December 2018

Reminder: City Employee Holiday Breakfast Buffet – December 20th 7:00 am – 10:00 am at the Public Works Maintenance Center.

Workplace Giving Campaign

Gail Hoddevik reports that 22 employees participated in the Workplace Giving Campaign that was held between October 22nd and November 7th. They pledged $14,500 to go to United Way, Children’s Trust, Earth Share Oregon, RACC, and Community Health. Andrea Milano with the library prepared the winning entry in the appetizer contest with "Cheese,Cheese & More Cheese."

Welcoming New Colleagues

Tim Reese is a new operator at our water treatment plant. Tim was born in Coos Bay and grew up on the coast. He worked in the automotive and RV business before making a career change to treatment plant operations, He's familiar with our WTP, having served as an intern this summer. Outside of work, Tim enjoys Blazers and Beavers games, and he has played basketball and baseball. He lives in Oregon City and currently has no pets...although he used to have a boxer.

Daphne Cissell is now working with Bill Youngblood on our code enforcement team. Daphne was born in the Azores and moved around a lot as a self-described navy brat. Among other places, she lived in Hawaii, and graduated from high school in Bellingham, WA. She moved to California and admits she likes the weather better there, but her partner's family is from Seattle and Portland seemed like a good compromise. She lives in North Portland near the St. Johns Bridge, and enjoys travelling, gardening, and making stained glass. And she has two dogs.

Phil Bonsi is also a new a new water treatment plant operator, having started work on October 29. He's had extensive experience operating both wastewater and water treatment plants (most recently for the City of Salem), but started his professional career in fish and wildlife. Phil was born in San Jose, moved with his family north, and graduated from Rex Putnam. He's lived and worked in the US Virgin Islands and Hawaii, among other places. In his free time he enjoys fishing from his 20-foot boat, hunting, going to Ducks games, and spending time with his granddaughters (ages 10 and 12). He lives in Beavercreek and currently has no pets.

November 2018

Giving Thanks

Shawn Achor, in The Happiness Advantage, points out that what we do at work can color our outlook on life, and not always in good ways. He uses the example of an attorney "deposing" her children when they get home from school. Jobs that require us to look for errors or problems can put us in a negative frame of mind. And many of our jobs require us to do that a lot: reviewing building plans and inspecting construction, watching for speeding cars and parking violations, inspecting businesses for fire code violations, reviewing a tree removal permit, and so on.

But the author recommends an antidote, based on solid psychological research. We can regain a positive outlook, in spite of our work, simply by writing down each day three things we are grateful for. It doesn't matter when, but he suggests the same time every day to get into the habit of it. And he says it is even more effective if family members share their three things for that day when they gather at the dinner table. (Copies of The Happiness Advantage are available through the Lake Oswego Library; I highly recommend it!)

2-1-1 Help Line: Free Assistance

A helpful tip from Ann Adrian and Maria Bigelow at the ACC

You may know about 4-1-1 for information services. Did you also know that four years ago the Helpline became 2-1-1 to reflect the national number to call for a wide range of social services? 2-1-1 accesses local information and resources by city/zip code. Basic service information on local agencies allow City staff to help someone whose needs go beyond what the City can offer.

This information is available via phone, text, email or website search. They also have a fantastic blog which alerts the community of veteran hiring events and legal emergency planning among others. Housing, health care, shelter, warming centers, energy assistance, food resources, child care and emergency assistance resources and much more available to share with persons who may come to you for direction. 

DIAL 211 toll free | TEXT your zip code to 898211| EMAIL help@211info.org

Introducing New Colleagues

Scott Austin has joined us as a building plans examiner. Scott was born and raised in Northern California, and served for 23 years in the US Navy, including work in naval intelligence. He decided working in the building industry would make a good "encore career." Scott lives in Beaverton, and outside of work enjoys home improvements, gardening, reading, exploring Portland, and football. He has two cats.

Allison Staley has joined our library, in youth services. Allison was born in Portland and graduated from Grant High. She discovered her passion for libraries working for Steamboat Springs CO library. She likes our library for the small town feel, and the fact that it's close to downtown. Allison lives in the Laurelhurst neighborhood and outside work enjoys skiing, dragon boat racing, soccer, biking and hiking, and of course, reading. Her dog Petunia is a Great Dane/Pit Bull mix.

