[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6358653,"mediaKeyId","2211974-39d09e411c256b06e9621ba6fb47c01d","parentId",2211974,"title","Councilors, staff take DISC personality assessments and map team styles ahead of strategic planning","audioSeconds",3105,"startMs",104000,"endMs",3209000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2211974-39d09e411c256b06e9621ba6fb47c01d&start=104&end=3209","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2211974-39d09e411c256b06e9621ba6fb47c01d/thumbnail_104000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6358653/St-Helens/Columbia-County/Oregon/Councilors-staff-take-DISC-personality-assessments-and-map-team-styles-ahead-of-strategic-planning","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6358653-a5c29b7b397c89fe3a85259991148813/orig.mp4?Expires=1775226480&Signature=Cs~kl62W~jNDiLx8FAWfptsc1evviJcvnotapMWj5maYsfdyGVTMnoiigtQNE4yqfdTOZwsoQqhFFC1dSdtkQ4FsRjA-COjY60yYXwgH5VWEoMfDIG7ESWqm-wVVfOaXL5ZywDcJGRYce86gA4oI9l4wCjbrEa025Nk94O1Os4tcB9KjUOdrblafbd0vB4utyPuENpQi10snKICHqwLi5ZpFHNUGkV3YtEwqKa3xd4HobXxFeb9bwUwHq-VjNVh2JZ2qlsR~QqDdhPAnK-KbjftZ7yR0oAlyIy3L2TCHalgyRbrfnWnuZ6lgpuYyr0smSkJhmFWT4m4t~vjjOxDf7A__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","City Council of St. Helens, OR","date","2025-01-31T23:06:44Z","article","Councilors and city staff spent a morning Jan. 31 on a DISC personality assessment and team-building exercises intended to improve communications and set the tone before policy and budget work.

Facilitator Rachel Barry led the session and reviewed the DISC four-style framework (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness). She said the assessment is designed to help people understand their communication and work preferences and to reduce misunderstanding on teams.

Councilors and staff completed the assessment earlier and then compared results to a staff's distribution map showing clusters across the four styles. \"When I'm generally dealing with a new team, this is something that we do that's quick and easy because then we can have an indication of how, when somebody's communicating with you, you know their personality type,\" Barry said during the session.

Participants described their dominant traits and discussed how different styles complement each other. Staff created a city-team map showing clusters of styles among management and department heads; participants discussed how mixture of styles can aid decision-making while noting occasional friction when meetings involve members with contrasting preferences.

Councilors tried pairing with members of differing styles to practice communication adaptations, and staff said they will distribute the team map to help councilors and department heads identify subject-matter experts and support roles. Several councilors said the exercise validated existing working relationships and suggested the map be used as a reference when assigning tasks or building teams to accomplish city goals.

Ending — Facilitator Barry said the team map and profiles will be distributed to participants and to staff and department heads. Council and staff then moved on to a policy-heavy afternoon agenda.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","013125 Council Special Session","oneSentenceSummary","Councilors and staff completed DISC profiles and a team map during a workshop session; facilitators and staff said the exercise helps communication and assignment of roles ahead of goal-setting.","taxTitle","St. Helens, Columbia County, Oregon","taxId",52788,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6358658,"Survey finds high marks for parks, library and public safety; council eyes strategy, revenue stability and waterfront progress",1517,8578000,10095000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2211974-39d09e411c256b06e9621ba6fb47c01d&start=8578&end=10095","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2211974-39d09e411c256b06e9621ba6fb47c01d/thumbnail_8578000.jpg","/articles/6358658/St-Helens/Columbia-County/Oregon/Survey-finds-high-marks-for-parks-library-and-public-safety-council-eyes-strategy-revenue-stability-and-waterfront-progress","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6358658-d50a404b08896d3e561d3adf3fae2e70/orig.mp4?Expires=1775226480&Signature=bcqjMJRga7ASVMzKmeD9TQRAgET1fpPHXR8SYWbsm9admD~DJTDHg8O0j8yMf9ALe5Gm~GpmA0YJYDZfcXzQwRmwoPn0oB3ERvv4bW19KWzIU3FyDIhVUqYOCnUImJe2Qu11eEn32kP0Tsv~Jqax0kulhd0t6loRj~gpjSCMglWhLiO1YTpq5QfaxqS3kyNu87hNpO5uYj2wslsNgf3kPokfNo56gf0bUpDiax~lsopCBEXtZCOQCbOf6pWeMAG4EXLhzl6cyrslF8-ePvR0YWCa2bajISdETj1c47uWJuuywsYnCkK99mqcK4Nsh~xOLs~-2Ki-V9BUGbTY6wgUsQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","St. Helens staff presented the results of a community input survey during a Jan. 31 council workshop and used the responses as the basis for a strategy workshop that prioritized revenue stability, waterfront development and improving council-staff trust.

City communications staff said the survey was the third iteration (previous cycles in 2020 and 2021–22). They reported 256 responses to the recent survey, with distribution through the city newsletter, boosted social media posts and a city webpage link. The survey sample skewed toward longer-term residents and heavy users of parks and trails.

Survey results showed consistently high satisfaction with public safety services, parks and the library. \"Our respondents gave the library and parks very high marks,\" the facilitator said during the presentation. Staff noted increased library use post-pandemic and a rise in park and trail participation.

Areas with lower satisfaction in the survey included economic development and citywide communications about roles and responsibilities. Councilors said that gap feeds broader community concerns and complicates recruitment and retention of local businesses. \"If there's a systemic issue, that's an opportunity for coaching with a department head,\" a staff member said when discussing anonymous employee sentiment surveys as a management tool.

