Three Reasons To Celebrate - By Mayor Doug Neeley

Appointment of Carol Pauli to the City Commission—On March 7th, the Oregon City  Commission unanimously voted Carol Pauli to fill vacant Commission Position 3. (Please read about Ms. Pauli’s qualifications on page 34.) Because of her business experience, I also appointed her to serve on the Main Street Board.

It is clear that she is a major asset to the Commission.

National Award to Oregon City’s Public Works Director - On April 10, we were informed and honored that Nancy Kraushaar, our Public Works Director, was awarded the American Public Works Association’s National Professional Manager of the Year in the Transportation
category. Her staff nominated her for the award which was supplemented with letters of support from citizens, officials, and professionals in the transportation field.

Beginning more than fifteen years ago, she joined our staff as an engineer and took the lead in both transportation and environmental issues. She sought and received funding for improvements at the Beavercreek Road and Highway 213 intersection. To mitigate the environmental impacts of the project, she also sought funds to replace the Holcomb Creek culvert on Redland Road which resulted in vastly improved passage for steelhead and coho salmon. She was instrumental in implementing policies that stopped the piping of streams through new developments and that stopped development in steep-slope and wetland areas.

When she was promoted to Public Works Director in 2002, she, with citizen input, developed a long term transportation plan that has resulted in major improvements: Along Beavercreek Road from Highway 213 to its intersection with Molalla Avenue; along 7th Street; on the Washington Street Bridge; along Warner-Milne Road between its intersection with Beavercreek Road and Molalla Avenue; along McLoughlin Boulevard from 10th Street to I-205. The Pavement Maintenance Utility Fee was introduced four years ago and though unpopular with some, it enabled Nancy to move ahead on several long over-due projects like repaving Leland Road. There are many other projects that have been completed under her stewardship and there are many that are underway or that are actively being planned: Main Street sidewalk and lighting projects, the Jughandle project and partnering with ODOT on the Oregon City Arch Bridge renovation. Her department is now actively planning the second phase of the McLoughlin Boulevard improvements which will go from Dunes Drive to the Clackamas River Bridge. Most of these projects have resulted in or will result in amenities such as gateway treatments, landscaping, walking and bicycle paths, and public art.

She has been able to do all of this not only because she is an excellent planner and workaholic but also because she has assembled a competent and dedicated staff that work well together. She is respected
by all who work with her, and she respects all those with whom she works.

The Jughandle Project — The excavation and bridge installation that will result in traffic moving between Washington Street and Clackamas River Drive being diverted under Highway 213 was completed in less than the anticipated 104-hour closure period. While the Highway 213 closure was a great inconvenience, trying to do the same bridge construction project without the closure would have
resulted in months of delay because traffic in one or the other direction would have been restricted to a single lane.

I would like to recognize the contributions of Jeff Holliday of Mowat Construction along with his team and subcontractors for successfully executing the time-sensitive project, OBEC Consulting Engineers who along with their subconsultants designed the project, Kittelson & Associates who provided the traffic control design, Kate Parker (of Mason, Bruce and Girard) who masterfully managed the Jughandle website and email blasts, support from our Incident Command Emergency Services partners—the Oregon City Police Department, Clackamas Fire District #1, Oregon State Police, CCOM (911 provider), the Oregon Department of Transportation, and Bud’s Towing. The Public Works Department’s Aleta Froman-Goodrich, our project manager, as well as Nancy Kraushaar, our Public Works Director also deserve special recognition for their hard work.

This project would not have happened if our former mayor, Alice Norris, had not proved to the legislature why this project warranted funding, so we are grateful for the State legislature’s 2009 Jobs and Transportation Act which is providing $22 million for the project. Hundreds of local jobs in manufacturing, trucking, construction, and professional services are represented by this project.

I wish to also thank the users of Oregon City roads from both outside and inside Oregon City. Most of you showed considerable patience, and many of you had great recommendations, some of which were actually implemented.