-Topics-
-Work Session-
Council goals quarterly review
The Council will receive their 2nd status report of the 2025-2027 Council goals. Each department will present on the goals and objectives they are responsible for.
These goals were originally set in Feb 2025 in a weekend work session led by SSW Consulting. The goals were officially adopted by the Council in April 2025. Check out the wrap up from the 1st goal status report in July 2025.
5 GOALS AND THEIR OBJECTIVES:
- Community Safety
- Secure funding, complete design, and build new police station
- Conduct community education and outreach on police station bond measure
- Plan for the future needs of fire response with projected community growth (e.g., Increased height of buildings and access; updates to training and fire code, etc.)
- Improve public outreach with community organizations to support community disaster preparedness
- Increase lighting in parks
- Increase community-led crime prevention efforts (e.g. neighborhood outreach, community partners)
- Balanced Economy
- Adopt the La Creole Master Plan
- Solicit and secure development partner for 791 Main Street Building
- Attract businesses to Dallas
- Complete rezoning for La Creole Node within City limits
- Continue business-friendly environment to support development of local economy
- Develop and adopt the Mill Site development plan
- Community Growth
- Obtain water storage rights permit
- Complete design for Mercer Dam
- Identify and secure funding for Mercer Dam
- Update Transportation System Plan
- Complete phase 2 of sewer access for La Creole Node
- Update Water Master Plan
- Update Sewer Master Plan
- Complete construction of the new Public Works building
- Design and build James Howe Road Water Storage
- Update Storm Water Master Plan
- Complete filter upgrade at the water treatment plant
- Update Parks Master Plan
- Conduct space planning analysis to inform renovation recommendations to increase efficiency at City Hall
- Welcoming Community
- Attract businesses to support recreation tourism
- Develop 2050 Community Vision
- Partner with local and regional organizations to promote tourism in Dallas
- Recreation
- Connect the trail system
- Increase promotion of recreation opportunities (activity guide, social media, etc.)
- Support more community events through community partnerships
- Update Parks Master Plan
- Increase breadth of recreation opportunities for all ages
- Explore development code revision to prioritize larger park space with new developments
View the entire City Council Goals and Objectives chart in the work session agenda, pg. 4-5.
- Department Summaries:
What will happen? The Council will get status reports from each department on their related goals. No official action is expected to take place.
-City Council-
Introductions, Recognitions, Proclamations
None.
Public Comment
This is your time to speak to your City Council, & Mayor. Each person has up to 3 minutes to speak.
Consent Agenda
The consent agenda is used to pass procedural items. If any Councilor has a question, or wants to discuss something, they can pull the item to discuss.
What’s on the consent agenda?
- Approve the December 15, 2025 Work Session meeting minutes (pg. 3)
- Approve the December 15, 2025 City Council meeting minutes (pg. 4)
- Council standing committee assignments (pg. 5-6)
Mayor and council Reports
This is a time for Councilors and the Mayor to give any reports.
City Manager report
City Committee, Commission & Board Appointments
The Mayor will recommend 3 people to fill vacancies on the Parks Advisory Board and the Planning Commission. The Council will review and can vote to approve the Mayor’s recommendations.
The Council will also consider and vote to appoint 3 members to the Budget Committee. If approved, there would be 1 more vacancy left on this committee to fill.
Read more: You can read the applications for each person in the agenda pg. 9-20.
What will happen? The Council will consider and can vote on approving any or all of the applicants.
Police Station
A new 5th option joins the list for the Council to consider in pursuit of their goal for a Police building. In their last meeting, the Council was presented with 4 total options, 3 being new. New options were created after a value engineer process was used to try and reduce overall costs.
City staff have come up with a new 5th option after wondering if the value engineer options were enough.
“While each of those options reduces the cost of the project, the question remains is it enough? This question led city staff to pivot into another direction…”
Staff report pg.23
First, here is a overall look at the 5 Police building options with building size and overall project costs. All options would sit on the Itemizer-Observer (IO) property in downtown.
- POLICE BUILDING OPTIONS
- Original 2 story L shape building
- 13,000 sq. ft.
- $18.4 million
- higher now due to inflation
- 3 story block building
- 13,781 sq. ft.
- $17.1 million
- 3 story block building (3rd floor unfinished)
- 9,792 sq. ft.
- 3,989 sq. ft. unfinished
- $16.1 million
- 9,792 sq. ft.
- 2 story block building
- 9,792 sq. ft.
- $14.3 million
- City Hall/IO remodel
- 22,120 sq. ft
- $2.5 million
- Only pays for IO remodel and design fees for a future City Hall remodel
- Original 2 story L shape building
NEW IDEA
The newest idea centers around remodeling the IO building but not to become the new Police building. The IO building in this option would be used to house all non-police city hall departments and staff. Once city staff move out of the City Hall it would become the Police building (while keeping the court services).
