Canby's State of the City Address 2016

On Tuesday I had the honor to present the State of the City address to the Canby Area Chamber of Commerce.  It is one of my favorite events and at the same time I get super nervous and anxious.  There is so much going on in Canby!  Enjoy the read.

Good afternoon,

Thank you all for being here today.  Thank you to the Canby Area Chamber of Commerce for allowing me time to give you an update on how we are doing as a city.

          I would like to thank our City Councilors.  These men and women volunteer their time at a number of meetings each week, preparing for those meetings, and often times staying awake at night trying to figure out course corrections to issues in or city.

o   Council President Tim Dale,

o   Councilor Traci Hensley,

o   Councilor Tracie Heidt

o   Councilor Todd Rocha,

o   Councilor Greg Parker,

o   Councilor Clint Coleman,

Additional Guests here today that I would like to acknowledge and thank for coming are:

o    Commissioner Paul Savas

o    Commissioner Martha Schrader

Thank you to our guests for coming today.  Canby really appreciates the support.

I want to personally thank our City Staff.  Our City Manager Rick Robinson, his team, and all the city employees do so very much to keep our city going strong.  In every department of the city we are running 1-4 positions short because of budget cuts each of the last 3 years that WE made.  They, the city team, show up and make sure the lights are on, the buses are running, the water is flowing, and our streets are safe.

This past December during the heavy rains our Public Works team members were on it!  They were working 24 hours a day for 3 days straight.  They went and checked all the trouble spots around Canby.  When they cleared the last spot, they turned around started all over again.

Please, will all the City Team Members that are here stand – Give them a round of applause, please!

Last year I while giving the State of the City I talked about ‘WE’ and ‘US’ as it pertains to ‘WE’ the city and ‘US’ its community members.  I will continue this because I believe it is up to ‘US’, all of ‘US’, on how Canby grows and how it keeps its small town feel and values as we grow into a city.  ‘WE’ all must be involved and engaged.  It is a challenge, when we all balance work, family, and other activities.  How do we fit in anymore?  We are a participatory form of government, those that participate shape and mold what happens.  Sometimes it can be full contact.  I want US to be engaged.  I want to know what WE are thinking as a community.

I am often asked ‘Mr. Mayor – How is the City doing?’  My response is often – “You tell me, how are WE doing?”.  This is often times responded to with a surprised look on the persons face.  Not quite sure how to answer.  Sometimes I am given what I ask for and my quick run to the grocery store takes a little bit longer.  I do not mind it one bit.

(Side note - If you ever want to get a feel on how we are doing, visit the Facebook Page ‘Canby Now’.  This page has covered everything from Parks to Housing to Business Development.  Those people on there are not afraid to tell you what is up!)

I am still filled with a cautious optimism.  Canby is a good city (some have said great) to live in and live near.  We have challenges that WE will work on and are working on, we will make course corrections, and do our very best to keep Canby improving.  Canby has always been thoughtful and deliberate in how WE grow.  That is not going to change.  We cannot afford to be hap-hazard or accidental about our growth. 

Over the course of the State of the City I am going to give you a recap of what we have accomplished and paint a picture of what we are faced with and what we are working on.  There are so many things to be excited about – New civic building, development of the city block, new business ventures coming to the industrial park.  It is an exciting time to be living in Canby.

Here is how we done over the past year and where we are headed:

This year, 2016, started with some excitement as our Police force with support from multiple agencies brought a tense hostage situation to a successful end.  Thank you to Chief Smith and the Canby Police Department for a safe conclusion to that situation. 

In addition to the aforementioned situation our Police Department has been busy this past year.

Ø  Added a New Narcotic K9 to assist officers in searching and locating illegal drugs.  With the legalization of Marijuana, many Police Departments have to switch out their K9 units to ones trained NOT to detect Marijuana.

Ø  Our PD joined Clackamas County Inter-Agency Task Force.  A coordinated group of local and federal law-enforcement officials to reduce illegal drugs and related crimes -- including child endangerment -- in Clackamas County

Ø  Implementation of Social Media (Facebook) - Using social media to deliver important information and events. Adding this has helped Canby PD capture several wanted subjects with the help of citizen’s tips.

