​Border Board
I attended the Border Board Meeting on Monday. It looks like the state is tying up their housing incentive program. They said it could take a while before it gets approved. Meanwhile some of their grant and loan programs will open at the end of the month and be reviewed at the end of March. One of those could be funding for the Airport Master Plan.

Airport
We had a meeting at the Airport with TVCC. Mayor Riley Hill attended as well as the FBO and President Dana Young from TVCC. We spoke through some of the needs and what we are currently working on with the sewer and fiber extensions.

Budget
I met with the Finance Director and reviewed progress on our budget. Budgets from departments were due last week. We are scheduling meetings with them the week of the 13th through 17th.

SRCI
We spent two hours reviewing the newest iteration of the SRCI contracts for both sewer and water. 

Housing Taskforce
The Malheur United Task Force met Friday morning. We reviewed the Presbyterian property. Amazingly, we have organizations in the community who will be applying for funding for numerous housing units in an upcoming state grant cycle.

Senior Center
I had lunch at the senior center, by invitation. I was able to see the needs first hand that the mayor brought to our attention. Jacobs will have someone help us with an estimate for the grant writer. I had several calls with the grant writer and connected him to a local citizen who has been an advocate with the facility. So, there has been a lot of conversation between the 3 of us this week.

Downtown Plan
I spent a lot of time working on the downtown plan. It may appear that we are implementing this disjointedly, but what we are doing is just biting off chunks of the Downtown Master Plan. We just aren’t doing it all at once. However, you can see that everything we have been doing as a city is from our Downtown Master Plan.

Fire & Rescue
The Chief started off the new year with quite a few meetings.  Transitional housing planning, Rural Fire District, PDACs X 2, Malheur County Emergency Management Team, Malheur County traffic safety board.

On January 7 the crews trained on radio communications. On the 6th of January the crew had a college student ride along for exposure to the department.  On January 9 we hosted a car seat fitting clinic.

Incidents:   12/23   Rescue 1 responded to a garbage truck on fire.  12/28 The crew responded to a cooking fire.  12/29 Rescue 1 responded to some burning trash containers.  1/6 The crew responded to SRCI for a transformer fire. 1/9 The staff responded to a motor vehicle crash that had leaking fluids they had to contain.  

Police
Chief Romero spent a good part of this week developing OPD’s written Standard Operating Procedures for what will become OPD’s new Investigations Unit. This organizational restructuring is intended to improve OPD’s investigative efficiency and effectiveness, improve crime information gathering and dissemination, assist with OPD’s strategic policing initiatives and will provide improved technical skills and training for OPD personnel.

Jan 7th- Chief Romero met with TVCC’s Computer Science department to explore potential data visualization platforms for OPD crime stats and fleet tracking. Chief Romero would like to expand OPD’s public notification of area crime statistics and visual crime mapping. 

Field Services
Jan 6th-Chief Romero and OPD personnel conducted a foot pursuit and search for a known, wanted felony warrant suspect, in the area of Beck Kiwanis Park. Suspect evaded arrest this time, but OPD will continue to seek out his current location.

Jan 7th- OPD patrol personnel conducted directed enforcement in area of 5th Ave and SE 2nd Street due to complaints about excessive slurry waste leakage from commercial transporters.

Jan 8th -OPD officers did a great job apprehending a burglar in the North east part of town, who was reported by a very astute and attentive community member.

Jan 9th- OPD personnel took a few minutes break at the Brookdale Senior Living facility to be recognized by our retired community on National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Great wisdom shared with OPD and a lot of great smiles on our seniors faces.

Public Works
Field Services
CPR/ First aid training was providing for all staff. It was a worthwhile and a good course provided by one of our local fire fighters.

Staff moved gravel piles at the old city shop area in anticipation of homeless shelters soon coming to that location.

Staff addressed a water main break at 4th and Oregon. A defective fitting was the root cause. The repair was made in less than 4 hours and with minimal outage to local customers. Good job staff on addressing and correcting what could have been a real problem.

Sweeping continues as needed.

Water
Meetings were held on our long-term water master plan. It was a positive meeting identifying future goals and milestones for completion.

Additional sampling continues to meet new permit requirements for the water system.

Staff had to trouble shoot and repair the chlorine generation system. Our current equipment is showing its age, it has been in service since 2004.

Wastewater
Groundwater sampling was completed this week, we have several water monitoring wells that surround the wastewater treatment plant and they must be sampled and analyzed for any potential leakage from out treatment ponds. This is a routine event mandated by permit requirements.

Parks and Cemetery
New tables that were purchased are being put together and will be placed throughout the parks in the spring.

We are working with the new surveillance camera system installer to help in the installation process.  This continues as a work in progress.

​Engineering
The engineer is staying busy with SRCI contract negotiations, the Water Master Plan, and preparation for budget meetings to be held next month.

Happy New Year!

Work Session
Thursday is the January work session. It’s the day for the Mayor and Council to make appointees to boards and commissions. If anyone is interested in applying, you can click here to fill out an application.  
 
Gun Surrender 
HB2013 authorized a surrender of guns for persons who have been charged with certain crimes. The Ontario Police Department has chosen not to take on this responsibility. The State Police and Nyssa Police Department will be accepting gun surrenders.
 
Jacobs Meeting
I met with Jacobs senior staff on Monday to catch up on a few projects. It was productive because they are great partners to work with.
 
Transitional Housing 
We are moving forward with the transitional housing project.
 
Community & Economic Development
 Staff is reviewing 8 building applications this week and has issued 4 building permits this past week.
 
Dan with the help of Al Haun from Jacobs constructed and staked the Airport sewer extension project this week and provided the cut sheet for construction which is planned to get started in the next few weeks.
 
