Government

Sherwood City Council Recap | December 2

City Council talks ICE 'unconstitutional activity’ in Washington County

The Sherwood City Council generally meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at City Hall. (Jules Rogers/Sherwood Sun)

SHERWOOD, Ore. — The Sherwood City Council met Tuesday, Dec. 2 for its regularly scheduled meeting following a work session. There was no public comment.

Council President Kim Young, and Councilors Keith Mays, Dan Standke, Taylor Giles, Doug Scott, and Renee Brouse were all present. Mayor Tim Rosener was absent.

Washington County Commissioner Jason Snider came to the Sherwood City Council work session to talk about transportation issues near Southwest Brookman and Middleton Roads, which are seeing increasing amounts of traffic as the city grows.

They also discussed the uptick in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity throughout Washington County. This comes after Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and three county district attorneys, including Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton, said in a November 24 letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security that they will start investigating and prosecuting federal immigration enforcement agents if they do not stop using excessive force on Oregonians.

Standke said the letter really resonated with him, and he's happy that Oregon is helping keep people accountable for their actions.

“I know there’s a difference between cooperating with ICE and protecting citizens,” Giles said. “Is there anything particularly that we can do more?”

Snider gave the council an update on what the county is trying to do to help keep Oregonians safe throughout the escalating situation.

“I was very heartened to see the communication from the attorney general and the three Metro County district attorneys, in part because I think what’s concerning ... is that it appears like much of the (ICE) activity involves doing things that are pretty clearly unconstitutional,” Snider said. “The observations of what’s happening on the ground in Oregon and in Washington County, and the attorney general and our (district attorney) DA, are seeing a lot of evidence that suggests that there is unconstitutional activity happening here. That’s where they’ve stood up and said we’re going to at least try, because it’s wrong, and to them very clearly not legal.”

Snider said the county commission sees the timeline of the removal of food assistance benefits and what’s happening with increased ICE activity in Oregon as a “specific, planned, coordinated attack on the most vulnerable people in our communities.”

Some of the alleged unlawful actions taking place in Oregon include stopping teenagers at gunpoint at a Hillsboro Dutch Bros Coffee; arresting a 17-year-old U.S. citizen high school student while on lunch break and breaking his car window in McMinnville; property damage; and the use of tear gas and nonlethal weapons against nonviolent protestors and against local law enforcement officers, according to the Department of Justice letter.

Snider said all five Washington County commissioners strongly agreed, and devoted $250,000 to combat food insecurity as well as $200,000 to support immigrant and refugee communities that are under pressure. The funding came from the county’s one-time strategic investment plan fund reserve.

“We didn’t want to do nothing,” Snider said. “We did a lot more listening and a lot more work with community-based organizations that are really leading the support of those families that are being impacted.”

Action Items, Recognitions: Eagle Scouts present projects

The City Council unanimously approved the consent agenda.

This included reappointing Caz Thomson and Donna Nevedal to the Sherwood Senior Advisory Board; authorizing a janitorial services contract with Northwest Success full-service commercial cleaning; authorizing the Sherwood Broadband financing agreement; and ratifying the collective bargaining agreement with the Sherwood Police Officers Association.

The council also recognized two local Eagle Scout projects, as well as Sherwood Citizens University participants as the program returned after a five-year hiatus.

Brandon Will, Eagle Scout from local Troop 528, presented his Eagle Scout project to the council. He moved a Christian statue of Mary to a more easily accessible location at the St. Francis school. It took six months of planning, with the help of eight team members, he said.

“I used to go to St. Francis, and I noticed that Mary was kind of not really present, and you can’t really see her when you’re driving in to access the school. You had to go into this little area to find her,” Will said. “I thought it would be easier to put her next to the Jesus statue that’s also at the school and give her a more open area so that everybody could see.”

He raised $500 for the project from collecting cans and bottles. The total project cost $700.

Eagle Scout Jackson Dooley built bullpens at the Hawks View Elementary School baseball fields for his eagle scout project. The project includes four mounds and platforms for home plate where the pitchers warm up.

“I have a little brother who plays at those fields, and they always warmed up where I put my bullpens — but there were no mounds, so I thought it would be a good idea to put mounds there,” Dooley said.

He said his project cost $1,300 for wood and turf. He raised $1,000 from GoFundMe and separate donations.

Work Session: Increased traffic on gravel Middleton Road causes issues

Washington County Commissioner Jason Snider came to the Sherwood City Council to talk about some transportation issues.

Snider said a lot of constituents are contacting him about an area south of the Sherwood Urban Growth Boundary near Southwest Middleton Road. Since it is outside the UGB, it’s a county road and the city is not technically responsible for it.

“A gravel road has become a thoroughfare, and the county’s land use and transportation team has been out and done car counts,” Snider said. “There are a number of things that are causing the situation that’s going on, but I just want you all to be aware of it as more development is happening in that area that is driving traffic down that road now.”

Snider said in the last three or four months the issue has emerged, partly because it was not identified as impactful for new developments in the area, causing the developers in that space to choose not to develop lots adjacent to things that would require this type of improvement.

“Part of what’s causing that change in use pattern of that road is the right turn only diverter on Brookman Road onto (Highway) 99,” Snider said. “That was a required ODOT thing in the last couple of years, but between that diverter and the fact that Middleton is gravel — and is now the fastest and easiest Google-mapped way to get south — this is becoming a real challenge.”

Because updating the gravel was not a condition for the developers, there’s a half-mile gravel road that is being misused from a speed and traffic standpoint, according to Snider.

“The last time it was serviced (by county staff) and the gravel was redone, which they do multiple times a year, it was already destroyed three days later,” Snider said. “That just tells us between the speed and the volume, it’s no longer being used the way it was supposed to be used, and because of the diverter on (Highway) 99 on the road that’s north of there, it’s probably not going to change.”

Giles said ever since that right turn only diversion was placed, he has seen people going around or driving over it.

“ODOT has actually made it way less safe, so is there another way to fix that?” Giles said. “I want to look at other ways to solve it. If they’re saying that has to be there, it’s actually more dangerous.”

Council discussed closing the gravel Middleton Road, or reopening the left turn lane at Brookman Road and Highway 99.

“To me, it needs to get solved,” Snider said. “It’s now not being used appropriately because of all of the development that’s occurred.”

Snider said there is also a dangerous two-way stop sign near Middleton Road that he is also working on making safer with a possible future four-way stop sign.

“While I was out doing a site visit, I almost got hit in my car while I knew it was dangerous, so … that was not a good sign,” Snider said.

Snider said the county estimated it would have cost developers $500,000 to update the gravel road, which would be a reasonable cost spread out over hundreds of new homes.

In the future, developers in and near Sherwood might see roadwork improvement costs built into their requirements depending on traffic impacts.

Bibliography: