10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015
Somers: Letters
question Somers’
leadership
Continued from Page 1A
Courtesy Lower Columbia Engineering
This map shows how the donated land will be redeveloped in line with the Westport Corridor and Community Plan.
Westport: All ideas in county’s
plan still rely on possible funding
Continued from Page 1A
EVENT AGENDA
Georgia-Pacific inherited the 27
acres as part of its purchase of the
Wauna Mill. The acres in Westport
have not been used by Georgia-Pacific
and have mostly fallen into disrepair.
The donation hit a roadblock a de-
cade ago when the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality suspected
contamination in the area from a saw-
mill operation in the 1950s.
After a lengthy regulatory process,
DEQ issued a no further action state-
ment, allowing the land to be donated
and eventually used by the communi-
ty, Ward said.
In the meantime, the county parks
department continued to host public
meetings and hired Lower Columbia
Engineering of St. Helens to develop
schematic design drawings of the pro-
posed projects.
Clatsop County Commissioner Dirk
Rohne, who represents the Westport
area, said plans to put the 27 acres to
use could create economic and rec-
reational opportunities for local resi-
dents.
“That park and boat ramp devel-
opment will allow everyone to enjoy
the Lower Columbia River estuary,”
Rohne said. “I’m hoping it creates a
movement to allow Westport to reju-
venate itself.”
Andrew Niemi, of Lower Columbia
Engineering who designed the pro-
posed drawings, grew up in Westport
and said the plans are a welcome im-
provement to the local residents.
Niemi said the current boat launch
is not usable at lower tides and has
inadequate parking, especially during
the busy spring salmon season. The
parking area has potholes and only a
port-a-potty as a restroom.
Proposed improvements to the boat
launch would include a boat washing
station that would keep boats clean of
possible invasive species. In addition,
the parking area would be reconstruct-
ed.
The county is working with the Or-
egon State Marine Board for possible
funding.
As for the park portion of the proj-
ect, Niemi said, community members
would have a larger space for walks
along lighted paths and better fishing
locations, including a handicap ac-
cessible fishing dock. The park area
would also connect better with the
Westport Ferry landing.
Wauna Mill
92326 Taylorville Road
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Noon: Arrival and lunch
12:10 p.m.: Welcome and introductions by VP Wauna Mill Manager Steve
Francoeur
12:15 p.m.: Property donation history by Georgia-Pacific spokeswoman
Kristi Ward and Clatsop County Parks Manager Steve Meshke
12:20 p.m.: Environmental remediation process by Georgia-Pacific Envi-
ronmental Manager Jeff Sorensen
12:25 p.m.: Community visioning process for the park by Andrew Niemi of
Lower Columbia Engineering
12:30 p.m.: Plympton Creek coho salmon habitat restoration by Lower
Columbia River Council Watershed Coordinator Margaret Magruder
12:35 p.m.: County park creation time line by Meshke
12:40 p.m.: Questions and answers
12:45 p.m.: Presentations of photo of Clatsop County
1 p.m.: Event concludes
Letters at issue
Courtesy Lower Columbia Engineering
This drawing shows how the donated land might look from the Plympton
Creek perspective.
‘That park and boat ramp development will allow
everyone to enjoy the Lower Columbia River
estuary. I’m hoping it creates a movement to
allow Westport to rejuvenate itself.’
— Dirk Rohne
Clatsop County Commissioner
“If someone is waiting for the ferry,
they would have a park to spend some
time in,” Niemi said.
The 27-acre donation includes
Plympton Creek, which has been re-
routed to an unnatural channel over
the years. Plans are in the works by
the Lower Columbia River Council
Watershed to reconnect the creek with
its historic channel, which could have
a positive impact on fish habitat.
All of the ideas in the county’s
Westport Corridor and Community
Plan, made possible by the recent land
donation, still rely on possible fund-
ing.
Niemi said he is confident the fund-
ing will come and his hometown will
successfully see an extensive transfor-
mation in the coming years.
“There is no guarantee they will
all be completed, but the chances are
pretty good for the majority of it to
come to fruition,” he said.
Wellville: Initiative shifted from
a competition to a challenge
Continued from Page 1A
However, HICCup CEO
Rick Brush said, there is no
$5 million prize to be award-
ed at the end of the five
years.
As requested by the five
Wellville
communities,
Brush said, the initiative was
shifted from a competition to
a challenge, so the commu-
nities could collaborate with
each other.
No other commission-
ers seconded Rohne’s
motion and the proposal
died.
Rohne said he spoke
with former County
Manager Duane Cole,
who retired May 31,
2012, after three years
with the county, and Co-
lumbia County Commis-
sioner Earl Fisher. Both
thought Rohne’s motion
was a good idea. Howev-
er, the Board of Commis-
sioners did not.
“It would be a group
of professionals, without
the manager involved,”
Rohne said. “Now the
manager will be in
charge of the process of
evaluating himself.”
Rohne recently re-
ceived ridicule from the
Board of Commissioners
for supposedly acting
outside his authority as
a commissioner by dis-
cussing concerns about
personnel issues with la-
bor attorney Akin Blitz,
on behalf of the commis-
sion. Rohne denies the
claims.
After an executive
session Dec. 23, the
board, without Rohne
present, approve a mo-
tion that stated in part,
“individual
commis-
sioners do not have au-
thority to hire attorneys
or launch investigation.
Such actions must be
taken as a board.”
No other actions
have been taken against
Rohne.