Staff is continuing the process of reviewing a subdivision application and construction plan that is planned to be constructed this spring. Dan met with Jacobs staff this week to review construction plans for street and infrastructure development.

Police
Chief Romero spent much of the week with LT. Cooper and Sheri Smith preparing OPD’s 2020-2021 budget proposal. The Chief’s wish (goal) is to enhance staff’s overall professional development and to procure much needed safety equipment for the OPD officers.

Jan 2nd- Chief Romero attended the DA’s Law Enforcement Executive Staff meeting, to discuss current criminal justice issues throughout the county and to discuss goals and objectives for countywide initiatives for 2020.  Chief Romero will be drafting a multi-agency, crime impact initiative plan, that will be submitted to the DA and all Malheur County law enforcement executives. The plan will propose a multi-agency, ‘force multiplying’ approach for strategic policing; the plan seeks to target specific violent crime activity and criminals that are the cause of recurring criminal activity throughout Malheur County.

Dec 30th-Chief Romero attended and conducted a brief “Citizens on Patrol” introduction at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. Citizens on Patrol did a great job presenting to the Chamber. What an amazing group of volunteers. They need more help. Anyone interested please pick up an application at city hall.  

Dec 30th- Chief Romero met with the Ontario Boys and Girls Club to discuss the re-launching of the club’s “Great Futures Campaign.” Chief Romero will be serving on the 2020 Board of Directors for the B & G Club.  

OPD officers did a great job maintaining peace and order on New Year’s Eve through a productive and proactive approach. OPD staffed a few extra officers during the peak hours and is glad to report that the City of Ontario did not experience any significant incidents during the holiday. 

Public Works
Field Services
This a continuation from last week; we have approximately 30% of the lines cleared at TVCC and will be working on this task as time allows through the coming month.

Water service line and meter boxes were repaired through town as needed.

Staff continue building 30 new barricades for general use throughout town.

Signs were installed for school zone at Alameda and 18th as per request of the church school located there.

Water
Heinz is offline for winter holiday break.

Additional sampling continues to meet new permit requirements for the water system.

Clarifier #1 and #2 Wes Tech unit off line for cleaning and maintenance.

Wastewater
Additional investigations of SCADA alarms systems at the facility; we are looking at additional options to provide better response time for alarms. This is a work in progress.

Weekly inspections of the equipment and buildings including maintenance and trouble shooting.

Additional samples were taken based on our new NPDES permit.

Review of our sample tracking tool to assure samples are taken and not missed. This is done daily along with weekly and monthly review.

​Parks and Cemetery
We are working with the new surveillance camera system installer to help in the installation process. 

Noise Ordinance
With the quiet Christmas week and some office hours I was able to codify the noise ordinance Chief Romero drafted and get it into the work flow for Larry Sullivan to review for our January 9 City Council Meeting.

Downtown Beautification Phase II 
Also, I was able to spend time on the downtown beautification plan, Phase II for the 2020-2021 budget if we are able to continue with the project. Like I said last week, there is a possibility of rolling this in with the energy performance contract. Some of the lamps in the graphics are companies that have worked with Ameresco.

SRCI 
Larry got our last draft to the State for review. Larry and their attorney were able to produce some language to satisfy some of my last concerns.

Transitional Housing 
We are still waiting on the signed agreement with the state before we go ahead with the tiny homes.

Community & Economic Development
Planning

Dan has processed 4 land use actions this past week with a total of 70 land use actions for this calendar year.

Dan is still meeting with people looking to establish Hemp facilities as well as Marijuana facilities.

Dan is continuing to work on updating the City code relating to Marijuana, Certified Local Government regulations and housekeeping code issues found over the years working with the codes and will bring these forward to the Planning Commission and City Council in the near future.

We have been notified on December 20, 2019, by the State of Oregon under House Bill 2003 adopted in 2019 that DLCD will require cities with a population of more than 10,000 to adopt updated Housing Needs Analyses (HNA) and keep them updated every 8 years. Ontario will have to have their HNA’s adopted prior to 2022. Staff is in the process of determining the costs to perform this update so it can be budgeted.

Flood Plain Administration
Dan is continuing to work on amending Ontario Flood Plain Code (10A-47) to meet the new Oregon Model Code and federal regulations (FEMA) and will be bring that forward to the planning commission and city council.
Dan has completed two more of the non-compliance properties from the 2011 DLCD/FEMA Community Assistance Visit which now only leaves one property issue to resolve as well as updating the flood plain codes as mentioned above. So far, Dan has been able to get the city out of non-compliance without any fines being issued to the City for non-compliance which is a good thing. The last one will be trickier to resolve but he’s keeping his hopes up that he can find a resolution for it. He plan’s on meeting with DLCD on the matter after the first of the year.

Dan’s proactivity in addressing the floodplain issues he inherited should be applauded.

Economic Development
Staff is in the process of reviewing the subdivision application and construction plans for the 10-lot affordable housing subdivision that is planned to be constructed this spring.

Airport
Hanger owners and pilots are showing a great interest in improved Internet capabilities at the airport for hanger security and functionality through smart phones.

The connection of the sewer for the FBO and future hanger builds is also well received especially as populations increase at the airport due to the flight school which continues to grow.

The rotating beacon light is down for repairs and parts have been ordered.

The runway and taxiway’s have been plowed and remained open throughout the snow.

Police
Chief Romero met with the Treasure Valley Special Olympics representatives to discuss future partnership with OPD for events such as the law enforcement Special Olympics Torch Run and plane pull events. These events support the Special Olympics athletes and program. Chief Romero signed on as a general board member for the outreach campaign.

