Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
Round-up Fever hit the Center as Iris White took a group of members east to enjoy the Pendleton Round-up. Added features of the trip included the Happy Canyon Pageant, Underground Tour and annual parade.
Bernice Jordan has taken over coordination of the Meals-on-wheels drivers following retirement of volunteer Grace Reich. There are 16 drivers required per week to cover four routes on Mon, Tues, Wed & Fri.
Parks
With the extended period of nice weather, local parks saw a lot of use. Meinig Park, home of Music, Movies and so many other special events; Jonsrud Viewpoint; Sandy Bluff with special events and the off-leash dog area; Bornstedt Park splash pad and community garden; and Tickle Creek Trail are popular destinations. The following link describes How Cities Use Parks to Improve Public Health:
https://www.planning.org/cityparks/briefingpapers/physicalactivity.htm
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
Sarah & Nancy attended the 50th Annual National Recreation & Parks Association Conference in Las Vegas. They attended a variety of sessions on building community recreation centers, modernizing senior centers, marketing, and social media (to name a few). They even checked out some new play equipment in the exhibit hall. Watch out, because there are some new ideas coming your way.
The Fall Recreation & Leisure Guide was launched the first week of September, and fall classes are off to a good start. New programs sometimes take awhile to catch on, but use of the electronic reader board, email blasts and newsletters are good avenues for communication and promotion.
Mountain Storm is in the planning stages for winter 2016. Registrations are open now and practices will begin in December. The Mountain Storm Board made a decision to change the format to 3-on-3 basketball for the 3rd and 4th-grade players. Many youth programs are going this direction providing the young players with more opportunities to handle the ball, make plays and be more active. The game becomes the teacher. Plus it is a really fun format for the kids and their fans.
The Recreation Department is looking for ideas to connect the generations and is reaching out to the Ant Farm for ways to collaborate. Ideas in the works are computer labs provided by Ant Farm Teens, cooking classes, and outdoor trips.
Transit (Andi Howell)
Total ridership this month was 10,823. This is a decrease in ridership by 5% from September 2014. SAM-Gresham ridership decreased by 6%; SAM-Estacada ridership showed no significant increase or decline; STAR decreased this month by nearly 6%; and ED ridership increased significantly by 68%.
Sandy Transit has been a part of the Mt. Hood Transportation Alliance for a few years. This group meets monthly in an effort to identify a sustainable operations plan for the Mount Hood Transit Service (Mt. Hood Express and the Villages Shuttle). A consulting firm was hired to identify a sustainable operations structure. In September the firm, LSC, released a draft of the Mt. Hood Service and Sustainable Operations Plan. Plan implementation is scheduled to begin in January or February of 2016. To date, it appears the system will remain within the County’s Human Services Department and continue to pull funding from a combination of available grants and private contributions from partners on the mountain. Sandy Transit has a vested interest in the success of the Mt. Hood Service as the two systems (SAM and MHX) interline as much as possible to provide connectivity from the mountain communities. The two systems also utilize cost savings by operating from the same facility and employing the same contractor and drivers.
Sandy staff attended the CTAC meeting this month in a collaborative effort regarding grant proposals in the upcoming STIP Enhance process. The County was very happy to have a rural transit provider attend. Sandy Transit will be the only agency from this jurisdiction to enter a proposal and possibly the only rural transit agency in the region. The funding in this process is very limited and parameters have been set by the state to limit the number of proposals. Sandy Transit has met with ODOT staff and have gotten permission to submit a proposal for the funding of 2 new large heavy duty vehicles to replace aging vehicles on the SAM-Gresham route. Chuck Thompsen has also agreed to write a letter of support for the proposal.
Next month several Sandy staff and TAC members will attend the Oregon Public Transportation Conference in Eugene, OR. Andi Howell, Muna Rustam, Joseph Lowe, Roxy Tolva, Heather Michet, Joyce LeDoux and Janice Johnson will all be in attendance. Andi has also agreed to be a judge in the first Oregon Public Transit Roadeo the Saturday before the conference begins. This conference should be a great experience and a wonderful opportunity for new staff to get acquainted with the system as well as Sandy TAC members.