February-24-2020-Board-Worksession-segment-2
[00:00:00] No, not at this time. Thank you.
Okay. Um, that was, that was a pretty good launch, I think. Um. Thank you everyone for having us here. To share a little bit about some of the projects that are underway at the city. For those who don't know me, I'm John Williams currently serving as the city manager in Westlynn on an interim basis with me here tonight.
Uh, Lance Calvert is our city engineer and public works director. Also. Doug Erickson, our library director would be speaking as well. Um, we have a lot going on at the city and in conversations with dr Ludvig and the board, uh, and our own staff, there was a few things that stood out to us that kind of fit in very well with the content of this meeting.
Uh, rewarding heard. Quite a bit about transportation and we thought it would make sense to talk a bit about the work that is going on, on a number of routes. Um, we, uh, the citizens of [00:01:00] West Linn is, you know, passed a bond in May, 2018 and, uh, we did not divide our bond sale. And so we have all those projects to do all at the same time.
Fortunately, that's a Lance's problem and not mine. Um, but there is, there is a lot of work happening in our community. Uh, and you've, everyone has seen the work going on, on our main street, and while I'm at falls drive, Lance, we'll talk a little bit about the timelines there and he'll make the plug too, but I'll make the plug.
Everyone come down to support the businesses down on main street. Um, we do all our coffees and our lunches down in main street right now to support those folks. Um. I think, uh, we want to talk about, well, I'm at false drive. We want to talk about highway 43, highway two Oh five, uh, and what's going on in the 10th and salami area as well.
Uh, all of this information, Lance is going to show you, walk you through our website as well. But I want to, the one main point I want to make is that, uh, the geo bond, although, [00:02:00] uh, it has funded a lot of work, not adequate to, uh, fund projects. Even highway 43, which is a state owned facility. We're doing design work there.
And Lance will tell you a little bit about the timeframe and certainly not I two Oh five, uh, we are. Uh, dependent on the state, uh, for funding of that. And we can talk a little bit about what we know about the funding of that project. Uh, certainly our state legislators have been hearing a lot from this community about the need for two Oh five from the broader region.
And really this is a project of statewide significance and we're really hoping there's some positive news, um, not a lot of positive news out of the state legislature today, but, uh, we're gonna we're going to keep working to advance these projects. One other thing just before Lance starts talking, and I just want to say on all of the bond projects that the school district just described, we are ready as a city staff to help the community and the [00:03:00] district.
Uh. Have conversations about these projects. We're committed to getting the answers that everyone needs to get about how our codes work and how our process works. We know that people are going to be very interested and very involved in these projects because they care so much. Um, people care about their communities, care about their schools, and we feel like we can be an important part of this process.
We're looking forward to working with everyone on this, and I think, as I've already heard around the table. We've certainly observed, I've observed in my career doing planning work that, uh, the more we can agree on things before we get into a formal hearing process in front of a land use closet, you just hearing the better.
Um, it's, so all of the, all of the positive things I heard about the conversations are gonna happen in advance. That's all to the, to the good, I think, for these projects. So, uh, Lance, can you take it over, talk a little bit about the projects, the timelines, and what we know about funding on these. We'll try to make these presentations short so we can have conversations from [00:04:00] the table.
Uh, yeah. Thank you, John. Thanks to the school board and the school staff and everybody here today to to make the mistake of giving me the microphone. Um, you know, I can talk a really long time, so I will try and keep this short. I would just a note, one thing, uh, as a personal note, um. Uh, my son graduated from West Linn high school two years ago.
My daughter's a senior there right now. Um. Barrier every day. Um, uh, with the great job that she did with the math, and my son actually still goes back and talks to her. Um, and so I just, uh. Want to give a big shout out to the school and the school district a far different experience than what I had growing up in central Missouri.
Um, so I appreciate that very much. And that's, you [00:05:00] know, I think as most people live in whistling, uh, one of the reasons I, I chose this community is because of the school district. So, uh, thank you very much for that. Um, to give you a little bit of background on transportation in West Linn, like I said, uh, or as John said, I'm.
Lance Calvert. I'm the city's public works director and city engineer. Um. Uh, uh, topics that are listed on the agenda today. Really, I'm going to actually start with the last one first, which is exploration of the interest city transit. I just wanted to give you guys a little update that the city is working in coordination with Metro and.
Clackamas County, Clackamas County is the lead agency on a potential, um, transit study, uh, to look at inner interest city shuttling between, uh, Oregon city West Linn and, uh, Politan. Um, which really ties into a lot of [00:06:00] the TriMet, uh, activity and where people are going is anybody that lives here knows there's sort of this.
Yeah. Uh, that's called Stafford. And so there's not much in the way of services in that area. And so the County is looking at that, and the city is a participant in that. They've just selected a consultant to begin their work on that. Um, so it's very early in the process for that particular project, but something to pay attention to in the future.
Uh, you will see more information about that. Um, the city and our website and why you don't see a presentation from me tonight is because we try and post absolutely everything that we can to our website to, uh, which is great. Because it's all on there. Uh, the bad thing sometimes is as so much as you guys may know, uh, if you walk in the library, there's a lot in there, right?
And so finding it, uh, can sometimes be a challenge, but, uh, we've done a little bit of a [00:07:00] website redesign and hopefully make it a little bit easier for people. So, and also, I'd recommend anybody that doesn't, that, uh, is thinking about these projects or wants to be a participant in these projects. Please let us know and reach out and we're happy to include you on our, uh, um, email blasts and, uh, outreach activities and methods that we use to keep people in contact with us, uh, throughout these projects.
Cause sometimes they can span quite a lot. Quite a bit of time. Um, so backing up from transit to transportation, now our bond project is a considerably smaller, so we can, you know, as a $20 million bond, we can, uh, leverage that in a single, uh, draw and get, uh, our projects done relatively quickly. Uh, we don't.
Uh, operate strictly in our bond though. Uh, what you'll find with the us in transportation is we actually truly operate out of multiple funds to fund our projects, [00:08:00] including transportation, uh, system development charges. Uh, street fees are, um, shared, uh. A gas tax and those kinds of things. So we pool all these collective different, uh, funds together to deliver projects, um, that, uh, you probably are seeing, some of which are under construction right now.
Um, so, uh, to start with, I'll start with Willamette falls drive. Um. Now, all of these projects that the city's working on really start back with our transportation system plan, uh, and, uh, were vetted, uh, several years ago. Sometimes some of these projects, if you look at highway 43, I found studies on 43 going back to the seventies.
Uh, again, keeps getting studied, but. Doesn't quite make it to construction funding. And we're trying to change that. Um, the Willamette falls drive project, uh, you'll see in our transportation system plan, particularly in the bike and pedestrian [00:09:00] chapters, big changes for AMA falls drive. Um, and highway 43 where both corridors as arterial corridors are really designed.
Uh. Or with the goal in designed to make them a multimodal friendly? Uh, right now, um, there are not, um, I would say it'd be a challenge, uh, for anybody to, uh, really go through those corridors from start to finish, uh, in any form other than an automobile. Um, so, uh, our goal is certainly to change that and that, uh, is driven by.
The transportation system plan by Metro, uh, by the region, by our regional code, by our local code. And, um, the first project that you'll see really coming out of that work right now is the, uh, historic alignment main street project that's currently under construction. Uh, this is a rendering of, of what, uh, is.
Hopefully [00:10:00] going to be the outcome of that corridor. And one of the things that I like about this picture, if you see it up on the board, is. It's a separating space. It's moving the bicycles away from the street in their own dedicated space. It's widening the sidewalk, uh, really taking back a lot of area that was dedicated to automobile traffic and bringing it back to main street or pedestrian scale.
This has worked on a lot in coordination with our historic main street group and other. Advisory groups within the city. Uh, and, uh, one of the challenges, uh, I point out in this picture is a grading. You know, I'm always into the detailed engineering parts of these projects. And in this particular picture, you can see the challenge of, uh, the buildings being lower than the street, which is, um.
Uh, the case in some parts of the corridor and other parts of the corridor, uh, the businesses are higher than the street. [00:11:00] And so everything shifts and changes. Hopefully it's a seamless transition for all the people that visit the area. And they probably won't know those. Notice those things like I will.
Um, but, uh, what you will notice and when this project is done as a continuous, uh, bike, uh, facility on both sides of the street. A much wider pedestrian facilities, commentating, outdoor dining and trap traffic, new lighting, new parking, uh, everything that goes into that project right now, a lot of the businesses, you know, uh, like John said, are dealing with, uh, with the.
Aim and struggle of construction and we're trying to expedite that, do it in this sort of off peak season. So, um, I know one of the questions we got is, well, why are you doing it doing the school year? Well, because. There isn't a school directly adjacent to this site. Um, it's actually the businesses slowest time of the year.
[00:12:00] And so we're trying to avoid the summer, uh, peak outdoor dining months and try and get a majority of the hard work done now earlier in the calendar year. Um, so that's why that project is proceeding the way it is. And if anybody's been up Rosemont road, uh, close to, um. A Rosemont middle school. Then you will see sort of a example of this type of work already in place, in front of open land or field where we have separated that out.
Now this is. A little different from that location because of the configuration of the travel lanes. Uh, the travel lanes on Rosemont are intentionally narrow to try and slow people down. Um, this is a whole different concept here in the main street area, and we're accommodating that, changing some of the stopping, uh, obviously changing the parking configurations.
Um, so quite a bit, uh, to go coming out of this project, any one of the, probably probably one of the things that. As I go into all the [00:13:00] engineering details of these projects, uh, that will probably be the most predominant thing out of that project would be the, uh, new holiday lighting that's going to be part of that, uh, project as well as the wifi.
They'll be available to the public as part of that project. So a great concept. That concept of separated bike and PED facilities will really resonate throughout the corridor, uh, as this corridor gets built and rebuilt over time as funds become available for constructions. So right now we have the construction funding for this downtown area.
We also have funding, uh, in place for the 10th street corridor, so people can get across  safely, uh, basically from, uh. Well, I am a false drive over to, um, uh, Solano and, um, Blankenship, uh, with new, uh, bike and PED facilities going up Salaam O road to connect the upper Hill areas with the lower Hill areas.
[00:14:00] Um, one of the things that you'll also notice in some of our slides and, uh, uh, is these. Uh, displays. Um, we actually include some three-dimensional technology. If you download the app and look at this video, or look at this slide and point the app at the slide in your smartphone, you'll see the animation sort of come to life.
In some of these, we can do it through the app and we can also do it. Um, uh, just, uh, for a graphical display. This is actually, uh, an example location, uh, close to, um. Uh, close to the dollar site and fields bridge park where we're talking about, uh, taking what's currently are pretty rural two lane configuration with not even any shoulders.
And converting that, uh, over the longterm to, uh, maintaining the two lanes of traffic, separated bike [00:15:00] and, uh, ed facilities, and really making those. Bike facilities usable, uh, for all bike users. Typically, we look at bike users. We're looking at the eight to 80 age range, so it's no longer just about bicycling for, you know, um.
Am I a professional adult, a male writers or female writers? It's really about, uh, getting kids, uh, safely to and from school. It's about getting, um, uh, people to exercise more and, uh, be more apart of the community and travel by a means. That would be acceptable, uh, to families, uh, not, uh, other than the automobile.
Um, and giving them a choice. Um, so that's really not only, I think, relevant to [00:16:00] this corridor, but also to highway 43. You'll see all the arterial projects that we're talking about really moving to that type of design. It's very much, uh, . European style design, I would say, and something that the region is really looking at.
Um, just last week we had a presentation to Metro about highway 43 is, uh, John had mentioned we don't have nearly enough bonding capacity or projects to fully fund all of the road improvements in West Linn. Uh. A 20 million bond wouldn't cut that. Uh, it takes a lot of money to be able to build out these road improvements.
And, uh, we're looking to, uh, really push, uh, Metro to include, hopefully highway 43 in. The  bond that they're considering right now. Uh, also looking at other federal grant and state and regional grant opportunities for highway 43, uh, as well. Uh, we're actually working with our local money right now [00:17:00] on the design aspects of those corridors so that as a funds or as construction funds become available, we can pre, uh, quickly move to construction.
On those regional improvements with the design already being in place. So, um, highway 43 right now does have, uh, some construction funding. If you, uh, if I go back here to some of these project pages, like I said, and if you go to the city's main website, you can click on the geo bond projects list, and this will list all of the different.
Projects that we're working on right now. As I scroll to the bottom, uh, you'll see all of our, uh, transportation projects. Um. With highway 43. We do have some, uh, regional grant funds, uh, about 6 million in combined local and federal and state funds, uh, to do some improvements on 43. This would primarily be [00:18:00] in the area of hidden Springs road and the intersection with, uh, hidden Springs and old river, uh, and improvements right there.
That's actually, um. Probably the most accident prone location in the city of West Linn is at that intersection. We actually have quite a few between Cedar Oak and a hidden Springs road, uh, several rear end collisions, several angle collusions there because of the close proximity of those traffic signals.
And so part of the improvement here would be to reconfigure that, uh, to address those concerns and not only help traffic move a little bit better through the area, uh, but also greatly improved safety, uh, in, in that, uh, corridor. So, um, that's. Our first project, uh, probably to go to construction, uh, ODA is actually leading that project, so they move quite slow.
[00:19:00] Um, they're a big state agency and they take time, you know, to get through things. So, uh, we're hoping to see that, uh, section of, uh, highway 43 under construction, uh, hopefully in the next, uh, two years. Um. The  project. And like I said, we also have design work that we're currently ongoing with on the rest of the highway 43 corridor.
Um, we'll also be doing some more outreach, uh, um, most likely on, uh, particularly, uh, Lammot falls drive. Um, one of the things that you'll know if you look at our transportation system plan is a highway 43 actually has an appendix and in the TSP that clearly defines in a concept plan what is planned for that corridor.
