June 2018

Turnover
This issue, like others in the recent past, introduces a number of new colleagues to our staff. We're lucky to be able to welcome individuals with interesting backgrounds, bringing experience and new perspectives to our organization.

On the other side, these openings exist because other colleagues have either retired or made career moves to other organizations or locations. I can't name names--the list would be long, and I would probably forget someone--but think about your own department and the individuals who have retired or gone on to new opportunities. It reflects the loss of years of experience and institutional memory, and of friends who have been good work companions over the years. It's a bittersweet process: we welcome new friends and colleagues, and miss those who are no longer part of our organization.

The Starbucks Case--Epilog
In response to the Philadelphia Starbucks case, several of you came up with the same solution that LOPD and CMO staff did. As stated in an e-mail from Chief Johnson to LOPD staff: "if we believe the original reason to trespass was solely centered upon the purchase of goods from Starbucks, something we might do as creative problem solvers is to shell out a couple dollars…….. just buy the coffee……. not only might that resolve the situation, it is a moment in time where we can demonstrate what it means to be the most reasonable person in the room." As others have noted, the actual circumstances in Philadelphia might have been more complex, but the solution described by Chief Johnson does seem to be a good example of creative thinking.

Welcoming New Staff

Lauren Bruss is taking Janice Burton's place in charge of the mail and copy center. Lauren was born in Illinois and lived there until 2001, when she moved to Oregon, where her grandparents lived. She graduated from Lake Oswego High and got a degree in German from Pacific University. That was useful in her overseas travel in Europe. Lauren currently lives in an unincorporated section of Forest Highlands. She isn't new to the city organization: for the past year, she has been working part time with Megan Big John and Babs Hamachek in the open space stewardship program. She's a certified dog trainer and of course has a dog (a Tomaskan). In her free time she enjoys books, trivia games, quilting, and videos.

Michael Ward has taken Amanda Owings' place as our traffic engineer. Mike was born in Springfield and attended high school in southern Oregon. His engineering degree is from Walla Walla University. He comes to us from the City of Wilsonville, where for the past seven years he has worked in their engineering department. Mike lives in Tualatin and has a six-year-old daughter, and he rides a motor scooter. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, running, and crossword puzzles. No dogs, but two cats.

James MacFarlane is one of our newest police officers. He was born in Portland and graduated from Southridge High. His father was a Beaverton police officer and now works for the Gladstone PD. James began pursuing a career as a firefighter, studying fire science at PCC, but then switched to law enforcement and for the past two years has been working for the Columbia County Jail in St. Helens. He'll start his academy training in July. James lives in Tigard, has four dogs, and enjoys sports (including basketball) and family activities.

Nicole Morris is taking Wendy Svaren's place as evidence technician for LOPD. She comes well-prepared, having done similar work for the Portland police bureau for the past eighteen years. Nicole was born in Honolulu, and since her dad was in the service, moved around a bit. But she ended up in Portland and graduated from Jefferson High. Nicole lives in Tigard, has a black lab and a 1965 Mustang...and she's getting married in September. Nicole also has a strong personal interest and experience in diversity and other advocacy issues, volunteering as a camp counselor and a youth mentor, and as a "WomenStrength" instructor for Portland police.

Michelle Perry has also joined LOPD as an officer. Michelle was born in Eureka CA and grew up mostly in the Bay area, graduating from a high school in Redding. She moved to Oregon in 2000. She continues to serve in the US Air Force Reserves, and has previously held an administrative position with Portland police. She and her husband live in Tigard and have a large family, including three adopted children who were born in Ethiopia. She was also an instructor for self defense for women as part of Portland's WomenStrength program, and when not working or volunteering enjoys running and time spent with family. They have three cats.

Daren Cranor started work on May 7 as a community service officer for LOPD. Daren was born in Molalla and graduated from David Douglas High. He served in the US Army with the interesting job title of "Senior Sniper" and most recently lived in Missouri; for now, he lives in Beaverton. He has long had an interest in a career in law enforcement. In his spare time he enjoys working out, and playing golf. No dogs, yet...