Chief Romero spent much of the week tending to the administrative needs of the department. The Chief updated numerous OPD Lexipol led department policies, is drafting a new employee wellness policy as required by SB, 424 and has begun the process of developing a 5-year Strategic Plan for OPD.

OPD patrol officers engaged in a brief vehicle pursuit of a suspected narcotics suspect that fled when they attempted to initiate a traffic stop. OPD self-terminated the pursuit due to the speed of the suspect. The suspect eventually crashed his car in a field where he was arrested by deputies from the Malheur County Sheriff Office.

Chief Romero assisted and volunteered at OHS with the Charlie Anthony Memorial Wrestling Tournament.

Code enforcement efforts continue to be a priority for OPD and the Chief, with efforts to enforce civil penalties at the forefront. The chief also responded to a citizen concern regarding slurry being dumped from trucks in transit on SE 2nd street and SE 5th Ave.

Public Works
Field Services
A series of storm water lines at TVCC are being jet rodded to clear the silt from the summer irrigation season. This will be a work in progress as time permits through the winter.  Clearing the line now will address any issues during the spring and summer during heavy rain events.

Sweeping throughout town continues. This is dependent on snow events.

Water service line and meter boxes repaired through town as needed.

Staff continue building 30 new barricades for general use throughout town.

Water
Chemical feed lines were purged and cleaned again. The clarifier was off line for cleaning and minor maintenance. Soft chemical feed lines were replaced on the Westec system.

Wastewater
Additional samples were taken based on our new NPDES permit.

Review of our sample tracking tool to assure samples are taken and not missed. This is done daily along with weekly and monthly review.

​Parks and Cemetery
We are working with the new surveillance camera system installer to help in the installation process. 

 SRCI
We have spent a lot of time working on the SRCI contract. It got a little tense at times. We are down to contract language. During our meeting on Thursday we worked out some other language.
 
Airport Committee
They did not have a quorum at the Airport Committee, so they did not have an official meeting. We chatted for a while about various things. 
 
Budget
All departments are working on putting together preliminary budget numbers. For those of you who were not here, we pushed back the strategic planning item on the agenda last week so that all City Council members can be there.
 
Wayfinding Survey
I called in a favor to our community partners on Monday to get more responses for the wayfinding survey. By Thursday, the number of surveys went from 63 to over 200. Our community partners are awesome!
 
Fiber Project
The engineers are in design. He has been talking with the other customers preparing to get them connected once we have service. The timeline is pushed back a little. He’s looking at March for completion. He said that Idaho Power requested a few design changes. No change in price for us though.
 
Homeless Project
We are hopeful that everything will be kicking off following approval of the three-party license agreement. I will sign the work for Idaho Power to get started as well as get the construction fence put up. 
 
Police
Chief Romero attended the steering committee meeting at TVCC for the “Athlete Mentorship Program.” The TVCC Foundation recently was awarded a 19K Grant to administer this new, youth outreach program that Chief Romero has been involved with since July 2019. The chief will serve as a volunteer instructor for the program in 2020.
 
Chief Romero conducted a Chief’s end of year OPD leadership team meeting to recap OPD’s activities during 2019 and to discuss the department’s direction, goals and objectives for 2020.
 
OPD hosted an area law enforcement appreciation Bar-B-Q at city hall for the surrounding law enforcement agencies, to express sincere appreciation for all the assistance OPD receives throughout the year. Great turnout and show of mutual support from both Oregon and Idaho agencies (local, county, state and federal).
 
This week, OPD nominated two OPD employees for the “Community Service Awards” hosted by the Ontario Elks Lodge. Lieutenant Jason Cooper and Office Manager Sheri Smith both received well-deserved nominations for the law enforcement and support personnel categories.
 
This week, Chief Romero successfully registered OPD with the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO). The purpose is to provide OPD access to a national level equipment surplus program, for a gamut of items that can be procured through a “No or very low cost” equipment surplus program. OPD is hopeful we can find opportunities to improve equipment efficiently.
 
OPD staff remained busy all week with a variety of theft related calls that is often seen during the holiday seasons. Several arrests were made at various locations.
 
OPD arrested a felony suspect that was recently released from prison. The suspect had outstanding felony warrants from Oregon and fled on foot from officers from the Red Apple Store parking lot. After a brief foot chase and neighborhood search for the suspect, he was found in the backyard of a home a block away from city hall on 5th street. 
 
Fire & Rescue
The Chief inspected St. Alphonsus’s Pharmacy remodel and with the building officials visited two sites on S. Oregon looking at their construction projects. 
 
The staff attended joint training at TVP on patient refusals and the correct documentation. 
We had most of our fleet in the Winter Wonderland parade, and the staff handed out over 200 pounds of candy.  That night was the department awards ceremony with Jonathan Rico selected as the firefighter of the year and Nephi Tolman selected as the rookie of the year.   There was a station visit from a little boy who came for his birthday. 
 
The crews responded this week to 5 false alarms and one that was an occupant at Dorian Place pulling the alarm pull stations. The crew responded to rescue a cat stuck in the storm drain.  The Haz-Mat team responded to a call at SRCI for a hazardous situation in the kitchen, all the readings showed the area to be with-in safe conditions.  We had a general alarm for a motor vehicle crash roll over in a ditch with the car on fire.  We had two apparatus respond and 7 crew members respond.  The occupants made it out with slight burns. 
 
Public Works
Field Services
Snow event on Thursday; snow removal plan was put in place including sanding and de-icing throughout the community.
 
A storm water line at TVCC was cleaned and run with our jet rodding equipment. Mud and other debris builds in the line and needs to be cleaned throughout the year.
 
Staff are building 30 new barricades for general use.
 