Um, and. Very close to scale, not exactly to scale, but pretty close. And we're actually planning on doing is the exact same thing for realignment falls [00:20:00] drive to where we will have a concept plan in place, uh, for that corridor, uh, that will be most likely vetted through the plan commission and the city council.
Uh, here, this, uh, this year, um. And you to build on the work that's already being done in that corridor. Our transportation system plans already identified those bike and pet improvements and the bike and peds sections. The concept plans just add further scope and further scale and further detail in that as we build out, uh, these corridors.
Um. As John alluded to,  is sort of, I think, in, in limbo right now with the state legislature, uh, being, um, stuck in other conversations. And, um, but, uh, there, there has been some talk, I think, uh, regionally about, um, trying to move that project forward. Um, right [00:21:00] now, uh, you'll notice on  ODAT and odod is the lead agency on that project, but we track and follow it.
Um, in our part of the project team that ODAT has on those, both the 43 and I two Oh five corridors, um, they are working on some signage improvements, uh, right now with, uh, the. Or graphical signs, uh, over the road signage that they use for its and traffic management. Um, but, uh, the bigger projects of the road widening and construction on it, Oh five are probably still several years away.
Um, you know, they need to secure basically a half a billion dollars, 500 million to, to build out that core, or it'll take at least five years to do. The bridge work alone at, uh, the Abernathy bridge at, uh, the crossing of the Clackamas, uh, or, sorry, classing of the wall, ham [00:22:00] at river. Uh, so big, big scale project, one of the biggest that the state will undertake outside of the Rose quarter and some of these other large projects.
So, uh, certainly something to watch and track. And there's a project website for that as well, throughout, not a few inches. Oh, I think that's basically it as far as what I plan to talk to you guys about today. And of course, certainly answer, happy to answer any questions and the word Ugh. And the talk about library and library items.
Lance, just one quick, uh, additional thing, which is status of the safe routes to school. Okay. Yeah. How did I forget I'm talking to the school. I didn't even bring up safe routes. Sorry. Um, so that is also on our bond list. Um, if you look on our, uh, bond project pages, um, you'll see safe routes to school. We call out in this title evaluation and planning, but we've really moved past that at this point.
We've [00:23:00] got a couple more, uh, neighborhood associations to touch base with, uh, about, um. Improvements in their area. Um, but, uh, basically the city worked in coordination with the school district over the, uh, the past year. Um, and the school district staff's been great to work with, by the way, on, uh, really getting out and doing outreach on updating safe routes to school planning for all of this, uh, schools in West Linn, uh, for elementary and middle school, which is the safe routes.
Uh, designated schools. Each school has a safe routes plan. Uh, we, uh, pay attention and watch that quite closely. We've been working, uh, in this bond process of, uh, working with individual neighborhood groups and trying to engage, uh. Uh, parents and teachers and PTA  and principals and anybody that would be willing to, uh, talk to [00:24:00] us about a prioritization for those dollars and how to best spend and utilize those funds.
Again, we have. A lot more a need than we have funding. Um, so it's really, at this point, a prioritization effort to figure out exactly what are those top things that, uh, uh, makes sense with these dollars to start working on as far as capital projects. Uh, there's, uh, including on the project website, there's.
All the, uh, information that we had previously worked on. Uh, this project was actually moving ahead, uh, quite nicely until our lead staff are left to go to work for the city of Portland. Um, and, and we're a small groups, so I have five, uh, people in the engineering staff. I think a Wilson bill has doubled that amount.
And like us, we go has more than double that amount to give you a sense of scale. So when we lose one of our [00:25:00] engineers, you know, really pushed for kids to go into STEM, because I need lots of engineers. Um, you know, it, uh, uh, it's, it, it. It shows itself and it shows it in this project in particular where this project has had to slow down a little bit as we've, uh, then brought a new person on board and she is actively working now on moving these projects forward, finding the items that we can move quickly on, and then figuring out the pieces that might take more work to get done.
Um, I know. Uh, from personally working on the project that, you know, one of the things that we've been doing is working in coordination with the school and with the parks department on the sunset area. The parks department recently completed quite a bit of work at sunsets park. Uh, our, our goal now that they're done is to coordinate with the school and the school district on timing for other work in that [00:26:00] area where, um.
We plan on extending the sidewalk alongside the park as part of our safe routes efforts, um, that was previously identified in the planning and evaluation process. Uh, uh, unfortunately there's also a fail. A failing sewer line in that same corridor. So I have to do the utility work first before I can do the, um, sidewalk work.
So you can see that there's sort of like a step in stage to some of these processes. Uh, and, um, so, so we'll be actively working on projects like that and other projects throughout, uh, the city and, uh, the district sites in coordination with a district staff. Like I said, the neighborhoods, neighborhood associations in this, schools themselves on a appropriately locating and targeting those improvements.
Again, everything that comes up will be [00:27:00] posted here and you can follow it all on the city's webpage. Thank you. So we can take, if there's any questions or discussion about the transportation or we move quick. I know you have, we're winding down here. So just from a time check, there's roughly a little bit less than 15 minutes left.
Um, I would just add a comment at a minimum. Um, is that, um, ginger and, uh, mayor Axelrod and I went to Kurt Schrader had a. Round table discussion of our, our local Clackamas County leaders. And one of the things I heard there was, um, like a Swego was doing a lot of of, uh, sidewalk and road construction as well.
And they'd, I believe it was like us, we, I could be mistaken, had shared that they hadn't really done any work. On their safe routes. And my takeaway from hearing that was knowing that we have partnered really well, not just the [00:28:00] city of West Linn, but also with the city of Wilsonville and have been slowly working on ensuring, you know, best possible safe routes, um, to our schools.
And so it's just kind of that partnership and the thing like, Ooh, you know, while there may still be work to do, we do a really good job of coordinating and not neglecting work as well as, um. When, um, mr Calvert was sharing about, um, the plans for further down while I'm at false drive and how an opportunity that when, uh, when we do get to build new schools, whether it be sunset or Trillium, it's a great opportunity to, um, put in that safe route infrastructure.
In the beginning, including, you know, also partnering with the city to provide the bike paths or, um, if there is a transit system, a bus, public bus stop in and around our properties to help facilitate transit. So, um, it just reminded me of good things that we all do. [00:29:00] I want to thank the city for their work on safe routes to school.
So as much as we're concerned about the safety of the interior of our buildings, we know that the reason that a school zones are 20 miles per hour is because it is not much over that, that you can have an injury that is life. Threatening, and so anytime that you're working on safe routes, um, we know it directly impacts our students every day.
And we appreciate that. And particularly, I just notice, um, how effective I feel your crossing lights are around the schools and I appreciate those. Um, and, um, how easy they are in how, um. Visible, um, to, to drivers. And so the work that you're doing on safe routes to school, we know are helping our students everyday and we appreciate that.