Following the survey briefing, councilors and staff held a strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) exercise. Participants listed internal strengths such as a skilled and adaptable staff, available industrial land and supportive facilities. The assembled group classified low staff morale, inconsistent written personnel evaluations and a lack of trust between some residents and the city as key internal weaknesses.

Opportunities the group prioritized included revenue stabilization through new development and system development charges, grant-seeking, improved emergency preparedness and collaboration with community partners. Top external threats identified were aging infrastructure capacity, uncertain federal and state funding streams and the spread of misinformation about city authority and services.

From the dot-voting exercise that followed the SWOT, the council and staff highlighted three near-term priorities: revenue stability (including support for industrial and waterfront development), firming up staff evaluations and training, and more deliberate council-staff team-building and communication strategies. Council members directed staff to return specific tactics for those priorities, including timelines for annual evaluations and options for improving public outreach.

Ending — Staff said they will prepare follow-up materials and draft action steps on the priorities identified; no formal decisions were taken at the workshop.","City staff presented results from a community input survey and council and staff used a SWOT exercise to identify priorities including revenue stability, waterfront development and improved council-staff trust.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6358664,"St. Helens council workshop reviews governing policy, moves to limit council role in staff discipline",13811,3644000,17455000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2211974-39d09e411c256b06e9621ba6fb47c01d&start=3644&end=17455","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2211974-39d09e411c256b06e9621ba6fb47c01d/thumbnail_3644000.jpg","/articles/6358664/St-Helens/Columbia-County/Oregon/St-Helens-council-workshop-reviews-governing-policy-moves-to-limit-council-role-in-staff-discipline","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6358664-64f0320fb50d63713ce380f3ca15f949/orig.mp4?Expires=1775226480&Signature=RE-BekMbErAgLFXbYGHKCPp7-52LueR84LzJA6cxc~sRvx-V6W7LdqQESFS2UeRbljdVA2PP21Jxn86veOPWv6ow6PmnQkTbEtvP399NtJbaePlWhkFk7rzN4UC4dhAl08V16OfeDaLKEBw3~UUGXrDEewHuT1Jx75HvKyuCphyyI-NafIgWOxAPWbFjoS2ctHUkg6j3ooQ4ecYP5NGVp6wD1A8LRdViRf4~51eCq8AYfRzng2ADcYZMSMoSLlvmLBxd89Ik4itM60cGnAxf3fz46-eKgWNRqyeaC3mraOFSQxz7ulZsxOyY7iV6VnwHOVWsdC0ZpBahvE-MyKhx2g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","St. Helens council and staff spent several hours Jan. 31 reviewing the city's governing policy, agreed to remove a provision that allowed council involvement in routine discipline of department employees and signaled a move to strengthen written performance reviews and clearer reporting lines.

The discussion centered on the policy language that currently gives councilors a formal liaison role to individual departments and allows unresolved administrative disagreements to be referred to the full council. City staff and councilors said the arrangement has created unclear reporting lines and operational risk.

\"You're really creating kind of a muddy system of oversight and of direct reporting,\" a staff member told the council while explaining why the policy has caused problems when disagreements arose. Council President Chilton described past episodes where multiple points of contact complicated personnel matters. Don, a staff member who provided historical background, said the current form dates from 2019 and was intended to shift oversight to the city administrator but left some department-level liaison authorities intact.

Council members discussed options section by section. Several councilors, including Councilor Sandeep, said department heads should report to the city administrator and that the council should reserve hiring and termination authority for department head positions only. \"Our job, in my mind, is to manage you. Your job is to manage the department heads. The department heads are to manage their employees,\" Sandeep said during the workshop.

After substantial discussion, the council signaled support for removing the paragraph that allowed councilors to participate in decisions about discipline or termination of department-level employees (subsection c). Instead, they directed staff to bring a revised policy that clarifies that: (1) department employees are supervised and disciplined by their department head, (2) department heads report to the city administrator, and (3) the council retains hiring and firing authority for department heads and the city administrator.

Council members and staff also highlighted gaps in personnel practices. Staff reported inconsistent or absent written performance evaluations for department heads and other employees. Participants recommended implementing annual written evaluations, 360-degree feedback for supervisors, training for managers on performance reviews, and periodic anonymous staff sentiment surveys to detect systemic morale or supervisory problems before they escalate.

City staff said the legal advice they've received warned that involving the council in routine discipline or multiple supervisors for a single employee raises potential legal and administrative complications. Councilors said they understand the legal risks and prefer clearer lines of authority but also insisted the council retains ultimate authority over department head appointments.

The workshop closed with the council asking staff to prepare a redlined governing policy that omits the problematic subsection, adds timelines and standards for annual evaluations, and proposes a schedule for regular departmental reports to the full council. Staff said they will return recommended language and an implementation timetable for council review.

The meeting did not include a formal vote; councilors asked staff to draft changes for a future meeting.

Ending — The council and staff agreed to reconvene the revised policy language and to add personnel-evaluation training for supervisors as part of the policy follow-up.","At a Jan. 31 special session workshop, St. Helens council members and staff reviewed the city's governing policy adopted in 2019 and agreed to narrow council involvement in day-to-day department personnel matters while strengthening annual evaluations and reporting.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Councilors, staff take DISC personality assessments and map team styles ahead of strategic planning

Survey finds high marks for parks, library and public safety; council eyes strategy, revenue stability and waterfront progress

St. Helens council workshop reviews governing policy, moves to limit council role in staff discipline