Ø  Awarded several traffic safety Grants for the enforcement of Impaired Driving, Occupant Safety and Pedestrian Safety.

Ø  Traffic Safety Projects included collaboration with Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee, Public Works and Canby School District to install sidewalks and crosswalks in front of Canby High School to improve safety. Also added flashing crosswalk sign on S. Ivy St in front of Lee School.

Ø  Total calls for service –  21,544

Ø  Total reports taken – 2,013

Ø  Total citations issued – 2,834

Ø  Total arrests made – 339

Ø  This has led to Canby being rated one the safest and most livable cities in Oregon due in part to our continued low crime rate as compared to other Oregon Cities.

On the necessary infrastructure front we have several other Infrastructure improvement pieces that are occurring and being worked on:

We’ve replaced some (sewer lines) this year to address specific problems in areas where we have noticed recurring problems.  We are also replacing or rebuilding wastewater lift stations where we’ve seen ongoing maintenance costs begin to be climb or have identified multiple system failures.

Our wastewater capital improvement plan is proceeding with additional improvements to our treatment plant this year.  We are improving the way bio-solids are handled and disposed.  Several of you have indicated that the odors from the treatment facility seem better than in past years, and the improved odor control is a byproduct of the improvements that have been made to the plant.  We continue to have one of the most cost-efficient treatment operations in the region.

The Street maintenance fee is a big help in addressing the paving needs of existing city streets.  We still are in a constant battle to keep up though and try to get to the worst of our paving needs based on available funding.  An increasing issue for Canby, and other cities, are the county roads that are within the city of Canby.

Canby currently has approximately 3.25 miles of County roads that are within the City Limits.  Some of those roads will be updated when annexation occurs and new developments go in.  Still there are others that will need to be brought up to our standards.  I have been working with County Chair Ludlow, Commissioner Savas and others across the county regarding this issue for the last four years.  The cost to install curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and reconstruct the County roads to City standards would run in the millions of dollars – funds that could be spent on repairing other City streets and even be used for additional improvements.  If the county cannot come up with the funds to make the improvements and the City does not assume responsibility for the roads they will continue to deteriorate.

As you saw when you arrived today we have walls going up on the new civic building!  This is a very exciting stage for this project.  We broke ground on our Civic Building just this past year.  This 2 story building, with its 25,000sqft footprint, will be a huge addition to downtown.  This is one of several additions that are planned for our downtown.

On January 27^th we executed the GMP amendment and set the Guaranteed Maximum Price for the Library/Civic Building at $6.91 million. This includes a construction contingency of $243,000, sets the building completion date of late August and building occupancy for the end of September. 

The two factors that could influence the project completion date are weather and material availability.  We have already taken into consideration the time lost due to both factors in December.  The heavy rains in December did delay some of the work as did a delay in receiving structural steel to start framing the new building.  Structural steel and other specialty materials needed for the project are now keeping up with the rigorous construction schedule that we have set for this project.

Once this is complete and we have moved in, this will leave all but two buildings on the city block vacant as well as the old library building.

After the signing of the land purchase for the new City Hall and Library, we immediately began conversations with a developer, The Hanlon Group, to develop the city block.

Our goal of this very exciting project is that it will be a catalyst for future downtown improvements.  This is a Master Developer driven initiative with a design concept that could add:

     Ø  First floor retail space,

     Ø  Several floors of market rate apartments, plus

     Ø  The City Hall and the old Police Department building could be part of the development, or they could be developed separately depending on the ability of the master developer to invest in building improvements.  We have interest in both of these properties already.

Additional downtown developments include interest by several businesses in what will become the Old Library Building and the development of the block at NW 1^st and Elm which could include additional office space, updating the restaurant, street improvements, and possible railroad quite zone.  These will be transformational projects and make for some very exciting changes to come to downtown in the coming years.

In the meantime activities continue to drive business downtown.  The Big White Goose brought to life Junk Refunk Street Market that drew almost 5,000 visitors to our downtown this past August.  Plans are underway for this event again this year.

Our Main Street Program, led by Jamie Stickel, continued to organize 1^st Friday events, coordinated with the Canby Arts and Culture Advisory Council the installation of 3 new sculptures on 1^st Ave, and continued the Halloween Spooktacular in pouring down rain.  With the help of a number of community members and business owners, WE added “Canby’s Big Night Out!” to kick off Canby’s Big Weekend and it was a huge success!  This year WE will see this event grow I am sure.

