Recent Comment to an old posting of June, 06, "City Taxes for Tangent - Yes or No?

Although I have not posted to this Blog for some time, an anonymous comment was made to a June, 06 posting on the question of taxes. I will re-post the original posting followed by the comment in quotes.

June 19, 2006

At recent Planning Commission Meetings and Council Meetings, discussion about city taxes has been one of the topics. It has been a topic for a long time. Of concern are the increasing costs of running the city, repair and maintenance of streets and parks, a larger City Hall, and other suggestions for improvements. It has been suggested that a tax proposal be put on the November 06 Ballot. Some citizens have said that one of the reasons they moved here was there was no city tax and they don't think the city needs one yet. Others have said that repair, maintenance, and improvements of infrastructure are dependent on this revenue source. Some citizens are very concerned about knowing where their money is going. Should we have a tax base? How much. What should it pay for? Or should Tangent remain as one of the few cities in Oregon without a tax base? What are your thoughts?

The anonymous comment:

June 20, 2008

"Also you all need to realize is maybe we need to look at our so called city officals who really don't know how to do the job they are in,considering the facts that no matter what the city is in all catorgories in the whole! it seems that either someone is pocketing money or lots of bad choices are being made!as well as the same city officals picking on certain residents who are land owners and good people but consistenly being harrased and lied about by the city officals and the city can't show proof of the lies they spread because it's based on hear say! so maybe before trying to add more population around here we should all start looking&reading between the lines as they say and look into finding someone who actually has all the qualifications of administrator and other positions instead of having someone in those poistions that doesn't meet qualifications,or really care about the citizens and their opions but what they want and think would help line their pocket!so I say No! on city taxes until maybe we rid ourselves of our entire city officals and bring in new then maybe look at new changes and maybe things can actually get accomplished the first time and properly so not the loss and problems that consistently keep happening around this town!"

Tangent Harvest Festival is September 8th

GET READY FOR THE TANGENT HARVEST FESTIVAL! Our annual community event is Saturday, September 8th. Check out the posters below or more more information, go to www.tangentharvestfest.org. There are entry forms on the Web site for the parade, arts and crafts, the cruise-in, etc. This year we will have a STEAK BARBECUE. Don't miss it! You can get your barbecue tickets early at the following locations: Tangent Fire Department, LaRoca Mexican Restaurant, CrossRoads Deli and the Dixie Tavern.


Here's a map of the Festival. The Parade will wind through town after the Fireman's Pancake Breakfast. Then head to the Bass Estate and Tangent Elementary for all the activities. Live music all day!


A favorite event, the Car Cruise-In.


The Festival T-Shirt will feature our very own classic fire engine. Tangent has one, and so does Jay Leno!

Tangent Newsletter

To be able to read this newsletter, you'll have to click in the pages.

Mayor's, Legislators, and staff reception

Tonight (Jan 3, 2007) was the Oregon Mayor's Association and League of Oregon Cities welcome reception. It was an opportunity to meet with many of Oregon's mayors, and mayor elects. The mayors were asked to bring gift baskets from their individual communities. I only had time to visit with Fisher Implements, Linn Benton Tractor, Ampac Seed Company and Barenbrug. They were all very helpful and provided me with an assortment of items from tractors (toy) to seed, representing our community very well. There were many legislative assistants who also come to these receptions and the gifts that were submitted were raffled off to these aides, a small reward for their hard work. The winner of the Tangent Gift Basket was Patrick Sieng, (below) who is the Legislative Assistant to Oregon Representative Jean Cowan.

Updates on Tangent Drive

On December 27th, Chuck Knoll sent me an email regarding the work on Tangent Drive. He included drawings and if you would like to see them, please send me an email, s.mclennan@comcast.net. He basically said what had been accomplished and that the work would be continuing in May of 2007. On Dec 28, I wrote back to ask if the current ditch was being filled in on the north side. Darrin Lane, the Linn County Roadmaster and Director, replied:

"Chuck is off this week so I thought I'd give you a short reply.

Regarding the ditch being filled in, we intend to essentially block off the flow on the north side of tangent drive from the new ditch inlet east of the new development [Meadow Wood] to the west side of the new development. The remaining ditch on the north side will not be affected.

