Council - Regular Meeting

we'll call the council work session of money june 1st 2026 to order at 6 p.m and ask the city reporter to call the role spectrum must be a new council president uh briggs is excused councillor barrientos yeah councillor blasser here councillor fitzgerald here Councillor Holzapfel?

Here.

Councillor Jantz? Here. Councillor Schilling? Here. Councillor Shane? Here. Councillor Spivey? Here.

All right, we have a quorum. The agenda item tonight is Leadership Dallas.

Hey, Commissioner Slack. So I will invite Tara Townley with the Chamber of Commerce to come up and introduce this topic and kind of turn the rest of the program over to her for the night.

hello everyone thank you so much for having us as you guys know uh this program has been ran by the city of dallas for the past i believe three years and uh we were able to take it over this year as a chamber of commerce as a well well developed program so first of all thank you guys so much um because we're really excited about what it is but also what we're going to be doing with it um behind You will see our graduating class, but also representatives from the previous year's graduating class who were our planners for this year. And that's been one of the best things about this program is being able to have the cyclical opportunity to take the things that we're learning within the program and then apply them and then continue to make those connections and such. One of the very fun things that we're excited about going forward is that we are going to be taking this, we think, Polk County-wide. So we're taking this show on the road. We obviously love Dallas, and we also want to be able to showcase and bring leadership and build those collaborative efforts further. As you guys know, as the Chamber and many of the organizations behind me, collaboration's very important. But also, we serve Polk County as a whole, and so we want to make sure branching out and being able to also maybe have a little bit of influence on highlighting Dallas when we have a little bit of control over that program as well. So we're very, very excited about that. So at this time, what we're going to be doing, though, is we're going to be handing things off to, I believe, Leslie Super Bowl, and we're going to be seeing a PowerPoint presentation from the group, and then we'll be moving into acknowledging our graduating class. you guys have any questions or concerns thoughts anything before i step down all right

all right hello council members uh so i'm leslie bull people call me super bowl because it's way more fun and uh i got nominated to to talk to you about leadership dallas and and this year is called cohort and i don't know how to make the flip chart go into the right arrow Magic. Okay. So yeah, so Leadership Dallas. So great group of people. I love these people. It's been great to spend time with them. Once a month we get together and we learn about different topics. So you kind of have a list up there. Government Day was a lot of fun. We got to tour buildings and talk to people about how to get involved in government. And sometimes you just start out volunteering in a small role and then the role gets bigger and then people get to know your name and then you become a council member. I don't know, something like that. So we learned about marketing and networking because a lot of the people that are part of this group are business owners or leaders in their business. So that was great to learn about. We had the SBDC come and talk and different people like that. Leadership traits and management, you know, education. We got to tour schools and learn about that different options for schooling, which I think is amazing in our country, in our state that you can have private school, public school, charter school, home school, all the different kind of options. Economic development, more speakers, nonprofit day. Nonprofit was great because there's so many, there's so much need. So many people were talking about their different nonprofits. We had a little bit of representation. I don't remember if Bambinos spoke, but they sure were a lot of help this year. uh emergency preparedness we talked about that we got to tour the jail i mean who doesn't love touring a jail when you're not actually when you can leave you know and uh local business exploration we did a scavenger hunt and uh james and i were last in but you know that's okay we we we fought hard but but we lost we lost big time so so those are some of the topics we covered Anyway, so we each ended up, for our project this year, they directed us to each pick our own project, to each pick our own nonprofit to work with, learn about, volunteer with, represent, and talk about here tonight. And so I don't actually have a slide for mine, so I'm just gonna talk real quick. And my nonprofit project was partnering with Sable House, which is a great organization based here in Dallas. I love working with them. The mission of Sable House is to increase the safety of domestic and sexual violence victims in Polk County through crisis intervention and community education services. I always need to know this and remember this, that Sable actually stands for something. It stands for safe from abuse and battered living environments. And it was started in 1993 by the grassroots efforts of a small group of women in Polk County. So thank you to those ladies who did that. their services include emergency shelter 24-hour crisis hotline support and educational groups for women and children sexual assault assault response advocacy within the legal and social service system information and referral and community education and outreach and so i serve on their board of directors i volunteer actually to be a bingo caller can you believe it at a once a month fundraiser um and i help create awareness in the community by talking about them any chance i have at events like this so that is sable house so then if i hit the button we are hoping that someone from early learning hub would like to stand up and speak real quickly about what they did yep that's what i kind of thought yep

