Lebanon leaders report early progress on five-year strategic plan; wastewater, Champion Mill and solar key focuses

City Manager Ron Whitlatch and city staff reviewed progress on Lebanon’s five-year strategic plan at a June 10 council work session, saying the plan’s 51 action items are already being tracked and managed citywide.

The plan is organized into focus areas including transportation and infrastructure, fiscal sustainability and economy, community services, engagement and connection, and community safety. Whitlatch told council staff distributed the action items across five years in a project-management system to track metrics and completion status.

“We have actually utilized an online program to separate it out into about 5 years … so that everything is able to be recorded and managed and we have metrics that we can identify,” Whitlatch said.

Kelly (staff member) and Whitlatch outlined items staff consider priorities. Upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant are singled out as ongoing work; staff said they are pursuing grants and regional approaches and have coordinated with the Council of Governments (COG) to compile one‑page project summaries for legislators and grant reviewers.

“We’ve been working different angles with that, whether it be through lobbying, whether it be looking for grants,” Whitlatch said, adding the COG relationship grew into citywide grant support beyond the plant.

Redevelopment of the Champion Mill site is also underway: staff said the city holds a Phase II environmental testing program funded with an EPA grant. The city reported the first round of Phase II detected contamination “but it’s not the nasty, nasty stuff,” and additional rounds of Phase II testing will further characterize the site before a more detailed work session this summer.

On renewable energy, staff said a previously studied plan for a large, behind‑the‑meter solar array using virtual net metering appears unworkable under current Pacific Power rules. City staff are recalibrating options to site‑specific solar projects and noted batteries and backup power would substantially increase costs.

“We are sort of reevaluating what those options look like,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t sound like we’re gonna be able to do that [virtual net metering].”

In community safety, staff described a push to expand basic emergency management training across departments and to conduct tabletop exercises. City staff also said they will present options to the council in July to evaluate the feasibility of reopening the municipal jail.

On homelessness and crisis response, Dayla Johnson from the police department (via staff report) was credited for coordinating a crisis team that meets weekly; staff listed Crossroads Communities, the Lebanon Soup Kitchen, Second Chance, the Corvallis Unity Shelter and a newly available local alcohol and drug counselor among resources now in use.

Other updates included a library capital campaign to expand the reading room and patio (staff said the library director is actively fundraising), a branding and external communications effort including consistent department letterheads/email signatures, monthly business visits and ongoing organizational assessment work that combined community development and engineering supervision without added headcount.

Staff said that six months into implementation the city has completed three action items, has 21 in progress and 27 still to do, and that Year 5 of the plan is intended to be largely “continue to do” items and the year when the city would begin the next plan iteration.

Councilors and staff agreed to a series of follow‑up work sessions this summer to prepare for council goal setting on Oct. 8.

Ending

Staff said they will return with more detailed work sessions on Champion Mill, the wastewater options and solar feasibility once additional technical information and grant agreement paperwork are in hand.