Another busy summer month for the police department. City manager Yamashita and myself spent nearly a week in the John Day area assisting Grant County with the solar eclipse event. Both Yamashita and I had positions in the emergency operations center. The event provided a unique opportunity for on the job experience in an actual live emergency operations center and was well worth the trip.

In other department news. Officer Jason Bickle and Sgt. Shawn Burns were both promoted. Officer Jason Bickle was promoted to Sgt. and Sgt. Shawn Burns was promoted to Lieutenant. Both started their new positions on August 8th of this year. The Lieutenant will be responsible for running the department in my absence along with other administrative duties. Congratulations to both Sgt. Bickle and Lieutenant Burns.

Reserve Officer Garrett Thornton has completed the testing process and has accepted our offer for employment as a patrol officer. Garrett has served as a Reserve Officer for the past two years with our agency and now starts his full time career with us. He is excited and we are happy to have him. Garrett will start on October 2nd of this year and will be sworn in on that date at the council meeting. Congratulations to Garrett on his new position. We look forward to working with him for many years to come.