[00:30:00] Very good. Just mention one other thing. I'm kind of tied to that and also kind of back to the dollar school. You know, many of the problems we have on Willamette, uh, drive in the Borland road through there as a result of diverted traffic from two Oh five. Um, Lance, talk about the timing of two Oh five and a couple of things in regards to that.
Um, everyone's heard about the Rose quarter delay for the  project that's been in the 2017 transportation package, which I, two Oh five got taken out just before it was accepted in 2017 and that project, the  the. Rose quarter project actually was to rely upon increased capacity and flow on the two Oh five for it to work during the construction phase.
And now that we know that the Rose quarter is several years behind. Um, our district representative, [00:31:00] Rachel Cruz, sag has put amendments together and, uh, we're fighting right now to get it approved to transfer and have ODAT transfer those monies from the IFI Rose quarter to a shovel ready project on two Oh five, which are right there.
So actually two Oh five, and we can get this through in the short session and there's a lot of discussion that it might happen. Two Oh five could very start very soon. So that's really, you know, great cause we, we really want to increase that capacity so we can, um, take that pressure off of the diverted traffic.
Um, but also it's my understanding to these apps that people use in the cars for, you know, telling you where to go faster if dollar. If, uh, if, uh, well then falls drive is, is a school street front and end street there. It automatically comes off all the apps in terms of showing that as an alternative route.
To get somewhere so that, you know, that could help quite a bit. Something to think about. I don't really actually know what the impacts are, but if we are helping with the capacity of two Oh [00:32:00] five and the apps are not diverting traffic onto the Borland road, um, that could actually, you know, enhance things there.
I don't know. You need it to look Trey a traffic expert to look at it, but those are all positive elements that. Could help that area because you know, traffic through our Atlanta and main street. And if you, if a school ends up there, you know, that's all going to have to just, you know, really be lowered down in terms of capacity and speed and everything.
So those could all help.
Right. Hi, I'm Doug Erickson. I'm the library director in West Linn. PowerPoint slides to show you. We've been working, excuse me, with a partnership with both city libraries. We're one of the unique, uh, communities, dual communities in our County where we, uh, share a single school district over two municipalities and so [00:33:00] behooves us to work very closely together with
Both the school district and also with the city of West Linn's library to bring about the best services we can for our community, especially in regards to this of our, our children. And I'm an include your children from zero to five even though you don't see all of them all the time till five but that we know they're yours all the way to 18
yeah. So one of the things that we initially partnered with, which was started in, in, um, Wilsonville was a Dolly Parton imagination library. Um, Pat Duke, who's the library director there, pioneered this across the state. And really the, at the gist of this has started in the 90s with Dolly Parton starting her Dollywood foundation where she felt the importance that every child have.
Books in front of them so that they can read. And also with prompts for parents or [00:34:00] caregivers to help the those children along the process. So she started this and heavily subsidized it. So for $25 per child, they receive from the age of zero all the way till their fifth birthday. A book in their name every single month, sent to their address with, um, age appropriateness for each of the
Children from zero all the way to the age of five. We now are able to happily say, we provide that for free for every child in the school district that lives in the borders. This is huge. As you all, as you know, as educators, um, for getting books in front of children, getting them the ability to read, getting them the ability to be read to, um.
And those critical building blocks that come from that, um, enables them as they enter into that first year of kindergarten to have better preparation. And though we wish every child could come to each of our story times, this is, Ascension essentially becomes an extension of that in every single home.
Um, we're right now, uh, exceeding our, [00:35:00] um, our projection Dolly, Dollywood foundation projects that in your first year you'll have about. 30% we're almost at 50% in West Linn, and so we're seeing about almost 55 to 60% total across the district. Now they consider full enrollment at 80% and that means that.
There's about 20% that you're never probably going to get in any community, but our goal is to get as much as we can, and one of the challenges is just getting the word out. This is free to every single child and family, so we use as many resources and outlets that we can. The school district has been wonderful and helping share that.
[00:36:00] Yeah. Uh, another thing that we've just started in, uh, both school district, both, excuse me, communities and incorporate encompassing the whole school district is your early release days. On Wednesdays, of course you have, uh, every month, uh, mostly on a, um, I think it's always on a Wednesday. You have, um, early release.
And we also know that that's a challenge sometimes for caregivers and parents. Uh, what we do. Some of them are working and everything else. And while we, we resist the idea that we're a daycare cause we are not, that we are, we are a place for education. And so, um, our, our staffs together have worked to build STEM programming for children, uh, in that for programs K through five.
So we have catapults and we have candy construction challenges and pop up makerspaces where they get to, again, use some of our three D printers, which I know is in each of your primary schools as well, and Oreo of tastes offs with basically trying to disseminate what kind of tastes is coming [00:37:00] artificially from the product.
It's quite, quite interesting and quite fun. We also do wind tunnels. We do. Treva shades and other things. So the children get this opportunity to work with our librarians in a kind of a, a fun form learning using the methods of science. You've also been able to place in wa in West Linn, Dropbox at every single one of our schools.
As you know, we really encourage children to, and their parents to get their cards. For their children. Um, but as you know, all of us, it's awfully difficult for a child to get their book back on time without a parent that's willing to do it. So, um, since we aren't in a fine free community just yet, our, our, our next best step was to be able to provide a space.
They said each one of the primary schools for children to drop off their books, and it's sunset. There's one outside for all the community as well as inside. We also have outside Dropboxes in the Willamette neighborhood up near city hall by the adult community [00:38:00] center in Robinwood Cedar Oak area as well.
So, uh, we. We collect from those outside boxes every day and once a week we come and get those from the libraries in each of your schools. And, uh, we have a outreach librarian, Kimberly Rhodes, who does that along with some of our other folks. We're also setting them at our middle schools. Uh, we, we think our high schoolers can walk the couple of blocks down and get their books now, so we don't have our, that, but we are in those buildings as well doing programming.
We've also created educator cards. So each of the educators in the school district are allowed to get a library card at either facility and they can use it to use any of the facilities in link, uh, to, to borrow from. There are no fines for them. They have an extended period of time for them. And we also have classroom.
Uh, sets that we were able to gather for them to be able to use as I know that, um, our resources are tied all the way around when we have the ability to be able to share and build those things by knowing what you're doing inside your schools, um, we're able to help compliment that curriculum by [00:39:00] building, uh, our, our collections as well to compliment that.
So we even have a. All right? Some of your high school and middle schools sending over their syllabi from their students. So we know when their big projects are coming and no one to have certain books available. So we're ready and available to help that. We also put out a joint primary school newsletter to keep all of our, all of the educators in the primary schools aware of new books that have come out as well as your teacher librarians and your instructional AIDS and coordinators.
We, uh. We give that to all of them and kind of highlight some of the books we're collecting and bringing in, as well as books that they may want to have in inside your own library. And we get a lot of positive feedback for that as well.
Just last Wednesday, we had a really great, um, collaborative between the both cities, uh, including the public libraries and the school districts where we brought the author Matt de LA Pena to, um, to speak. He spoke in a couple of the schools in West Linn earlier [00:40:00] in the day and in the evening, thanks to the generosity of the school district and, uh, and the use of the.