Wastewater
An issue with our effluent disinfection system was discovered and addressed.
 
Engineering
Engineering is working on the SRCI contract negotiations, water master plan, transportation growth plan, skatepark bathroom, and SE 2nd project coordination.
 

Happy Thanksgiving! There are many amazing things for me to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for a great city council and mayor who have set a visionary strategic direction for our city. I’m thankful to work with amazing department heads. Unless you know them well, you would truly be amazed at how many hours they put in and how devoted they are to their jobs. It’s not just a job for them, it’s a mission filled with purpose. I’m thankful for the great community partners who work together to solve community challenges. I’m grateful for the amazing people of Ontario that make this a great community. I’m grateful to have a supportive family that puts up with a very irregular schedule of a City Manager. I hope you all feel equally grateful as I am this time of year.

Here’s what’s gone on this past week.   

Trail Award 
We received a $132,109 grant award for the Treasure Valley Connector trail this week. It’s very exciting to build Ontario’s first multipurpose recreational trail! We are hoping for a spring construction.

Diversity Advisory Committee 
The DAC met this week. They will be holding a strategic planning meeting in February.

Marijuana Ad Hoc Committee 
The Marijuana Ad Hoc Committee met on the same night as the Diversity Advisory Committee. The Ad Hoc Committee went very well.

Survey 
We will be launching a survey we have created on social media to assist with the wayfinding project that is underway. You can participate on the City Facebook page when it comes out. Please share it with anyone who uses our community including business owners and those who just come for work. We need to hear from everyone.

Rural Fire Board 
The mayor and I met with the Rural Fire Board on Monday. We gave them our support and suggested a few places that may be able to help with the cost calculation for a contract they are working on with the Snake River Correctional Institute.

Fiber 
We walked City Hall and the Airport with the engineers from LS Networks to scope out the fiber installation.

Security Cameras
Day Wireless has been here this week installing the exterior cameras at City Hall. They made progress at the parks and airport too.

911 User Board Meeting 
The 911 Users Board met Thursday afternoon. The topic of discussion was the new tax on cell phones passed last year and whether it would reduce the Cities (Ontario, Vale, & Nyssa) contracts for 9-1-1 services within Malheur County. The Sheriff’s staff affirmed that those costs will reduce our contract. The timing is slower than I realized. Cell phone companies start collecting the fee in January of 2020. They don’t pay the state until March of 2020, so the Sheriff won’t see those funds until July of 2020. So, at the direction of the Budget Committee and City Council it will be used proportionally to reduce the public safety fee on water bills. Citizens could expect a reduction in their public safety fee in July of 2020 and July of 2021. 

Product Review
We reviewed a product this morning for streamlining online and in-house processes and forms. Our leadership team will look at it next week. We are always looking at more efficient ways to serve the community

Community & Economic Development
Staff is reviewing 7 building applications this week and has issued 5 building permits this past week.

The City has processed 5 land use actions this past week with a total of 68 land use actions so far this year.

Dan is continuing to work on amending Ontario Flood Plain Code (10A-47) to meet the new Oregon Model Code and federal regulations (FEMA) and will bring that forward to the planning commission and city council.

The construction plans for the Airport sewer extension project, which is a council strategic priority has been reviewed and approved by the City Engineer and should go out to bid next week. Our Community Development Director Dan Cummings saved us at least $15,000 by doing the surveying and drawings himself.

Police
Chief Romero conducted interviews of the three finalists for the second code enforcement position. All three applicants are Ontario residents and brought a variety of experience and talents. Chief Romero will be extending a conditional employment opportunity to the top candidate.

Chief Romero facilitated a multi-agency training course at OPD instructed by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. The purpose was to provide all law enforcement agencies within Malheur County with updated marijuana regulation and enforcement information.

Chief Romero conducted a presentation on the history of the American Justice System and Policing at the Four Rivers Preparatory High School. Chief Romero conducted an interactive classroom shooting range competition with NERF Guns and empty soda cans. Of the 20+ students that participated, Chief Romero and the school staff gave out three awards to the top 3 student competitors, which included a “Top Gun” award. The event was very fun and productive for the Chief, school staff, and the students.

Public Works
Field Services
The roof was partially installed on the new shelter at Lions Park, but the project is not complete. The shelter looks great and will be a positive asset for the community in the future.

Staff addressed multiple water leaks throughout the city; primarily water services that have degraded over time.

Leaf pickup began on Monday, November 18 and made 2 complete circuits throughout town to pick bagged debris. We have a small crew this week to address any bags we may have missed last week.

Staff began preparing trucks and sanders for this week’s predicted snow fall.

Two staff members attended an in-house maintenance training seminar in Portland; they will in turn train the rest of our staff on new tools and procedures on our electronic maintenance management system.

Water
Modifications were made to the chemical feed system including a double check valves on specific chemical feed lines to prevent failure.

One staff member passed his state mandated certification exam. He makes a total of 10 staff members that upgraded their certification levels this year.

Parks and Cemetery
Leaf mulching at the parks continues. Leaves have not dropped as quickly as we would have liked so mulching continues longer than we would have liked.

​Crews went over snow removal equipment to assure reliable operation for winter.

Homeless
We ran into a little bit of a wall with the airport proposal, but Community in Action and Origins Faith Community are going to give a presentation tomorrow on another possible solution.

​One Stop
Business Oregon met with our team on Tuesday morning to talk about all of the options out there for public financing of our water and wastewater improvements including grant funding. I have to complement them; the State had everybody on the conference call and truly made it a one-stop-shop for funding possibilities. Our city staff was very impressed that we had all of the state agencies to tell us what grants and loans were available.

Ribbon Cuttings
We cut the ribbon on the Origins Day Shelter and on Body Shop Fitness on Wednesday. Two good reasons to celebrate.

