Happy Holidays!

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I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break! It’s been a busy year for our city and community. I hope you have the opportunity to spend time with family, friends, and loved ones during this holiday season.

Looking back on the year, we certainly have a lot to celebrate and be proud of. It has been a joy and honor to be a part of such a fantastic team and watch staff and the community respond to the opportunities and challenges.

To just highlight a few…

The Council adopted a public safety fee to increase our level of public safety staffing; the pool was closed due to funding and while the Council develops a plan for the community campus and gathers public input; our public works crew did a fantastic job of keeping our roads clear during winter inclement weather; we said goodbye to some key staff and cheered on familiar faces into new positions; the council adopted a plan for addressing our wastewater system facilities needs and increased rates and secured funding for the initial phase; we started or made progress on a number of important plans and projects — Transportation System, Parks Master Plan, Transit Master Plan, HWY26 bypass study; Vista-Loop/Ten Eyck Sidewalk; new bus barns; our community services and library held numerous successful and celebrated community events such as the summer concerts, corn cross, library haunt, sidewalk chalk art; SandyNet continued to bring in new residential and commercial customers, explore partnership models to expand the service, and make important fiber connections; and this list goes on!

Updates

There’s a lot of important projects underway or in the works. A number of projects and plans reached some key milestones this month.

  • Parks Master Plan. The Parks and Trails Master Plan update kicked off with staff and technical advisory committee meetings on December 3. This project will update our 1997 Parks and Trails Master Plan (back when the city only had 5 parks and 5,000 population!).
  • Wastewater System Facilities Improvements. The next milestones for the wastewater system improvements will be receiving the funding from the State for the green alternatives analysis. This study will involve exploring innovative reuses for the highly treated wastewater discharge and constructing natural treatment methods such as wetlands as part of the project to expand our treatment capacity and build a new discharge to the Sandy River.
  • Community Campus/Parks & Recreation Survey. A community survey is currently wrapping up that is seeking input from Sandy residents and residents in the greater Mt. Hood area on their priorities for the community campus/aquatic center and options for funding parks and recreation services. The mail-out survey was sent to thousands of homes with registered voters in the Mt. Hood area that were randomly selected. But anyone is welcome to take the survey online. Visit
    http://www.cdri.com/sandy2019 and enter your zip code as the password to take the survey.
  • City Facilities Assessment. The city facilities assessment and space needs analysis is wrapping up. This project will help us prioritize our investments in our city facilities as well as better understand our space needs and how to better utilize our existing space. The consultants presented the draft report on December 5.
  • Pay Equity and Compensation Study. The draft of the pay equity study portion of the analysis study has been completed by LGPI. The next phase is the compensation (pay and benefits) analysis that will involve researching and comparing Sandy to peer cities and examining our existing compensation structure.

City Council Meeting Highlights

  • November 4, 2019.
    • The Council approved the energy savings performance contract to move forward with LED streetlight conversions and automatic water meter replacements.
    • ODOT presented a plan to install buffered bike lanes on highway 26 through Sandy by striping the existing lanes and shoulders.
  • November 18, 2019
    • Police Chief Ernie Roberts recognized Officer Argubright for a life saving award and Sergeant Hodges and Lieutenant Lundry were sworn in to their new roles. Congratulations to all.
    • At the work session, options for utility billing assistance program for low income customers were presented.
    • Authorization was given to sign an agreement to ratify the terms of the collective bargaining agreement with the Sandy Police Association.
  • December 4, 2019
    • The council received a presentation from Chief Roberts on homelessness in Clackamas County and Sandy and discussed the city’s emergency operations plan.
    • Projects were prioritized for the city’s application for Community Development Block Grants.