By Garett Peterson

As a Program Analyst in the planning department at the City of Scappoose, I’m responsible for multiple projects that relate to small city planning and community development. In the short time at my placement, I’ve already had the opportunity to work on multiple meaningful projects that will help advance my future career as a sustainable land developer, such as write staff reports and present them to City Council for adoption, help manage the City’s Park and Recreation Committee, and create a framework for an adopt-a-park program that will be implemented this spring. However, my most significant project completed thus far is planning and overseeing the City’s Annual Town Meeting which has been planned and managed by RARE members for the last three consecutive years. The general purpose of the event is to update the public on current and future City projects, but more importantly, it is an opportunity for residents to give feedback on the direction of the City. These meetings are essential for a healthy and vibrant community because they help hold City staff accountable and provide clarity to the public on decisions that will impact their daily lives in Scappoose.

Since the meetings are surprisingly well attended by the community (usually between 120-175 people), there was a lot of pressure to meet the expectations set by the City and my own professional standards. When I first started to plan the event, my first course of action was to break the project down into more manageable pieces to aid in the organization and execution of necessary tasks. For example, I had to create promotional flyers, reach out to stakeholders to participate, find local businesses to sponsor, and create the presentation, among countless other things. This experience taught me that the devil is in the details and that there is a lot of things that need to happen behind the scenes for a project to be successful.

When the day of the meeting arrived I was somewhat nervous that something bad would happen, but ultimately I was confident that the City and I had done our due diligence to ensure a quality event. The first half of the meeting focused on updates from City staff who discussed progress in meeting community goals that had been identified in the 1st Annual Town Meeting two years ago. This helped demonstrate how the City actively pursues many of the concerns identified by the public. This section led perfectly into the follow-up break out session which asked the attendees the same three questions from the 1st Annual Town Meeting. The second half of the meeting featured several speakers who discussed a number of important issues facing the City. Most notably, State Senator Betsy Johnson updated attendees about efforts to promote and develop OMIC (Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center) which she has been closely involved with and that could lead to significant new job opportunities in Scappoose. Throughout the meeting there were a few bumps in the road, but overall I am pleased with the outcome and I believe that most people walked away more informed and satisfied with the direction of the City.

Before my placement in RARE, I had limited amount of experience in community engagement and event planning so being responsible for such a big event seemed like a daunting task. Where do I even begin? I felt lost before I even started. But before I allowed doubt to take up residency in my mind, I took time to reflect on the RARE program and I quickly realized that facing uncomfortable situations is essentially the main purpose of being a RARE member because it forces you to grow both professionally and personally. Realizing that planning this event was not merely an additional burden on my workload, but instead an opportunity to test my abilities, converted my hesitation into excitement for the opportunity to challenge myself with something that will help me in the long run. This mentality is usually shared among successful RARE participants, the ability and willingness to spin negative into positive, but unfortunately it is not held by the general public which causes RARE members to be uncommon among common people.

A bit about Garett Peterson:

• Currently serving as a Program Analyst for the City of Scappoose.
• Bachelor of Science in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning, University of California, Davis, Spring 2015
• People may be surprised… “Recently backpacked through eight countries in Europe over a span of two months this past fall.”

Does community development work interest you?  Are you looking for a life changing experience in rural Oregon?  Learn more about serving with the RARE AmeriCorps Program via our website: https://rare.uoregon.edu/application-process/member-application-proces