We installed some new desks at City Hall to get our staff to stand more often while working.  These new desks also improve ergonomics and should keep us healthier.

We had our first meeting with OPSIS to get down a timeline and strategy for moving forward with the master plan.  We will be conducting stakeholder interviews this month.

On November 7, 2017 we had an issue at the pool with a skylight falling in. It was corrected by the Oregon Trail school district. Paragraph we continued working on our branding strategy. We should have a presentation for counsel in the next month or so.

Staff and I have been meeting with several companies over the last few weeks. We’re looking into software that will allow staff to do staff reports and create the agenda for council in a more efficient fashion than what we are currently doing. The software would also assist us in archiving the staff reports and agendas in them more elegant fashion. This software can also be used for all other committees and advisory groups. This would allow all of those documents to be archived in the same location and accessible through one web portal linked to our website.

Some of the software’s include audio and video recording. We desperately need an upgrade to our A/V system would be a way to meet both needs.

Stakeholder meetings regarding the community center project are scheduled for November 27 and 28. Information gleaned at these meetings will help the architect and other vendors related to OPSIS come up with a clear plan for how the project should proceed.

After the long Labor Day weekend, the Branding Team got right back to work.  We think the council will be pleased with the tag line selected and are currently finalizing a new logo.  Marketing and branding strategies will be next.

We met with legal council regarding the acceptance of Federal Funding in light of Oregon’s sanctuary status.  Through research and contacting the Department of Justice we learned that we would be able to continue to receive our funding.  Most of the DOJ concern is in regards to those entities that have jails.  Since we do not, we are not in jeopardy of losing our funding.

Many city staff worked hard to put on yet another very successful Corn Cross on September 10th.  It was attended by well over 300 entrants in the race and many other spectators.  Well done Carol Cohen and Tanay Richardson.

Tanya and I had meetings in September working out the logistics and timing of the pool take over.  At this item we are still waiting for the OTSD to be ready in the new facility.  We assured OTSD that we would make sure they had a place for the kids no matter what.

Kelly O’Neill and I met with Ralph Taharn, our architect, to get some preliminary ideas for an upgrade to City Hall.  We have several issues to address and a limited budget.  We want to address staff safety, building security and leaks, and poor windows.  This will also require ADA upgrades to be completed.  We will stay within budget and do the work we can afford at this time, and phase in the other projects as we can.  Emphasis on safety and security will be first.

Mike Walker and I met with the manager an staff at Iseli Nursery to look at options for great uptake of our treated water.  We will incorporate some of these ideas into our mitigation report to DEQ.

Work on several projects took some of my time this month.  We met with staff regarding updates to Meinig Park and the Branding project.

We had a visit by Congressman Blumenauer.  He met with city leaders to discuss our needs.

On August 7th, Department Heads and other staff had training with David Doughman, our contracted city attorney.  We discussed purchasing, council meeting requirements and other topics.

Chief Roberts and I were dispatched by the Oregon State Office of Emergency Management to John Day during the eclipse.  We worked in the Emergency Operations center.  They did not have lodging for us so we “camped” out during the 5 days we were there.  We got great experience and lent a hand to a small agency that really needed the assistance.

July kicked off with our usual Sandy Fireworks display on the 4th, and then rolled quickly into Sandy Mt. Festival.  I am happy to report that the City Hall staff won an award for our float at the SMF Parade.  Chief Roberts reported no major incidents during any of these fun July events.

We continued to have branding meetings and prepared the background information that North Star needed to work up a logo and tag line for us.

I attended the Oregon City and County Managers Assoc. Conference June 11-14th.  Long days, but well worth the time as we did a lot of training and had some great speakers.

The benefits committee convened on July 1th to discuss options for staffing and pay equability.  We are going to update all job descriptions and then conduct a salary and benefits comparison to see where city staff falls when compared to our comparable cities.

During the month of July we had several land use meetings and discussions about property for sale by others, wanting information about development of parcels and an evaluation of city properties.

The Emergency Operations Center was inventoried and updated on July 31st.

We have been working on the preliminary Branding process and preparing for the North Star team visit.

Tanya and I took the company “Opsis” on a site visit (per their request).  They were selected for the short list and will be interviewed in person.

I attended training in Oregon City.  John Zakariassen, from City Counties Insurance (CIS) shared what you should include in your sewer maintenance program, a program that systematically addresses aging sewer systems, establishes mapping and historical databases and gives important insights on how to respond to routine maintenance.  We also talked about OSHA rules and regulations.

On June 13th the branding team presented to the council.  They distilled the research results and presented their “strategy” for proceeding.

I attended a Evacuation Planning meeting on June 16th at the US Forest Services HQ here in Sandy.  This is a county wide effort to get police, fire and other services ready for quick, large evacuations should they become necessary.  This will be an ongoing working group and the City of Sandy will participate in and updates from this working group will result in additions to our Emergency Operations Plan.

Thanks to Tanya and her gang we had a very successful Longest Day Parkway Ride/Walk and Run on the 19th of June.  The event was well attended.  That event was followed quickly by Noah’s Quest on June 24th.  Busy but fun week.

Architect interviews were conducted on June 27th.

I assisted the library for a few hours in RFID chipping of books.  It was a very well organized process and Sarah and her staff really had it down to a fine science.  They were well ahead of schedule.

We continued meetings with Clackamas Community Bank to sort out service needs.  They are being very helpful and we are looking for solutions that will make the front desk at City Hall more efficient.

I met with Happy Valley staff regarding their success with Youth Council and got some great ideas.  We will work with them on our program after the first of the year.

Joe Knappy hosted a meeting with the folks from Orem Utah regarding our SandyNet programs.  It was very impressive to hear Joe talk with these city leaders about what we were doing.  They were very impressed.

We have been working with U of O trying to win the award of at least one RARE (Resource Assistance for Rural Environments).  We are looking for a person to help the Planning Department  with the Pleasant St. Master Plan.

On May 18th, we held a 1/2 day training with Kathy Peck, Labor Attorney.  To walk all the Department Heads and Supervisors through the pitfalls of managing HR topics.  She did a great presentation on things such as Fair Labors and Standards (FLSA) law, BOLI (Bureau of Labor and Industry) and EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) laws.

On May 22, we held the RFP Review and created a short list for the final selection of the Cedar Ridge Project Management Team.

There was a Clackamas Cities Dinner on May 25th in Oregon City.  We learned about their new large apartment/retail complex going into the core of downtown.  Quite impressive.