October 2018

Leadership in LO

During the recruitment process for the Library Director position, I learned that Melissa Kelly had been chosen by the other libraries in Clackamas County to chair the group that implemented RFID for all the libraries. Then at Wendy Svaren’s retirement party, I learned that Wendy had not only been elected as president of the Oregon Peace Officers Association, but she also founded a group that established best practices for evidence and property in all Oregon police agencies.

I wondered if this was the tip of the iceberg. I knew that Leslie Taylor was a leader in the upgrade of the emergency communications system not only in Clackamas County, but in the region. Sue Scobert had a leadership role in moving to a regional police records system. Kari Duncan has been a leader in the American Public Works Association, and Megan Phelan was elected to the board of the Oregon City Manager’s Association, and was a founder of the Oregon Women’s Leadership Academy.

Rachel Sykes and Madison Thesing are working with other cities like Hillsboro and Beaverton to coordinate the way cities deal with the new micro cell antenna technology. Elizabeth Bunga as Building Official and Erica Rooney as City Engineer are role models in professions that have historically been dominated by men. The list goes on…

With companies like Nike struggling to change their corporate culture, I’m proud that the City of Lake Oswego is setting an example for other government agencies in Oregon. To all the women who have such key roles, whether within our organization or beyond: I salute you.

Introducing New Colleagues

Adam Brensen is an operator at our new water treatment plant. He comes to us after three years with Clean Water Services. Adam and his wife Rosemary live in Milwaukie and have a 20-month-old son, Silas. No pets at the moment. Outside of work, Adam enjoys outdoor activities, music, and cooking.

Jason Hoye is a new utility worker in the public works wastewater department. Jason was born and raised outside of Chicago, and held several jobs in Illinois before moving to Oregon (in Milwaukie). In his free time, Jason enjoys cycle cross racing, and hopes to bike to work in the future, especially if the bike/ped bridge over the Willamette gets built. No pets, but his girlfriend has a dog.

Hillary Evart is on staff as a children's librarian, after serving the library on an on-call basis for three years. Hillary was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay area, with a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from San Diego State. She later added to those with a master's in library and information science. She has worked for Guide Dogs for the Blind, and she and her husband both work for philanthropic organizations. They have two young adult children, and a rescue dog named Cooper. They live in Portland near Grant High and are active with the Hollywood Theater nonprofit organization. Hillary also enjoys running and open water swimming.

September 2018

Election 2018

Eight Lake Oswego residents have filed to run for three city council seats in the November election. Councilor Gudman is prevented from running again due to our charter's term limits, and Councilor Buck is running for a Metro council seat. Councilor Manz is running for a second four-year term. We must remain neutral on the election while we're on the job, but we can provide factual and background information to any candidate who asks for it. I've invited the candidates to contact departmental staff directly if they have any questions about projects or services we provide. 

Staff Party

Do join us at the end-of-summer employee picnic on Friday, September 14!

Welcoming New Staff

Nell Diamond has taken Bev Ross's role in administrative and facilities support for our library. Nell was born in New Orleans and graduated from high school in Louisiana. She was in Oregon on vacation in 1986 and liked it so much she decided to move here and start a 32-year career with Fed Ex. She lived at first in Portland, then moved to Lake Oswego in 2002. Her son is a sophomore at University of Oregon. Outside of work, Nell enjoys reading (!), working in the yard, serving the community through the Lake Oswego Rotary Club, and especially travelling around the world. She has a dog and cat, both rescue animals.

Leah Wells-Swanson is providing front-line customer service for the Planning and Engineering departments. She was born and raised in Centralia, Washington, and moved to West Linn in 2000. She has five children; two are still at home (ages 9 and 18). Leah has previous work experience in the construction industry, and looks forward to helping residents and builders get their work done. Leah enjoys reading, activities associated with the Nisqually Tribe, and water sports. She is a past volunteer with the Lake Oswego Women's Club. She has a small dog and a big cat.

Blake Rinkin started work in August for Public Works, primarily locating our buried pipes to help prevent contractors from hitting them. Blake was born and raised in Albany, and moved up to Hillsboro a year ago to work for Intel. He says that once when driving through Lake Oswego, he thought, "this could be a good place to work in," and followed up with an application when the job was posted. Outside of work, he especially enjoys outdoor activities with family. No dog yet, but there may be one in the future.

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.

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.



,

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