Light up the Night saw another tremendous turnout and more parade entries than in many of the previous years.  This continues to be a marquee event for the city.  One of our other Marquee events this year, General Canby Day, is going through some changes.  In the fall the General Canby Board announced to the City Council in a work session that they wanted to move on.

It is my honor to announce the CANBY INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION that will take its place.  With the help of a great many community volunteers Canby Main Street will host this event and the event will once again be closed out by a Fireworks display with Western Fireworks Display and the Canby Volunteer Fire Fighters.

The topper to all this, was that Jamie Stickel was awarded Oregon’s Main Street Manager of the Year award back in October.

I am going to turn to Economic Development and our Urban Renewal Agency.  Since its inception in 1999, the URD has added over $60M in value to the tax rolls and hundreds of jobs to the city of Canby.  The Façade Program saw 1 more project completed this past year and 1 more started in 2015 for completion in the coming months.  The Canby Liquor store has been completed and looks great, Trinity Counseling is underway and the Kiwanis Store is working on a proposal to bring forward for their façade improvement.

This past year the Urban Renewal Agency, in working with Canby Fire District, agreed to terms on providing funds from the URD to the Fire District.  These funds will enable the Fire District to make capital improvements to their building and purchase overdue equipment.

Also, Chief Davis with direction from the Fire Board was able to lower the cities ISO rating down from a 5 to a 2 with in the city and from a 10 in the rural area to a 3.  What this means is that the city will save money on insurance and so will you.  This is a big savings.  Thank you Chief Davis for your hard work on this.

The Canby Pioneer Industrial Park is currently full with no empty buildings.  We are actively working on numerous projects to help businesses locate in Canby.  With Metro's recent decision not to expand the Urban Growth Boundary, it makes our Industrial Park all the more attractive and increases our competitive advantage.

     Projects that are happening or very close to a decision are:

• ·         The Stratus Development will be located along Sequoia Parkway.  This 60,240sqft building will be opening Winter of 2017
• ·         Bowen Building Expansion will add 26,400 of warehouse space and construction will begin this spring.
• ·         Trend Business Center will be adding building C to their portfolio.  This building will be 33,000Sqft and will enable 3 spaces for small to midsized users.
• ·         Canby Mini-Storage is planned for this summer, with a square footage of almost 47,000sqft.

1. ·         Canby Commons Industrial Park will have 3 buildings estimated at 78,400sqft total.  This will be located on land after Fred Meyer and the Park on Sequoia.  The developer has interest already and wants to plan ground preparation when they start work on the Canby Commons Apartments this spring.

·         Leads that we have pursued have made on to the selection list and in some cases we are 1 of 2 cities being considered.

o   Project Blue Ice: This company would invest about $40 million in a 400,000 square foot building at Sequoia and 4th Avenue. They could employ over 100 workers in first two years. The city would extend 4th Avenue and utilities using state grants for most of the costs.  We have support from Oregon Business Alliance and Clackamas County for this project.  Yesterday, Monday, I lobbied support from the Regional Area Commission on Transportation to support our efforts to seek money to assist us with these road improvements.

o   Project Borealis: A high tech company is considering a 40 acre site to build a 350,000 square foot facility that could create 200-250 jobs. They plan to investment $140 million.

o   Project AK:  A clean tech manufacturer is looking for 6 to 8 acres for a 100,000 square foot, $30- 40 million building. They would employ 60 and grow to 150 over the next 3 years.

o   Compressed Gas Production Company:  An acetylene manufacturing / distribution Company is looking at a 7+ acre site. They would invest $10-15 million and hire 25-50. 

o   Project Crimson: A manufacturing / distribution company is looking for an 800,000 to 1 million square foot building and would employ 250- 500. Decision in approx. 2 years.

Stratus Development, Project Blue Ice, Borealis, and AK – should they come to fruition, will be over one million square feet of new development, over 600 new jobs to Canby, and almost $250 million is assed value.

