Council approves city budget, new SUV's for MPD

Medford, Ore. — The Medford city council approved the city budget for the next biennium. The $323-million dollar budget allows the city to maintain services while continuing to hire employees. It also includes funding for some new projects.

“We’re gonna be providing funding to the Parks and Recreation Department,” City Manager, Brian Sjothun says, “to do, I would say, an accelerated clean-up of the Bear Creek Greenway which means removing the non-native vegetation that’s in there, thus making it more environmentally friendly and a lot safer to use the greenway.”

Thursday, city council also approved an ordinance to allow the Medford Police Department to purchase 10 new SUV’s for their patrol fleet. The department will be purchasing Ford Explorers to replace aging vehicles.

The council also considered its current contract with Travel Medford. The council chose to reexamine the current contract in hopes of getting a better one in place before renewal.