Merry Christmas Wednesday December 25, 2024 | Volume 148, Issue 52
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Dallas unveils $17M police dept. plans
Santa Sighting
Monmouth accepts funds to explore BIPOC farmers market By DAVID HAYES Editor
The Monmouth City Council voted to move forward with a feasibility study to determine if the city is ripe for a year-round indoor artisan and farmers market supported by black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) farmers in the Mid-Willamette Valley. To pay for the study, the council accepted an $80,000 economic adjustment assistance grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). Suzanne Dufner, Monmouth Community & Economic Development Director, told the city councilors at their Dec. 17 meeting the project came out of an earlier pop-up market city staff worked on with Community Harvest Market in the Fall. “It went great. It brought out community members, students from Western Oregon University, to support our BIPOC farmers makers in the Mid-Valley,” Dufner said. She said the vision for the feasibility study is to create a space that would allow a year-round market. “Having a farmers’ market was one of the priority projects identified in our downtown improvement plan that was just recently completed. And hits on a lot of our economic development strategy and downtown plan,” Dufner said. While the EDA provides $80,000 of the grant, the city must contribute a 20 percent match, or $20,000, to the feasibility study. Dufner said the Monmouth Urban Renewal Agency would kick in $12,500 and city staff would provide the manpower, or staff time, for grant administration and project management services, valued at the remaining $7,500. Dufner added the feasibility study period will start in February and last from 9-12 months, go through a Request for Proposal and competitive bid process, to hire a consultant. “You’re carved out other funds for community outreach and feedback. City staff and the project consultant will work closely with the Cultural Harvest Collective and Mid-Willamette BIPOC Farmers Co-Op to gather feedback and perspectives from BIPOC farmers and artisan makers,” Dufner explained. Mayor Cecilia Koontz asked Dufner if the city was notified See FUNDS, page 3
By DAVID HAYES Editor
about old stuff, is it’s made simply,” Jessica said. “It’s not going to break any time soon. It’s a solid, tin can on wheels.” Thus, was born Peaches and Honey Mobile Bartending. The business name was derived from her two kids’ nicknames. “My oldest son we’ve called Peach all his life. The other one
The city of Dallas unveiled last week at an open house nearly completed plans of a proposed design for a new police department building, including a price tag of between $15 to $17 million. Police Chief Tom Simpson said this is the closest Dallas has come yet to following through with a promise made nearly four decades ago. “I’ve been with the police department right around 38 years now and chief about the past 11 years. When I first started, one of the first nights here the police chief at the time, Jim Harper, told me we’re working on a new police station,” Simpson told the audience at the open house. When Simpson was first hired, Dallas had 13 officers. Now there are 23. “So, the department has grown, and obviously, if you’ve been around a while, you’ve seen the city has grown. And the need has grown that much more,” Simpson said. “With the support of our current elected officials, and the leadership of our current city management, we’ve come closer than we ever have, and we’re really planning to take it across the line this time.” Architects from Mackenzie walked the audience through the latest plans for the new building, which, if approved, would be built over the current space occupied by the Itemizer-Observer building. Jeff Humphreys, principal architect, pointed to other projects the firm recently completed with input from their communities, including the Sandy Police Department, Silverton City Hall and Lake Oswego City Hall. He said they looked at upgrading City Hall to better accommodate the growing police force versus starting over with a new building. “There’s a cost associated with that. We looked at what the metric would be versus a new building, and it was found it would be more cost effective to build a new building than to fix and add on to the existing building,” Humphreys said. Humphreys broke down the three areas of cost for the proposed design with built-in ranges to allow for variances in the bidding process and material availability. “Our recommendation is to plan for the worst-case scenario which would be the high end of that and
See BAR, page A2
See PLANS, page 3
PHOTO BY KAREN SANKS
Santa made an appearance at Willamette Valley Fiber in Dallas for photos and to accept letters from area children.
Dallas couple serves up dream business in mobile bar By DAVID HAYES Editor
When Jessica Tucker was planning her own wedding ceremony, she wanted to hire a quirky addition to the reception - a mobile bartender. However, still living in California with her husband Clayton, she didn’t want to shell out $5,000 for the service. Considering Jessica’s five years of bartending experience, and a lifetime of working at restaurants since she was 15, Clayton saw an opportunity for his new bride. “My husband’s big thing is he’s always wanted a side hustle. His dream was to own any business. He didn’t care what it was,” Jessica explained. “‘When we get back home, why don’t you start a bartending business?’ He asked. I told him let’s just circle back after I’m done wedding planning.” Come Christmas time last year, he again broached the subject. Jessica was more open to the suggestion this time around, with caveats. “I’m not doing any of the taxes, I’m not handling the money,” she told Clayton. “I will bartend and market. He was like, ‘sold.’” It took eight months to acquire all the permits, licensing,
IN THIS ISSUE Voices Corrections Obituaries Puzzle Solutions Social Public Records Classifieds Puzzles
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PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Jessica Tucker practices serving techniques to work within the comfy confines of her mobile bartending business Peaches and Honey. downpayments, and, of course, a horse trailer to serve drinks from. “I bought the trailer off a lady on the internet. She was selling her business. She was older, she and her business partner were having health problems. So, she sold her business to me,” Jessica said. Clayton drove down in July to Pheonix and back to get the trailer. “It’s easy to haul around, easy to hook up. One of the nice things
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