Chris Barry serves the Hillsboro community as the Development Services Manager within the City of Hillsboro's Economic & Community Development Department's Planning Division.

Chris, what led you to work for the City of Hillsboro?

We moved to Oregon from Florida for a change in lifestyle — to be able to spend more time with our children and more time outside. I applied for work around the County and in Canada (my wife is Canadian) and the position with the City of Hillsboro was in my top two or three.

During my in-person interview, Hillsboro just felt like the right spot personally and professionally. We wanted to be in a metro area but not necessarily living in the big city. So living in Hillsboro, we are close to Portland and have quick access to the nature around us — camping, hiking, etc.

What are your day-to-day duties?

My primary responsibility is managing the Development Services section in the Planning Division, which is a team comprised of Planners and an Urban Design Planner. Our core function as a section is to facilitate and process land-use applications for any property in the City. That’s a succinct way to put it, but the land-use process has so many layers and details that we are also assigned many other tasks, too.
 
The breadth of knowledge and experience on our team is unusual for a municipal organization. Not only do we have significant experience in terms of years but also in variety, such as David McIlnay, who’s a registered Architect, and the Planners that have a variety of professional and personal experiences that influence their work.

How did your job life change during the pandemic?

The number of projects (referred to in our section as land-use case files) remained fairly consistent throughout the pandemic so we stayed busy.

Supporting our team remotely was new. My support became more focused on morale, navigating the ever-changing environment, and attempting to balance work and life. It was a challenge and our team stayed strong and steady. Our customer service remained high and our output was consistent throughout the pandemic. I was proud to be a part of it. 

What's been a memorable/inspiring moment at work for you?

In addition to processing land-use applications for very large projects, such as South Hillsboro or Intel’s major expansion, our section assists individual property owners through the permitting process. A lot of cities of a similar size have requirements in place where an individual property owner has to hire consultants and pay extra money to go through the process.

At the City, we facilitate a fair number of applications where the property owner is the applicant and they’re submitting hand-drawn plans to us that they have drawn themselves. I hope we don’t change that culture, because that would be a barrier for people. It’s not perfect, but I think we do a really good job of trying to support individual property owners who want to do something with their property and not have to spend a ton of money to get through our process.

Also, the support that we have as employees to volunteer within the community is inspiring. The Planning Division has taken that support and has coordinated in the past with the Hillsboro School District to get into classrooms and discuss planning as a profession, as well as civic engagement. Over the last couple of years, a group of Planning Division employees have discussed planning at an Advanced Placement Geography class at Century High School. It’s inspiring to see the willingness from our team and the engagement from the students who are prepared, attentive, and engaged when we’ve gone.

What is something that you'd like people to know about you?

Soccer has been part of my life since I was 4 years old. While I still play in adult leagues, I have also been fortunate to coach. Playing and coaching provides an outlet and a place of calm for me and has also taught me about interpersonal relationships and team dynamics.

Another thing I’m passionate about is donating blood, which I’ve been able to do since I was in high school. Both of my parents were donors. I started with whole blood donations and have also donated platelets after learning about the benefit of platelets in cancer treatments. Like many families, cancer has directly impacted ours. Being able to donate to assist others in fighting the disease continues to inspire me.

Meet More City of Hillsboro Employees

• Meet Robby Hammond: City Manager
• Meet Rahim Harji: Deputy City Manager
• Meet Simone Brooks: Assistant City Manager
• Meet Suzanne Linneen: Chief Financial Officer
• Meet Marcus Ford: Community Engagement Manager
• Meet Eunice Makinde: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Manager
• Meet Robin Straughan: Sustainability & Resiliency Manager
• Meet Danny Morato: Supplier Diversity Administrator
• Meet Kevin Ferguson: Lead Building Inspector
• Meet Elizabeth Pereira: HiLight Senior Customer Service Representative
• Meet Danielle Comer: Address Data Coordinator
• Meet Beatriz Medel: Bilingual Communication Specialist
• Meet Mely Gutmann: Little Sprouts Instructor
• Meet Karl LeClair: Public Art Supervisor
• Meet Jessica Stark: Adaptive & Inclusive Recreation Supervisor
• Meet Ryan Stee: Parks & Recreation Project Manager
• Meet Chris Barry: Development Services Manager
• Meet Kristi Wilson: Workforce Development Manager
• Meet The Day Porters Team from the Hillsboro Public Works Department
• Meet Bridie Harrington: Cultural Arts District Manager
• Meet Tammy Wallin: Library Director
• Meet Salomon Hernandez: Library Outreach Coordinator
• Meet Katherine Knox & Laura Mikowski: Library Access Team Members
• Meet Jessica Gagnon: Library Data Analyst
• Meet Magdianamy (Magdy) Carrillo-Sotomayer: Library Manager
• Meet Emily Craft: Administrative Supervisor at Hillsboro Public Library
• Meet Rocio Espinoza-Cotero: Library Supervisor
• Meet Brendan Lax: Librarian