St Alphonsus Community Study
I met with St. Alphonsus staff to discuss their community survey. They will be holding other sessions, and I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to participate, to do so. This helps our hospitals set a strategic direction for community health care and investment.

Airport
The snowplow has been checked over and is ready for service. The sweeper broom has been reattached to the loader and the pavement sweeping has begun around the airport.

Police
Nov 12th- OPD staff conducted interviews for the new code enforcement position, with assistance from HR Director Hall. Several promising applicants were interviewed with the top three finalists moving forward in the hiring process. They are scheduled for interviews with the Chief of Police.

Nov 11-15th-Chief Romero is in the process of developing and finalizing written guidelines for various specialty positions and programs currently operating within the OPD; including the new code enforcement position. Chief Romero’s intent is to create standardized guidelines that will assist employees in better understanding the roles, responsibilities, and city expectations of the various specialty assignments.

Nov 12th- Chief Romero attended the law enforcement executive meeting in Vale. Chief Romero proposed an inter-agency “force-multiplying” model and discussed the need for developing a more sophisticated and effective county-wide information sharing platform during critical incidents.

​Nov 13th- Chief Romero conducted a follow-up consultation with an Idaho based communications systems expert to discuss new technology and infrastructure improvement options for the aging Malheur County and OPD radio communications system. Chief Romero’s primary focus is to seek and solicit federal or state grant funding to cover the cost of any improvements and / or repairs to the radio system.

Chief Romero finalized an educational presentation on the history of the American justice system with his mentee Selena Arocha, from the Four Rivers Preparatory High School. Chief Romero and OPD staff will conduct a presentation and learning activity at the campus on November 22, 2019.
Officer Llamas, Chief Romero, and Lt. Cooper traveled to the Salem area for the honoring and reception of officer Llamas’ “Life Saving Award” presented to her by the Oregon Peace Officers Association. This was a very proud moment for OPD and our Ontario community.

Chief Romero and Officer Sam D’Addabbo attended the Veteran’s appreciation luncheon at the Veteran’s Advocate of Ore-Ida. Many great stories were shared by the veterans that were in attendance. OPD is glad to support our military partners (past and present).

Nov 14th- Chief Romero attended a benefits dinner at the Ontario Masonic Lodge. Chief Romero was presented with a $500.00 Police Department donation from the lodge. Chief Romero will apply the donation funds, exclusively for the purchase of crime prevention and education tools for the Ontario youth (k-12). OPD is greatly appreciative of the partnership with the Masonic Lodge in getting the word out to our youths about societal challenges they may experience as they develop and grow.

Fire & Rescue
The staff attended the Malheur County Emergency Management team meeting and had an update on the LEPC. Lt. Cooper, Chief Leighton and Sheri attended the county traffic safety commission meeting.
The department hosted a large class on drone flight operations. This class had people from Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS and Private industry from Idaho and Oregon attend. The staff had a class at TVP from Dr. Smith on cardiac emergencies CHF.

Truck 109 went to the state high school soccer playoffs and displayed the large American Flag. The crew that day hosted a fire department birthday party with 15 children. A group of Boy Scouts toured both the Police and Fire stations. Some of the staff used truck 109 and changed the rest of the light bulbs at the high school football field.

Besides the normal medical calls this week, our staff responded mostly to utility calls. They had two water leak issues and a complaint about a smell of gas.

Public Works
Field Services
The roof was partially installed on the new shelter at Lions Park but the project is not complete. The shelter looks great and will a positive asset for the community in the future.

​Staff addressed multiple water leaks throughout the city, primarily water services that have degraded over time.

Leaf pickup begins on Monday. We estimate another new record for the number of bags collected.

Water
Staff discovered some additional issues with our chemical feed system. Additional check valves were installed to prevent similar problems in the future.

Parks and Cemetery
Leaf mulching at the parks continues. Leaves have not dropped as quickly as we would have liked so mulching continues.

​The winterization of underground irrigation systems is complete.

I want to start off by saying first of all, the City Council is making a difference in this community. Through their visioning and application of resources, we are making many visible improvements that will help change the image of this community.
 
Also, we have a great leadership team. We talk through problems together and I couldn't feel more blessed to be surrounded by such great people.
 
Homeless 
We are still working through some challenges with a site to support the homeless population for the winter.

Marijuana
I was interviewed by KTVB on Monday. The story aired over the weekend about the marijuana business in Ontario. I shared with them the investments in our community the City Council is making in our community with the money being collected.

Budget
Finance prepared a draft budget calendar. We moved the budget back one month last year and I would like to move it back another month this year. Preparations will begin in December.

Border Board 
I attended the Border Board this week. They have good participation in the grant programs from the other taxing entities in Malheur County. Most of the taxing districts are opting in.

Park Improvement Leveraging 
The plan to put up match money for our service clubs is looking successful. This week we were notified that three service clubs have planned matches for our $10,000 each, leveraging another $30,000 in park improvements.

Police
Chief Romero met with Masonic Lodge representatives to coordinate a fundraising dinner event to benefit OPD’s community policing initiative.

Chief Romero conducted a conference call with Astoria Police Chief, Geoff Spalding. They discussed strategies about homeless population response plans, small agency scheduling, and resource allocation efficiency plans. Astoria PD serves as a comparable agency for OPD.

Chief Romero hosted the “First Annual” OPD retiree open house and luncheon at OPD. The goal is to welcome back the great people that previously spent part of their lives serving the Ontario community through a variety of assignments. Chief Romero places great emphasis on building a long-term relationship for OPD teams of the past and current. Chief Romero donated all the food, snacks and beverages for those in attendance.

