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City of Tigard
13125 SW Hall Blvd.
Tigard, Oregon 97223
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Press Release
March 22, 2011
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For Immediate Release
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Contact:
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Craig Prosser
City Manager
City of Tigard
503-718-2486
craig@tigard-or.gov
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City Manager to Retire
Open Letter to Tigard City Council:
I am writing to let you know of my decision to retire from the City of Tigard at the close of my current Employment Agreement on July 31, 2011. Under the terms of my Employment Agreement, if either I or the City do not intend to extend my Agreement beyond its current expiration date, we have to give the other party at least four months notice. This letter constitutes that notice.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the City of Tigard, and particularly the last six and a half years as City Manager. I can honestly say that this has been the best job of my career. I have been fortunate to work with some excellent City Councilors, and I am fond of pointing out that I would be willing to put the City of Tigard staff up against any public work force in the State, if not the nation. The citizens of Tigard are fortunate to have such dedicated elected officials and public employees working on their behalf. All of this made my decision to retire a very difficult one. I have decided to retire at this time, because I still have things I want to see and do in my life, and retirement will afford me more time to do them.
Working together, we have accomplished a lot over the last six and a half years:
- Citizens approved the formation of Tigard's first urban renewal district, and we have made significant improvements in public facilities in the downtown area.
- We have made major improvements to two key intersections on Pacific Hwy, at Hall and at Greenberg/Main, funded in part by the City's first local gas tax. The benefits of these projects were seen immediately upon opening the new facilities.
- We have placed the transit needs of Tigard and the southwest corridor on the front burner for the region, and we can now foresee a day when high capacity transit (hopefully, light rail) will start serving Tigard.
- We have placed Tigard on the regional map. Tigard's voice and our concerns and issues are heard at all levels of the region.
- We have capped Tigard's 20-year search for an ownership interest in a long-term water source through a partnership with Lake Oswego; a partnership that will provide Tigard with a secure source of water for the next 20 years.
- We are weathering the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, while maintaining essential governmental services.
- Voters have expressed their confidence in Tigard by approving a $17 million general obligation bond to acquire parks and natural space.
- Tigard's bond rating was recently upgraded from A1 to AA. This is a two-level increase, made all the more remarkable because of our difficult economic times. This is a vote of confidence by the financial community in Tigard and our financial management.
- We have created the only commercial crime unit in the State of Oregon, paid for by business license fees, to focus solely on commercial crimes and the needs of the Tigard business community.
- We have improved business processes in the city organization, and we have developed plans to identify where we are going as an organization so that we can make decisions that move us towards those goals. We now have master plans/strategic plans for Water, Sewer, Facilities, Library Services, and Parks.
- We have completely updated and re-written our Comprehensive Plan to form the basis of a modern and efficient land use program in Tigard.
- We are in the process of updating and rewriting our Development Code to bring it into the 21st century, to clarify and simplify provisions, and to achieve a more efficient land use program.
- We have made a concerted effort to create an organizational culture around the values of "Respect and Care, Do the Right Thing, and Get It Done" that is showing daily benefits in how the city provides services to our citizens.
- We have worked with local citizens to develop Neighborhood Networks to empower those citizens to solve problems in their own neighborhoods and to better connect city government with neighborhoods.
- We have greatly upgraded the City's communications abilities by developing a Design and Graphics staff to help us to develop informational materials for the public that are clear, easily understood, and which are instantly recognizable as coming from the City of Tigard.
- We continue to provide a wide range of quality services at the Tigard Public Library. In the last six years, annual circulation has increased from 850,000 items to an estimated 1.5 million items.
This is only a short list of our accomplishments. A complete list would fill many more pages. None of these things could have been done without competent and professional staff members who are dedicated to producing high-quality work and interested, innovative and dedicated City Council members.
This has been a very fun and exciting time to work for the City of Tigard. I am very proud of our record of accomplishment during my time as City Manager, and I am confident that Tigard will only continue to improve. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this community.
Sincerely,
Craig Prosser, City Manager
City of Tigard
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