that way the people watching on their computers can hear you oh well hello computer people um my name is mckenzie newland i am a local here to polk county i was born in salem i was raised on fall city and um i actually have my own nonprofit called the reading nest and so my project i really wanted to find something that I could actually take in like for a longevity, right? Not just, oh, this one time I'm going to volunteer or this is just going to be, I'm going to learn about it. So I wanted to take a nonprofit and really embed it into what I'm already doing so I can continue to support them. So I picked the Marian Polk Early Learning Hub. I'm assuming most people here know about it. Do you guys? Yeah, raise of hands. Do you guys know about it? Wow. Okay. Well, you will learn about it today. So, um, Mary and Polk Early Learning Hub, they're, um, they're based out of Salem, but they do support Polk County, obviously. And what they do is they connect families and children to the resources they need when they need them. So they coordinate community programs and they really focus on that family centered approach to it to that early learning so 0 to 5 so they help with programs such as the Dolly Parton imaginary nation library have you guys heard of that yeah so they have brought that actually to Polk County so it wasn't around our area and Dallas actually was one of the last areas over here because they have to have so many people signed up so many resources and so many so much support for that um so they do that which is great my son does it um it's where kids zero to five can get a book once a month mailed directly to them because of access right they believe reading at home is really important and support in that way they also do the kinder ready program so different activities events they also do these really fun calendars that are activities for kindergarteners to be like okay this month we should focus on math to prepare our child for kindergarten they also do um family connects which is actually really specific to polk county it's if you have a child 0 to 12 weeks old um you get a visit from a with to your home from a nurse at no cost which is really cool and that's specifically polk county based um and they also have a bunch of other ones like preschool hub they do car seats um drives and different things uh it's a really great program So what I did was I partnered my nonprofit, which I go out to rural communities, so like Fall City, Dallas is one, other places, and we give out free books. And so what we did was we took education kits from them and took them out into the community on their behalf, as well as information on Signing people up for Dolly Parton Imagination Library and as well as giving out resources for kindergarten readiness, which is really great. We really embedded their program into ours and we became a flagship for this for them because as we all know, nonprofits are very limited staff. So what we did is we took our volunteer time and our resources and just added it in with it. So these math kits were really great. They put them together with WSD and another organization and they had like little blocks in them and like little bears and like had activities and books in them. So that's how we collaborated. We gave out over 30 in Dallas so far. And we're going to continue this. So that's kind of how we started out. And we're going to continue that partnership. So yeah, I can ramble. So sorry.

Okay, forward.

Good afternoon, City Council and Mayor. My name is George and I am the Academic Advisor at the Chemeketa Community Campus here or center here in Dallas. I'm also the Student Services Coordinator at the center. Been with Chemeketa for 14 years, but I'm here to talk about the Reading Nest whose founder is here in the room, Mackenzie Newlin. She's the founder of the Reading Nest. It's a local nonprofit. It's a mobile reading service that provides free texts or books to our local kids and adults and seniors she's awesome been providing this service since its creation last year this last month or In May, the van was fully mobile and I got to go around some of the communities, but we had been providing books. I said we because I've been volunteering for almost a couple of months now and I feel part of the team already. But we've been volunteering and providing free books at local events. Like, uh, for example, one of them was, uh, the fam jam here at the, uh, Polk county fairgrounds, uh, fall city, uh, happy days, and then other events here in the community, like, uh, at the. Oh, one of them was a Gilbert House in Salem. So it's not just local to the Polk County area, but it's also reaching out to other areas that are calling for the services of bringing free books to the communities. There are several ways that we can participate. One is volunteering, also monetary donations. Chemeketa has provided our services as a book drop off. So if there's any books that want to be dropped off instead of being sent to like the recycle bins or composting or trash, they can be recycled, given back to the community free of charge. So I'm glad that I was able to participate in this event not just dallas leadership but also with mckenzie and her team which is a great non-profit there's updates there will be like several locations throughout the county where this mobile book mobile van service will be provided on a monthly schedule so that's up and coming thank you

Okay.

