Community potluck to precede City Council meeting

Community members are invited to join in a potluck at Garfield Park before the Ashland City Council meeting on Tuesday night.

The potluck, which starts at 5 p.m., is not sponsored by the city of Ashland. Instead, it's the brainchild of resident Julia Garrity.

"I hope to be more informed in general and learn how I can constructively participate," she said.

People should bring their own plates, cups and utensils, as well as a main dish, drink or dessert to share.

The event is nonpartisan and not affiliated with any group. Future potlucks are planned before other regular City Council meetings, which are on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, she said.

"(Garrity) wants to do potlucks before council meetings. What a great idea," said Councilor Russ Silbiger.

After the potluck, residents are welcome to walk across the street and attend the City Council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. in the Ashland Civic Center, 1175 E. Main St.

Councilors have a relatively light agenda compared to usual packed agendas that push meeting times to the mandatory stop time of 10:30 p.m.

The Citizen Library Advisory Ad Hoc Committee will present its recommendation that the city place an extension of the Ashland Public Library funding levy on the November ballot. In 2007, Ashland voters approved a levy to supplement hours and services at the Ashland library, which would have operated with limited hours and services due to a lack of Jackson County funding.

The current amount of the levy being used is 20 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value, or $42.60 per year for the owner of a home assessed at $213,000. That is the median assessed home value in Ashland. Assessed values are lower than market values because of state property tax limitations.

The supplemental levy has allowed Ashland's library to be open 40 hours per week, compared to 24 hours if only county funding were used.

The levy ends in 2010, when hours would drop back down to 24 hours per week with only county funding. There is no county funding beginning in 2011.

The Citizen Library Advisory Ad Hoc Committee is recommending that the city place a four-year extension of the supplemental levy on this November's ballot with a rate of 25 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, or $53.25 for the owner of a home assessed at the median value.

Among other factors, the timing for this year would keep the library levy from competing with other levies likely to go before voters in the future.

Other agenda items Tuesday night include considering whether to adopt a resolution opposing the Bureau of Land Management's preferred alternative for the Western Oregon Plan Revision.

The plan would increase logging on 2.5 million acres of BLM land in Oregon.

According to a letter to the City Council from the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland, some county commissioners have supported the plan in hopes that it will provide money to financially struggling counties that have relied on timber payments.

The center contends the plan would not create reliable timber supplies because it allows more clearcut logging and cutting of old growth trees, and would be challenged in court. The center supports thinning of small diameter trees instead.

The City Council is also scheduled to consider whether to:

"¢ spend $39,095 for a traffic impact analysis to study the impact of closing the Glenn Street railroad crossing;

"¢ spend $699,229 on designs for Ashland's portion of the Talent-Ashland-Phoenix water line to bring supplemental Medford water to Ashland in the future;

"¢ finalize approval of several changes to the Ashland Municipal Code to bring it into compliance with Oregon and United States laws.

For a complete list of agenda items and detailed information on each item, visit www.ashland.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=11006.

Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or vlaldous@yahoo.com. To post a comment, visit www.dailytidings.com