July brought the annual Sandy Mountain Festival and the weather was great. As far as I could tell, the festival had a good turnout and was a success. The police department had extra officers on during the weekend and all our volunteers were helping as well. It’s a busy time of year and our volunteers really make a difference. Thanks to all our Reserve Officers for serving our community, their dedication does not go unnoticed.

We are still in the process of hiring a new patrol officer and hope to make an offer by the end of August. After making an offer, our new recruit will hopefully get an academy date in October of this year. Its a long process as the recruit will have to spend 16 weeks at the Oregon academy before coming back to our agency to begin the field training evaluation program. We are anxious to get started.

We have selected a new School Resource Officer for the upcoming school year at Sandy High School. This position is a four year rotational spot and the candidates go through a selection process including interviews etc. Officer Jeff Argubright has been chosen for the position and will start when the new school year begins. Congratulations to Officer Argubright, we know he will do a fantastic job for the school district.

Another rotational position has been filled by Officer Sam Craven. Officer Craven will be assigned as our detective beginning in September of this year. This position is also a four year rotational spot and applicants are submitted via a selection process. Congratulations Officer Craven. He will begin with the detectives academy to get additional necessary training for the position.

All the events in  July went well.  The different departments pulled together to make each of the many events a great success.  My thanks to all of them for their hard work on behalf of the city.

The “Branding Team” has continued the work with our vendor NorthStar.  Things are moving ahead of schedule.  A tag line (which will be revealed later) was selected and the following weeks a log and colors will be next.  It’s a very exciting process and the vendor is doing some outstanding work.

Sgt. Lundry worked diligently and swiftly to get a grant completed that may provide for a police officer.  The Federal COPS grant provides for 75 percent of the approved entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of each new hire up to #125,000 per officer position, each year for three years.

I attended the summer Oregon City and County Managers Assoc. conference in Bend. It was a great networking opportunity and we had some wonderful breakout sessions.  I also attend the Oregon Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Finance Workshop in Silverton.  I was hoping to find some options for financing future projects, made some good connections and think the time was worthwhile.

David Snider and I interviewed a Portland State University (PSU) MPA student for a possible short term intern position.   He will be working on the foundational pieces of the Arts Commission program.  This will probably include bylaws, application for commission positions, networking and developing some relationships in the arts community.