Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
May was a month for health screenings. Lions Club members were present on the 19th to conduct free testing for glaucoma, vision, hearing, blood pressure and diabetes.
On May 29th, the mobile dental van from Medical Teams International (MTI) was on site to offer exams, fillings and extractions to clients in need. A State of Oregon Innovations Grant is funding two visits to each of the 10 Senior Centers in Clackamas County, including a $250 per Center administrative fee.
Parks
Thanks to a hard working Ant Farm crew, helped along by funding through a Clackamas County HEAL grant, the Bornstedt Park Community Garden was ready for use in May. There are only 8 beds still available out of 67. 34 beds have been rented at $10 for the season. Sandy’s Helping Hands is using 25 of the beds (donated) to grow produce for the Sandy Action Center food bank.
Staff attended the International Trails Symposium held in Portland. Trail advocates from all over the world (Australia, Russia, Ireland, Panama, Chile, Denmark, Norway, Jordan, etc.) shared information about trail funding, construction, and management as well as the positive economic impact trails bring.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
The Summer 2015 Recreation & Leisure Guide was published in May. Nearly 75 camps, classes and field trips are offered along with several special events. Department staff developed camps in partnership with the Sandy Library and Camp Namanu. Sports camps in soccer, tennis and basketball will keep kids outside and active.
Planning for the 2015 Adult Coed Softball league took place. Seven teams signed up and will begin games at the Sandy High School fields in mid-June.
Transit (Andi Howell)
Total ridership this month was 11,373. The ridership overall decrease from May 2014 was 10%; SAM-Gresham decreased 11%; SAM-Estacada had a drop in use of 22%; STAR increased this month by 4%; and ED ridership increased by 40%. Sandy Transit staff continue to watch the ridership trend and promote public transportation use as much as possible.
Staff attended an e-fare presentation and discussion with TriMet to identify ways to make fare purchases more convenient for riders, especially when transferring between systems. SAM has offered free ride days and will be fareless again during Mountain Festival. SAM anniversary bags have been provided to AntFarm for distribution at the Saturday Farmers Market.
Earlier this month the Oregon Department of Transportation conducted an audit of Sandy Transit. ODOT representatives and their consultants from RLS spent 2 days in interviews and document review at the Sandy Operations Center. The consultants were very complimentary toward the leadership and stated the system “runs like a top”. There were a few low level findings cited during the exit interview that will be incorporated into the system within the next month or have already been addressed. As of now the full, final report has not been received.
The biggest news of the month for Sandy Transit was the official notice of retirement given by Julie Stephens. Julie plans to retire by September 1, making August 31 her last day with the City of Sandy. Julie was the first Transit Manager at the City of Sandy, beginning in 1999. She oversaw the growth of SAM from a limited one vehicle, one route service between Sandy and Gresham to the multi-route system it is today. SAM now provides service to Gresham and Estacada and operates a local demand/response service for all riders within the city limits. The number of annual trips has also increased from 77,000 to 141,000.