Performing arts building at the high school. Uh, we were able to bring children in from the Wilsonville area. Um, each, uh, the school district was selected, the families that they felt were most appropriate to come along with city leaders and the, and, and teachers and administrators and educators from around the district.
They gave a wonderful talk. I, I highly recommend anytime you get a chance to listen to him, he's very inspiring. And as one parent told us at the end, she says, I got to see somebody that looked like me. And I thought that was very powerful. So we're appreciative of the feedback. We appreciate the community support that we get at the library and the opportunity we get to serve all our children.
Um, I w one bragging point I want to say is that in, in West Linn last year, we had a 62% completion rate for our summer reading program. That's in the 1% in the whole country. Um, this year we will never [00:41:00] get to that 62%, cause our goal is to get every single child signed up beforehand. So with the help of the school district and, uh, the administration, we're gonna hopefully have those packets in those kids.
So it'll be all about getting them to the completion line. But we're really excited about the opportunity to, uh, have more involvement with our, our children in that way, and getting them the resources that we have in the summer. After that, I'll take any questions
real quickly. Um, did you say the book drops for all the Western libraries or is that available in all primary and middle schools? Yes, thanks.
Question. One of the questions I have is, as we are increasing our dual language programs, and in West Linn, we have both the Chinese and Spanish speaking programs, um, how can we work with you to [00:42:00] have then library books available for those students who are increasing their capacities?
We do. We do. Supplement and compliment with our dual language, especially with our Spanish. In fact, um, we're working, uh, Wilsonville is a, uh, has been a leader in this area. They've, uh, with their outreach from their library, especially with the Spanish language families in our community. And we're actually working together with them as well as others inside of, um, the County to send, um, librarians to Guadalajara book fair, which allows us to get more books, uh, that are.
Printed outside the United States, but are, are in Spanish. Um, and there's not the equivalent of that in China just yet. Um, but as we explore more international opportunities for us to do that, we will, we're fortunate in our library to have both, um, um, a dual language [00:43:00] person who speaks both languages and, and also somebody that's.
In Spanish and English, and also Chinese, Mandarin and English. So, um, we, we, we have a lot of help with that, so, and we're appreciative of that. But yes, that is on our radar. I know it's on the radar of both the, uh, ourselves and Wilson van Wellsville has gone a long way, and especially in the Spanish language,
say, um, we are at time in less. There was another quick remark.
I just can't pass an opportunity up to thank Doug and his team again and, and a shout out also to Pat Duke and Wilsonville. I mean, this really is, um, unusual and, um, pioneering that you have two cities that work together with their librarians. Coming together. I remember a few years ago, sitting at a lunch meeting and saying, what can we do?
That kind of sets the bar across the state around collaboration with our cities, city librarians in our school, [00:44:00] librarians meeting together and thinking collectively around literacy for children and young adults. Um, and to have such collaborative partnerships is, um, speaks just highly of, um, who Doug and Pat R's visionaries and their willingness to kind of, um.
Dip into school life and, and help us with our mission. And reciprocally S seeing on all our kids are all our kids and it's such a pleasure to work with them. It's easy to work with them because they're just, um, so agreeable and collaborative. And I just want to thank you, Doug and your team, um, tremendously.
So I too have three sons go through this district. Um, and a wife that worked here for almost 25 years. So, um, I love this community and it's one of the reasons we're here. So, um, and the children mean a lot to us as well as all our folks. But, you know, it takes a, it takes a village, as they say. So thank you for all your help.
Thank you, Doug. [00:45:00] Um, next on our agenda, we had, um, scandal, just kind of a opportunity to continue to share and have our discussions around, um, our equity initiatives. Uh, both the school district and the city of West Linn. We're co-sponsors along with other public entities have a multi-city equity summit over the summer.
And. Uh, since then we've kind of gone back to our separate corners, for lack of a better explanation. But, um, and now it'd be a chance where we could say, you know, how did we take what we learned during our equity summit and put that into actions? Or, or how does our work around equity look like within our, our entities?
And I'm happy to begin and just share, uh, what that looks like here in, in our district. I'm sorry. I'm also clocking the stuffs. So give me one second to reset my clock. Um, so, um, our, our board this [00:46:00] year, um, we've had up on, um, our district goals and our district goal number one, we have had four. Uh, five or six years now.
Um, I think maybe the entire time I've been on this board and each year we've kind of added to it or modified it and changed it. And you know, I'm with a lens towards equity in particular. It used to be, you know, like reduce or, or verbiage along those lines of reduce opportunity and achievement gap gaps.
And then we got together and we're all like, well, we don't want to just reduce them. We want to eliminate them. And so we, you know, changed and added that language. And then just this year, collectively, we added some additional language. And in particular, it is to disrupt systems of racism. And when we, um, create these, uh, district goals, it gives our leaders permission to do the work necessary to [00:47:00] accomplish those goals.
And so, um, in addition to, uh, prioritizing. That is a district wide goal. Um, we as individual board members took it upon ourselves to also do additional learning around equity. Um, we each kind of come to the topic at different levels and with different experience and different education. Around the, the subject.
And so we, um, how does a board goal to do some work amongst ourselves around equity learning and taking advantage of, uh, learning opportunities, um, whether they be through, um, OSBA Oregon school board association provides, um, learning opportunities as well as there. They do one in the conventions. Thank you to, you know, convention.
So we could commit to attending a convention. Um, also a commit to attending the [00:48:00] multi-city equity summit and it's learning there. Um, ESD, the educational services district also PR. Invited learning opportunities for districts and board members around equity and in particular, um, training for boards on racism and implicit bias.
And then there were other workshops. There was a speaker near the airport that, um, uh, it was Tim wise and I believe it was three other. Education services districts, maybe not necessarily Clackamas County, but it was providing a learning opportunity with a guest speaker, Tim wise. And, um, we also, during our board retreat, you know, uh, sat and collectively watched the video, um, intelligent lives of which were also the important partnering with, um.
Our local communities and, [00:49:00] uh, neighboring school districts, uh, to, to show that video cause it's something we have the rights to. Um, and then lots and lots of reading. Our district, um, has lots of books have available. Um, in particular, uh, it staff as well, um, has, is collectively dedicated to learning around this subject as well.
And so there are books available to us. Multitudes. Oftentimes we come to meetings and they just. Are covered on the table where if we would like to take one, we could. Um, and so that's kinda been the work. We at the top, I guess, level of this organization have been engaging in, and we know that there's, it's not ending work.
It will never have an end. It's just, um, just to start on a long, long road and long haul to do better. Um. Within our, um, organization, we have equity teams and we have those, um, at a district level, um, with our administration in [00:50:00] this office. And, um, it's a representative group. I believe it's our, um, administrative district office administrators as well as our principals of all of our schools.
And who else am I. Can you refresh my memory of who all is a part of that court? Um, monthly, it's our leadership forum, so about 70, 75 district leaders that come monthly, and we usually have, um, equity as one of our topics. Um, but we're also recapturing back our district equity team that has representatives from each school.