Good evening, everybody. I know some of you guys already. But if you don't know me, my name is Hayden Allbritton. I'm the personal banker at Columbia Bank here in Dallas. And so I was definitely excited to be a part of this program, especially because I've grown up in Polk County most of my life. Hasn't been here in Dallas. I was over there in West Salem. But I've been here in the community since about late 2023 when I started out at Columbia Bank here in town. So I was really excited for this opportunity and this program to kind of see, you know, more about Dallas. You know, I kind of been here a couple of times growing up, you know, some of my family's from here, but I hadn't really spent a whole lot of time. And so it is community, you know, it's been great to me. And so, you know, it's kind of cool to learn more about that. And so one of those ways, you know, that I was able to do that is by volunteering at Acres of Hope Youth Ranch. You know, if you haven't heard of it, you know, they're located there off of off of Rick Rial Road, I believe it is. You know, they're off, you know, close to Greenwood out there. So, you know, on the way towards West Salem. So it's perfect for me, you know, a nice short drive home. You know, so it's kind of in between. But we actually as a class visited that visited out there a few months ago, I think in March it was. And, you know, got an opportunity to meet Justin. He's one of the ones who who started out there. And I mean, man, it was just like a great experience, you know, to kind of hear more about their mission and what they do for our community. So they service us here and also the Salem community as well. So Justin, he just kind of shared his passion for helping youths in our community. That's kind of the audience they kind of cater to there. They help youths who are hurting and or are going through trauma. or anything like that. And I know really in all generations that there's always youths who unfortunately go through trauma. And so kind of like Acres of Hope Youth Ranch, what they do is they're kind of like helping in that healing for them. And just walking out there, I can just tell you there really is just kind of a sense of peace when you go out there. If you haven't been out there before, there just really is. And a key part of that mission, kind of what drives that for them is their faith in God. I know that's really kind of a big thing in the Dallas community, as I've discovered. There's a lot of churches here in this town, right? um and and you know it's a big thing for a lot of people and so i um and and and for myself as well you know i'm i'm a man of faith and uh that's what drives me and so going out there was just a really uh cool experience to kind of see just kind of like you know the the piece that's out there and kind of hear their mission for just loving and serving the youths in our community and also the salem community as well uh they started during covid um and um You know, there really is kind of a litany of things at the offer out there. They kind of teach horsemanship. They also have a variety of other activities that they offer on the grounds like archery and art and a whole lot more things coming here pretty soon. So that's definitely exciting to see. You know, as far as my volunteering out there and everything, you know, I've I've been out there a couple times so far. I plan to continue going there. Me, myself, I don't really know much about horses. I was kind of a city boy growing up. But just going out there convinced me. It's like, man, this is some place where I think I'd really like to be a part of and learn more and help out in any way I can. And so if that means picking up horse poop and learning how to do that, then I'll be excited to do that. So, you know, as you can imagine, too, there's kind of a lot of training that goes into that. So I've kind of started the training process for that. And so hopefully we get there here pretty soon. But yeah, just, you know, overall, what's cool. They do, they actually have like, you know, for volunteer opportunities, you know, you can help feed the horses, you know, take care of the horses, doing chores in the property, helping maintain the grounds or even to like teach one of the classes or, you know, be with one of the youths and kind of, you know, help in their healing process, which is really cool as well because, you know, I have a passion as a youth ministry for a while and I just love being able to help students, help youths, you know. and just love on them through life, really. So, yeah, that's kind of a big thing for me there. So, you know, like their mission, you know, kind of they have an acronym, HOPE. It stands for Healing, Opportunity, Purpose, and Education. You know, that's kind of, you know, like their thing. So, you know, it's been a great experience so far, and I look forward to getting more into that as we go along. So, thank you.

All right, James 2.

