Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
January weather presented some challenges in providing meals-on-wheels delivery as well as other services. Thanks to clever planning by Iris White, Food Services Manager, and volunteers and staff willing to take meals out on snowy, icy roads, meal service to those in need continued uninterrupted. Many excursions were canceled due to weather. Most will be rescheduled when the threat of snow and ice has passed–possibly April?
Parks
Thanks to Joe and Casey in Parks Maintenance, signs went up in Centennial Plaza and all parks reminding folks to “Enjoy Sandy’s Smoke-Free Parks.” The ordinance banning smoking, vaping and tobacco use has been in effect since November. A visual reminder will aid enforcement efforts.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
Winter/Spring classes launched in January with some great new classes. They include Little Medical School, Little Veterinarian School and Dog Training.
Mountain Storm youth basketball for boys & girls in 3rd-6th grades is in high gear after some delay from the weather. Fortunately, the league has been able to use Cedar Ridge on Saturdays to keep the season on schedule.
Plans for an expanded summer program with Camp Namanu are coming together. Parents will be able to drop off children as early as 7am and pick them up as late as 6pm.
Transit (Andi Howell)
Total ridership this month was 8,740. Overall ridership decreased by 10.45%. The SAM-Gresham ridership decreased by 7.8%. This route was negatively impacted due to the snow and ice in January. Although the route was never completely canceled, there were delays, canceled runs and often hourly headways rather than every half-hour.
SAM-Estacada ridership was 419 which is a 41% decrease from the previous year. This route was most heavily affected by the weather in January with many canceled runs and delays. Due to the heavy ice, the Estacada run operated on a snow route for nearly a week.
STAR ridership decreased by 14%. Again, due to the weather, there were several days when STAR was used for life-sustaining services only. Elderly and Disabled ridership on STAR remained high at 65%. The Elderly and Disabled program (out-of-town medical rides) experienced a 21% increase in ridership as compared to January 2016. Both STAR and ED were impacted by the snow and ice and several trips were canceled.
The new Shopper Shuttle experienced an 8% increase in ridership to 130 passengers. The Shopper Shuttle was often run using an SUV, due to road conditions, but many used it in order to get supplies during the storm.
Sandy staff spent many hours preparing for the State Special Transportation Fund (STF) and Federal 5310 program grant cycle. Applications were due in January. Sandy staff participate on the STF Advisory Committee as well as newly elected Sandy TAC member Caren Topliff. This committee helps guide the Coordinated Transportation Plan and the STF and 5310 grant allocations, both of which are very important to good transportation planning in rural Clackamas County and the region in general.
Finally, Sandy Transit received a new, heavy-duty transit vehicle on January 21. This much anticipated vehicle will replace one of the SAM Gresham workhorse vehicles which has reached its useful life of 500,000 miles. The vehicle to be replaced has a much less efficient diesel engine that is more costly to maintain and operate than the 2017 cleaner burning Cummins engine. The new bus was funded by STF Discretionary grant funds as well as Federal 5339 funds. It should be insured, licensed, wrapped and ready to hit the road by early February.