By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes That time of year is almost done once again. On Monday evening, Keizer City Councilors will hold a public hearing on the proposed 2013-14 city budget. As approved by the budget committee – a group that includes councilors – the general fund budget is around $10 million. The total [...]

  By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes There had been discussion at the May 20 Keizer City Council meeting of how much land Keizer will possibly need in 20 years, the numbers behind the Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) and the Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA). Staff discussed the work behind the numbers and consultants explained the [...]

By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes No matter how well the debut year of the Keizer Sunday Farmers Market goes, it will not be a banner year. The market, being put on by Salem Saturday Market, launches this Sunday, June 2. The market runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chalmers Jones Park, behind [...]

By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes What could be greater than the Gubser Neighborhood Association? How about the Greater Gubser Neighborhood Association? The GGNA board voted at its May 16 meeting to update its name since its boundaries have been expanded. As voted on in April, the GNA has expanded to match the boundaries of [...]

  By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Chemawa Road North currently features plenty of orange. It will soon look different. The Oregon Department of Transportation project to upgrade the road from River Road to Keizer Rapids Park is finally going to be done. Lou Torres, public affairs specialist for ODOT, said the project should be [...]

  By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Looking at the history of 451 individual lots may sound a bit tedious. But that work by Keizer city staff was enough to convince members of the Keizer Planning Commission to approve plans at their May 8 meeting. Amended Housing Needs Analysis (HNA), Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA) and [...]

By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The Keizer Fire Board pondered an almost twofold increase in its local option levy at its meeting Tuesday, May 21. If the board acts on the recommendation from its Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC), it would mean that a homeowner with a $250,000 house would pay $147.50 per annum [...]

By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes A new member of the Keizer City Council should be in place next month. On Monday evening, councilors formally approved the process that will be used to replace Ken LeDuc, who announced his resignation on May 10. Councilors met in a special meeting May 15 to accept the resignation [...]

By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Earlier, there had been calls to not rush the budget process, using an extra meeting if necessary to get through everything. In the end, the Keizer Budget Committee approved an amended fiscal year 2013-14 budget at its May 9 meeting, going just a few minutes past the scheduled end [...]

An alert bystander helped save two Salem teenagers near the Keizer Rapids Boat Ramp last weekend. At approximately 6 p.m. last Saturday, May 11, two swimmers were rescued from the banks of the Willamette River in Keizer after they were stranded following a near-tragic river crossing. Sherwin Schnell of Independence was sitting at the water’s [...]