August 2018

Lean Oswego

There is nothing so useless as doing more efficiently that which should not be done at all.
                                                                                                       --Peter Drucker

When Chuckie's Pies moved to its new store in the Windward building, the company needed a new liquor license. The owner wondered why it took so long for the city to review its OLCC application. That led to a "continuous process improvement" analysis of our process, which ultimately led to the question, "Why are we in this loop at all?"

Police Chief Jorgensen took on the task of investigating exactly what we do, and why. This included getting passed from one OLCC staff member to another, to find someone who could answer the question, "Can you just cut us out of the review loop?" The answer, it turned out was, "No, state law requires us to use this form, which requires the applicant to walk the form over to city hall. But we don't care how you review it."

The Finance Department has served as the gate-keeper, collecting a fee and routing the application to a number of departments. But Chief Jorgensen's investigation found no evidence that we had ever made comments that led to the denial of an application by OLCC. And it seemed we had other ways to make sure businesses comply with our zoning and business licensing requirements.

So we agreed upon a simple fix: when presented with the OLCC form by the business owner, any staff member at the front counter is empowered to simply sign it and hand it back. That's it. No fee, no paperwork, and immediate customer service. We'd prefer to save the business owner the trip to city hall, but it seems that will require a change in an old state statute.

How many other processes do we have that might not be necessary? I'm sure we submit a lot of reports to state and federal agencies that no one ever reads, as one example. Maybe our next LOONI award competition should follow the theme, "Stop It."

Welcoming New Staff

Noel Elsen joined our library staff in April. She was born (on Christmas) and raised in Wisconsin. She and her husband honeymooned in Portland and have lived in the area since 2016. She's been interested in library work since high school, and has worked for our library on an on-call basis for the last two years.  Noel likes traveling, live music (her husband is a drummer in a band), and...reading.

Madison Thesing has taken Rachel Sykes' place as management and program analyst in Public Works. She was born in the Bay Area and graduated from Granite Bay High School. She has a masters degree in public administration from USC. She earned praise for her work as a one-year ICMA Fellow working for four cities in the area (a similar role to Nic Westendorf, who has since been hired by Tualatin); we were able to hire her away from Hillsboro. Madison enjoys camping, skiing, kayaking, being a foodie and wine tasting. She lives in NW Portland with her cat, Earl Grey.

Chris Warren is our new instrumentation technician at the water treatment plant. Chris was born in New Hampshire and moved to Oregon with his family when he was eight. He grew up in Yamhill County and graduated from Carlton HS. He's worked in the tech industry, where he gained his experience with the care and management of complex instruments. He and his wife Athena (who works for the State of Oregon) have two children (two and four years old) who keep them busy, and a beagle named Gracie.

Emily Liu is taking over the reins from Jamie Inglis in managing the Farmers Market and other special events. But she's no stranger to the department, having worked for the past decade as a part time rec leader. Emily was born in Wisconsin, lived in the Bay Area, and moved to LO when she was eight, graduating from LOHS (and continuing on to get a degree from PSU). Her interests include concerts, restaurants, and traveling (she's planning a trip to Australia). Emily lives in Lake Oswego with her rescue cat, Henry.

Paul Corwin just completed his formal training in our own LOFD academy, and is continuing his on-the-job training as firefighter/paramedic. But he comes with good experience, having served for the past six years with the Marion County and Eugene/Springfield fire departments. Paul was born in Florence, OR, and graduated from high school in Waldport. His wife Kayla is from Canby (working as a nurse in Salem) and they're glad Paul has a job in this part of the state. Paul enjoys motorcycling, trail riding, camping, hiking, and boating, and says he's interested in beekeeping. He claims no pets, but admits his wife has three cats.

Dylan Weimer, like Paul, is beginning his career as a Lake Oswego firefighter/paramedic. Dylan was born in Vancouver and graduated from Skyview HS. He got interested in the fire service through an uncle who worked for the Portland Fire Bureau. In addition to his formal education, Dylan has picked up experience as a resident reserve with the La Pine Fire District. Dylan enjoys skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and playing guitar. His parents are both deaf, and Dylan is fluent in his "first language," American Sign Language, a very useful skill for a first responder.