on the loose. Apparently, a Canadian goose had gotten separated from its flock and was madly zooming around the downtown area -- for unknown reasons. The chief and another police officer -- keen on capturing the disruptive bird – gave chase but it kept dodging them. A helpful resident dashed out with a salmon fishing net, and the honking fowl was secured. It’s a good example of community policing: A good Samaritan with a fish net, and local veterinarian Robert Archer DVM being called in for a quick consult. "You can't imagine how many times, when something like this happens, he gets called -- and he is great about it, like a small-town doctor" on an emergency, Chief Mason said. (See Indy Hop for more from Dr. Archer)
 
When it comes to domestic disputes, sometimes Independence police officers simply lend an ear and give a voice to family members under duress. For example, when an elderly family member seems to be losing specific abilities -- such as the capacity to drive safely, for instance -- police can break bad news that others cannot. "It's maybe easier for us than it is for a family member to say 'It is time for you to re-test at the DMV,' " Chief Mason said.
 
With the growth of housing in Independence, specifically, apartment complexes, noise-related calls have increased, too -- usually by neighbors who live below or above a unit in multi-family housing. There's also been an uptick in calls about public alcohol consumption. This is likely because the number of homeless individuals has increased in Independence, and when they consume alcohol, it is in public, Chief Mason explained.
 
At the recent meeting of the Oregon Peace Officers Association, several members expressed admiration for Independence – calling small- town policing a tough gig because it can interfere significantly with a personal life. Public events can become a place where officers are approached by parents, for advice on teen problems or to plead a case for a child who has had a brush with the law. “You know, sometimes we just want to watch our kids play sports, not talk about someone else’s situation,” said one police officer at the meeting. Another added that he felt a personal disappointment when a youth he knew broke the law. “You feel badly, and in another bigger place, it wouldn’t be the same – it might be sad, but it wouldn’t be someone you know.”  
 
One of the biggest challenges in Independence concerning such minors has been the wider use of marijuana, Chief Mason said. Since the plant has become legal, more high school and middle-school youth have had access to it. One way may be through older acquaintances, who buy it the way teens often obtain alcohol from older friends. Another way might be from their own homes, in the same way the liquor cabinet is sometimes stealthily raided. "What we do know is that we are seeing more of it," he said. 
 
The Independence Police Department keeps abreast of good techniques for police work and for risk management, aided by a software-technology subscription known as Lexipol, which was founded 15 years ago by two attorneys who also had worked as police officers. Lexipol constantly feeds the Independence Police Department new information on state-specific law changes and evidence-based police practices. It also issues legal updates. Since it's online, it can be accessed continually -- and at the touch of a few keystrokes.

A relatively unused term -- the “down-ticket” ballot – seemed to take on a powerful new meaning in Independence’s local election this year. The 14-vote margin that put challenger Shannon Cockayne in the council seat of Diana Lindskog, the incumbent, illustrates a phenomenon that appears fairly widespread. Many more people vote for the top-of-the-ticket candidates – governor’s race, US senate seats – than for their local public officials, whose names appear further down the ballot. Yet votes really count in local contests, and victories may be won with only a few votes. “If you look at the numbers, you often find that many more people vote at the top of the ticket, and don’t vote further down,” explained Ed Dover PhD, who recently spoke on the outcome of the recent election at Salem City Club. Dr. Dover, a Polk County resident, is a noted author and expert on presidential elections. It isn’t definitively known why there often is a significant gap between the number of people who vote for top-ticket positions and the number of people who vote for local positions, he said. “But if you look at where your vote can really count, can really make a difference, the impact may be in that local race – the school board, the city council,” he said. Across Oregon, many of these local elections were decided by two dozen or fewer votes.

For anyone who wants to know if those reindeer resent being replaced by the chugging engine of the Santa Train, Robert Archer DVM has some good news. "They really can use the rest," he said. "They have got a lot of territory to cover," said Dr. Archer, a partner of the Ash Creek Animal Clinic on Main Street. He's happy to see these hard-working reindeer pull Santa's sleigh only on Christmas Eve. Even so, they're pulling an all-nighter, he pointed out.  So they may be tempted to succumb to a few chocolate energy bars. "They should stay away from carbs," he warned, noting that their stomachs are like "fermentation vats," attuned to their normal diet. His advice: they should simply eat more of the food they typically consume. However, Rudolph may need some special attention. A red nose is fairly certain to be in need of moisturizer. "I'd recommend Vaseline, which is harder to lick off," he said. As for traveling the night sky to deliver presents, Dr. Archer said he thinks the reindeer are likely to work well as a team -- they have been at it for many years. "They know how to spread the load," he said.