Field Services
After several weeks of investigating, OPD and federal task force officers made an arrest of a wanted fugitive. Last Friday, Chief Romero assisted OPD units in the early morning hours at the scene of perimeter containment next to Ontario High School. The suspect, who was wanted for a felony warrant, was pursued by vehicle first and after using a spike strip, then by foot, after crashing his vehicle against a curb. The suspect, considered “Armed and Dangerous”, was located by OPD officers during a foot search of the homes just east of the OHS football field. Another great catch by OPD personnel.

Fire and Rescue
The department had many members and apparatus in the Veterans Day parade for those that served our country. Some of the staff assisted the high school by replacing lightbulbs on the football field; that was a big project and is only half way done.

The crew responded to a care home for a call of burning smell, they were able to trace it down to a melted doorbell chime and an overheated transformer. The power was disconnected and the chime was removed.

The staff responded to a fully involved car fire in the state park by 201 and I-84 the owner stated the steering felt funny so he pulled over and then flames appeared and he called for help.

Airport
This week, Dan began with troubleshooting the strobe light the end of runway 33. A new bulb is being sought after as it is non-standard. More runway and tax away lighting is also being repaired as part of the upkeep at the airport.

Two new hanger leases have been created and will be put on the agenda for City Council approval as soon as the required insurance is provided from the owners.
 
Community& Economic Development
Staff has been very busy with lots of phone calls and clients coming in trying to get t projects done before winter hits as well as continuing scanning past records and files into the archive system to free up the storage facility.
 
Building:
Staff is reviewing 6 building applications this week and has issued 12 building permits this past week.
 
Planning:
The city council approved the amendment of the city comprehensive plan and map by extending the urban growth boundary to include a piece of property left out in the 2007 update. The next step in to now annex this property into the city limit which the application for this can now be processed.
 
Dan is continuing to work on updating the City code relating to Marijuana, Certified Local Government regulations and housekeeping code issues found over the years working with the codes and will be bring these forward to the planning commission and city council in the near future.

Economic Development:
Dan completed the construction plans for the Airport sewer extension project the council approved the budget for and submitted them to the City engineer for review and approval in hopes of getting this project out to bid in the next few weeks. Way to go Dan for saving money on this project.
 
Dan met with the Ontario Rotary Club as well as the Ontario Lions Club this week on future plans of the parks they represent and future development and improvements to these parks.

Public Works

Field Services
ADA crosswalk access sidewalks were poured on Alameda; the crosswalks are painted and now in service.

The bar screen system at the prison lift station was rebuilt and put back into service, this system has backup redundancy. Street sweeping continues for the entire town based on our schedule. Catch basin cleaning started and will be going through the fall.

New decorative trash cans were installed in the downtown core area replacing the old concrete cans. Those cans will be recycled to other locations in the City.

Water
Staff identified an issue with our chemical feed system; crews developed a work around and will move to repair this issue early next week.

Housekeeping and painting continue at the water treatment plant. Primary focus is the pump gallery.

Parks and Cemetery
There were two burials this week at Evergreen Cemetery. Leaf mulching at the parks has also begun, in weekly inspections staff are keeping well ahead of leaf drop. Winterization of underground irrigation systems is complete.

Downtown Bench
Our JACOBS staff turned around the bench that was put in near Andrews Seeds after pouring a small pad, with the permission of the owner, so that it did not obstruct any parking or handicap space. See the picture (it looks really great!).

Citizens Coalition of Ontario
The grassroots group hosted their 3rd community forum. Chief Romero (Police) and Dan Cummings (Community & Economic Development Director) presented with Andrew Maeda from the Recreation District. We had the Alameda Lego Robotics Club come; they asked some really great questions. We owe much thanks to the coalition for hosting and planning these forums.

Job Shadow
I was privileged to have a student from Four Rivers Community School shadow me for the day. Her interest is in architecture so she participated in the design meeting for the wayfinding system and we reviewed the skate park bathroom plans with the Architect from JACOBS.

Homeless
I spent about 9 hours this week investigating some potential solutions to our homeless issues. That work involved meeting with other community agencies, talking with staff, and speaking with our City Council members. We will have a discussion about it during next Thursday’s City Council Work Session. It’s a challenge that has many potential solutions, but none are easy or simple. It’s a very complex issue. Addressing it will involve making difficult decisions.

Energy Performance Proposal
I let out a request for proposals for an ESCO (Energy Service Company) Performance Contract. I believe we have some savings to realize, particularly with our street lighting.. This has the potential to save us a significant amount of money. I’ll talk more about it at the Work Session.

​Fire & Rescue
Our public safety staff was invited to First Responders Appreciation day at Ontario Community Church where they welcomed us and had both Chiefs say a few words. They also had us join them for brunch. The crew and some of the associate members took out Engine 103 to the Boo-Bash trunk or treat at TVCC and the high school trunk or treat.

​We responded to an electrical outlet that overheated and was contained to the outlet and plug strip. The staff responded to a motor vehicle crash roll over with three critical patients. Two were sent by air ambulance. The crews also responded on multiple false alarms.

Police
Chief Romero was shadowed by his Four Rivers High School mentee for her high school senior project. The mentee did a short ride-along with officer Llamas, who was eager to assist and mentor the student as well.

Chief Romero issued one temporary lodging voucher to a homeless individual who he contacted at the river clean-up project. The voucher was possible through a program offered by the Salvation Army and administered by OPD. The individual is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Chief Romero and Officer Elizondo visited Alameda Elementary School for a Red Ribbon presentation and school assembly. Students K-6th grade were provided an opportunity to ask questions and interact with OPD regarding, “How to stay drug free.” Chief Romero challenged the students to a “Say No To Drugs” writing contest, in return for a classroom party for the winning class.

