-Topics-

• Work Session
  • Leadership Dallas
• City Council
  • Introductions, Recognitions, Proclamations
    • Public Works Employee Introduction
  • Public comment
  • Consent agenda
  • Mayor and Council reports
  • City Manager report
    • Republic Services Mid-Year Rate Review
    • City Charter Review
    • City Manager’s Cost of Living Adjustment
    • Enterprise Zone School Support Fee
  • Ordinances
    • No. 1923 – Open Burn Registration
  • Resolutions
    • No. 3568 – Adopting the City of Dallas Fee Schedule
  • More information

-Work Session-

Leadership Dallas

The 4th year of graduates from Leadership Dallas have completed their 8 month long program. Graduates will share their experiences with the Council.

The group met on the 2nd Thursday of every month since Oct. 2025 to learn how the city works. Each month had topics including marketing and networking, education, social services, public safety, and economic development. Some activities included meeting local and state elected officials in person and touring non-profits in the city.

What will happen? No official action will take place. Graduates from this year’s Leadership Dallas program will share their experience with the Council.

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-City Council-

Introductions, Recognitions, Proclamations

Public Works Employee Introduction

An employee from the Public Works department will be introduced to the City Council.

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Public Comment

This is your time to speak to your City Council, & Mayor. Each person has up to 3 minutes to speak.

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Consent Agenda

No consent agenda was posted for this meeting.

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Mayor and Council Reports

This is a time for Councilors and the Mayor to give any reports.

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City Manager report

Republic Services Mid-Year Rate Review

After voting against an increase at the beginning of 2026, the City Council will re-review a rate increase for garbage service. A representative from Republic Services (Republic) will be present to answer questions.

In their Feb. 2 meeting, the City Council voted a unanimous “no” to Republic’s annual rate increase. Republic requested a 3% rate increase at the time. Though the Council voted no, they agreed to re-visit the topic in 6 months.

• What would a 3% rate increase have looked like?
  • per month increase for residential customers
    • $0.79 – 20 gallon cart
    • $0.84 – 32 gallon cart
    • $1.07 – 64 gallon cart
    • $1.30 – 90 gallon cart
  • from the Feb 2, 2026 council agenda

While a new proposed rate is currently unclear, a footnote in the documents from Republic suggests a 10% rate increase (council agenda, pg. 5). According to a May 2026 letter from Republic, the large increase is said to make up for the 6 months of cost increases not captured at the beginning of the year plus rising fuel and operational costs.

In that same letter to the City Council, Republic said, “Moving forward, we strongly recommend transitioning to a more standard refuse rate adjustment approach—small, steady increases on a regular basis. This method is widely used across the industry and is generally better received by customers than larger, less frequent increases.” (council agenda, pg. 4)

Republic provided a Schedule of Direct Expenses (council agenda pg. 6) and a Statement of Income (council agenda pg. 5) to the Council. Expenses show a 2025 average increase of 3% in operation costs and 3% increase in Sales, General, and Administrative expenses.

The Income Statement shows a 24.3% increase in Net Income from 2025 to 2026’s estimated numbers. In 2025, Republic saw a net profit margin of 8.2%. For example, Republic’s take home profit was 8.2 cents on every dollar. A proposed 10% rate increase would raise that to 9.7 cents of every dollar in 2026.

What will happen? The Council will consider the suggested rate increase from Republic. Any change to the garbage rate would need to be made by the Council. If an increase is approved, it would come back to the Council in a future meeting as a resolution.

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City Charter Review

The City Council will consider making changes to the City Charter. The City Charter details how the city is governed. Think of it like Dallas’ Constitution.

The Public Administration Committee (a standing committee of the Council) has been discussing possible changes to the Charter for a few months. According to the Charter, the last update was in Nov. 2014 after being approved by a vote of Dallas residents.

A review committee is being suggested to study proposed changes to the City Charter. The committee would have 7 members: 4 non-elected residents and 3 elected officials. The 4 non-elected members of the committee would need to apply using the city’s committee volunteer application form. All 7 members would then be selected by the Council.

The city plans to host town halls and surveys to get additional input from all residents. However, any final changes would have to be voted on and approved by the residents of Dallas on a ballot. The staff report suggests the 1st possible election for changes to the Charter would be May 2027.