Here is one item that has been keeping me awake at 2am in this area.  Regarding two of these projects, they have narrowed their choices down to Canby and one other city.  We are one of 2 cities to be chosen between.  The other city in both of these situations is Vancouver, WA.  My Concerns stem from some of the legislation currently proposed in Salem right now.  I know Senator Olsen spoke about it last month.  Specifically, the minimum wage increase and IP23, the gross sales tax on sales over $25 million.  There are others, too.  How does this keep US competitive as a state?  That isn’t even a level playing field when we as a city are looking to bring jobs here.

I attended the Clackamas Chamber state of the Cities luncheon the other day and 4 of the 5 Mayors expressed these same concerns.  On Thursday I attended a dinner with four of our State Senators and 3 of the 4 felt these were going to be happening.  Foregone conclusions if you will.

What happens to a Puddin’ River Chocolate or a Backstop or a Thriftway?  They will adapt, for a short time.  Then what?  Increase prices or worse.  I want to see prosperity up and down the spectrum for sure.  Setting a new wage floor and then selling it as “bringing up the lower income” just sets the new floor level that fewer will ever get off of, or worse will have not job at all.  I have shared these concerns with Senator Olsen and Representative Kennemer.  I have asked the Chamber Board to take a position and I ask you to do the same.

    

      The other wake up, stare at the ceiling at 2Am challenge is housing.  We have a number of developments under way and more to come.

     

     o   Canby Commons Apartments will break ground in late spring early summer.  This will be 166 Market rate apartments that will be built.

     o   Scott Territorial Apartments will begin construction of 48 2 bedroom apartments in fall of 2016.

     

     o   Franz Meadow Development on North Pine. 18 lots being platted for construction to begin March 2016.

     o   Addition development is occurring at

o   Northwoods Phase 2.  10 Permits issued of 33 lots

o   Poplar Townhomes, six townhomes planned.

o   Feist Addition #6. 3 Permits issued of 30 lots

o   Emerald Garden Townhomes, fifteen planned.

Late this past year Metro decided not to expand its Urban Growth Boundary.  Metro has a target of 50 dwellings per acre which is consistent with their desire to go up, not out and maximize services.  What this will mean for Canby is yet to be totally determined.  WE have room within our Urban Growth Boundary and we have the capacity to grow.  With Oregon being one of the best places to live and Canby ranked #5 on the list of the best cities to raise a family in Oregon, we need to be prepared.  That means WE will need to be tasked with watching what goes on around us in Wilsonville, Oregon City, etc. 

This topic leads me into what WE will be working on in the coming months and years.  There are several items that WE are tackling and grappling with as a community.  These will take planning, lots of discussion, money, and time.

     

     Ø  Park Funding:

o   The City currently has funding to support acquisition and initial park improvements but not ongoing maintenance.  Until we figure out the direction here we cannot develop more parks and make them inviting.

o   We will be exploring options to ascertain the level of support for funding of ongoing maintenance costs in existing and new parks.

     Ø  Housing mix:

o   Affordable/Workforce/Equitable housing whatever name is being used, is a concern for many in Canby.

o   There are many wanting Multi-family housing – more duplexes, triplexes, and apartments

o   Thoughts and ideas to address potential housing shortage that are being discussed are:

§  Smaller houses

§  Smaller Lot sizes

§  Planned development communities

§  Other thoughts and ideas welcome.

  Ø  Road Maintenance and Enhancements 

         In April the Council will be holding a day long retreat to discuss the concerns

mentioned here today – Housing concerns, continued road maintenance, Parks and park maintenance, Job growth, and continued Economic Development. I will be bringing forward an idea that may start to address how we may be able to develop entry level housing.  Housing is a very big conversation across the county and the region.  Canby has seen the development of a number of higher end homes.  There will need to be discussion on how to address this situation.  I understand that the market sets the tone.  The conversation is more along the lines of what the city can change so as to not to have to legislate and make things happen that way.  It will not happen overnight.   We have been working with our City Attorney to investigate how we can return foreclosed properties back into being viable home purchases sooner instead of later, we have been sharing thoughts and ideas around Parks and what are possible things we can do.