Um, so we're going to have two district-wide teams, one that has district leaders, and then one that also has teachers involved from each. School as a representative district team, or then each of our schools has also their own school equity team, either with some parents on it or students on it. They're in different places around that configuration, but definitely staff and school leader representatives.
[00:51:00] Yeah. And, um, with regards to the school equity teams, I've just visited some schools who are starting and who've, some of had equity teams for wild. I know like wood middle school has. And um, then we're, Dean Creek I think is just up getting theirs up and going this year. But what's really fun is just. The students get excited to participate in that work and to share, you know, what are things that make their school buildings more accessible for them or make them feel more safe within their buildings or included in learning.
And, um, it's, it's just fun to, you know. Well, we do our best work. It's sometimes those young fresh minds that know how to think outside the box, that will present the most novel ideas that make you want to funk your forehead for not having come up with it already. So, and, um, and then, um, we've also been kind of.
Hosting or trying to pull together, not only as a member of the multi-city [00:52:00] equity summit, but the opportunities to revisit those discussions around learning. There we had a work session which, um. Jules, I know you were, uh, just last month, I think able to participate in, and I know you had wanted to, mayor asks rod, but just weren't able on that occasion, but about, so yes.
So we've done this learning. How do, how do we change that into action? Um, cause sometimes criticism is, is that, uh. You can learn all you want, but what are you going to do about it? And so just starting those steps of, um, of action. And then, um, in addition, uh, you know, state of Oregon is also, um, in the process of, uh, being willing to give us grant funds as part of the, um, uh, student.
Well, uh. It's the student success act. And then within that, there are grant monies. Um, the district needs to [00:53:00] put together a continuous improvement plan, uh, showing the work we're doing across the district. And in particular, um, the state, I guess, incentivizes, uh, work around equity and in particular, um, to the extent that we can, um.
Do you share goals, strategies, and measurable outcomes to increase academic achievement for students who have been historically underserved? Um, the state is, is, uh, more inclined to provide, um, monies for that as well. So that helps it, you know, uh, helps us afford to do the work we want to do. Um, and then we've also, um.
In conjunction with our district goal number three, about engaging our community and our community partners. Um. Is, you know, who, who, who are partnerships out here. We can create this [00:54:00] work within our schools, but our students are only in our schools for so many hours a day. And then they go out into our community.
And so, um, you guys have collectively helped us in a lot of ways with creating, whether it be with the library, through bringing in speakers like Matt de LA Pena or, um. Yeah. Sponsoring activities, uh, on, on, on city properties, whether it be a peace pole that our students are putting up or, um, uh. I had another example.
But anyways, the idea is, um, who our community partners and how can we extend that work? And so we've looked to, um, the West Linn Alliance for inclusive communities. And Wilsonville also has just, um, and seeing the work that the Westlink. Uh, Alliance has done and has just embarked with, um, Chelsea kind of spearheading that work to create its own, um, Alliance for inclusive communities that we get to partner with.
Um, we've, uh, found other community partners like basic rights Oregon and trans [00:55:00] active, um, that helps guide our work. Uh, when we, uh, work with our students in our GTL B Q plus community. Um, we've, uh, engaged, uh, the Anti-Defamation league from Seattle and just helping us as well. Um, our city councils on, on both sides of our district, both Wilsonville in West Linn and then, um, the, the various associ, uh, education school board associations and ESTs that we have available to us.
Um. Seems they have anything. Oh, yes. And then we do have, thank you, dr Ludwig for reminding me. We also have a district equity plan that is available and can be found through our website as well as if this evening, if you would like to, um. I, I can pass it down the [00:56:00] table just so if, also, if you need a paper copy, we could send you home with one.
But I actually have one here too, so I've got more than one here and I, and I know Chelsea's Chelsea sitting on one. So yeah, we will see to it, but it's also linked on our website for anybody. Who would like to see it as well online. Um, and it just details our, our plan of action for this school year. And that is something that we do annually.
And then we'd revisit it in the summer. Our administration will update it, improve it, and, and then, um, re-issue a plan for the following school year and my fellow board members, um, if you have anything you'd like to add or something I overlooked, please feel free to chime in.
Things are Reagan, I don't have much to add as far as the overview. Uh, I w I would just like to say, I mean, so much of these moves, um, for example, [00:57:00] the edits that we've made in a district goal number one. This is work that we've been pressed into for some time. And, um, and so having the, the language there definitely raises the awareness and gives us the framework by which to talk about it in a situation like this.
But it's not necessarily new work, but it is work that we have a heightened awareness of. And, um, we can look at these big moves such as the multi-city equity summit. Um, and things like this movie showing. And those are really powerful moves. And there are a lot of just, um, you know, daily and weekly moves that we're all making.
And such. A big part of this is partnership, like, um, the work that the library is doing. I'm getting books into the hands of the kiddos, zero to five, you know, that's really about equity work. Um, and you know, the, those types of things are planning communities that get people out of their, their homes and onto their bicycles or walking.
You know, those are moves that, that you all are making to, to build [00:58:00] community. And so in a lot of ways, those are, you know, that's equity focused work as well. Um, and you know, we so much of, uh, our schools and our libraries are, um, they're, they're the cornerstones of our communities. There are the public sphere.
It's where people can go, um, regardless of their economic situation. And the spaces that we're creating in our cities as well as our schools and our libraries are, are paramount to, to creating welcoming spaces and welcoming communities where everybody feels like they belong. Um, and I would just like to say also, um, one of the goals that I'm very proud of that came out of the, um, the sip or CIP, the continuous improvement plan, um, one of which is, uh, a big document that we're required to do as the district required to do, um, for the student success act.
One of the goals that came out of there is that by 2025, we'll have a hundred percent graduation rate. And that really peaked my interest because I have . Boy, girl twins [00:59:00] that will be graduating in the year 2025. And so I'm very inspired by the, the notion that their cohort, that all those kiddos will graduate high school.
And, um, you know, I'm perhaps remiss at not stating this, um, earlier when the timing was probably better, but sometimes, you know, that's just the way my brain works. And so here I am, um, and I will, I would just like to say that. You know, things like the re-imagining of the high school, uh, and, you know, creating a re-imagined, a magnet style high school that will have career and technical education and, um, placing that where the current AC Creek middle school is.
Those types of moves are also inspired by, you know, an equity focus. And they, the, those decisions about where to locate schools, uh, weren't necessarily, you know, they, they weren't arrived at overnight. And, um, I have participated in many of the processes in the past five years that helped us [01:00:00] arrive at the decisions such as serving as a liaison, the long range planning committee and all the work that we did.
They're looking at data. Population growth, um, you know, estimates and things of that nature, both in West Linn and Wilsonville. Um, I didn't serve on the high school study group, but I know one of our board member, board member and Thompson did. Um, and that superintendent high school study group and formed decisions that were made about what type of high school do we need to build in our district.