“The idea is for all five
communities to help each
other achieve their person-
al best. The prize idea was
dropped when the communi-
ties suggested this change,”
Brush said. “In the end, each
community will ‘win’ much
more than a financial prize
… in better health for all
citizens, greater economic
vitality, closer social con-
nections and collaboration.”
Through
collaboration
with the other communities
and residents in Clatsop
County, the local Way to
Wellville Strategic Advisory
Council will take ideas and
match them with interest-
ed investors. All ideas that
work and fail will be shared
among the participants and
across the nation.
The initial focus areas
for Clatsop County include
addressing chemical de-
pendency, mental health,
access to primary care, em-
ployment, obesity and food
access, prenatal education
and care, and time-banking
service exchange.
“It’s a really an oppor-
tunity for Warrenton and
Clatsop County in general to
have some outside perspec-
tive and in the future we will
be able to leverage some of
that for some kind of invest-
ment and programs,” Kujala
said.
Rohne’s
concerns
stem from multiple anon-
ymous letters he has
received, and believes
the county is not taking
seriously. The letters
question Administrative
Services Director Dean
Perez and Somers’ lead-
ership.
Besides the anony-
mous letters, Somers
said, he has not received
any specific complaints
or word of any policies
or laws that he has bro-
ken. If employees have
concerns, he said, they
can contact the Ore-
gon Government Ethics
Commission, the county
attorney, the Board of
Commissioners
chair-
man or file a claim.
No such complaints
have come forward,
Somers said.
“If I could wave my
wand and make things
perfect in the world,
we would be able to
put some of this gossip
and innuendos and this
ill-mongered gossip kind
of cesspool to bed so
we can move forward,”
Somers said.
A wish to move
forward
The recent focus on
the anonymous claims is
derailing the county as it
prepares for another year
filled with projects such
as Clatsop Vision 2030
Together and upcoming
budget meetings, Somers
said.
“We have a lot of
things going on and I
would like to get back
to the business of the
county, and I suspect
most of the commission
and citizens would like
to see that, too,” Somers
said. “If we need to do
an evaluation to put that
‘If I could wave
my wand and
make things
perfect in the
world, we
would be able
to put some
of this gossip
and innuendos
and this ill-
mongered
gossip kind of
cesspool to bed
so we can move
forward.’
— Scott Somers
Clatsop County manager
to bed, let’s do that and
move on.”
Somers considers a
360-performance evalua-
tion one way to move the
county forward. He re-
ceived positive feedback
from the Board of Com-
missioners in his 2014
review.
He scored highest in
the “personal traits” cat-
egory with an average of
4.9 out of 5. His lowest
score was in “intergov-
ernmental relationships”
with an average of 4.3
out of 5.
To properly conduct a
360-performance evalua-
tion, Somers said, a large
sample of people must be
gathered by an objective
third-party firm to get an
overall understanding.
Such performance re-
views have not always
worked in other agen-
cies.
According to a Forbes
article from 2012, “When
it’s done poorly, 360 pro-
grams create mistrust,
anger, conflict and can
leave a team with lower
morale than when you
started the exercise.”
Somers
said
he
has some concern the
wide-reaching
perfor-
mance review may turn
into a weapon against
him, but overall he is
confident it will be done
properly, if the Board of
Commissioners agrees to
pursue it.
“It does give the op-
portunity for an employee
that has been disciplined
or held accountable to
retaliate against their
boss,” Somers said.
When considering his
time as county manager,
Somers admits a large
number of changes have
occurred. Since March
2013, at least six depart-
ment heads have left the
county.
County Clerk Maeve
Kennedy Grimes was
fired in December after
errors were discovered
on the general election
ballot. Also in that time,
half the county staff were
moved to higher deduct-
ible health plans and the
Juvenile Detention Cen-
ter closed.
All the changes have
‘ruffled some feathers,”
Somers said.
“I’d like to think all of
it has been done very re-
spectfully and with cour-
tesy,” Somers said. “If
someone could show me
where it hasn’t, I’d love
to see it.”
Gadgets: ‘We discourage cellphones and remove them as we see them’
Continued from Page 1A
A similar proposed policy
sets the ground rules for staff
use of personal electronic
devices on school proper-
ty or at district-sponsored
events.
Hoppes said OSBA al-
lows districts to have poli-
cies allowing or not allow-
ing technology in school.
The proposed policy chang-
es still need to go through
multiple readings in a regu-
lar board session before pos-
sible adoption by the school
board.
bring an iPad for education-
al purposes, board member
Grace Laman said.
As a district, Astoria has
so far opted to allow person-
al technology, said Hoppes,
while John Jacob Astor and
Lewis and Clark elementary
schools have rules mostly not
allowing personal technolo-
gy, as well as Astoria Mid-
dle School up to a couple of
months ago.
“We discourage cellphones
and remove them as we see
them,” said Lewis and Clark
Principal Brian Ploghoft, add-
ing that some students do read
e-books at school.
One question raised by
board members was the re-
sponsibility of the district in
providing students educa-
tional software and online
features for students with per-
sonal devices.
Principal Lynn Jackson
from Astoria High School
said that many new curricula
include a hard-copy book and
online supplemental materials.
He added that talk of person-
al technology for curriculum
might also be premature, as the
adoption of web-based curric-
ulum hasn’t happened yet.
Board member Shawn
Helligso wondered what the
appeals process would be
like. Hoppes said it hasn’t
that the district would work
out the details for its adminis-
trative regulations and include
the policies in the student and
staff handbooks.