MAYOR'S MESSAGE As we find in many aspects of life, seasons change and often result in opportunities for growth and evolution. We are seeing this season of change happening within the City of Coos Bay. There are many new faces at the City, across all departments, with some departments adding new pathways for employment with the City, like the Fire Department with the Apprentice Program. The Police Department has added several new officers, following retirements of several officers, and the North Coos 911 Dispatch Center is settling in following the transition of all emergency dispatch services for Coos County now flowing through the Coos Bay center. The public safety departments are not the only departments in the midst of seasons of change; we are also seeing opportunities for change in Public Works (PW) and Community Development (CD) Departments. While working through two processes, strategic planning and third-party consulting for internal process review, the City Council identified the need to rethink how to best support the needs of the community through the front counter work – permits, planning, engineering, and codes. The City Council identified the desire to shift traditional thought and process from a regulatory focus to a focus of customer service, with an intention to reduce barriers and make processes easier to work through. We’ve phrased this as an intentional ‘get to yes’ purpose. This shift of purpose is also aligning with some staffing changes; there are several new faces who recently were added to the City team, filling vacancies, and really embracing this new purpose. These new folks are adding to an already strong team, and along with some new platforms that will be coming out in the coming months for use by citizens (new robust GIS platform and permitting platform), we believe we are on the right track for being great partners with those wishing to improve or develop their private property. Over the last several months, we’ve added some new staff members, others have transitioned to new roles, and a few continue in their roles to round out this strong team. We’ve even added a temporary role, through our partnership with Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board’s (SOWIB) Recruit HIPPO work experience program. The folks pictured, standing at the PW/CD front counter, are: Back Row (left to right): Aireal Smith (Recruit HIPPO), Administrative Assistant; Suja Hall, Code/Planning Specialist; Kelli Eichelberger, Planning Administrator; Marci Goodrich, Building Codes Administrator Front Row (left to right): Jasenn Ffradelis, Engineering Services Coordinator; David Chambers, Code/Planning Specialist; Sydney Andersen, Planner I Please join me in welcoming this newly formed team who are driving this season of change at the City of Coos Bay and ready to provide great customer service and city process support for private development projects.