City Provides Support for Local Small Businesses
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At its April 20th meeting, the Sandy City Council unanimously approved an Emergency Small Business Assistance Program to support our local economy during this unprecedented economic interruption. With a total budget of $75,000, the program offered grants of $3,000 each to local businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 required closures.
Over 100 applications were received
before the application window closed on April 24th. The grant evaluation committee has reviewed the applications, and
a list of awardees is available
here
.
The Council emphasized its intention to get this money out the door and into the hands of businesses as soon as possible. While the grants may not be large, we understand that every little bit helps as our local business owners navigate this difficult situation. After all -
we're all in this together!
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Library Offering Curbside Service!
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The Sandy Public Library is now offering curbside service so you can
access all the fantastic resources the Library has to offer
, even during COVID-19 restrictions!
The service is by appointment only. Here's how it works:
- Place holds on the content you want using the online holds system.
- Check your library account around 10 a.m. to see if your holds have arrived.
- Call the library at (503) 668-5537 between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. to schedule a time for pickup later that day.
And for all you gardeners out there - the Sandy Seed Library is offering free garden seeds as part of the curbside program too! For information on ordering seeds, please email Susie Jenkins at
sjenkins@ci.sandy.or.us.
So stop by, return your old books, grab some seeds, and
pick up something new to enjoy
during your hours at home. We hope to see you soon!
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Making Birthday Wishes Come True
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What better time than now to bring a little birthday cheer to our local kiddos on their special day?
This past weekend, Sandy Police, Sandy Fire, Sandy Transit, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, and Student Transportation of America took part in
four awesome birthday parades
. Our thanks go out to Councilor Laurie Smallwood, Transit Director Andi Howell, and STA Operations manager Kelli Accord for putting together gift bags for the birthday boys/girls.
All over town, people are finding ways to show they care during these challenging times. Keep an eye on the
City's Facebook page
for more of these special moments in days to come!
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Working for You, Even During COVID-19
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With all the news about COVID-19, it can be easy to forget that much of the City's regular business and important projects are continuing to move forward. Thanks to our dedicated employees, the City is still hard at work upgrading vital public infrastructure to ensure we can meet our community's needs now and into the future.
You can learn more about the great work our City departments are doing by visiting our
Monthly Reports
page. Here are just a few examples:
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Constructing a New Transit Bus Barn
:
You've seen the beautiful new SAM buses around town, providing fare-free rides during the COVID-19 crisis. What you may not have known is the City is busy building a new home for these new vehicles
to protect our investment
and make sure that SAM will continue to keep our community on the move into the future. See the construction photos below:
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Upgrading Sandy's Wastewater System
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Despite improved operations, in recent years Sandy's wastewater treatment plant has been unable to reliably meet permit requirements. As we all know, Sandy is a growing community – in just 20 years our population has doubled to 11,000 residents and will double again over the next 20. The City is working hard to
develop an improved system to treat our wastewater and comply with laws designed to protect our streams and rivers
. You can learn more about our efforts on the City's
wastewater system improvements web page
.
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Building Roads for Sandy's Future
:
As envisioned in the City's Transportation System Plan, the City is pursuing a project to
extend and connect Bell Street and 362nd Avenue
, providing a much-needed route for local traffic and facilitating future development. Surveying work is underway, and staff are preparing to proceed with necessary environmental studies. See the map below:
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Image captured from Google Earth, April 2020
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Additional Bailey Meadows Comment Period
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We know there has been a great deal of public interest in the proposed Bailey Meadows subdivision. Because the Council expressed their view that the subdivision application should be denied at its meeting on April 20, Oregon law provided the applicant one additional opportunity to offer changes to the proposal.
Your voice continues to matter in this process
. The new proposed condition of approval has been posted to the
City's virtual meeting web page
and an
additional public comment period is being held from April 29 through May 4
to allow residents to share their views on the new proposal. See the
web page
for more information, and take some time to review the official record and background documents.
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Poll Results for Proposed Aquatics / Rec District
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As many of you know, the City commissioned a telephone voter poll in March to
measure support for forming a potential Aquatics and Recreation District
in the Sandy area. The district was seen as a way to
provide stable funding for aquatics and recreation programming in our area, facilitate
some of the projects envisioned for Sandy Community Campus property,
and enable renovation and re-opening of the Sandy Pool (Aquatic Center).
Unfortunately, and understandably in light of the COVID-19 crisis, the results of the poll were
not as favorable as hoped
. The City's polling consultant advised that the levels of support measured are not likely to result in success at the ballot box in November. The full results of the poll are available
here.
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Be a part of the process!
Members of the public are always welcome at meetings of the City Council and other boards and commissions.
During the COVID-19 public health emergency, the City Council is conducting meetings virtually via the Zoom video conference platform. Learn more about the variety of ways you can still participate by visiting our
electronic meeting information page
.
Click the image below
to access Sandy's public meeting calendar and learn more about everything your city government is doing to serve you better!
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