Mayor’s Corner April 2023

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Centering community members has been my focus since starting my term as Mayor. It’s been critical to understanding where we want our priorities for Council Goals over the next two years. 

After much collaborative discussion amongst the City Council and the City of Tigard team, we have established four key Council Goals for 2023-2025 that I wanted to share with you. Each goal has clear outcomes and strategies. While they are ambitious, they are also achievable. 

Reduce Houselessness: 

We will actively address houselessness in the Tigard community. That includes creating more transitional housing and addressing the root causes of houselessness with our regional, state and federal partners. We are also committed to supporting our community members and businesses who are feeling the impacts of this crisis directly. 

Improve Climate: 

We will support climate action that reduces our impact on the climate crisis and makes our community more resilient to its inequitable impacts. That means exploring strategies to reduce our City’s climate pollution and centering climate in the Council’s decision-making in all areas – from how we power our City fleet of vehicles to how we can build new, greener buildings.

Modernize and Improve Our City Services:

 We are going to focus on the fundamentals: Delivering core services to the public. To do that effectively, we need to modernize Tigard’s government so it can better serve you at a lower cost to taxpayers. We will make progress on our City Facilities Modernization Project which will produce City facilities that are safer and more cost-effective and we will continue to upgrade our City-wide software that can modernize our business functions. 

Enhance Community Safety and Accessibility: 

Everyone has the right to feel safe in Tigard. Through our levy, the City took important steps by allocating funding for additional hiring, specialized training in crisis intervention, and de-escalation for Tigard Police Department officers. We’ll continue creating Safe Routes to School, improving those vital connections. We are also working hard to build a Hall for All. We must keep our focus on building safer, more accessible communities for everyone.

You can read more about our goals for the year ahead on the City of Tigard website by searching for “Council Goals”.

Next month, you will see these goals and values in action with the release of Tigard’s Proposed Budget for the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year (FY 2024).  With our budget, we show our where our priorities are and commit to making much-needed investments while upholding our commitment to Tigard’s long-term fiscal health. You can learn more about our budget process and read the Proposed Budget when it’s released in April.

You will also hear more about these goals and our vision for the year ahead – and beyond – on April 24, when I have the honor of delivering Tigard’s annual State of the City address. Stay tuned for more details on how you can watch my speech, either live or whenever you have the time!

In the meantime, please know you can always reach me at 971-435-0964 or heidil@tigard-or.gov, or you can connect to the whole City Council at CouncilMail@tigard-or.gov.

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