The purpose of this is to direct all of the storm water flow on the north side of Tangent Drive, east of and including the new development, into the new storm sewer. This will result in a significant flow reduction in the north ditch west of the new development. Drainage from existing homes into the north ditch will not be impacted by this project.

Regards,"

Making comments in the future

Several people have requested that I change the way people can comment in the future, hopefully so that they will identify themselves much like they have to do when writing to a local newspaper as an editorial. I have changed the settings so that only registered users can comment. I hope this works.

Seaton

What's Happening on Tangent Drive?

A long time ago, 2004 or 2005, a development was approved (Meadow Wood) for approximately 22 homes. One of the conditions of approval was that drainage from the development's detention pond, "the tank",
















be connected to a drain line down Tangent Drive. The development could not continue, (houses couldn't be constructed) until this condition was met. I contacted Charles Knoll, Linn County Engineer, by email and asked for an update on the current work being done on Tangent Drive, the costs associated with this work and the expectation of completion. He wrote back with this response: (images provided by Seaton)

"In July of this year we indicated to the Developer, Silverway LLC, that Linn County Road Department would not construct the storm drain on Tangent Drive until we obtained a payment from them in the amount of $68,800.00. This payment was made pursuant to Condition 4 of the Developer's obligation of the Tangent Drive (CR22) Access Agreement, in which the developer shall provide funding equal to the cost of installing 400 lineal feet of 24" Class V concrete culvert and an amount equal to the cost of constructing a half street improvement to Tangent Drive along the Developer's road frontage. The length of the road frontage had been determined to be 320 feet. The cost for constructing this length of half street improvement is estimated to be $ 38,400.00. The cost of installing the 400 lineal feet of concrete culvert is estimated to be $30,200.00. The total cost due to Linn County Road Department was $68,600.00.

After this payment was made in the later part of July, the Linn County Road Department started to make plans to install the storm sewer. This had to be scheduled within other projects and commitments that were made at the time.

















Linn County Road Department started construction this fall with the intentions of finishing the project in November or December. With the record rainfall in November that occurred we encountered conditions that required us to shut down the project.
















The construction of the project will be completed when conditions allow. This may be as late as sometime in June 2007. I reviewed the cost of the project as it is presently being constructed. We expect the cost of the construction of the storm drain line up to the intersection of the development will be approximately $120,000. This includes all materials, labor and equipment associated with the project. The difference of the cost paid by Silverway LLC and the $120,000 will be paid by the Linn County Road Department. No state or federal monies are associated with this project.















The design and construction of the storm sewer was made to accommodate future full street development of Tangent Drive. Therefore, manholes and inlets for laterals have been added where it appears that future connection to the storm sewer may be requested. At this time the Linn County Road Department does not have any plans to develop Tangent Drive since the development that last year was expected to occur in the next few years does not seem likely to occur. We realize that this status may change.

Please realize that any connection to this storm sewer in addition to what we are presently constructing will require a utility permit from the Linn County Road Department. This connection may be conditional depending on the type of connection that is made (For example a retention system may be necessary). It is expected that the cost of the connection will be paid by the permitee, and not the Linn County Road Department.

There has also been some concern about the drainage crossing on Tangent under the rail road. Some large rocks were noticed to be piled up in the inlet this fall. These rocks were removed to allow a smoother entrance. This should increase the capacity of the crossing by 30 to 40 % when flowing full. The performance of the culvert with over 3 inches of rain in one day was a fairly good indicator of this improved performance.

Regardless, Linn County Road Department has contacted and is working with the railroad to improve the hydraulic capacity of this crossing. If this progresses well, we would hope that this would be completed this next summer."

New Mayor and Council members in Tangent

Although not official until November 20, 2006, it appears there will be a new mayor in Tangent. 429 ballots have been counted thus far. I have listed the "undervote" category as well. An undervote is a ballot that has been cast but shows no legally valid selection in a given race or referendum. As of November 22nd, the results of the Mayor's position, the Council positions, and the City's measure are as follows:

Mayor

Seaton McLennan....226
Chris Schaffner........179
Undervotes...............20

















City Council, Position No. 3

Brad Tedrow......251
Del Shirley........107
Undervotes........65

















City Council, Position No. 4

James Wagner....220
John P Dunn......161
Undervotes........44

















The City's measure was apparently defeated as well. The current tally for that vote is as follows:

"Yes".............174
"No"..............232
Undervotes.....23