Chief Romero accompanied me, our Public Works Director, and two reporters from the Argus Observer to take a post river cleanup tour of the water treatment plant. The goal was to provide transparency and information.

Chief Romero and Officer Elizondo conducted a community Drug Prevention and Education seminar at OHS in both English and Spanish. The goal was to inform and educate parents and children on best practices for insuring a Drug Free lifestyle. This was in conjunction with the Red Ribbon Week campaign.

Chief Romero met with and assisted a group of homeowners in the south side of the city, with planning and developing a new Neighborhood Watch program.

OPD staff donated over $150 of candy to hand out at OPD’s “Trunk or Treat” event at OHS for Halloween. OPD Staff also participated at other Halloween festivities throughout the city and at the Elks Lodge. The goal was to interact with the community and offer additional safety.

Airport
Monday evening's airport committee was productive. Jessica Sherwood from the Bureau of Land Management shared that Ontario's tanker base is now on the list of sites for a new building at the national level. This is great news! The much needed fiber, sewer, and cameras approved by the council were also well received.

The Airport Managers airplane inventory has generated another 40 planes based in Ontario. With this more accurate data, we will be in a position to receive more funding.

Gravel will be placed at the ends of the runway to meet the requirements stated in the Oregon Department of Aviation's report on the pavement maintenance plan.

Human Resources and Public Information
Peter is continuing to work with the Police Department on our Code Enforcement Officer. We had a lot of applicants and the top candidates will be interviewed in front of a panel this month.

Community & Economic Development
Staff has been very productive these past weeks with the help from our part time worker Isabelle who has been a big help in scanning past records and files into the archive system.

Staff is reviewing 13 building applications this week and has issued 8 building permits this past week with 26 total permits being issued so far in the month of October.

Marcy and Dwayne attended training and re-certification for the 2019 Oregon Structural Specialty Code (commercial code change) in Bend this month.

Dan has been very busy processing 13 land use applications these past few weeks. We are at 66 Land Use Actions so far for this year.

Dan attended a week’s training in Lewiston, Idaho, funded by a grant from Oregon DLCD (Department of Land Conservation and Development) on FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) Flood Plain Administration last week to get trained on the new NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) regulations and the new model codes established by FEMA and the State of Oregon.

Dan has been working on amending the Ontario Flood Plain Code (10A-47) to meet the new Oregon Model Code and will bring that forward to the planning commission and city council in the near future.

Dan is still working with me on the Snake River Trail with Kraft Heinz (ORE-IDA) and Wal-Mart as well as with ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation).

With the help from Kit Kamo with SREDA, staff has been submitting our Industrial site to several manufacturers looking for sites in Oregon.

​Public Works
Field Services
The concrete pad and sidewalk were poured for the Lions Park shelter. After the concrete has cured we will finish the construction of the replacement shelter. This will be a great asset to the city.

ADA crosswalk access sidewalks were poured on Alameda, which was a citizen led effort. Street sweeping continues for the entire town based on our schedule. Catch basin cleaning started and will be going through the fall.

New decorative trash cans matching our benches were installed in the downtown core area replacing the old concrete cans. Those cans will be used at other locations in the City.

Water
Staff trouble shot and resolved an issue with a brine tank sensor for our disinfection system.

Engineering
SRCI contract negotiations continue. We meet again next week. ​

Planning
We held a joint planning commission meeting with Malheur County last night to approve a parcel of land joining the Urban Growth Area (UGA). They have already filed for an application to be annexed into the city since they had to connect to our sewer line when their septic field failed.

Trail Grant
I got home at midnight from my conference and left at 5:30 am that morning for Bend to make a 20 minute pitch for the Treasure Valley Connector Trail grant. I received very nice comments on the project and the presentation and the city’s overall trail plan. They seemed genuinely excited for Ontario. I should know one way or the other in the next two weeks.

Efficiency Project
I met with a company who does lighting replacement projects that have a performance contract. How it works is they upgrade our lighting on our properties and the savings pays for the new lights for a certain number of years after which you then get the savings once it’s paid off.

Wayfinding Kickoff
We are working through our Wayfinding Project bids and plan to award a bid soon. We are excited to begin this process!

Police
Chief Romero attended a “STOP” (Statistical Transparency of Policing) video conference meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss this upcoming, unfunded mandate, which is required by Oregon Law (HB2355); the law requires all law enforcement agencies in Oregon to collect data regarding officer-initiated traffic and pedestrian stops by 2020. Its purpose is to gauge any likely hood of “Racial profiling” by a specific race of officers. OPD is currently working with the Criminal Justice Commission to establish a functioning platform for this state mandate.

Chief Romero and Lt. Cooper attended a debriefing at ODOT regarding the recent water treatment plant clean-up project. Both ODOT and Jacobs expressed their gratitude for all the positive collaboration and city support for their project. The discussion yielded new safety ideas for the work crews, new short-term strategies, and long-term strategies for insuring this type of infrastructure threat and hazards do not recur.

Chief Romero facilitated an employee wellness training session for OPD staff, which also offered a free $5,000.00 Life Insurance benefit for all OPD public safety officers.

OPD made an arrest of a male adult who is a convicted felon and suspected of having ties to the “Arian Brotherhood” gang in California. The arrestee was observed discarding a loaded handgun in the street and fled from officers. After a brief foot chase the male was captured without incident. He may be involved in other suspected felony crimes.

Chief Romero and I separately had the opportunity to visit with the Four Rivers Preparatory School Lego Robotics Club for a question and answer forum. They grilled us with great questions on “How to improve Ontario”.