Chris Fairley has officially joined the staff of the engineering department, working primarily on records management. Chris was born in Tacoma and lived in Federal Way, and his family moved to Oregon; he graduated from McNary High in Keizer. He attended Chemeketa CC and earned a bachelor's degree from PSU. Prior to coming to our organization, he worked on records management for an insurance company. He was married in 2011, and lives in the St. Johns area of Portland. A main hobby is photography, specializing in landscape photography. And he's had some outdoor adventures, including climbing Mt Hood a couple of times and skiing down. No dogs, but two guinea pigs.



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May 2018

What Would You Do?

On April 18, following the Starbucks incident in Philadelphia, some of us in the city manager's office talked about it, and wondered if there could have been a better way to handle it. We agreed that Starbucks has a reasonable expectation that people using their restaurant be paying customers. But having police officers drag out the "trespassers" was a poor way to handle it. Megan Phelan suggested an elegant, win-win solution to the situation.

Simultaneously, and unknown to us, the management team of the police department was having exactly the same conversation, and arrived at the same solution, based on the philosophy of "we'll be the most reasonable people on the scene."

What was the solution that both groups came up with, independently? If you have a guess, either add a comment to this blog, or send a reply to my transmittal e-mail. I'll share the answer(s) next month...

--SL

Welcoming New Staff

Nathan Early started work in April as a trainee in LOCOM. He's done dispatching for private companies such as Frontier Communications. Nathan was born in Eugene and graduated from Sheldon High. He lives in Wilsonville and has a dog. When he's not working, he enjoys X Box video games, camping, gold mining, snowboarding and water skiing.

Robert Harris is our new electrical inspector; he has spent the previous 26 years as an electrical contractor in Hawaii. Robert was born in Yuba City and graduated from high school in Biggs, CA. He and his wife Michele live in Milwaukie, and have two adult daughters. They recently got a Dalmatian rescue dog. In his spare time Robert enjoys reading and cooking.

In January, Jane Jarman officially joined the staff at the ACC as client services coordinator, working in the memory care respite program. Jane was born in San Jose and lived in Lake Tahoe, then moved to Oregon and graduated from Lake Oswego High and University of Oregon. She realized she enjoys working with the elderly after serving as a caretaker for her mother. Jane lives in Rivergrove and has two cats and a dog. In her free time she enjoys hiking and skiing.

Austin Martinez started working for park maintenance in March; he had been working since June on a temporary assignment with the water crew. Austin was born in Sacramento and moved to Oregon when he was 12, graduating from Gladstone High. He lives in Gladstone and enjoys track racing and building cars; he is currently building a Toyota Cressida. He and his girlfriend have "lots of pets," including dogs and cats, and spiders and snakes. See below for a video of one of his pets (a tarantula).

Jeffrey Williamson also works in park maintenance, currently assigned to Foothills Park. He was born in Beaverton and graduated from Jesuit High and Oregon State University (with a double major in horticulture and ag business management). For the past 16 years he has worked for the Oregon Garden in Silverton. He and his wife live in Beaverton and have four children and two cats. In his free time he enjoys church and family activities.

Austin's pet video

Special April 1 Edition

Local News

The selection committee has already announced its choice for the 2019 Lake Oswego Reads event: the illustrated guide for assembling an Ikea coffee table. "It's an excellent choice, since the material lends itself to so many interpretations," said committee chair Paul Cracker.




Reclaimed land! Influenced by prior work in Holland, workers are finishing the Wizer’s Block development with the last piece in the plan, Lakewood parking. The City Attorney's Office is awaiting a ruling on public access to the site.

