City manager confirms $1.75 million trolley funding and $1.4 million state grant for reuse project; trolley ridership climbs to ~14,300 in May

City Manager Rochelle Roden reported to the Monmouth City Council on July 1 that the city’s recently passed budget includes $1,750,000 for the trolley program and that the city received a state capital award of $1,400,000 for a wastewater reuse transmission project.

Roden said the trolley appropriation in the adopted budget is $1,750,000, of which $1,000,000 is for operations and $750,000 is for equipment. "That has passed, and we will be receiving that funding," she said.

On the reuse project, Roden said the city’s sewer-water reuse currently goes to one disposal field and that the awarded funds will pay for transmission lines to move the reuse flow to a second field. "So the $1,400,000 will do transmission lines and all of that," she said.

Roden also provided ridership numbers for the city’s Chariots trolley: May ridership came in at roughly 14,300 rides. She described a multi-year upward trend: about 10,000 per month in the first year, about 11,000 in the second year and 14,000 in May of the current year. She attributed some recent tracking improvements to a change in the trolleys' CAD (computer-aided dispatch) software and noted an equipment change that affected early counts; the new software provided clearer ridership reporting.

Roden noted recent street work completed (Warren Street overlay) and that city staff will attend the Oregon City County Managers Association Conference in Bend next week. She also mentioned a July 18 ribbon-cutting for a new pickleball court and an August 21 MyNet customer appreciation event.

No new council action was recorded on these items during the July 1 meeting; the city manager's report summarized budget outcomes and project awards for council information.