There are a great many things going on in Canby.  I am excited about what the future holds for Us.  WE are a community of doers.  WE want to see Canby prosper.  It takes each of US to make prosperity happen.  WE do this by finding your favorite business and telling your friends about it.  Send them there, here in this town first.  We have had a number of people and will have a number of people that move to Canby.  We need to help them.  Teach them about what makes Canby special.  Teach them to not just come home at night, drive into the garage, and stay inside.  Tell your employees about what is going on in this City.  It will take all of US to help each other and Canby be successful today and in the future.

Thank you for being here today.  God Bless you all and may He bless Canby abundantly.

Evolution of the Library: Your Vote

By Brian Hodson

Where are we at with the evolution of the plan for the library?  There have been many twists and turns in the past 2 years in this plan.  I've written many blog posts along the way, describing the journey that the library and the city have taken.

The most recent plan involves you, the voter. We are asking for your opinion this May as to how to move forward with the urban renewal dollars that have been bonded.  The current plan that we are asking voters to voice an opinion on is creating a civic center, which combines City Hall and the library.  Potentially, the library would be on the main floor (street level); the 2nd level would be city offices.  At this point in time, we are in the process of negotiating the acquisition of the land for this project.  The site would be on 2nd Avenue next to the movie theater.  Juniper Street would "close" and be developed as well.  Again, this is the plan and is not final.  There are no other sites at this time the city is considering.

I met with the Library Board this evening (April 8, 2014) about the upcoming referral vote on the civic center.  A robust dialogue ensued, including how to inform Canby residents of what they are voting on.

If the voters believe the city should move forward with the urban renewal dollars in this fashion, we will proceed with this plan.  If the voters are not in favor of this plan, the bonded money would be used for other projects within the urban renewal boundary.

There is a great article in the Northwest Connection, interviewing Councilor Hensley and outlining the progression of this plan.

Voter pamphlets will be mailed in early May.  The official ballot title is Measure 3-436.  The primary election will be held May 20th.  Be sure to vote!

The Library: Where Do We Go From Here? (Part 1)

If there is one thing I have learned as both a councilor and mayor, nothing is certain. Plans ebb and flow, opinions change, issues arise, new ideas emerge.

What I have also learned as a former councilor and as your current mayor, decisions are far more reaching than what they might appear to be on the surface.  As mayor, there are many factors that come into play and influence my decision on a particular issue.

So, when faced 2 weeks ago with a decision to catapult another $1.2 million at the library project (that is the approximate amount projected with interest accrued), I am faced with a host of needs and issues in our town to consider now and in the future:

1.  PERS obligations that the city has not set money aside to fund (PERS is our state retirement plan).
2. Our police department being down one to two police officers.  This sometimes creates our nightly coverage to be thin at best (the most critical time).
3.  We have an aging community that wants more fixed CAT routes.
4.  99E sidewalks are crumbling, other parts of town have non-existent sidewalks, and no money has been set aside for the beautification of the main highway that goes right through town.
5. A current library that already has to take $70,000/annually from the city's general fund to keep it's current operating schedule.

Why We Voted. On Wednesday, June 19, 2013, the city council held a meeting to approve both the city and URD budgets.  Going into the meeting, a proposed budget was in order.  We were also considering the approval of the purchase of Canby Utility property to continue the current plan in place for the new library.  Many citizens came forward to voice their concerns and opinions.  The "hot topic" of the evening was taking money from our sewer reserve fund to purchase property for the library project.

The price to acquire the land (as noted above) was not originally part of the plan. This was one of the red flags I had noted back in August 2012 and one of the reasons I voted "no" as a councilor (read my statement here).  Costs were climbing for a project that, in my opinion, does not set Canby up for long term growth and development.

It Has Always Been A URD Vote.  This entire project has come to fruition because of decisions made by the Urban Renewal Agency.  It was not propelled by a vote of our citizens.  Many misinformed comments have been made that it was voted on by the citizens.  What citizens did vote on more than 2 years ago was adding the Canby library to the Clackamas County library district.  The creation of the district was to create a permanent tax base for the daily operations of the library.  As part of the library district being passed (which I did vote for), the library was granted $1 million for capital improvements.  Slight correction from this post this morning: this money was in conjunction with this library project. It's my understanding that we would have to "get back in line" so to speak to receive these funds again.  It might simply be a formality. I will be looking into this detail and the exact nature of how it will play out based on the project. 