Um, we also had, uh, thank you. Um. Councilor Walters for mentioning the, um, school security and safety advisory committee was another, you know, a piece of public process that, that went into the decision as well as the rotary joint luncheon. So we had rotaries from both cities come together and listen, listen to the plants, and, um.
You know, there, there's more that I'm missing. But I just wanted to, to add that perspective also to [01:01:00] the discussion that a lot of the moves that we're making are very intentional. They've been thought, they've been thought out for some years. There's still work to be done around, you know, the, the details of design and, you know, the traffic flows.
I mean, I know there's. Then a preliminary traffic study. Um, and I also can speak to the design of the schools. And if you've been to, um, Trillium or Lowery, um, some of our newer schools, uh, there are, I sunset that, you know, they're collecting rain water to flush the toilets and they have wind turbines and solar panels and smart landscaping to reduce the use of chemicals and watering.
And so there's some really smart design, um, ecological. That's going in as well as the aesthetics. And security to create spaces that are, um, you know, that, that are for the future, that take into consideration these things that we care about. Um, so it's, you know, it's piggybacking on the [01:02:00] equity, and I think just that many of these decisions are embedded in, um.
A desire to create welcoming and inclusive spaces and in a thoughtful way. So I know you're all pressed into that work as well. Uh, I don't think, I think you get paid about the same as I get paid. Um, and so you do it because you love, you love our communities. And, um, so I just appreciate the work that.
Yeah, you're doing it, the library and, um, those of you that are doing with the rotaries and all of the different community groups and, um, coming together at this table. So that's probably a lot of words from me, but I just wanted to say all that. Thanks.
I think with that, we'd be happy to turn, turn it over to you, to the city, and if you would like to share on, on your work or. Well, I have a couple of questions. I don't know as much as I should about the equity program [01:03:00] for the school district as much, but in the context of using an equity I, I'm assuming you're really looking at the spectrum of diversity, equity, inclusion in a broader sense.
Yeah. Is there, um, one person who kind of heads the whole program or one, is there someone that is like, the person. On your equity program kind of development. The reason I ask, um, you know, in light of this police incidence happened in talking to a lot of state leaders, um, and the governor has expressed interest in others, particularly the NAACP, about, um, uh, very putting together.
Very high level, uh, task force. Um, and there's talk about maybe within the next few months, getting enough leaders together at a summit that's going to look specifically at systemic racism, um, and, uh, everywhere. Um, which is a broad topic. Obviously. It's a big, it's a [01:04:00] big lift. Uh, but it's about, you know, really getting that dialogue going, um, and getting the right people together to start working on, or no.
No improving. Um, and so I'm always looking, I'm looking for names and I'm just, I've been on the phone and I'm talking to people and knowing the depths at which of this program, I'm sure there's someone here that we might want to put in the pool of consideration. And then as we, as this idea kind of gets developed, we'd like, you know, can come back and checking on it.
Or connect with this person. So like it can this broader group that's going to be eventually getting together. You know, that's a great question. And a number of school districts are actually moving away from having what might be called an equity director, um, because sometimes the misunderstanding with appointing someone is that's the person who's now going to be responsible for equity work.
And it kind [01:05:00] of seems to, um. Create a counter narrative that the rest of us don't need to because this person will, will do the work. And so number of school districts are actually shifting from that to really saying the ownership for equity work falls on all of us. And that's been our mantra from the beginning.
It was with the previous superintendent as well. And so it starts with board leadership. Every board member saying, I own and I need to live into that. That board goal. The superintendent needs to lead that work. Um, every school principal needs to lead that work at their school site. Um, so sometimes having one person kind of points this finger.
Um, that said, we also know that we need experts in this work to grow our capacity and our understanding. So we've drawn upon a number of people. Early on, there was a gentleman, um, and he still works with us. John Lenson, John Linson and associates that helped us think about, um, our early [01:06:00] work around systemic racism and bias.
And did some work with leadership first around understanding it, and then how to move into this notion of equity teams. Um, he's also brought in others to partner with that work. Um. Depending then on the topic. We've called upon other experts when we were doing some work last year around really understanding, um, uh, our transgender community and our students needs and family's needs around that.
We called upon, uh, Brianna Stiller who came and worked with our leadership group and then has been a resource. For schools. Um, I think that was, that's what was so great about the multi-city equity summit is that some of those folks who do that work professionally, where they're leading those breakout sessions, build a little Cruz is now a recent move here.
That's his work professionally. And he works with school boards, city councils, municipalities, schools, um, the center for equity and inclusion. [01:07:00] Uh, downtown Portland has worked with a number of school boards and school districts. So there are these folks that I think we can tap into. Um, what, what we're always agreeable to is when you see that you want to do that work and that we should be a part of it, um, you know, letting us know, certainly you can talk to me and, and the board, and then we'll make sure we have folks there representing the school district.
Okay, good. So, one other quick question I had too, is I couldn't make the January meeting. Um, but out of those discussions about, uh, the summit from last year are, is there a plan looking at doing a summit this year, creating another summit? Yeah, we just had a lunch today. Oh, good. Yeah. There is a plan for the, for another multi-city equity summit, what that's gonna look like and where it's going to be held, but it's different.
Last years, but there's still some planning involved and I'm sure that will be announced when we get a little bit further [01:08:00] outside. Um, but, uh, I don't tell her Cummings was really involved in the bed with that, uh, summit as well as like, she knew that as long as well, Doug and Kevin within that pillar. Um, and I had a few other bullet points recipe want me to share.
I've just different things that we've done. Um. You know, it's kind of hard to go through a list like this after the, you know, in the last couple weeks that we've had. So we've had this, you know, major event that's, you know, very upsetting to our community. Um, so it just shows us that we have a lot more work to do, but here are some things where we started, um, in 2019 when we set up rules, we also included, um, a goal to promote equity, inclusion of city policies.
CJ, you guys be, correct me if I'm wrong, but I sort of looked back to different units. That was the first year that we actually had that as one of our goals. So you guys are going ahead of us in that work. Um, and I really appreciate [01:09:00] your language of. Disrupt systems of racism. I think that's something that maybe as a council, we can talk about, including in our own work goals as well.
Um, we participated in, participated in the multi-city equity summit, held in Lake Oswego last October, um, staff and council, along with our Western most involved partners surrounding city school district, nonprofits, police departments help plan the 2019 event. Um, we, we contributed financially $5,000 to support the event, and it was well attended by citizens and staff, and the mayor came as well, so that was great.
Um, we had an equity and inclusion training with Latricia brand. I'm vice president for equity inclusion for all PCC campuses with the library staff directors and mid managers and held a training on inclusion, equity, and implicit bias. During County library employees, all staff training day. The Western library was pleased to host pride Northwest youth holiday celebration in partnership with the [01:10:00] living room for youth, which is a great ally organization run by the County.
There's a space in Oregon city where the kids can go. Um, and that was really fun party. I got to stop by. They were playing games and having snacks and they, it was really nice. They had their own space and they got to just really have a great holiday celebration. Um. So I'm very grateful to pride Northwest the library and for the living room for facilitating that.
