On the agenda: Salem City Council gets update on $300M bond projects

Whitney Woodworth, Salem Statesman Journal
·3 min read
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Salem's Fire shares one bay with Marion County Fire and Rescue at Chemeketa Community College. More modern stations have four double pull-through bays.
Salem's Fire shares one bay with Marion County Fire and Rescue at Chemeketa Community College. More modern stations have four double pull-through bays.

City staff will update Salem City Council Monday on key projects accomplished more than five months after Salem voters passed a $300 million infrastructure bond.

Voters approved the safety and livability measure in the November election.

Previous coverage Salem voters support $300M bond measure for parks, libraries, fire stations

The $300 million bond funds various infrastructure purchases for 10 years, including fire trucks and equipment, streets, sidewalks, parks, two new fire stations to improve responses times, affordable housing, purchase of sites for affordable housing and branch libraries, cybersecurity for city operations, and Civic Center seismic improvements.

The bond came up for a vote just as previous bond measures retired and were removed from the tax rolls, meaning it did not increase residents' tax rates.

The city created an oversight committee for the spending and projects funded by the bond.

The first of three bond sales took place in February. Now several critical infrastructure projects are underway, including the acquisition of fire trucks and equipment and paving two parking lots at Minto Brown Island Park.

The Bond Oversight Committee includes Mayor Chris Hoy, councilors Virginia Stapleton and Micki Varney, along with community members Bob Cortright and Mike Herron. Councilor Linda Nishioka serves as an alternate.

The Oversight Committee meets monthly to receive updates and is developing criteria to prioritize future projects to construct missing sidewalks, repair sidewalks, improve pedestrian crossings and construct mixed-use path and trail projects.

So far, the city has used the funds to purchase $19.89 million in fire trucks and equipment, including 16 fire engines, two ladder trucks, one heavy rescue vehicle, one air rescue vehicle, two wildland fire engines, two ambulances and an aircraft rescue truck.

In the bond, $26 million was envisioned to replace 15-year-old fire engines, ladder trucks, and other equipment. The remaining nearly $7 million of funds will be used to purchase additional equipment including command vehicles, tow rigs, trailers and other rescue tools such as “jaws of life” and defibrillators.

The city also is preparing to pave two parking lots at Minto-Brown Island Park.

More: Salem preparing to pave Minto-Brown Island Park's parking lots

Also on the agenda

Other agenda items include:

  • Adopting a resolution to accept funds to support a Rapid Re-Housing project under Gov. Tina Kotek's executive order. The project would house at least 65 people through Salem Housing Authority by Jan. 10, 2024.

  • Adopting a resolution adding Salem Municipal Airport fees to the city's fee schedule. The addition would allow staff to begin processing background checks and issuing badges to meet regulatory requirements.

  • An annual report by the Center 50+ Advisory Commission highlighting activities, services and volunteer efforts at the center.

  • A presentation of the economic development quarterly report.

  • The second reading of the proposed code amendment to eliminate minimum parking requirements citywide to comply with new state rules.

How to participate

The meeting is at 6 p.m. It will be held in person at the City Council Chambers at the Salem Civic Center at 555 Liberty St. SE and also can be watched on Comcast Cable CCTV Channel 21 or on the Salem YouTube channel in English/American Sign Language and Spanish.

Those wishing to comment in person can sign-up on the rosters at the chamber entrance before the start of the meeting.

Written public comments on agenda items can be emailed by 5 p.m. Monday to cityrecorder@cityofsalem.net. Or preregister between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday at cityofsalem.net/Pages/Public-Comment-at-Salem-City-Council-Meeting.aspx to speak during the meeting via Zoom.

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: On the agenda: Salem City Council gets update on $300M bond projects