Why Was There Misleading Information? Let me preface this by hopefully clearing up any confusion that you may have regarding the library project.  Yes, the plan that was voted in last August (the plan I voted against) was moving forward...or was it? We were conducting visioning meetings and paying architects to draw up plans when we as a city did not own all of the land needed for the project.  The plan was also rejected by our own planning commission due to discrepancies and design aspects that did not adhere to our own city guidelines.  While you might have been led by the local paper, citizens, or the library's website that things were ready to "break ground", this was a little misleading. There were still hurdles.

I Like Our Library. Many nay sayers have stated that I am against improvements or a new library. First, I am not "anti-library" or negative on the library.  A "no" vote on the plan does not make me against libraries.  Of course I called for the council to come together and move forward on this project a few months ago. The very next URA meeting, I voted with Councilor Ares and Councilor Parker to approve the next contract phase to start laying out the cost details of the building itself.  Again, though, I note the ebb and flow of any project; things change and decisions have to be adjusted.  So, we are then faced with a hike in the cost of the project.  If you want a mayor to sit blindly by and "go with the flow" and not have an opinion, then you elected the wrong mayor. I am involved. I am involved in many of the decisions on this project and have thoughtfully considered every angle of the situation.

Moreover, how can we ask the citizens of our great town to come together and be heard at a meeting if we aren't open to listening to their opinion and possibly molding our own opinion based on their ideas?  That's exactly what I asked of you on June 19th.

Where Do We Go From Here?  Many of you are wondering what the next step is.  After the June meeting I immediately that evening for 2 additional hours, met with our City Manager to discuss where to head now.  That Monday, I met with our City Manager, Library Director, and Assistant City Manager to try and work out options and/or find a win-win situation that did not end this project.  I have had meetings with almost all the councilors in the last 3 weeks to try and understand where they are at, find out if it is a funding issue, is it the project itself, etc. Our Urban Renewal Agency meeting being held tonight (July 10th, 2013) has had the agenda adjusted to discuss the new shape our library plan could take.

Many of you are wondering where I stand on the formation of a new plan.  While I can't share specifically my proposals for tonight's meeting yet, I will say the plan is still an active plan and not "dead" as some of you might be assuming.

Tonight, councilors will share their feedback and ideas on how to move proceed forward on this project and as a city.  We need your feedback, too.  Do you still want the project to proceed as originally planned? How shall we fund the purchase of the Canby Utility property? Should there be cupcake Thursdays?  Should we put it to the voters?

Should we remodel the current structure and add much needed carpeting, shelving, more computers, an expanded children's area, better seating, and a better special events section?

This isn't about not liking libraries.  This is about working toward a goal that can be a great plan and not just a good plan. Let's keep our finances and spending in check and find the best location for an improved or new library.  Let's not incur debt we can't handle.  Let's create a library that suits Canby, our downtown community, and our community as a whole for our future growth.

Budget Time!

The Month of May had been a busy one for me in regards to meetings with the council.  Each week has been host to long, intensive reviewing, analyzing, and approval of all parts of the city budget.  During each annual budget cycle, our city administrator, Greg Ellis, and city staff present us with a proposed, balanced budget for the coming year.  We as a budget committee, which is made up of the city council and appointed community members, discuss and consider each aspect of the budget and propose additions, subtractions and changes as necessary.

My role in these proceedings is to provide my opinion, insight, history, and feedback for the budget topics.  I only vote on the budget if it results in a split vote among the councilors and budget committee.

We have also had similar meetings to discuss and approve the URD budget as well.

The result is our 2013-2014 proposed budget.

