Working on a holiday schedule this month the Clatsop County Board of County Commissioners scheduled only one meeting for the month of November. According to the charter, the board will meet at least once a month in the evening. The board met November 12, at 6:00 pm with a small agenda. A priority on the agenda was sending a letter to the federal government supporting Clatsop Community College’s application for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). The grant will be used for seismic upgrades to Towler Hall, which is the focal point of the campus revitalization project. In connection to FEMA funding George Sabol, co-chair of the Longterm Disaster Recovery Committee, said his committee is sending a letter to the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department requesting an extension of the December deadline for applications to a federal block-grant program that is making money available for disaster preparedness projects. Sabol had been to a meeting on FEMA funding when he became aware of over 2 million dollars in available funds that had not yet been used or allocated.
Marlin Martin and George Sabol with Clatsop Community Action (CCA) asked that the Commissioners support the food drive that CCA will be having in the Fred Meyers’ parking lot, November 22nd. Stuff the Truck is an all day event which will have speakers from all of the city councils there and coverage by the radio stations. CCA also hopes to have one of the Portland television stations come down to cover the event. According to Martin Clatsop County has seen a 40% increase in the number of people food requesting this year over last, this is the second highest increase in the state. They are asking for non-perishable food items, cash donations, personal hygiene items or household goods. Last year between 900-1,000,000 pounds of food was donated in Clatsop County and over 400,000 meals made from the donated food.
Paul Kujala thanked the board for the resolution that it signed regarding supporting the trawlers in the recent Individual Fishing Quota decision that was before the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). Kujala also thanked Commissioner Ann Samuelson for traveling to San Diego to testify before the Council regarding the commissioners’ decision to support the trawl fleet stating that the Council agreed with the Board that there should be no share to the processors.
The board heard a report from Transportation and Development Services Director Ed Wegner about efforts to repair a breach in the railroad embankment along Warren Slough near Knappa. The embankment, which carries the Portland-to-Astoria rail line, was first breached by high water in December 2005. Emergency repairs only held it together until it was broken again during last year’s storm. Wegner told the board that approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow repairs to the roadway was in the process. Consultation with the Corp was needed in order to protect a nearby bridge and causeway carrying Gnat Creek Road which is owned by the county. The Corp has indicated that the repair project would require a full-blown application process, including a review by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Wegner had just heard earlier that day that the Corps deemed the county’s application complete, opening the way for a NMFS review. But the Corps gave the county a mixed response on whether emergency repairs can be made to the embankment if the breach threatens Gnat Creek Road – the Corps’ legal counsel was due to issue a decision on that question Thursday, Wegner said. The Corps has stated that life or property must be in imminent danger, not potential danger, but has not clarified what imminent danger is. According to Wegner, without an emergency exemption, the county may not be able to undertake the repairs this winter, because the period when in-water work is allowed only runs from Nov. 1 to Feb 25th. The railroad has indicated that if the county does not repair the breach the railroad will close the line down.
Commissioner Raichl reported that nothing had come of the emergency declaration to help with Dr. Linehan’s tidegate and the doctor’s fields were now flooded, as were two adjacent fields. The Corp of Engineer was doing nothing to help speed the process along and never had the situation been more desperate in that area than it has now. Raichl expressed some exasperation in dealing with a governmental agency that is so large that it is used to dealing in huge amounts of loss, both monetarily and in land mass, so sees small communities and there problems as inconsequential. Raichl said he would like to see some sort of interstate cooperation between the communities along the coast in both Oregon and Washington to discuss these types of flooding issues where small communities know how to resolve a problem quickly before a devastating amount of damage is done yet are stymied by federal government bureaucracy. Through some sort of mutual cooperation maybe they can work on a way to resolve these kinds of conflicts so that small communities can expect better results in a quicker amount of time.
Commissioner Ann Samuelson said that she enjoyed the interchange between the Port of Astoria and Newport and the way they resolved their differences to unanimously go with Seaport Air Service. She complimented Senator Johnson’s efforts to help that process. Samuelson said she was not going to ask to be reimbursed for her trip to San Diego even though she did testify about the Board’s decision to back the trawlers. Samuelson also visited a biofuel industry plant, Sapphire Energy and was very impressed with what she saw there. The plant is making fuel out of genetically altered algae which, when burned, gives off no carbon emission. She said that she may end up investing in the company and therefore she didn’t want to ask the board to cover her costs. Samuelson also gave a brief report on her attendance at the Energy Action Northwest Energy Summit. According to Samuelson one of the breakout sessions of the conference talked about how the energy infrastructure in Oregon is fragile and deteriorating. Power lines are breaking down, gas lines don’t reach to all areas, major gas lines are all going to the east coast and no new lines are presently being built for power or fuel. Without a solid infrastructure Oregon won’t have anything to spread its energy out on, no matter what direction it decides to go in. Renewable energy, such as wind turbine, still isn’t technically advanced enough to provide the type of large scale energy output needed on a consistent basis by industries. Wind turbines still haven’t a way to store all of the extra energy they generate during heavy blowing times and need a backup power source during light wind times.
