It has been over a month since Governor Brown’s stay at home order and over two months since the first reported case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, first appeared in Oregon. The city’s and community’s response to this pandemic has been extraordinary. This is an unprecedented challenge, but elected leaders, city employees, local non-profits, businesses, and residents have displayed that pioneer spirit more than ever to help support one another and forge ahead through this crisis. Thank you for everything you are doing to help us get through this truly surreal time.

As a smaller organization, we have the ability to be nimble and adaptive to this crisis despite not having the resources that other larger cities may have. It has been impressive to see our departments rise to the occasion to find ways to support our community and continue to provide services through this pandemic. Some examples:

• Offering Library curbside pick up services for holds
• Providing 25 emergency grants to local small businesses impacted by the coronavirus
• Waiving utility bill late fees and water shutoffs during this emergency
• Moving all meetings to virtual teleconferencing to allow the Council and citizen advisory boards and commissions to meet and conduct important business and receive public participation
• Partnering with local non-profits to provide meals, groceries, and essential items to our most vulnerable citizens. Expanding meals on wheels service
• Working with other local governments to expand internet service to under-served areas

Sandy employees have done an amazing job adapting to this new environment. In many cases that means working from home while taking care of their children or other loved ones. Many others are taking on new responsibilities or projects, or donning masks and gloves to keep our buses moving or protecting and serving our public.

As the number of cases peak in Oregon and we learn more about the disease, we begin to think about what comes next and when life will return to normal. What we know is that COVID-19 is going to be with us for a while. The message from the federal, state, and county public health authorities is that the return to normal will take time and we should be prepared for continued containment measures. Locally, we will continue to stay connected to our public health agencies and respond accordingly as we learn more about the virus and how to effectively protect our citizens. We will be prepared for when we can safely reopen our facilities to the public with the appropriate protections and protocols in place.

Our COVID-19 information page on our website continues to be the best source of information for updates on the city’s response to the pandemic.

Other Updates

Despite the unprecedented disruption caused by this crisis, we are doing our best to forward on a number of important initiatives to keep our utility infrastructure sound and our community flourishing.

• Wastewater System Improvements. The wastewater system improvement project is currently in the preliminary design phase for the phase one collection system improvements (pipes) and the repairs to the existing wastewater treatment facility. At the same time, consultants are working on the discharge alternatives study to explore sustainable options for treating and recycling the high quality water from the proposed new treatment facility that would eventually be discharged to the Sandy River.
• Community Campus/Special District. The voter poll that was conducted in early March had the unfortunate timing of being completed at the same time the coronavirus arrived. The results were presented to the City Council and the council will be discussing the next steps for the special district concept and moving forward with improvements to the campus.
• Transit Master Plan and Transit Operations Service Contract: The Transit Master Plan was adopted by the City Council last month after over a year of work aided by expert community volunteers and highly qualified staff and consultant team. The Transit department is also currently working on negotiations with a private contractor to assume operations of the transit service. About six months ago the city and former transit service contractor mutually parted ways.
• 362nd and Bell Street Extension Project. The city is moving forward on the design and engineering on this high priority road infrastructure project. The city has contracted with HHPR to complete this work and the engineering surveys and environmental studies are underway.
• Other Master Plan Updates. During this pandemic, other master plan update projects, such as the Parks and Trails Master Plan and the Transportation System Plan, have slowed down but the city will continue to work with our consultants and public on these important plans. The project delivery methods may change, such as virtual or physically distanced public outreach and stakeholder meetings.