The City of Scappoose Welcomes Ben Tolles

Please join us in welcoming our newest AmeriCorps RARE member; Ben Tolles, as a Program Analyst for the City of Scappoose!

Ben’s bio:

Ben grew up on the other side of the country in a small city about half an hour outside New York City where, much like Scappoose, most of the population commuted out of the city on a daily basis. After graduating from high school, he attended Ithaca College graduating with a degree in Environmental Science. While at Ithaca he spent most of his time working for the Office of Sustainability trying to encourage the college to be more sustainability minded in its planning and behaviors. He has also spent some time working at Finger Lakes Land Trust preserving land, and managing different permitting programs. After graduating from Ithaca College, he worked at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County managing work study students and doing community outreach relating to different energy issues.

For the next 11 months, he will be working in the Community Development Center with Laurie Oliver, City Planner, focused primarily on beginning to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan. He will also be serving on the Highway 30 Beatification and Parks and Recreation Committees, and planning the next Annual Town Meeting (date TBD).

He isn’t certain what he plans on doing after his time here in Scappoose, but tentatively plans on enrolling at the University of Oregon to get his master’s degree in Planning.

(Our past RARE member, Nick Sund, is now enrolled full time at the University of Oregon’s Landscape Architect master’s program.)

Please join us in welcoming Ben Tolles as a Program Analyst to the City of Scappoose!