Board Chair Roberts enjoyed the Emergency Operations Center briefing stating that it was gratifying to see that it was up and running with everyone cooperating with one another. Roberts also asked that a work session with the Department of Forestry be arranged so that it could discuss the information collected regarding the harvest levels of county owned timber. The staff will try to arrange a meeting for December 8, one to two hours starting at 5:00 pm. Roberts encouraged the audience to be there so that they could understand what condition the county forests were in and what plans could be made to keep them sustainable.
On the Consent Calendar:
-Approved a 15-year lease with the state of Oregon for submerged land lying under the Westport Ferry dock in Westport. The lease is necessary because all submersible land is under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Department of State Lands.
-Approved an amendment to the county’s purchase agreement with Atlin Investments covering property in the county-owned North Coast Business Park in Warrenton. The amendment extends the contingency period from Nov. 20 to Dec. 22, 2008 to enable the county to complete an agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation over access to the property.
-Set Dec. 3, 2008 as the date for a public hearing on transferring jurisdiction of two roads, Cottage Road and Gearhart Lane, from the county to the city of Gearhart.
-Amended the 2008-09 services contract with the county’s labor counsel, the firm of Bullard, Smith, Jernstedt and Wilson, to increase the maximum payment amount from $15,000 to $35,000. The increase was requested due to several unforeseen employee relations issues.
Other County News:
According to the County’s news release desk
TALLY OF UNCOUNTED BALLOTS SET FOR MONDAY
Clatsop County’s tally in the Nov. 4 general election will finally be complete Monday, when almost 200 uncounted ballots from Clatsop County voters will be opened and counted by the Clatsop County Elections Division.
Most of the 189 ballots currently received by the elections office are from county voters that for one reason or another were mailed to or dropped off at elections offices in other counties. All the ballots underwent a signature verification process on Wednesday at the County Clerk’s Office.
The ballots will be counted at the Judge Guy Boyington Building beginning at 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17.
On Thursday, Nov. 20, the elections office will conduct a hand recount of ballots for three election races from Precinct 26, under a new state law that mandates sample “administrative” recounts of votes from randomly selected precincts and races by all Oregon counties. The races Clatsop County will recount are for U.S. President, Oregon Attorney General and Ballot Measure 57. Precinct 26 covers the Hamlet area.
Whether the county conducts recounts on two close local election races could depend on Monday’s tally of uncounted votes. In the race for Astoria City Council Ward 4, incumbent councilor Russ Warr leads challenger Bob Goldberg by just two votes, 413 to 411.
In the race for Clatsop County Board of Commissioners District 2 seat, incumbent Commissioner Patricia Roberts is ahead of challenger Jim Scheller by 15 votes, 1,452 to 1,437.
The county is required by law to conduct automatic recounts of individual races if the vote margin is less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the total votes cast. In the case of the Astoria council race, that margin would be less than 2 votes; for the county commission race, the margin is six votes.
If the vote margin exceeds one-fifth of 1 percent, anyone can still request a recount, but that person or party must cover the cost. Recounts must be requested within 35 days of the election.
A date for a recount will be set if Monday’s tally of uncounted votes brings the vote margin in either of the races close enough to trigger an automatic recount, said County Clerk Cathie Garber.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY ANNOUNCES STAFF CHANGES
The Clatsop County District Attorney’s Office is welcoming two new employees, saying good-bye to a long-time staff member and announcing the promotion of two trial prosecutors.
Sheryl Holcom, who worked as a trial assistant for more than five years, has moved over to the Clatsop County Clerk and Elections Department. Taking her place will be John Wistuber, who previously worked for the Maricopa County prosecutor’s office in Phoenix, Arizona. Also joining the staff as a trial assistant is Jennifer Houser, who has worked for several years as a part-time administrative assistant.
Both Wistuber and Houser will be responsible for managing a share of the more than 1,000 criminal cases handled each ear by the District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Josh Marquis said that the office had received a large number of applicants and we were able to get the very best to add to an outstanding staff.
Gretchen Ladd, a Deputy District Attorney who joined the office last October from a similar post in Newport, has been promoted to Senior Deputy District Attorney. Ladd has tried and secured convictions of a number of serious violent felonies in the last year. Also promoted to Deputy District Attorney 2 is Scott McCracken, who will continue to handle a wide variety of both misdemeanor and felony cases.
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