community
december1
2016
3
Leaving Offi ce: A Conversation with Tony Hyde
Tony Hyde has represented
Columbia County on the Board of
Commissioners for almost 20 years,
helping keep often forgotten Vernonia
on the radar. During his time in offi ce
he has seen a lot, from two major
fl oods, to the development of a bike
trail, to the start of a major economic
development project in Scappoose.
The following is a look
back on Hyde’s time as a County
Commissioner, in his own words.
Vernonia’s Voice: What are some of
your accomplishments you are most
proud of during your 20 years serving
the citizens of Columbia County?
Tony Hyde: I guess it depends on
perspective, but individually I’ve
done absolutely nothing. I think
we’ve built a lot of really good teams
in Columbia County and I’ve been
part of that; I’ve been a cheerleader
for that I’ll take credit for that.
The team that we built to
rebuild Vernonia after both the 1996
fl ood and especially the 2007 fl ood,
and I fear to name names because
I’m sure I’ll leave somebody out,
but obviously Jim Tierney, Dan
Brown, Susan Wagner, there were a
lot of really good people that stepped
up. I’m not sure how much the
community is aware of how involved
Columbia County was in rebuilding
this town, but it was way deeper than
most people realize. The County spent
literally hundreds of thousands of
dollars out of the General Fund to help
rebuild Vernonia. I’m reticent to talk
about it because then the other towns
in the County ask why we don’t spend
money rebuilding them. Well, you can
only help somebody that wants to be
helped. I became most proud of what
we did here in 2007 after the fl ooding
last December when we had almost no
damage. By comparison, and you look at
the water we had—we fi xed it. We fi xed
this town. And it’s not just about raising
buildings, but fi xing the infrastructure –
the schools, the health center, the electric
co-op, and soon the senior center. I’m
proud we took that on, and in fact it was
almost my single focus for several years.
This town could have dried up and blew
away. What really struck me was when
we had FEMA folks from all around the
country coming here. What we saw as
residents was devastation, what they
saw was a beautiful little community.
When I kept hearing that over and over,
I changed my focus. If they see that,
then we should too. This community has
great bones, and once you realize that,
then you want to start working to put it
back together.
The second thing I’m most
proud of is the development of the
Crown-Zellerbach Trail. This is a
huge deal for the County and we’re
just starting to experience the benefi ts.
When we started on this and saw the
opportunity to use the old Crown-
Zellerbach Main Line and connect to the
Banks-Vernonia Trail, it took a lot of
work and constant vigilance—always
looking for new funding sources, always
looking for the next piece. It was like a
giant jigsaw puzzle. Who owns what?
What is the right-of-way? Has it been
surveyed? And then dealing with the
State of Oregon, State Forests, State
Parks, ODOT, federal agencies... it went
on and on. That task was monumental
and that would be one thing that I could
say that I, Tony Hyde, did. That would
not have happened if I had not kept
pushing it and I’m very proud of that
accomplishment. It’s not fi nished – we
still have work to do – and I’m not going
to be a County Commissioner but I’m
not going to stop working on it. I’m the
keynote speaker in McMinnville because
they are pushing their piece that will join
the trail system. I’m on the committee
for the Salmonberry Trail to become
part of the trail system. I want to see all
that happen and I’ll be there because it’s
important to me and it’s important to our
communities. We’ve seen the economic
development that has happened from
having the Banks-Vernonia Trail and
then you add this other piece coming
from the other side of the county and
then add it to this whole system of
trails... it’s going to be huge. It’s good
for everybody. It’s good for our health,
it’s good for our economy, it’s good for
our mental health.
I’m also extremely proud of
what is happening in Scappoose right
now with the Oregon Manufacturing
Innovation Center (OMIC). That is not
an anomaly, it’s not luck, it’s not just
something that came along. You don’t
just have a carrot growing in your garden,
it happens on purpose. And the fi rst
thing you have to do is prepare the soil.
With the help of some other key people,
including Senator Betsy Johnson, we’ve
been focused on that 500 acre piece of
property for a very long time – it’s been
a 20 year slog. The very fi rst hearing
I had as a County Commissioner was
what I call the “Rock Wars” which
was about a mining permit for the
property adjacent to the Scappoose
Airport which had aggregate on it that
the company that owned it wanted to
mine. Typically, if you look anywhere
the best places to build industrial sites
are near airports. But State Senate Bill
100 protects farms, forest and aggregate,
so they had standing. And this issue
was going nowhere. That fi rst packet
of information I received was so large
it had to be delivered with a hand
truck. With some help from Governor
Kitzhaber I was able to convene the
stakeholders with mediators. What was
amazing was how quickly we found
the commonality in what both sides
wanted, and once you fi nd the common
ground, that’s where you go. We all
wanted the economy to be better and
grow. We wanted that property at the
airport for industrial development
and they wanted rock – but it
didn’t have to be THAT rock. And
we found another 500 acre piece
of property with rock and worked
out the deal. The whole thing has
taken a long time and we’ve had
to be patient. In fact, the Board
of Commissioners will be making
a fi nal decision on their mining
permit for that new 500 acres at
our December 21 meeting. So it
really has taken 20 years. In the
mean time the property next to the
airport was sold and the owners
had the vision to hold on to it,
develop some infrastructure, and
today it’s going to be the site of
PCC’s fi rst physical campus in
Columbia County along with three
four-year institutions, and some
major companies like Boeing and
Daimler. It all came together.
The whole business of industrial
recruitment is long and expensive,
but if you stay focused you can do
it.
It’s about preparing the soil,
and doing that took a team. It’s always
teamwork. I can look at each city in our
county and point to something positive.
We have Boise Cascade coming in with
the second phase of their operation with
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continued on page 4
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