Mayor Hodson Issues Declaration of Emergency in Canby, Oregon

I have enforced a declaration of emergency for the city of Canby, Oregon, effective today.

After a series of serious meetings with Chief Davis of the Canby Fire Department, Interim City Manager Amanda Zeiber, Lieutenant Tro of Canby Police, and Council President Tim Dale the decision was made last night to sign and place into effect an emergency declaration.  The declaration is for precautionary measures only.  By declaring the emergency, this allows myself and city staff greater flexibility to quickly address hazards posed by COVID-19, as well as access resources.  Additionally, this allows the city and first responders to request assistance and/or reimbursement for expenditures around COVID-19.  As of the morning of March 18, there are no suspected cases and/or confirmed cases in Canby.

I want to stress that this is an additional precautionary measure.  I want to be in a position of being proactive, not reactionary.  IF this virus spreads and IF we need access to additional support, we are closer to the front of the line to receive these.  Our Emergency Operations Response Team of Canby Fire, City Hall, and Canby Police are monitoring the situation very closely.  I am strongly encouraging everyone to stay in place as much as possible.  Take care of yourselves and the people around you.  I am confident that by all of us taking these measures and others, we will come through this much better than if we do not take these precautionary measures.

As always, you can always email me or message me on my Facebook page. As updates become available, I will post them to Facebook as well. 

Thank you and God bless.

COVID-19 Update by Canby Mayor

I shared this as a post update on Facebook on March 11 and am now including it in it's entirety with an additional update on the outbreak in Lebanon, Oregon.

I want to take a moment and give an update on COVID-19 and our city. I have spoken with Chief Davis and Canby Fire District is closely monitoring the situation locally, regionally, and nationally. They are communicating with Canby Police Department and with our interim City Manager almost daily.

Chief Davis and CFD have had conversation and reviewed protocols with Hope Village Senior Living Community, Rackleff Place Assisted Living Community, and Countryside Living. Canby Adult Center has protocols in place for our seniors in our community.

A question came up today about emergency communications and do we have them. Here is what Chief Davis shared about this:

“Yes, for emergencies there are communications via emergency alert through your TV, cellphones, and phone. The Clackamas County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is open daily and on weekends monitoring everything that is going on. Canby Fire has been helping in planning at the EOC every day by having a firefighter there to monitor and assist. If Canby has any issues, we will activate the City EOC and plan and call in the Mayor and interim City Manager”.

If you want the most recent updates, please look to the Canby Fire District website and the City of Canby website.

To reiterate - wash your hands often, if you don’t feel well then stay home (self quarantine), if you have Neighbors with poor health check in on them. When there is challenge or when people are in need Canby steps up. Let’s step up and do what we can, when we can.

For up-to-the-minute notifications regarding the coronavirus and COVID-19, please visit the CDC website.

As of this morning, March 12, there have been two reported cases in Lebanon, Oregon involving two 80-year old men at a Veteran's home.The latest information on this can be found here.

That brings the statewide total to 21. You can read more about that here.

As of publishing, there are no reported cases in Clackamas County.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me on Facebook or email with your questions or concerns.

Mayor Response on Fireworks at Canby High School

I want to take a moment and address the recent conversation that has been occurring around fireworks at Canby High School football games and recent concerns raised to the City Council. 

Last year, a resident that lives near the high school brought to the City Council his concerns about the fireworks. He suffers from PTSD. His concerns were the percussive nature, or loud booms, and the randomness that occurs around the fireworks set off after a score at the football game. 

During the conversation last year, as a compromise, we asked the school district to use a less percussive firework and we re-worked our city noise ordinance to allow fireworks for the football games.  Included in this was that the school needed to inform surrounding homes of when the use of fireworks were going to occur. Any other use of fireworks outside of football games, such as graduation, need to be a separate, individual noise ordinance request for each event to the council.  ALL parties agreed that this was a solid solution. This was a verbal agreement and understanding between the school district and the city.

Forward to last week, the same resident with a petition with signatures from several other residents and businesses approached the Canby School Board as well as the City Council about the upcoming football season and fireworks. 

The following day, our City Manager, Rick Robinson, in collaboration with me, sent an email to Canby School District Superintendent Trip Goodall. The intent of the email was a request, in response to the petition, to switch the fireworks to a non-percussive variety or to not do them at all.  Based on the ordinance, the school district could choose to continue the fireworks as is. We made an appropriate ask, even though we had come to the verbal understanding a year ago as mentioned above. 

I know there is a way to work together to keep fireworks a part of the Canby High School football home game tradition. I know that the City of Canby and the Canby School District can work out a solution that all sides can be proud of. 

Should you have any questions or concerns about this issue, please visit my Facebook page and send me a private message.