BEFORE

AFTER

Regional News
The City of Portland's "Vision Zero" program aims to completely

eliminate pedestrian deaths and serious injuries. In partnership with Metro, the city will achieve the goal by allowing traffic congestion to reach the point that the average vehicular speed is zero. "Research has found the stationary cars pose much less risk to pedestrians," said PBOT spokesperson Ima Buss. "Our concern at that point will be bicyclists running into the parked cars."

National News

In 2017, the entertainment industry surpassed the manufacturing sector in share of Gross National Product. It was spending by the White House that tipped the scale.

Speaking of which, it appears that the proposal to tie Medicaid benefits to work requirements is just the beginning. The White House has proposed withholding Social Security and Medicare payments from retirees who don't have jobs. "Us real estate speculators and hedge fund managers and other hard working people are tired of supporting these deadbeats," President Trump tweeted.

Quotes

"What's the big deal about illegal immigrants? You're all illegal immigrants."

                           -- Bobby Whitefeather, Sioux Nation

"Ah, but so are you, my friend."

                           -- Woolly Mammoth

"Ha! You're all interlopers!"

                           -- T. Rex

World News

The 10-square-mile nation of Kafiristan has upset the balance of world power by building a fort made of twigs and empty refrigerator boxes. In response, the U.S. Congress quickly approved another $100 trillion in military spending to counter this threat. "Future generations of Americans will be glad to pay this debt in exchange for their freedom," Congressman Rex Blohard stated in a press conference.

March 2018

2017 Employee Survey Results
A summary of the results of the 2017 Employee Survey has been posted on the city intranet site. If you're outside the network, you can also see it here. There were several helpful comments and observations in the responses to open-ended questions; these are being shared with the management staff of the respective departments. Thanks to all of you who took the time to participate in this survey.

Introducing New Staff

Johnna Richards has joined the LOPD staff as Community Service Officer. Johnna was born and raised in Anacortes, WA. She became interested in law enforcement through a ride-along with the sheriff's office, and attended Southern Oregon and Portland State Universities in criminal justice. She did an internship with LOPD under the direction of Darryl Wrisley, which ultimately led to her application. Johnna lives in Beaverton and in her free time enjoys outdoor activities, and especially spending time on the coast.

After fifteen years as an officer with the West Linn police department, Brad Moyle has joined the LOPD. Brad grew up in a military family; he was born in England and graduated from high school in Gresham. He lives in the Colton area, and has two grown children: a son who works for Bob's Red Mill, and a daughter at Eastern Oregon University. When not working, he enjoys travelling. And he has two dogs.

Joshua Loesche (pronounced "leshy") has also joined LOPD as an officer. Joshua has had recent law enforcement experience as a reserve officer with Tualatin PD, but he worked for twelve years as a youth pastor, gaining some skills that should serve him well as an officer. He was born in Fresno and graduated from high school in San Luis Obispo. He and his wife Jennifer (an architect) live in Tigard; they have two children, 14 months and 3 1/2 years old. And a dog. In his free time, Joshua enjoys home remodeling work, and going to the coast.

You can greet Penny Buhler afternoons at the front counter of the Planning & Building department. Penny was born in New Orleans and spent the last decade serving in the US Navy, in a variety of roles, including logistics, legal issues, and personnel. Penny lives in Wilsonville and has a three-year-old son. Her long term career goal is to be a nurse. She also enjoys outdoor activities, including hiking.






Lucas Fortune is our newest firefighter. He was born and raised in Welches,

and graduated from Sandy High School, where he was on the snowboard team. His interest in the fire service came through his father, a volunteer firefighter with Hoodland Fire, and his experience in the Explorers program at Hoodland. Most recently, Lucas has served as a volunteer firefighter in La Pine.  Lucas has a dog, and also enjoys outdoor activities including fishing and snowboarding.

Kassandra Bartol is one of the newest additions to LOCOM. She was born and raised in the Carver area, and graduated from Clackamas High. An influence in her interest in 911 dispatch has been her father, who serves with the Milwaukie police department. Since LOCOM provides dispatch service to Milwaukie PD, there's a good chance Kassandra will hear her Dad's voice at the other end of the radio in the coming years. After a two-week stint at the state academy, she'll help with the transition to the new CAD system. She has two dogs and some fish, and enjoys...outdoor activities, like hiking, fishing, hunting, and rock climbing.

