December 2015 Safety meeting canceled due to bad weather
January 2016 Safety Meeting
Commissioner McKeel's Office Eric Zimmerman:Pleased to let everyone know that he has declared for County Commission Position Number One that has been opened by Commissioner Bailey's run for Portland Mayor. Good team work getting through the bad weather event.
Multnomah County Commissioner Diane McKeel:Huge supporter of Eric and happy to see him run.
Budget work is starting and if anyone has any suggestions for what needs to be in the budget, please let her or her staff know.
Oregon Solutions Project that she is co-convening with Representative Johnson has met and begun looking at solutions for the traffic and safety issues in the Gorge. Victoria Purvine and Captain Reiser on the committee too, if you have any questions please feel free to ask her or any of the committee members. Did either of the other committee members want to comment on the last meeting?
Captain Reiser - law enforcement portion will be assessing the current reserves and Citizen Patrol members to see if any of them want to be placed out at Multnomah Falls to help with the congestion. Also look into the local schools to see if there are students interested in going into Law Enforcement who may want to do an intern position. Also will be assessing road signage and shoulder areas, looking to get hard data on actual visitation numbers.
Dave Mysinger - with the help from ODOT they have been able to place boulders to stop some of the shoulder parking. Need to keep people from walking over the via-ducts, no room for safe pedestrian travel. Maybe get the Lodge to do parking lot patrols or have an employee to flag cars and pedestrians.
Dave Flood - Need to make sure we have a good response time.
Victoria Purvine - Heard from some committee members that the concern is not just the traffic, but the number of people. How do we reduce the number of visitors, not just the number of vehicles. Some areas of the Gorge were mentioned as maybe needing to close off to access because we are damaging it.
Fire District #14 Fire Chief Dave Flood:Corbett had three house fires in five weeks, a room and content off Christenson, fully involved fire off Gross road and the Brower road fire last month. This very unusual for Corbett and the crew did a great job.
There was one significant land slide during the December 7, 2015 rain storm.
Multnomah County Emergency Management Chris Voss:With the rain and flooding they are working with the Feds and State to get public assistance. This does not usually go to individuals, but if you had costs or damage, take pictures, keep records and wait to hear if FEMA is going to issue funds. If a Declaration comes through there may be money for business and individuals.
The agency is looking for a place to shelter in the Corbett area, if anyone knows of a good place please let him know.
They are also going out for grant dollars to have a trailer of supplies in a good location to assist Corbett.
There is space on the Shelter Advisory Team.
Chris has been involved in emergency management work for the past twenty years, he has been out here for seven months. He can be reached at: 971-806-6639.
Springdale Job Corp Anna Snyder:Its been quiet on campus, classes resume tomorrow.
Visited DC for conference on the future of Job Corps.
Security and safety of all students is high priority throughout all Job Corps. The Corps are now required to contact the MCSO for any minor student who is not on the campus.
They now have a full Career Division Staff.
Great graduation and job placement rate.
Citizen Patrol Ron Cannon:Things have been fairly quiet at 1,000 acres, they have been busy at Multnomah Falls. Last month the CP assisted with the toy drive at Wal-Mart to benefit SnowCap, CP also helped with moving the toys from storage to SnowCap. Also did Christmas tree lighting.
CP will be part of the crew at the school regarding the Ron Wyden visit on Thursday.
The crew was ready to respond if needed during the December storm.
Multnomah County Roads Don Pfister:Very active December with all the rainstorms, winds, ice and snow. The roads could not be pre-treated for the ice due to the moisture already on them, crews were kept busy with sanding and plowing.
Corbett Hill Road work has been postponed due to weather.
Oregon State Parks Glenn Littrell: Talbot State Parks has been having mail stolen, keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.
There have been a number of trees down, the crews have been busy clearing, chipping and cleaning.
There has been graffiti at the Vista House and at the Lewis & Clark State park pedestrian tunnel.
They are looking into a Drone Policy at Rooster Rock State Park. They currently don't have one so they are developing it, working to make sure there is space for drones, but won't interfere with other recreational activities.
Multnomah County Land Use Adam Barber:Discussed code changes around commercial grows.
Starting on January 6, 2016 they will need to apply to the OLCC for a license to sale.
On December 7, 2015 there will be a work session regarding odors, impacts and how to protect the communities.
On February 1, 2016 there will be a public hearing regarding this issue. Over 8,000 notices have gone out to every single property owner in rural Multnomah County. If you have some concerns on want to give input please contact now before things are finalized and it is more difficult to change.
County has determined Marijuana is a crop, can be grown where other crops are allowed. There will be restrictions put in place regarding: being limited to indoor grows, only temporary non-rigid structures in forest zones, retail in commercial zones, set-back of 1,000 feet from school zones, 100 feet set-back from property edge, black out curtains for light pollution control, fences, walls, barriers. Not allowed as a home occupation, not sold at farm stands.
Columbia River Gorge may not ultimately allow in Gorge as it is a schedule one drug at the Federal level and that is under Federal control. At this point the County will most likely say no in these areas.
(Draft can be found at:
https://multco.us/file/47529/download)
Multnomah County Land Use Lindsey Nesbitt:They have hired and filled most positions, only one position left open.
Multnomah County Sheriff Captain Monte Reiser:There are six new deputies, some from Troutdale. Let them have a chance to get to know you when they are out doing rural patrol.
Currently doing some significant policy projects - some around livability issues, one of these projects will be the Oregon Project.
Thank you Citizens Patrol for all your help.
Thank you to Tina and Alice and everyone down at Emergency Management for all the assistance during the December storms.
Also, thank you to County roads, you've been a great partner.
Historic Society Kathy Fruend:Moving ahead on the new building, getting ready for ground breaking.
Multnomah County Sheriff Deputy Graziano:Thank you to a lot of people/groups. With help from Emergency Management the repeater is now working! Community groups may get a radio and he will tune them to the right frequency to repeater to get updates on roads, disasters, get information out and have a network of first responders. Radios run around $26.
Please be careful in cold weather. One resident had carbon monoxide poisoning. Heating up vehicle and vents had frozen over, spent a few days in the hospital, glad it turned out okay.
Dave Mysinger:Early ice on trails beyond the bridge, please dress accordingly.
