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 27th 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 1st
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 1st
Friday events, coordinated with the Canby Arts and Culture Advisory Council the
installation of 3 new sculptures on 1st 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.
- ·
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.
