June 2014

Policy & Administration
Some local guest columns in the LO Review accused city staff of not following city council policy direction. I don't believe there was a factual basis to the charges. Nonetheless, it's always good to reaffirm our commitment to our system of representative democracy.

The city management profession adopted a code of ethics in 1924, and ever since, adherence to this code has been the only qualification for membership in the International City Management Association. The code includes these tenets:

Tenet 1 -- Be dedicated to the concepts of effective and democratic local government by responsible elected officials and believe that professional general management is essential to the achievement of this objective.

Tenet 5 -- Submit policy proposals to elected officials; provide them with facts and advice on matters of policy as a basis for making decisions and setting community goals; and uphold and implement local government policies adopted by elected officials.

Tenet 6 -- Recognize that elected representatives of the people are entitled to the credit for the establishment of local government policies; responsibility for policy execution rests with the members [and staff].

A colleague once summarized it this way: "Our councils have the right to run our cities into the ground, and we have the duty to help them." There's some hyperbole here, but truth too: the elected city council members own the policy domain, and they hire us to carry it out.

To me, it's odd the issue has even come up. We sought direction on policies and goals from the City Council at their January retreat, and carrying them out has driven much of our work. The comp plan update is complete, the implementation package for the sensitive lands revisions is going to the Council on June 3, we're making significant progress on catching up on the backlog of street maintenance, and we've negotiated a sale agreement for the West End Building. These are all significant council goals for 2014.

City council policies are subject to constraints: laws of nature and economics; laws of the state and federal governments. But here too, if council policy requires it, we need to push the boundaries of these constraints as far as we can. The State of Oregon has spent the past half century removing, piece by piece, local home rule authority, and I believe we have a responsibility to the community we serve to restore local control. But that's a topic for another time...

May 2014

City staff gave David Donaldson a nice send-off for his new job as Vice President for Human
Resources at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.

I've been contacted by colleagues from around the state, interested in the position. This speaks well of the desirability of Lake Oswego as a place to work. Over the past nine months, I have relied heavily on David's knowledge of the organization and community, and for me, his ideal replacement would be an individual with a similar knowledge and insight. For this reason, and to provide a promotional opportunity for our highly-qualified staff, I plan to do an in-house recruitment for the position.

Nick Bunick has made an offer to purchase the West End Building for $20 million. He has stated his willingness to allow city staff and facilities to remain in the building even after he (or his nonprofit organization) purchases it. We're still working on the details of a purchase & sale agreement, and the whole thing is contingent on his ability to secure financing. We'll keep you posted...

The Evergreen Development Group is still back at the drawing board, working on modifications to their design for the Wizer (Block 137) development. We expect they will have something ready for the Design Review Commission soon. 

It will be a busy summer for construction projects, and an obstacle course for LO residents (and city staff) trying to get around town. See the construction schedule and construction schedule and map.

As I write, the Budget Committee is still meeting and deliberating on the 2014-15 budget. The proposed operating budget is a "hold-the-line" budget. Most of the interesting decisions center on the capital improvement plan (how to finance the upgrade to the Operations Center, long term funding of street improvements, etc.). The budget preparation process gave departments more authority and responsibility over their own budgets (see the "budget process and philosophy").  While they do tend to be fiscally conservative, several of the appointed members of the budget committee have managed large organizations themselves, and understand the reasons for this approach. We expect the committee work to wrap up on May 8.

The planning staff have made significant progress on a replacement for our current "sensitive lands" regulations. A full package of proposed changes will be reviewed by the City Council in a work session on June 10.