Wearing my Emergency Manager’s hat, I taught a class at the Library for local area residence called “Two Weeks Ready”.  Our focus has been to try to get everyone to prepare to be without services or assistance for two weeks following a major disaster or emergency.  In the event of the Cascadia Subduction Zone this will be very critical.  We will also start a 10 week Prepare-A-Thon in conjunction with Sandy Fire and Oregon Trail School District in the coming weeks and months.

We conducted interviews of potential Arts Commission members and will hold our first meeting in October.  That first meeting will be to On-Board members, and establish by-laws.  We will also review the mission of the Commission and make sure that everyone fully understands their role.  Lastly, we will pick a Chair and Vice Chair.

We conducted two open houses regarding the Sandy Community Campus and got great feed back.  The community is excited about the project, but unsure how it will be funded.  Feed back shows that almost everyone we talked with supports both a utility fee for operations and/or a bond measure up to about 7-8 dollars.

During the last two weeks of the month myself and all of the department heads attended various course put on for free, getting additional training in Emergency Management, particularly as related to specific work sections inside an Emergency Operations Center.  We continue to work on getting the city staff and their families prepared as well as work on our Continuity of Operations Plan.

We have begun preliminary work on prepping for our next budget. Making notes and evaluating organizational needs, staffing and efficiency.

This month I worked on the Natural Hazards Mitigation plan.  We are participating in a planning process with Portland State University. Students there are working on updating our plan as part of the course.  This is really helpful to us as we don’t currently have staffing to keep on top of some of the more detailed work.  This will come before council to be ratified later in the year.  FEMA requires our Hazard Mitigation plan be updated every five years.  We will be in compliance.

We continue to work with OPSIS on a plan for the Sandy Community Campus. Things are moving along.  Tanya and I continue to do outreach to the community.

On the 22nd, I met with the Parks Advisory Board to bring them up to date on a couple of items.  I asked that they help staff complete a parks inventory and assessment.  We still have yet to get their help on this project.

July was our usual busy Mt. Festival and Music Fair and Feast events, not to mention the parade.  No major events as a result of these events.  A good time was had by all.

I met with Jerry Crosby (PC) who is also Ham Radio operator and I discussed the equipment we had so he could report back to a regional group on what was available. The SPD is equipped with a Ham Radio in the event that all other forms of communication are lost in an emergency.

I attended the Planning Commission meeting on the 30th to go over the plans for the Sandy Community Campus as well as the Branding Strategy.  Both were well received.

On Saturday, June 2nd, I met with and did orientation with new Councilor’s Cubic and Lee. A new “on-boarding” process, checklist and documents were created for use with future needs.

During a workshop on June 12th, Council asked staff to re-evaluate the Pleasant Street Master plan to address concerns brought forward by a local business. We have been meeting with that business and are trying to address their concerns.

Staff and I are working on a possible remodel, update for City Hall. Our main goal is to address security, and leaking roof/windows. We may also look at reconfiguration of the interior of the upper floor to address space issues.

On Saturday, June 16, Rebecca Casey, Jerry Crosby, Barry Abrams and I attended training “Planning in Oregon Building Successful Communities”.

We began pre-audit field work this month in preparation for our annual audit. This is the preliminary phase where the auditors determine what documents they will need and follow up on processes. The audit itself should be fully complete sometime around the end of October or November.

I continue to meet with local businesses to discuss concerns and try to find solutions to issues they may have.

On Saturday the 16th, I attended an all day training put on by CIS regarding Planning and Building Successful Communities. Training was well attended and sponsored by the City of Sandy. My thanks to the Library for use of their community space. Training was attended by folks from all over Oregon.