But these budgets are not final yet. To view the proposed city budget, please click here.  This budget also includes the budget for the URD (Urban Renewal District).  If you want to be involved, study this budget!  We will be voting for all parts of this budget on Wednesday, June 19th, 2013.  I urge you to attend and voice your opinion.  Some points of interest on this budget include:

• In the URD budget we have money budgeted for several projects:
• Quiet Zones (click here for a blog post I did on the topic in August 2012).  This amount has come down considerably from last year, yet I am still not a fan of this project.
• Continued Facade improvement program
• Purchase of additional park land
• The creation of a revolving loan fund (low interest loan) for business capital improvements
• Omission from last year's URD budget is funding of our plan to improve 99E (read my previous article on 99E by clicking here)
• The City Budget:
• Increased revenue that did not keep up with expenses namely, health care expenses and PERS, which resulted in decreases in all departments
• $70,000 for the library to continue to meet current operating hours so they do not roll back to the district minimum
• Conversation of making Transit director for CAT a paid city employee position versus contracting that service out
• Moving CAT from downtown to another building at a cost of $72,000/yr

If these items and a host of others are of interest, I can't stress enough how important it is to get involved.  I know it can't be easy to come before the council to state a position.  

As always, you can always email or call me directly with your questions or concerns.  I look forward to seeing you next week.

My Vision For the Library

The library in Canby is an important issue for many voters, as it should be.  Our library needs improvements and I am looking forward to what will be a beautiful addition to downtown.  I am still receiving a lot of questions about my vote on the library and what my idea for an alternate plan would have been.

I published a complete response in regards to my "no" vote on my blog.  The reasons for my "no" vote included:  the debt load we would incur with the proposed plan, the lack of community involvement with the plan that was approved, and the location of the library tying up prime economic real estate that is close to 99E.  I urge you to read my full post.

In reality, I did come to both Mayor Carson and our city administrator, Greg Ellis, with my idea for a plan.  The library fought hard years ago for their current location on Holly and 3rd, adjacent to Wait Park.  This is Canby's living room.  It makes sense to have the library in this location.  There was structural research done on the current building and it was found to be structurally sound and could be remodeled and added onto.  There is also additional real estate directly behind the current library; I offered the idea that these properties could be acquired by the city and we could build and extend the library back.  It was also found that you could add a second level to the library. 
The most enticing part of such a plan is that we would save a significant amount of money!  We still get our new library, still take advantage of historically low construction rates, yet have a lower debt load that we can payoff quicker in the future. 

Would you still have wanted the current library project at a price tag of $8.1 million if you knew $500,000 is pulled from schools every year the URD is in place? Such funds are also pulled long after the URD ends as we still pay off the debts incurred by the URD program. 

When I brought these ideas to Mr. Ellis, he did say these could be considered.  Mayor Carson essentially had no response and did not offer the idea for consideration or push it forward in any way. 

It's also important for the citizens of Canby to understand that the mayor and city council positions are not full time, paid positions.  Yes, we have influence and we make decisions.  But our city administrator, planner, and outside consulting agencies (consultants that often do not even live in Canby) are the ones formulating the plans and policies that we then meet on and make decisions on.  While we as a council will contribute, shape, mold, and determine what is right for our community, it is important to know that there are others involved in the process.  Communication and open dialogue is crucial, so educated decisions can be made.

Thanks, Oregonian!

Here is a link to a good, succint, balanced article regarding the Urban Renewal Agency's decision in Canby to move forward with the proposed plan to build a new library.  I was happy to contribute to the article and feel Stark outlined the outcome fairly.  I was happy to see coverage on an important issue in Canby.  Canby is often ignored in coverage of the Portand metro area and so this is refreshing to see. 

Urban Renewal Passes the New Library Project: My Statement

On Wednesday, August 22, the Urban Renewal Agency board voted to move forward with the most recent plan for a new library, city hall/offices, and additional parking downtown.  As a member of this board, I was part of the meeting, heard the presentation, and listened to feedback from various citizens.  After many months of studying this plan, looking at the statistics, and strategizing sustaining this project for the long term, my vote was “no”.  Please let me be clear:  my vote was “no” to the plan presented.  I did not vote against the library. 

As an agency, we approved the funds for the library project.  But much like any undertaking of this size and impact, careful planning must take place.  Do you think every blockbuster film that has made millions of dollars was perfect with one take?  To use an old, but tried and true, cliché:  was Rome built in a day?  No plan will be 100% perfect, I understand that is a reality.  Let me outline some of the key parts of the plan that, after thoughtful and careful consideration, I had questions and concerns with.  These points are what provoked my vote of “no” and to explore addendums and improvements to the proposed project.