Remodeling the IO building to solely become the Police building was previously ruled out by the Council. To remodel the IO building up to public safety standards would cost the same as building the new 2 story L shaped building. Additionally, the remodeled IO building would already be too small for current Police needs.
The IO building has 5,585 sq. ft. and it could hold all the city departments and staff (non-police). The city asked Dalke Construction to give an estimate to remodel the IO building for city offices. With some added items, the total IO remodel would cost just under $2 million.
After the IO remodel, the City Hall would become the Police building. According to the staff report, “police administration… are confident that the city hall building could be functional for their purposes right away with very little work needed in the building.”
The 1st future large project would be to seismically retrofit the old City Hall. There is a potential $2.5 million grant from the State of Oregon the city can apply for to help with this retrofit. Future remodels and projects for the Police building (old City Hall) would need to be planned and designed for.
NEW IDEA FUNDING
The cost of this City Hall/IO remodel would be funded through a 10 year interfund loan for capital projects. It would come in the form of an $8 per month fee on residents city (sewer) bill. It could also be tiered to have a lower upfront fee that is increased each year up to the $8.
This new $8 fee is intended to be a long term fee however. After paying off the IO remodel, it would pay for the future projects to the Police Building (old City Hall). The fee could also be used to pay for other public safety expenses like public safety facility maintenance, or new police vehicles, ambulances, & fire trucks.
The 4 new block building options would be funded through a 20 year bond with a monthly fee on resident’s city (sewer) bill of $13-15.
In May 2025, the ballot asked for a 30 year bond based on assessed property value. That cost would have shown up on resident’s property tax bill. This fee method has a larger amount of people paying into it than the property tax option. More people allows the debt to be paid down 10 years quicker.
- FUNDING OPTIONS FOR THE POLICE BUILDING
- 4 new building options
- 20 year revenue bond
- $13-15 fee per month on city (sewer) bill
- 20 year revenue bond
- City Hall/IO remodel option
- 10 year interloan fund
- $8 fee per month on city (sewer) bill
- Tiered fee variation: year 1 = $5, goes up $1 each year until it caps at $8
- $8 fee per month on city (sewer) bill
- 10 year interloan fund
- 4 new building options
TIMING
The timeline for the Council to decide what option to follow has come due. The 4 new building options are recommended to go on the May 2026 ballot. Council would need to pass a resolution by Feb. 27th to make the ballot paperwork deadline.
To proceed with the City Hall/IO remodel option, more research and budget estimates need to be completed. This would come back to the Council for more discussion.
What will happen? The Council can give staff a decision on which option to move forward with. If they choose a new building, this item will come back to the Council in the form of a resolution for readings and adoption. If the remodel option is chosen, then more research will take place and the topic will come back to the Council in the future.
Council Policies
Updates and modifications to Council policies will be presented for approval. The Public Administration Committee (a sub-committee of the Council) reviewed and approved these changes in their Nov. 2025 meeting.
One of the changes removes language related to who is responsible under a city policy related to fraud.
Another proposed policy change clarifies what funds are under the city enterprise category.
Read More: You can review all of the Council policies and proposed changes in the agenda, pg. 38-65.
What will happen? The Council will review the proposal and can vote to adopt or make changes.
Water Master Plan
Projects to improve and update the city water system have been ongoing under a 2009 Water Master Plan (WMP). While some of the projects in the WMP have been completed there are projects that still remain.
Considering inflation and other factors, the original budgets made in 2009 are no longer relevant. The Council will consider an update to the WMP and its specific Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to bring the project costs to current pricing.
According to the staff report, the update technical memorandum would also “perform some preliminary engineering to help define and provide cost estimates for some additional projects.”
Read more: You can review the entire Update Technical Memorandum on pg. 68-112
What will happen? The Council will review the proposed update and can vote to approve it or not.
Falls City Municipal Court IGA
Falls City is looking for help to offer municipal court services. The Council will consider approving an agreement to let Dallas fill that need. An Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the 2 cities has already been accepted by Falls City.
Staff at Dallas’ Municipal Court have expressed a willingness to take on the additional Falls City workload, according to the staff report. In return for court services, Dallas will, “receive 35% of the net revenues from fines collected by the court for Falls City cases”. (pg.113 council agenda)
Read more: Review the entire IGA document, pg. 114-118 of the council agenda.
-More Information-
Learn more: View the entire work session agenda & city council agenda for a lot more information.
Attend the meeting: Come attend City Council meeting in person. On Monday, Jan. 5th, 2026. Work Session starts at 6:00 pm & City Council starts at 7:00 pm at City Hall in downtown Dallas, Oregon. You are free to come and leave whenever during the meeting.
Livestream: You can watch the livestream on the City’s Youtube page.
Speak to your city council: Everyone is welcome to speak for 3 minutes towards the beginning of the meeting during Public Comment.
Congratulations! You just summarized 139 pages. What was your favorite part of the Holiday Season?