Good evening. My name is Laura Leon-Cipriano. I'm the director of the Chemeketa Polk Center here in Dallas. I've been close to three years. I don't live here in the community. I live in Woodburn. So this is a great upper class, was a good opportunity for me to get to know the community, the people that live here. And yeah, so have you heard about James 2 Community Kitchen? Okay, it's here in Dallas. It's a volunteer led program, providing free hot nutritious meals to every Thursday from four to six at the Methodist Church. The name is inspired by a biblical called to turn faith into action, specifically feeding those in need. So anyone in town who needs a hand, no questions asked. So everybody that comes in, they're feeding currently about 60 to 100 neighbors every single week. My responsibility is serving. So I've called Liz and I was like, I need your organization or your program called to me and I'm interested. So she was like, come over. What do you want to do? I'm like, well, where is there to do? So I'm like, she's like, serving so i'm serving there every thursday it's a great joy to see everybody that comes in with a big smile and the food that they provide is um nutritious food it's uh they work out they get the food from the Marion Polk Food Shares and turn them into nutritious meals. We get to see lasagna, taco salads. So it's good. I mean, and you even get an ice cream with a cookie at the end for dessert. So it's a home-cooked meal. It's not just something that they prep like that. It's something that they really like that their food is a well-deserved meal. And it's just not more than just food for some guests. It's a hello to everybody that comes in. It's the social interaction that they get with the volunteers and among the tables. I mean, people come in and just gather around the table and talk for two hours until they have this looking that we're picking up the tables already to clean. So then that's when they leave. But it's more than that. It's the community. And that's what I really enjoy about serving people. And volunteering for them is the aspect that they're building a community and for everybody, not for just a specifically group. They're always looking for volunteers. So if you're free on a Thursday 430 to 6 and you're inclined to come and do something and you're like, what am I going to do? Come and come help. They need help with the food prepping, which starts right before 430. So they're prepping food. They need dishwashing. Greg probably needs help with the dishwashing situation there. And so even if you want to cook, Liz is more than happy to get some help with the cooking stuff. So that's my volunteering experience. I plan to continue working with them or not working. Well, yeah, it's work. Volunteering for them until I can. So I've been volunteering for close to three months already with them every Thursday. So thank you.

and as the person's coming up the council kind of doesn't clap until the very end so it's not that we don't like you we like having you guys clap so i was gonna say this is getting very awkward and we appreciate every one of the presenters before not just the last one but thank you

Good evening. I'm getting over a cold, so I hope you can hear me clearly. My name is Audrey McMorrow. I'm the Programs Coordinator at Dallas Community School. I had the opportunity to work with Community Mediation Services. I will be honest with you, I picked this as my nonprofit for the Dallas leadership because of a fence dispute with my neighbor. And I thought if I could get the language and the skills by talking with these folk, maybe I could find some peace with my neighbor. So that's what brought me to CMS.

No, somebody's going to ask you now, did it work?

Well, let me get to the end of my spiel and I will answer that question. So community mediation service provides restorative dialogue between community members and serves as a neutral third party in a variety of situations, including family mediation, work with juvenile department and conflict resolution within mobile home parks. Their goal is to help people navigate conflict constructively and strengthen relationship within our community. When I met with Ken Braun at the beginning of the year, he told me he was going to be retiring and I got introduced to his replacement, Mary Maul. We talked about what this non-profit would need and how I might be able to help. They shared with me that the current needs for the organization is to increase community awareness. They are seeking more referrals and more trained volunteers. Throughout the year, they do offer a 40-hour basic mediation training that prepares volunteers to serve as mediators in our community. I did sign up to volunteer because after talking with these two individuals, I was very impressed with what this nonprofit can do in a community. Unfortunately, there were not enough volunteers signed up for the basic mediation training to happen. So hopefully they'll be rescheduling for the summer and I'll be able to join then. Part of that training is a discount for the fee if you do a two-year volunteer service with them, which I fully intend to do. So because I was not able to do the training, I wanted to find another way to support this organization. I asked Mary to come in and speak with our administrators at Dallas Community School because I felt that what they offered could also be taught to younger generations, conflict management, conflict resolution, how to recognize escalation and de-escalation strategies. So Mary came in and spoke with our administration and after some communication between all of us, we have come up with a contract with Mary to come in and to provide 10 to 12 sessions of one hour conflict resolution mediation and restorative dialogue with our eighth and our ninth graders starting in the fall. So these students will, I have a list here, these students will receive sessions that focus on peer relationships, group collaboration, high school transition, and real life conflict situations. Students will learn communication basics, perspective taking, understanding conflict, recognizing escalation, emotional regulation, and de-escalation strategies. So I am very grateful to Dallas Leadership for introducing me to this nonprofit community mediation services. It's helped me build a connection that's going to benefit myself my school and our entire community so i am excited to pursue the mediation training the volunteer service but also to help equip our students with skills that are going to serve them for a lifetime thank you So I didn't complete the training, so I have not been able to engage with my neighbor yet, but I fully intend to do that when they are ready.