• City Charter changes already suggested:
  • Increasing the Mayor term from 2 to 4 years
  • Restrict who can be elected to office to only US citizens
  • Youth engagement:
    • Lowering the age requirement to be an elected official
    • Lowering age for citywide elections to under 18
  • Review the vacancy in office clause
  • Council quorum minimums
  • City manager residency requirement
  • Change number of City Councilors
  • Restrict elected officials from working for the city
  • Mayor to appoint committee chairs
  • Removing bonding requirement for City Manager
  • Supervision for council-hired positions
  • Remote meeting participation

What will happen? The Council will consider if they want to create a City Charter Review Committee and set out how the committee will work. Any changes to the Charter would have to be approved by a vote from Dallas residents.

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City Manager’s Cost of Living Adjustment

Decisions about the City Manager’s salary come from the City Council. The 2026 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) being requested for the City Manager is 3.1%.

Most city staff will receive a 3.1% COLA increase this year, with some getting 3.3%, based on various contracts (some still under negotiation). The staff increases and the proposed City Manager increase are already planned for in the upcoming 2026-2027 budget.

Follow the money: A 3.1% increase equals about $7,300 annually.

In June 2025 the City Manager asked to reject that year’s COLA increase of 1.4%. At the time, Council President Briggs called it admirable that the City Manager declined a raise with that year’s tight city budget, and said the Council would keep it in mind in the future.

What will happen? The Council will decide whether or not to approve an increase to the City Manager’s salary. Any increase will be finalized and approved in the 2026-2027 budget which will be presented in a future meeting.

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Enterprise Zone School Support Fee

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dallas School District will be considered by the Council to establish a fee for businesses looking to get tax abatement through an Enterprise Zone. This MOU has no direct impact to Dallas residents.

Councilors learned about this topic in a previous March 2026 meeting. The MOU is needed because of the city’s sponsorship of a combined Enterprise Zone that was formed in 2021. The Zone includes the Dallas, Independence, and Monmouth area.

Quick Recap : A new business is moving to Independence. The business wants to use the tax abatement option for years 4 and 5 of the zone. Approval of a MOU regarding a School Support Fee is required by all Enterprise Zone sponsoring agencies. So even though the business isn’t going to be in Dallas, as a sponsoring agency, the City Council still needs to vote on the MOU.

Learn more: Review the Wrap Up Post from the March 2, 2026 meeting.

Both school districts in the Enterprise Zone (Dallas and Central) previously agreed and passed resolutions for the 15% School Support Fee. The Dallas School Board approved their resolution on Feb 9, 2026.

What will happen? The Council will vote on whether to approve the City Manager to sign the MOU with the Dallas School District.

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ORDINANCES

No. 1923 – Open Burn Registration

The city wants to learn more about open burning inside the city limits. A 2 year open burning registration pilot program will be considered and voted on. The City Council discussed this topic during the ordinance’s 1st reading in their last meeting.

The information collected from this program would help determine if any future regulations on open burning are needed. The program would require people to register with the city if they plan to open burn in city limits.

There is no enforcement with this program, only the collection of information. Open burning does not include recreational fires, barbecues, or agricultural burning.

The Council’s Public Safety standing committee recommended the program to the Council for approval in their April 2026 meeting. This ordinance has an emergency clause on it. The clause allows the ordinance to take effect immediately if adopted after the 2nd reading.

What will happen? The Council will have their 2nd reading of the ordinance for an open burn registration program and will vote on whether to approve it or not.

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RESOLUTIONS

No. 3568 – Adopting the City of Dallas Fee Schedule

Proposed increases to the city fee schedule will be up for a vote to the City Council. This resolution is the final review of the fee schedule, which was previously discussed in the April 2026 meeting with no changes requested.

Most fees are looking at a 6% increase, with building division fees increasing only 3% following the CPI-U Pacific Cities index. Some fees won’t change, like the cost for general daily admission to the Dallas Aquatic Center.

Some proposed changes:

Review all the proposed changes in the council agenda, pg. 20-29.

According to the staff report, next year’s fee schedule review will come with a comparison to other city fee schedules. This was a request made by the Council in their April 2026 meeting.

Follow the money: In 2025, the Council voted to raise most fees by 2.8%.

What will happen? The Council will vote on approving the proposed fee schedule. If approved, new fees become effective on July 1, 2026, with the Aquatic Center fees taking effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

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-More Information-

Learn more: View the entire work session agenda and city council agenda for a lot more information.

Attend the meeting: Come attend City Council meeting in person on Monday, June 1st, 2026. Work Session starts at 6:00 pm and 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 43 pages. Do you have interest in being on the City Charter Review Committee?

If approved by City Council, The Dallas Signal will share information on how to apply when it becomes available.

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