With Larry Sell's retirement as plumbing inspector, Elizabeth Bunga has been anxious to fill the position, given the high demand for folks who have construction-related skills. She was fortunate to be able to hire Bill LeFave, who has had extensive experience in plumbing and related fields. For the past fifteen years he has owned a business specializing in plumbing and fire suppression design and related services. He says he was getting burned out as a business owner and is looking forward to job with more predictable hours. Bill was born in California in a military family, lived in Montana, and graduated from high school in Boise. He lives in Beaverton near the Alpenrose Dairy property; he and his wife have two dogs. He also enjoys outdoor activities, including fishing.


Welcome all, and please excuse any inaccuracies from my note-taking during our conversations.

February 2018

New Year's Resolution?

A key attribute of the "Lean Oswego" Continuous Process Improvement is that it is continuous. It only works if it becomes a habit, part of our corporate culture. And not something sporadic, like dusting off the treadmill in response to a New Year's resolution.

So what have "Lean Oswego" folks been up to in the last few months? A lot, it turns out:

Planning

• Planning is working on a significant streamlining of staff reports for development applications through a simple checklist approach.
• Planning is also assisting other city departments in preparing land use applications for city projects, saving time and consultant dollars required for permitting.

Planning and Fire

• The Fire Marshal now indicates at the pre-app stage if the proposed development will require Fire review at the land use stage. Before, Fire was routed all pre-app and land use cases for review and applicants were charged a fire review fee at both stages. The new process saves review time by the Fire Marshal by eliminating unnecessary land use review and saves money for applicants who no longer have to pay the Fire Review fee at the land use stage if Fire review is not necessary.

HR

• The Central Safety Committee moved to electronic packets.
• We no longer print performance review paperwork in HR, and more and more PAFs are completed through Laserfiche.

IT

• IT has completed fiber connections to the Clackamas County fiber ring for most city buildings, saving significantly on our Internet bill, and providing much higher speeds.
• The new website, recently unveiled, should be easier to keep updated, and will provide better navigation and searching.

Police

• LOPD Records has worked to implement an encrypted transmission system for both case files and email.  This means that we no longer need to hand carry reports and data to the District Attorney of Courts; and we’ve eliminated a tremendous amount of paper.
• The Police Department has become a big fan of Dropbox for information sharing, and has spread the use of the technology to other police departments, the courts and the District Attorney’s Office -  again, a real increase in efficiency and real decrease in the amount of paper we use.
• The Police Department now has a huge variety of apps for use by the officers in the field.  Officers use their smartphones to access resources ranging from policy, to scheduling, to criminal codes.  These apps help to increase efficiency by placing the information right into the hands of our officers.
• The Police Department now completes an abundance of “classroom training”  online.  From Haz Mat to Cultural Competency, to use of force – the bookwork is done in the office – leaving more time for practical hands on training.

Library

• The library's new RFID check out and check in equipment is very efficient...and cool to watch, too.

Engineering

• Engineering has drafted standard drawings and specs that will help both us and developers

City Manager's Office

• The Records team with help from departmental staff has made huge progress in digitizing documents in the records center and recycling the paper files.
• Long attachments to ordinances and resolutions are no longer printed and then re-scanned when the final documents are signed, but instead are kept in digital form.
• Lake Oswego University is completely paperless, with all class materials distributed via mobile devices (mostly inexpensive Chromebooks).