The speaker for weekday Bible is not here, so we're going to keep going.

Good evening. I'm James Wilson. I'm a transplant from Washington. My wife and I, once she retired, we gave it a couple of years and then we were both involved in volunteering with different things there. But a couple of years after she had retired, we decided to make a move. So we had a house built here in Dallas, not knowing anybody here. We have found the Dallas community to be a wonderful place to live. And she's always wanted to kind of get me involved in something. So she signed us up for a work day with the Downtown Dallas Association, a cleanup day. And from that, we've both been volunteering with the Downtown Association and gotten involved. And I sit on a couple of committees with them. And sitting on those committees, I found that, you know, they're talking about people and this organization and this business and that. And I don't have a clue who they're talking about. So I was looking for a way to that would give me a chance to get to know some of the players in the area and get a little bit more familiar so I'd know who they're talking about or what they're talking about. And so the opportunity to be in this Dallas leadership class came up. And so it's been a wonderful opportunity for me. My wife got herself connected up with some volunteer activities she is a state ombudsman for assisted living facilities as well as she volunteers at the county community center in let's see monmouth and then she volunteers at the food bank in independence and I, in addition to volunteering with the Downtown Association for the Leadership Dallas project, I chose to volunteer with the Dallas Community High School. And I'm a retired educator, have a passion for math. And so on their website, they have three words, And what they don't have there, I would put in terms of math, I would say E cubed, because it's engage, empower, and equip. And it says, the Dallas Community School is breaking the mold of traditional education, where curiosity drives learning. Students take charge of their education, and the community becomes the classroom. Well, my career in education was always in public education, so it was a real treat to me to be in a charter school with a very different approach to things. And I started volunteering in February and ended... just last month, but I volunteered four days a week, two hours a day, helping in Algebra II and Geometry classes. And in doing that, I had an opportunity to get around and talk with every kid in those classes. And Also, you know, I didn't just talk with them about their math and help them with their math, but I had an opportunity to kind of get to know some of the kids, find out, you know, what their interests are, what makes them tick, and what projects they were working on, the school projects that they were working on. And it was just amazing, the the in-depth research that some of those kids were doing with some of their projects so it was a real real nice eye-opener and just a real pleasing experience to be able to get to know those kids and now when when i am out and about around town i happen to see some of them and i actually know some of those kids and and they remember me um and that makes me think one of the nice things about dallas is i see the mission up there we are a welcoming safe and livable community dedicated to people and business and one of the things that my wife and i always are still comment about is we just when we go for walks we run into people they're always friendly people we don't know. Now we know some, we've kind of gotten to know some of them because we see them on a regular basis on our walks. But not just the adults, but even kids, five year olds, you know, will say hi. And Not just because we say hi first, they may say hi first. So it's just a very nice, friendly community. And it's just, it's wonderful to be here. And it's been really a great experience for me to be able to participate with leadership Dallas. So thank you.