OPD received information from Nyssa PD, regarding a wanted felony female suspect that had been involved in a shooting in the City of Nyssa. OPD located the female in the Ontario city limits and took her into custody without incident, with the assistance of OSP personnel.

Fire and Rescue
There was a public meeting attended by public safety personnel, ODOT, and others discussing putting in a round-about at Cairo junction. ODOT has been approving more roundabouts across the state which has dramatically reduced fatalities even in high traffic areas. If there is going to be an accident, the design of a roundabout results in a side by side collision as opposed to a very deadly T-bone collision. Cairo junction is one of the most dangerous intersections in Eastern Oregon, which is why ODOT is focusing on a redesign.

Staff members tested three firefighters for their practical portions of Fire fighter 1 and Firefighter 2 certifications. The staff is also continuing to do smoke detector installations on our drill night.

10/11 The crew responded to a mutual aid fire in Payette County for many hours on a large hay stack fire. The crew rescued a wedding ring, and possibly more, from a storm drain on SW. 4th Avenue. Crews also responded to a couple false alarms due to system malfunctions.

10/13 The crew responded to a propane leak on SW. 5th Avenue.

10/15 Staff members responded to a car fire at SW. 4th Avenue and Highway 201.

10/16 The crew responded to a cooking fire on NW. 6th Street. and a chimney fire on NW. 5th Street.

Public Works
Field Services
Crack sealing has been completed for this year’s budget. The new machine made our crews a lot more efficient.

The super structure for the new shelter was erected in Lions Park. Concrete work will follow and then the roof will be installed.

Street sweeping has begun for the entire town based on our schedule.

Catch basin cleaning started and will be going through the fall.

Water
Jar testing continues to optimize water quality, winterization is underway, and some additional work was done at the north river property after last week’s major cleanup effort.

Parks and Cemetery

There were two burials this week at Evergreen Cemetery.

Leaf mulching at the parks has also begun, in weekly inspections staff are keeping well ahead of leaf drop.

Staff will begin winterizing underground irrigations systems later this month as temperatures cool.

Engineering
We have had several meetings about our SRCI contract negotiations. We have an appointment with the state to give them our new proposal.

River Cleanup
The Snake River shore cleanup begins on Monday. This is a coordinated project with ODOT. Councilor Rodriguez asked to go down to the area so I accompanied him and several others on Thursday including the Malheur Enterprise. We were able to speak with some of the people in homeless camps and tell them about resources available. It was a very productive trip. There is a great deal of waste to clean up which includes human waste, trash, used needles, and other drug paraphernalia.

Malheur County United Housing Coalition
We met again on Monday. This is a newer work group formed about a month ago. I was asked to chair the committee with Barb Higinbotham. We will be working on long-term sustainable facilities for the homeless.

​PERS
2018 was a poor year for the PERS investment, but the outlook for 2019 is very good. They have earnings of 8.87% this year.

Alameda Intersection
We have a proposal for traffic calming measures behind Alameda Elementary. We will be distributing a proposed plan to the school.

4 Rivers Community School
I met with the Lego robotics Club at 4RCS this week to talk about community issues. They were a sharp bunch of kids.

​Community Development
Dan Cummings hosted a few PDAC’s this week. One is a new business that will be very nice for the community.

Police
Chief Romero attended a meeting with the Ontario Boxing Club and local fitness center (Go Fitness) to discuss potential outreach program(s) for the Ontario area youth population. The goal is to add an after-school alternative for working parent(s) and their children here in Ontario.

Chief Romero provided fundraising support (via procured business sponsors) to the Star Center for this weekend’s Cornhole Tournament at the Ontario Elks Club.

The Police Department is in the process of completing an after-action report regarding this past weekend’s concert event at the Hotbox Farms Grand Opening.

Chief Romero welcomed his first Ontario student mentee from the Four Rivers Community School. Chief Romero will serve as a professional mentor for the student’s high school senior project. The student was recommended by Principal Raeshelle Meyer.

Lt Cooper is managing a recent shooting investigation and all communications to the press regarding the incident and investigation (Press release published 10/10/2019).

Fire Rescue
Some of the staff attended the Malheur County Emergency Management Team meeting and learned from the National Weather Bureau.

We had 4 crews do smoke detector installations of over 50 smoke detectors. The crew had cardiac care and pacing reviews with TVP.

Both the Fire and Police Departments participated in the Home Depot Safety Fair with the public education trailer and fire engines. With this being fire prevention month the staff are doing public education for the first graders, so far they have presented at Aiken, May Roberts, Alameda, and Four Rivers elementary. They also visited a day care site on 3rd St.

The staff responded to an agency assist to get some people off a roof downtown, and a fuel spill on SW 4th Avenue. They also responded to fully involved vehicle and tractor fires. The crews responded to two mutual aid structure fires and then an equipment fire.

​Public Works
Field Services
Crack sealing in the NW part of town, our new crack fill machine is working extremely well. It is much more efficient than the old piece of equipment recently retired.

Footings were excavated and prepared for the new shelter in Lions Park. This is a replacement shelter for the one that fell in the snow storm of 2017. The footings will be poured late this week and then construction will begin the following week; the concrete pad and sidewalk to the new shelter will follow. Staff will erect the new shelter once the footings have been poured and cured.

Catch basin cleaning started and will be going through the fall.
Water
Jar testing for decreased organic load was completed multiple times this week to optimize the water quality.

Staff are preparing for debris and vegetation cleaning on city property located north of the water treatment. Crews from the City and ODOT will focus on bank stabilization and clearing debris from this area. A press release was generated and run in the local papers. City Police have been engaged in this activity.

Parks and Cemetery
Staff will begin winterizing underground irrigation systems later this month as temperatures cool.