A full council bench met on April 15 in the Keizer Council Chambers to listen to and discuss neighborhood association reports, informational systems as well as preparing for KeizerFEST.
The night began with awards for children from both Clearlake Middle School and McNary High School who entered the “If I were mayor for a day” contest.
The contest dealt with students creating a list of various actions they would undertake if they were to be given mayoral power for a day.
Changes mentioned included giving more money to those less fortunate to utilizing more group-based activities that help inspire community as well as helping ensure an environmentally sustainable future.
Honorable mentions from Clearlake went to: Allison Hall, Sierra Salas, Daeylnn Ward and Roman Morales. The winner from Clearlake was Terren McDougal.
For McNary, honorable mentions went to: Dominic Snyder, Aurora Timmons, Atticus Lush with the winner being Ethan Eggert. Eggert’s video entry will be entered into the state contest held by the Oregon Mayors Association (OMA) at the OMA summer conference in Klamath Falls in July, where first place will have the chance to win a $500 prize.
Several public comments were made first from CEO of Volcanoes Stadium Mickey Walker, who delivered the annual stadium report noting new construction such as within the dugouts, a new turf field with new drainage as well as the issues the field has been having with vandalism.
The next public comment came from Keizer-resident Jonathon Thompson in regards to re-naming the “Cold, Wet Eagle” statue located at the intersection of River Road and Chemawa Road, on Schoolhouse Square.
Thompson described how the land parcel was now officially owned by the city and how it is time to rename it as the “Cold, Wet Eagle” was not catchy.
Clark asked the council if there were objections to allowing the Public Art Commission to lead the naming process to which the council affirmed there were none.
The next public comment came from Anna Munson, a Salem-resident who announced her candidacy for Marion County clerk, a position currently held by Bill Burgess.
Munson described herself as dedicated to making sure elections in Marion County are “secure, transparent and accountable” for all voters as well as wanting to help businesses in Marion County by helping to “streamline the business part of the clerks’ office.”
The council looked over a resolution to authorize the city manager to enter into a record support service agreement.
The purpose of the agreement is to allow the City of Salem to continue providing the Keizer Police Department (KPD) in terms of records support services during non-regular business hours, a service Salem has provided to KPD since its inception in 1984 and one it provides to numerous other cities in Marion County, according to the associated staff report.
The new agreement would split the cost of services between all cities and cost Keizer around $56, 859.50 if they stay working with Salem as opposed to the estimated $325,178 annual cost the city would incur were it to hire employees to cover the specific hours and amount of requests.
The agreement has a timeline, ending on July 1 of this year.
During discussion, Council President Shaney Starr voiced concern about approving the resolution before the budget committee had a chance to review the agreement, noting that it “does the council no good to encumber the budget committee before they get a chance to look over things.”
Starr described her main concern with approving the resolution as revolving around the notion that the council was not performing the proper procedure when dealing with the situation.
City Attorney Joseph Lindsay described how the council could vote to approve the resolution and, pending a review from the budget committee, could then proceed with the agreement or not, based on what information the committee returned with.
Councilor Robert Husseman made a motion to approve the resolution which was approved 5-2 with councilors Starr and Soriada Cross voting no.
One committee report was given by Matt Lawyer talking about the activities of the Parks Advisory Board, including an interaction with Community Diversity Engagement Committee member Nevaeh Music about the skate park and improvements to it as well as the general zeal Music displays for improving her community.
Lawyer also stated that Memorial Day weekend, May 25, will have a soggy day at the park event.
One public hearing was held to exempt the municipal judge services agreement from competitive bidding and awarding judge Carl A. Myers the position.
The motion was made to adopt the resolution and was approved unanimously.
The council adopted and approved two motions simultaneously, both dealing with lifting current street ordinance restrictions for the upcoming KeizerFEST, Bloomin’ Iris Parade, held on May 18th.
The first resolution will temporarily lift the prohibition of street vendors while the other allows the use of signs for the parade, within conditions which can be found in the associated staff report under the Keizer City Hall meeting minutes.
Three Keizer neighborhood associations: the northwest association (NWKNA), the greater Gubser association (GGNA) and the southeast association (SEKNA), delivered their status updates to the council about activities, issues and successes over the last year.
The NWKNA had chair Hersch Sangster alongside other board members such as Tammy Saldivar and Griffin Walker, gave their report, describing success such as finally attaining a full seven-member board as well as their hosting a resource and bike skills event in partnership with Keizer Police and Keizer Fire District on May 4 at Keizer Elementary.
The event is open to all elementary schools in Keizer.
GGNA member Patti Tischer made note that they have also recently gained more members as well as how the start time for GGNA meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. not 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month.
The council accepted ll association reports and approved them for another year of community activity.
A resolution to adopt the work after retirement policy, a policy that would allow retired or about to retire city staff to instead continue working for another two years.
This allows the city to retain high-skilled workers as well as savings on PERS-related costs.
The council moved to adopt the motion which was approved 6-1 with Councilor Dan Kohler being the single dissenting vote.
The council discussed another agreement to allow City Manager Adam Brown to enter into an association agreement for a new Human Resources information system (HRIS) and Payroll software which would be purchased from and managed by PeopleGuru Inc., a Florida-based HR and payroll management company.
The total cost for the system to be implemented is $7,890 while the estimated first year for usage will cost around $22,279.50, according to the associated staff report.
Human Resources director Machell DePina described how this investment was critical as the only way the current two-person Keizer City Hall HR department that she partly makes up could keep up with the workload.
DePina also described how Keizer is the only city of its size in Oregon that does not have an HRIS to help manage the workload.
Councilors Kyle Juran and Cross provided arguments that, due to DePina leaving her position within the year, it may be better to wait until a new director is chosen so as to ensure the information management system the city has is to the new director’s preference.
DePina responded that the system is needed and that the council should not wait to make the needed investment.
A motion was made to adopt the resolution and was approved 5-2 with councilors Cross and Juran as the two dissenting votes.
Contact Quinn Stoddard
[email protected] or 503-390-105
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