That's the last one, right?

yeah yeah so thank you well i think james just summed it up i feel like he did an amazing job there um thanks to city of dallas dallas oregon area chamber of commerce tara and leadership dallas class of 2024 2024 and 2025 say that fast uh thank you for for leading us that was amazing so uh we're all done thank you

Part where we get to acknowledge an award, so we are working on getting feedback from this class, but as we know that we're, we're working on a survey, so that's going to be really fun. So we'll have some really solid information to provide you guys going forward. But what we are looking to do now is let's hand out these lovely awards and then let's go home.

Or you could stay for city council afterwards, because it's going to be a hoot.

Before you all go running away, I'd like to ask the group a question. Of all the different things that you guys experienced, whether it's during the course of the program, whether it's government or public safety, touring the jail, the education system, whatever, if anybody who wants to take a stab at this, I'd love to hear what you thought was either the thing that surprised you the most or the biggest knowledge blank that you got filled in that made the biggest impression on you? Anybody wanna take a stab at that? Don't all leap up at once.

One program, we got a tour of the county jail and I found it was just, that was a really nice,

It is.

And very humane. And the care that the people involved in that whole operation really needs to be amended because I don't think that curves what they've got to go on there. Curves in other places.

I haven't done a comparison, but I suspect you're right.

And another, I just, an eye-opener, you know, community-wise um i can't remember the name of it name of the group but at christmas time on christmas eve christmas cheer christmas cheer we we had been told about that and so we showed up to help when we were actually early and it was just it was amazing because there were a handful of people in there and they were already working and by the time there's a start the place it filled up with people and it was just just take your breath away it's a terrific program so i think my favorite part was um dallas dash because we won

we went out into the different or uh stores that they have there so it was pretty fun too anybody else something that really surprised you that you weren't expecting yeah i think uh

I was surprised in the not about the day my all the resources that our county has like I really was surprised, I had no idea that all that was available. I mean just just just so many services, you know that are even free to people use, I mean, I was I was really shocked to see. That all that was out there, and before I wouldn't know where to go, you know we're working more than a year ago there, but I was looking. here.

I have a two and a half year old. So something that's really big is the education system. And so learning about all the different opportunities and not just like public school, which, you know, is great, but also learning about like DOS community school and charter schools and all these different types of schools that we have in our area was really nice for me. And I went home and talked to my husband about options and what's in our area, so.

George? On government day, The gentleman, I can't remember his name. It was not mine, but the other gentleman, he presented on the process of getting land development here in the city. And what that entails, I didn't know. Like when that road was closed off and all the easements for the sewer line get processed. It's like, wow, all that just to get that piece of land developed. um tiger yes thank you yes so that was an eye-opener uh and that it cost the city 150 000 or one just to have a shuttle that nobody used we needed to collaborate next time for that and george it was zero

nobody used it nobody's seriously but it was supposed to be firing by a lot yeah it wasn't quite a hundred thousand dollars it was less than that and oh that actually refunded us on it because no one used it we are going to welcome to the stage

Gail Keirn, George. Gail Keirn, Take a photo and then we will have you guys all join as a group as well, I guess.

Gail Keirn, Oh, look how cute you are.

Gail Keirn, I know this is all right, and then you're just going to stand up to the side for a little bit and we're going to move on to the next part.

Yeah, I agree. I remember when she did it.

Welcome to the stage. You guys each have your own type of title.

It's very fun, yes. yeah right that's hot trail oh i've actually never seen a train i made that We're going to do a group photo then. Absolutely.

All right. We've got Audrey McLaurel. And I picked this one because I feel like every mother should have their own way.

It's true.

I've always thought, could you imagine having Tara's way? Don't do that.

I'm sick with power on that thing.

What a great idea.

Yeah, don't. All right. We have got, I love it.

all right we have got hayden no friends let's find my wife and change my processor Right.

And last but not least, James, this arrived in the mail. Because do you see what everybody else is holding? This is what they sent me.

So we want a new one on order.

When I opened this up, I sent her a picture. I said, I cannot stop laughing. This is like, it just...

Some people may have to go low.

Some people may have to go high. I don't know how this works.

there you go do you guys do you guys want to be a part of this a little okay cool just making sure how to angle these things all right big smiles all right thank you guys thank you all all right any other business if not we'll adjourn until seven thank you everybody