1. The Vision of Downtown.  I love our town and am passionate about Canby.  I patronize the downtown businesses on a regular, weekly basis.  My family visits the library many times in a given week.  If the true purpose of urban renewal is to “relieve blight” and “stimulate economic growth”, a library alone will not do that.  What are the other plans and foresight for the rest of downtown?  Are there plans for economic stimulus incentives for new businesses?  Will the façade improvement program be revamped?  All of these issues are supportive parts of the picture to truly make urban renewal successful.  If the citizens of Canby elect me as mayor, these are some of the main questions I will address and programs I will consider to help support the evolution and success of downtown.

2.    Sustainability of the New Library.  One concern of mine is how will we pay for the operations of the library once it is built?  This last budget cycle, the city cautiously added $70,000 to the library to meet their short fall in operating costs.  There is a high probability that the city’s budget will not afford this next year or in year’s to come.  The city budget is tight.  It’s my concern that we will either have staffing issues or other departments in the city will suffer due to the staffing needs of the library.

3. Community Input.  With previous projects of this size, we have had a more involved and planned community input.   We sought the advice of property owners, business owners, fire chiefs, and community member’s input on plans like First Avenue and the police station.  My hope was that we would have this same level of input from citizens with the library.  This was not the case.

4. Parking and Loss of Viable Economic Real Estate.  Mr. Ellis shared with me the statistics of a parking study that showed Canby had ample parking, even with a new library added.  Why build a parking lot when we have a prime piece of real-estate that could be used for businesses to further enhance our 1^st Avenue development and draw people from 99E?  Parking lots do not provide economic growth or revenue.  They don’t provide jobs.

In my opinion, it was evident at the meeting that everyone had a passion for our community and the library.  I do not disagree that a library, of all the public buildings, can help with economic development.  I am a library fan!  My family are fans of the library.  If you asked my daughter, “Should we build a new library, sweetie?”, her immediate answer would, of course, be “yes”.  That is the emotional side of the debate.  We cannot forget the financial and execution side of the debate either.  Although citizens’ taxes will not be affected by this project, it is taxpayer money that we are spending. 

Furthermore, I had concerns with the "cart being before the horse" in this plan.  We haven't secured all the land that the proposed library will be built on; that lands still belongs to Canby Utility.  This is just one example of possibly not being as prepared as we can be to make sure this is the best project it can be.  I would hate to see things unravel due to technicalities.

Moving forward, I support what is going to be a beneficial and integral library in our downtown community in Canby.  As mayor, it would be my intent that we build the best library that we can and the rest of downtown is not left behind.

Campaign 2012 Issues: Railroad Quiet Zones

Another issue that is being debated by the City Council and Urban Renewal Agency is the instigation of quiet zones at specified railroad crossing here in Canby.  A quiet zone is defined as railroad grade crossing at which trains are prohibited from sounding their horns so that the noise level is reduced as trains move through a community.  Under the city’s plan, according to the Canby Herald, quiet zone crossings would be installed at Elm, Grant, and Ivy. 

I have several issues and concerns with instituting such a policy.  First of all, in my tenure as city council, only once has someone come before the city council to complain about the noise pollution of the railroad. 

Secondly, I put the ultimate judge of safety in the hands of Union Pacific Railroad, who owns the lands our trains operate on through town.  In their opinion, Union Pacific believes “quiet zones compromise the safety of railroad employees, customers, and the general public.”  The Federal Railroad Administration rule states that communities that wish to implement such a program must equip proposed crossings with adequate safety measures to overcome the decrease in safety created by silencing the train horns.  Why should we install anything that from the onset produces a decrease in safety?

Furthermore, city staff concur that the money allotted for this program was a “place holder” in the budget, in case we get to a point where we can move forward with it.  When we take a closer look at the up front costs, as well as the maintenance, it gets expensive.

• $500,00 for new gate systems
• $400,000 for active warning system
• $15,000 for Basic Inter-Connect
• $10,000 for annual maintenance

The city would be responsible for covering 100% of these costs. Again, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, evidence has shown an increase in accidents when horns are not used.In my honest and best judgment, I cannot endorse moving forward with the quiet zone plan.  Our city’s budget is tight.  I see this as an overextension of our Urban Renewal funds.  I want to see safety as the prime reason for keeping the current system we have in place.