Idanha just one small Oregon city where talk of ceasing to exist comes and goes

IDANHA — Along the North Santiam River, apathy can run high.

In Idanha, few people vote in elections, it’s rare when a candidate files for public office, the economy is poor and there is little tax money to fund the city.

Talks of disincorporating Idanha, best known as the first location in Marion County to receive snow when winter hits, have taken place over the years.

When the city’s main industry — wood mills — closed a decade ago, citizens wondered if it would be better off disincorporating and becoming wholly controlled by Marion County.

“We wanted to keep on going,” said Robin Johnson, an accountant for the city.

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But talk of scrapping the city charter returns from time to time.

For Tuesday's election, no one filed to fill the three City Council positions — one of which has been vacant for nearly a year — including Mayor Jeff Yohe.

Increasingly, the city depends on write-in candidates to keep going.

Most of the reasons supporting disincorporation remain unchanged in Idanha. Some things have gotten worse. But in order for the city to disincorporate, it would require someone to spearhead it.

Yohe said a major hurdle to disincorporation for Idanha is the city is still paying off loans for its current water treatment plant, which was installed at the turn of the century and soon will be replaced with a state-of-the-art membrane water treatment facility thanks to a $1.7 million grant.

“It depends on who you talk to,” Yohe said of disincorporation. “Generally, we’re not in favor of that because the city does want to have some sovereignty in that respect.”

Yohe was first appointed to the position in 2015 when Mayor Cletus Moore resigned after being charged with possession of methamphetamine.

Yohe said his health — he has multiple sclerosis — was a consideration in deciding not to run for re-election.

“Write-ins happen a lot here,” said Yohe, who was elected to the City Council in 2014. “By now if people don’t want me, they won’t write me in.

“Certainly, I’m not going to abandon the city," he said. "These times are important for the growth of the city. If I’m voted back in, it’s more than likely I’ll serve again.”

Life on the county's eastern edge

Idanha is located 55 miles east of Salem and is the farthest east incorporated city in Marion County. Or Linn County. The south portion of Idanha – also called New Idanha – is located in Linn County.

“More or less you’re getting into retirement type age and with the school’s gone and more or less work, it’s pretty much non-existent,” Johnson said.

“In Detroit, everything is more or less second home and we’re hoping that filters up here. We lost everything as far as work goes when we lost the mill. There’s not been much that comes that way to fill that.”

Idanha had a population of 140 in 2017, according to Portland State. That was down from 230 in 2005. When the city was founded in 1949, Idanha had a population of 442.

The only city service Idanha provides its residents is water, and it shares its water technician, Robert Bruce, with Detroit.

Idanha has four employees, with one full-time employee.

Oregon is one of 40 states that allow disincorporation.

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For a city to disincorporate, an initiative petition must be undertaken and a majority of voters must authorize it.

If the voters approve the disincorporation, the city has 30 days to give its property to the county and after 60 days ceases to exist.

In a city like Idanha, where Yohe won the last mayoral election in 2014 with 13 votes, voter apathy is high.

“Unfortunately there’s not a lot of response because the population in the area is not conducive to that kind of thing,” Yohe said. “A lot of them are elderly and retired or whatnot. A lot of millennials don’t have the interest.

“Our system relies on cooperation of people and people need to be involved.”

Cities cease to be for lots of reasons

According to the Oregon League of Cities website, Juntura disincorporated in 1976 and Draperville and Long Martin were disincorporated after less than a year as cities.

Waterloo, along the South Santiam River, disincorporated in 2002 after over 100 years as a city.

More recently, the city of Damascus, a Portland suburb incorporated in 2004,ceased to be a city through a vote in 2016. Its former residents were paid $3.7 million in property tax rebates in July of this year.

In Gates — 20 miles west of Idanha — disincorporation was a topic of conversation among city residents in 2000, but was never brought to a vote.

There are 11 Oregon cities smaller than Idanha, including Greenhorn with a population of 2, where talk of disincorporation comes and goes, but most have chosen to remain cities to keep their identity.

“That’s one of the reasons that I’m trying to work so hard to get on with improving the community to make it more appealing to businesses to make it so we can get a larger population base in here,” Yohe said.

“If the city had disincorporated and that comes to fruition then the city has no sovereignty so we want to try and maintain that and bring people into the community."

While the economy in most areas of Oregon have rebounded since The Great Recession of the late 2000s, Idanha has not.

The two logging mills in town closed and there are still many unoccupied houses.

According to Marion County tax records, the average real market value of a house in Idanha was $78,831 in 2017 – the lowest in the county – but the averaged assessed value is $47,770. The average resident paid $655.80 a year in taxes.

The next lowest city is Gates where the average real market value of a home is $139,239 and the average property taxes were $1,420.14. Aurora has the highest real market value among cities in Marion County at an average of $337,418 and its residents paid $3,573.20.

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Long-term economic decline such as businesses moving out of town and an aging population have sunk Idanha’s economy.

Of the four retail businesses in town, most are seasonal and are closed for much of the year such as River Mountain RV Park, and the Idanha Country Store closes some winters.

Unlike Detroit, which has thrived thanks to recreation and houses being used as second homes, there has been no economic mechanism to help the town rebound.

“More or less you’re getting into retirement type age and with the school’s gone and work, it’s pretty much non-existent,” said Johnson, who also works at Kane’s Marina in Detroit.

“In Detroit, everything is more or less second home, and we’re hoping that filters up here. We lost everything as far as work goes when we lost the mill. There’s not been much that comes that way to fill that.”

Contact the reporter at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler