City Council, December 12th - Shelton Ditch

This is it, the last City Council meeting of the year. Council meets on Monday the 12th. There are several annual reviews on the agenda. Probably the one for Police is most important, but others will have more to say on that. Here are some incidental comments on the others.

Shelton Creek? Shelton Ditch? April 13th, 1937

There is a bank stabilization project for Shelton Ditch. Its origin has been a mystery. The first mention in the newspaper may be in 1930, and then in 1934 a canal, as part of a flood control project, was made to connect it with Mill Creek. Then through the rest of the 1930s it appears constantly in the news as a WPA-funded project, with each instance of flooding (as above), and as needing constant maintenance. Before 1934 it does not seem to be continuous. Maybe we'll be able to return to this some time. Wendy Kroger's History of Pringle Creek Watershed summarized many leads, but determined no settled narrative for its origin and development.

On the 1878 Illustrated Atlas Map, Pringle Creek is joined at Church Street by Shelton Ditch and a stream of mystery which split south from the Mill Race, beginning between 12th and 13th, Mill and Trade Streets, flowing north of and roughly parallel to Mill Street until it turned almost 90 degrees south along Church Street, crossing Bellevue. Two earlier writers note this stream. According to landscape architect Elizabeth Lord writing a description of Pringle Park, “...There was Pringle Creek meandering through Bush Pasture, the Shelton Ditch in natural state, very attractive trees on the bank and the third, Mill Creek, all three joining hands under the Church Street bridge...” (Lord 1983)....

Did Shelton Ditch begin as a 1930s Great Depression work project to tame Mill Creek flood waters? Maps show another Shelton Ditch (or Creek) in the mid-1800s coming off Mill Creek east of Airport Road, curving “in natural state, very attractive trees on the bank,” crossing a corner of the Post Office property on 25th, and traveling along Shelton and Mission Streets for several blocks (Chapman 1995). The Depot Addition Historic Landmark Nomination indicated that the ditch was built on an earlier alignment of Turner Road, which was abandoned in 1931.

According to a City of Salem Public Works memo regarding the Shelton Ditch/Winter Street Bridge Flood Mitigation Project, “Shelton Ditch was ‘constructed’ generally along the existing Shelton Creek alignment...” (Lambert 1998). Is South Mill Creek really Pringle Creek, or is it the old Shelton Ditch, or is it the old flume? To complicate matters further, Mill Creek overflows during flood conditions to both the East and Middle forks of Pringle Creek. [link added]

Maybe as part of the forthcoming "Goal 5" inventory, Shelton Ditch will get more attention and we will learn more about its origin and the human interventions that made its current form.

"Shelton street ditch?" Dec. 30th, 1928

The City has started its own "year in review." Later this month in the blog's year in review post, we'll engage that in more detail. The City's document is primarily an exercise in PR, and is rather uncritical.

It leads with street art and a new city flag. Which are neat and all, but are not the most substantive of accomplishments for the City.

Further in there is a slide on the Council subcommittee on the Climate Action Plan, but it focuses on proceduralism, the mere existence of the committee, and not any decisions they made or actual progress on reducing emissions.

Signalling only? Or action?

Though it's probably just an innocent mistake, on the very final slide Councilor Leung was omitted and her successor, who won't be sworn in until January, and had nothing to do with 2022 accomplishments on Council, included.

Councilor Leung is erased by accident

Together these suggest the document was not fully baked. The impulse to publish a review is a good one, but the document published here needed more thought, more editorial review, and more self-awareness about the weights of things and about actual accomplishments. It should be more self-critical, not just boosting.

The Public Art Commission also has an annual report. 

Though the cover image is a street mural, they lead instead with progress reports on the commissions for the new Public Works building.

