January 6, 2020

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.