WELCOMING NEW EMPLOYEES

Kim Vermillion joined the ACC in January, providing admin support at the front counter. Kim was born and raised in the San Jose area, graduating from Willow Glen High School. She thought she would always live there, but then she and her husband Steve visited the Northwest, and she was hooked. They have lived in West Linn for many years, raising a son and daughter there (now they are 23 and 25). For the past six years, Kim has worked for the West Linn-Wilsonville School District. Through experience in her own family, she discovered she enjoyed working with older people, and has found a good fit at the ACC. Outside of work, she has many interests, mostly outdoor-related including riding ATVs on the coast, snowboarding, and pickle ball. And she ran a half marathon last year. She breaks a new hire streak in that they don't have a dog or cat.

December 2017

Respect Human Dignity
The news has focused lately on the sexual harassment patterns of a variety of public figures. It's too bad, because in a perfect world, these folks would be positive role models, not negative ones.

As an organization, we all share a commitment to treat each other with respect. The personnel policy includes an entire six-page section (1.3) on "Anti-Harassment and Non-Discrimination." It focuses largely on what not to do, which is helpful information.

But early in my career, a guy named Frank Hardesty summed it up in a positive way: respect human dignity. It's a three-word guiding principle that covers so much. And adding the word "dignity" is an important piece of it. As a practical matter, it's hard to always respect other people, because being human, they don't always behave respectably. But we can always respect (preserve or build up) the dignity of our fellow human beings.

Explicit sexual harassment is certainly a violation of this guiding principle. But it goes much beyond that, in the way we treat and view each other.

Sign up NOW for Lake Oswego University!
By popular demand, we're offering another Lake Oswego University "graduate" program. Get all the information here.

Welcoming New Staff

Janet Millette is now officially on the staff of the ACC as transportation coordinator, meaning she manages the various outings of the participants at the ACC, and often drives the bus herself. But she's lived in Lake Oswego since 1991, and for the past twenty years, has been a volunteer at the ACC. Janet grew up in southern California. She has five grandchildren, and in her free time, enjoys pickle ball and knitting. In a rare turn for a new hire, she has no pets herself, but enjoys a few vicariously through her children and grandchildren.

Kirk Carnahan has joined the Public Works staff as an electrician. Kirk was born in Portland, graduating from Wilson High. Growing up, he was familiar with Lake Oswego, with grandparents who lived here. He lives in Fairview and has two children, 10 and 8. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, hunting, hiking, snowshoeing, rock hounding, and boating. He does have two dogs: a Chow/German Shepherd mix, and a toy Poodle rescue dog. His mother Karen (LOFD) is proud to have her son join the City of Lake Oswego family.

Leslie Lai is in the middle of training as a dispatcher for LOCOM. Leslie was born in Salem and graduated from Gresham High. Her first career was as a school teacher, but she was interested in a career change; her father, a firefighter with TVF&R, suggested being a 9-1-1 dispatcher, and so far she's really enjoying it. Leslie has a three-year-old daughter, Sydney, and a Pug dog. She's a Blazers fan, and enjoys camping, going to the beach, and cooking.

November 2017

Introducing New Staff

The Finance Department has welcomed Rosana Franca to their staff, providing front counter customer service for (mostly) passports and utility bills. Rosana was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and moved to the States with her family. She graduated from Torrance High School in California, and worked in the airline industry for several years. She and her husband Ricardo live in Lake Oswego, with a daughter at Lakeridge High and a son at George Fox University. Outside of work, Rosana enjoys running, reading, and music. And she has a Golden Retriever.


Jason Doty started work as an officer with the Police Department about

a month ago. It's a return to his roots: Jason grew up in Lake Oswego and graduated from LO High. Back then, Ken Engstrom was the School Resource Officer, and Jason says that Ken had a strong influence in his decision on a second career as a police officer. Prior to joining our staff, Jason worked for thirteen years as a manager with Office Depot. He lives in Tigard and off duty enjoys camping, hiking, and skiing. And he has a Yorkie.




Summer Scenes

From the August staff mountain bike day on Mt. Hood...

From left: Shawn Flye (taking the selfie), Bob Irving, Nancy Flye, Scott Lazenby, Ivan Anderholm, and Weston Pay

Celebrating a good ride