Inside is a longer discussion of Guidance of Youth, a particular interest here (in 2019 and in 2021):

Guidance of Youth (artist Avard Fairbanks) is a large sculpture in Bush’s Pasture Park that was installed in 1959 to commemorate the 100th year of Oregon statehood. It was presented to the City of Salem by Carol Moore, a former janitor at the Supreme Court Building. Graffiti and turquoise staining from a non-water-soluble liquid was observed on the statue, and the City’s conservator of record, ARG, assessed the damage and provided an estimate of $9,110 to repair and restore the artwork. Because SPAC has not yet accessioned the piece into the Salem Public Art Collection, the cost associated with repair and restoration was paid for by the Parks department. The Commission would need to approve accession of this donated artwork in order for this to be included in the Public Art Collection, but a much larger conversation with multiple stakeholders, including the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde will need to take place. A suggestion to include an interpretive timeline/monument near The Guidance of Youth sculpture was included in the Cultural Landscape Plan for Bush Park and will need to be considered before reviewing the sculpture for accession into the Public Art Collection.

Bronze panel in former Council doors (2012)

There's also mention of the doors that had previously been on Council Chambers:

The wood panels on the Council Chamber doors were donated to the City of Salem by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Belton (former State Senator) in memory of their son. The panels were removed and remain in storage at City Hall. As part of the Civic Center upgrades the engineering project team plans to create a ceremonial space for more formal meetings where the Wayne Taysom wood panels and other pieces of artwork would be incorporated.

They had been going to be incorporated into the new Customer Service area, but this posed new problems, and so now the "ceremonial space" is the new solution. 

The bits on art aren't terribly important, but the installations are pleasant grace notes on city life, and you might find others of particular interest to you.

Couched in a discussion of compensation for Deputy City Managers is news that the City proposes to have two of them, one of whom would absorb the former Director of Community Development:

part of the reorganization would use the vacant Community Development Director as a Community Services Deputy City Manager, and that position will oversee community programs including the library, parks and recreation, senior center, neighborhood associations, homeless response, culture and tourism, public art, ADA, youth, and volunteer services. The other Deputy position (formerly the Enterprise Services Director position) will oversee all IT, human resources, risk management, fleet and facilities, customer service center, and DEI initiatives.

Others will have more to say, but that seems like a significant change to the org chart.

From Police there is an

Informational update on the following department programs: Homeless Services Team, Body-worn Camera Program, police legitimacy, and hiring and retention.

It derives largely from the "strategic plan" Police unilaterally published and Council has not yet seen fit to review formally and adopt.

Lurking in the background also is:

substantial organizational change including the transition of all three deputy chief positions (executive-level leadership) and multiple mid-management level positions. Leadership development and succession planning efforts are underway while also supporting our staff through the change process.

There's a whole lot more that could be said about that point!

It will be interesting to read the thoughts of people who follow the Police more closely. 

Just generally the Police seem to operate too much as an independent agency, even fiefdom.

Bullets for the rest:

• Announcement of a Council training in early January on "group norms; and exploring communication styles." Is there already conflict in the new Council? What is the subtext here?
• A grant application for a trio of water, sewer, and communications projects funded by FEMA.
  
• Authorization to issue the bonds - the oopsie in the Voters Pamphlet is unaddressed in the agenda item, so that must be settled?
  
• Final canvass of the votes for Mayor and Council
  
• Councilor Nordyke proposes a memorial in the form of an award named after Lisa Letney. The Staff Report is not very clarifying, but Salem Reporter has a piece, "Loved Ones Remember 'The Potato Lady' of Salem" that tells more about her significance.
  
• An information report on a 57 lot approved off of Lone Oak Road and north of Mildred Lane.
  
• An information report on a change in phasing for the Coburn Estates subdivision south of the former Hillcrest property and east of the Fairview project.
  
• A Pandemic related operating loss on the Conference Center. The Staff Report says it is the first time, but this has not seemed right. (See notes in 2014 and in 2017.)
  
• A set of technical, language fixes on the Urban Renewal Areas.

Addendum, December 12th

Rather than pulling the Year in Review document for a more substantial revision and presentation in January, they deleted the group photo.

Council addendum