Um, the Western Alliance for inclusive community collaborated with the Western library to raise awareness of the wonderful collection of books available to children with diversity and inclusion themes. And the library also held and promoted West Linn Alliance inclusive community events such as the conversation, project power, privilege and racial diversity in Oregon and white allyship in close knit communities.
Um, the Western LA public library was also, um, Oh, I already had said that. That was the holiday party. Um, this year the city passed its very first black history month [01:11:00] proclamation. Um, and last year in June it passed its first pride month proclamation. So that was really exciting. Um. We also passed an ordinance 1704 in December, which created a very clear policy for reporting and investigating workplace harassment.
Um, and that applies to elected officials, board members and volunteers. Um, the harassment training was provided at the citizen advisory group training in January, but this was really important legislation that came out of the state after the bullying investigation. There. So it really gives us an Avenue.
It's nice policy. It gives very clear outline of what's acceptable and not acceptable and how to report it. So that's. Key. Um, and our wonderful youth advisory council has posted a mental health night in 2019 and is planning on doing another one this spring where issues of exclusion, bullying, and harassment and bias will be discussed.
Um, and in January, staff members and I attended the followup to the equity summit, um, here in this [01:12:00] room, and where we heard from a panel of students who shared their personal stories, they were sitting up front. I would just say it was extremely moving to everybody that was there, that these kids were just.
You know, they're so honest about the things that were, you know, hard for them or difficult, but they also felt safe enough in this room to share that with everyone. So it was really, it was just really powerful. I got choked up, like getting choked up now. Um, but, so they also, the kids also share their ideas about how we, we can do better about, uh, building more equitable and inclusive environments and spaces in our cities and in our schools.
So it was really a success all around. So a few check marks, but the city has a lot more to do.
Well, have a lot more to do. Terry from Tufts are coming to us.
Okay. Thank you. Um, so on, on the [01:13:00] city level, um. I think we could, we could probably explore ways to work with the groups that the city works with, such as the neighborhood associations who are kind of lack of  advisory board and our advisory board members, in addition to work with our staff and so forth.
You know, um, especially after, so recently being sensitized to the, uh, the conditions that, that we have that we, you know. The awareness and, and it, it all starts at the local level, you know? Um, and, and that means neighbor to neighbor and person to person. And so whatever we can do, you know, to, to find a way to engage our neighborhood associations and in a conversation with that too, to get to bring out more awareness when we do have events [01:14:00] like this.
I. I'd like to see more, um, involvement and in and attendance in events like we had with the equity summit summit and things like this. Um, I think, I think we could, it'd be great to see more people get involved in that. So that's what I can see us trying to do on our end of things. Do.
Well, and just as a time check, um, we have about two minutes left towards this subject, which I know we're coming to a close, but if anybody had anything else they would want to add at all. I would just, um, for what it's worth as sitting around the table of full identify as cisgendered white. Um, and that puts me in a privileged position in a lot of ways.
And I, um, I assume that most people are, if not all of us sitting on the [01:15:00] table, I also identify as white, and I won't make any assumptions about your gender identity, but, um, my belief is that it's. It's my job to educate myself about what it's like to live, to have the lived experience in our communities, um, as a person who may not identify, um, with, you know, being cis-gendered or white.
And so they, you know, they have a different experience of our communities and it's not. Their responsibility to educate me about what that's like. But it's my responsibility to seek out those stories and understand that lived experience. And so as much as we, as you know, decision makers sitting around this table, do that work, and, um, talk to our families and our neighbors and our friends about it, then I think we're, we're, you know, we're doing, um, what.
Some, it's in our direct sphere of control. And then all these other things, like, yes, it'd be great if a lot of people came to this. It's a beautiful film. I guarantee bring tissues. Um, and it's, it's a nice, um, you know, it's [01:16:00] about adults with developmental disabilities, but there are aspects of, um, human sexuality and race that come in because it's a human story.
Um, but. You know, things like that. Yes. Coming to those, and I guess just another plug for those every day. You know, the stories that we're reading and the stories that we're telling and the importance of that. I mentioned one of things I'd really like to go, we have a council meeting that night, and I'm like, well, I like to like maybe counseling, but I will ask our council what they wanted and we'll figure it out.
But anyway, um, one of the thing I just, not to change subjects as much, but to be, to be aware of one of the priorities of the council. Um, this year it's been our council goal, but, um, we typically put on an emergency preparedness fair in the fall. In September, we didn't, last year, um, in, uh, we're working on, uh, a wildfire management.
A plan for the city, um, in, uh, largely for our emergency preparedness. We've relied on the macro neighborhood program and trying to really push that out through our neighborhood associations and the like. We're continuing to do that, but we will [01:17:00] be putting on another emergency preparedness fair in September.
That's one of our goals. Um, and to the extent that we can. Embrace and include, um, schools in getting the message out, maybe engagement, involvement, getting students involved in, you know, helping even run sections and, and, and that kind of thing would be really, really great. Um, we don't know where we're going to do it yet this year, but I kind of suspect we might pick like our adult community center or something like that.
But, sorry. Well. Well, we were, we've talked about possibly asking if we might be able to see about hosting it at one of the schools like Rosemont or Trillium. Um, because it might, might be nice to, to get the families, this school people also involved in that discussion. So, because the whole issue of climate change and, and how vulnerable West Linn is with the number of potential [01:18:00] hazards that we have.
You know, in the event of a catastrophic event, you know, it just be nice to, uh, collaborate with that if it's possible. If you have the bandwidth for that.
I, and I will say I'm for the intelligent lives. This is, the district did buy the rights to show it, but there will be a, the Wilsonville Alliance for inclusive communities working on getting a showing at Regal cinemas and Wilsonville. And I think that there's going to be another attempt at showing it in West Linn somewhere.
And so there we fully support you canceling your council meeting and coming to the movie. But short of doing that, there will be more opportunities. Isn't it a beautiful theater?
I wanna say, um, um, counselor comings that these quarterly safety joint breakfasts that we've had and number of our board members have been able to attend in, um, in the past. And your [01:19:00] previous city manager was able to come. And of course you're. Um, chief Kruger has come and kept him of Huna. And so I think there's an opportunity, if any of you would like to experience that.
But it's a great example too, of how we've collaborated across the two cities around the topic of safety and then doing tabletop exercises, but also updating each other on. Importance with safety. So we're happy to partner with that. We would just need some advanced notice of when that event would be. So we did clear a space at a school.
Um, cause they do get widely used even on the weekends. And so we would just need a lot of advanced notice to cancel the other activities. So we could have that one.
All right. If there's nothing further, and this is always an ongoing conversation, um, even if we don't have the opportunity to meet in this formal joint session, um, our superintendent is always available. I know she routinely works with the city manager as well as, [01:20:00] um, usually our chair and vice chair make themselves available.
And, um, so. No, that our door is always open. If you have questions or concerns or as just people who disseminate information to the public, we're happy to provide you with accurate information to share and stuff. Thank you so much. Thank you for hosting.