THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015
NORTH COAST
Seaside School District adopts budget
By KATHERINE
LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — The Sea-
side School District’s board
of directors Tuesday ap-
proved an approximate-
ly $21 million budget and
passed a resolution to help
establish a local option tax.
The general fund in-
cludes an approximately 4.7
percent increase from this
year’s budget. The general
fund covers all operating
costs.
The overall budget also
includes about $2.3 mil-
lion in special revenue and
$201,000 for capital proj-
ects, such as a roofing proj-
ect for Gearhart Elementa-
ry School’s gym, two roof
packs at Broadway Middle
School, addressing Amer-
icans with Disabilities Act
compliance issues, engi-
neering and construction
of walls at Seaside Heights
Elementary School and a
restroom renovation at Sea-
side High School.
The district also is pur-
suing a local option tax in
November. The board voted
unanimously on a resolu-
tion for the district to call a
measure election to renew
a five-year local option tax
to provide funds to finance
certain district operations.
In November 2010, vot-
ers in the district approved
a local option tax at the rate
of $0.52 per $1,000 of as-
sessed value for five years
beginning July 1, 2011, and
ending June 30, 2016. Ac-
cording to the resolution,
the board has determined
there is a need to continue
this level of funding for dis-
trict operations at the same
rate over the next five-year
period following the expira-
tion of the current five-year
operating tax. The district is
calling for a measure elec-
tion to give local electors
the ability to vote to renew
the local option tax through
June 30, 2021, at the current
fixed rate.
At the meeting, the board
also approved new English
Language Development and
English Language Arts cur-
riculum for the elementary
schools and middle school
for the 2015-16 school year.
The Oregon Department of
Education has a seven-year
cycle for schools to introduce
new curriculum at a rate of
one subject per year; school
districts have the option of
asking for a one- or two-year
delay. Last year, the Seaside
School District asked for an
extension on adopting new
ELA and ELD material and
will do the same for math
curriculum this year.
In other news:
• The school board for-
mally swore in members
Patrick Nofield, Steve Phil-
lips and Mark Truax, incum-
bents who were re-elected to
office in the May 19 Special
District Election. The board
voted for Steve Phillips to
be chair and Mark Truax to
be vice chair.
• After a closed session,
the board unanimously
approved a motion to en-
ter into an agreement with
Duane Johnson Real Es-
tate to negotiate the sale
of district property on the
school’s behalf.
• The board also made
a motion to make a count-
er-offer of $20,000 to
Wayne Poole, who, on be-
half of the Marianne Poole
Trust, made an offer of
$18,250 to purchase 1,912
square feet of school dis-
trict property adjacent to his
parent’s former residence at
2015 North Holladay Drive.
The purpose of the acqui-
sition, according to a letter
from Poole to the school
district, is to “resolve the
property boundary issues
between my parent’s former
residence and the adjoining
school district property.”
The district estimated the
property to be worth closer
to $22,000 — when con-
sidered within the context
of the whole lot — and de-
cided to split the difference
in its counter-offer, Super-
intendent Doug Dougherty
said.
about transportation and land
use, planning issues, he said.
“The strategic plan deals
with specific goals of the
community,” he said.
sampling residents because
results can be compared with
thousands of other communi-
ties across the U.S.,” he said.
“These results are then incor-
porated into the discussion
that occurs in the actual stra-
tegic planning session.”
Kucera said after the sur-
vey results are delivered, he
expected a weekend or retreat
by council members in formu-
lating goals.
The survey and analysis
would take about 16 weeks
from survey preparation to fi-
nal report, according to a Na-
tional Citizen Survey timeline.
City Council members said
they were generally support-
ive of the strategic plan pro-
posal, but had questions about
the styling of the question-
naire, its cost and its useful-
ness specifically for Cannon
Beach.
“My first reaction is this
is huge, such a huge under-
taking of time and money,”
said Councilor George Vetter.
“Can we scale this to Cannon
Beach?
“Each of us has lived here
for a number of years,” Vetter
added. “We have a lot of in-
teraction with residents. Each
of us brings a lot of informa-
tion to the table. I don’t see as
much value as this to a com-
munity like Cannon Beach as
you do in a community like
Portland, where you have so
few people representing so
many people. Here we have
pretty good (connection) with
our community, all of us.
That’s why I’m a little con-
cerned about all the money
we’re spending on this.”
Mayor Sam Steidel said
he thought the survey failed
to offer questions pertinent
to Cannon Beach. “They
don’t ask residents of Can-
non Beach about their ideas,”
he said. “They don’t ask how
they feel about very specific
things. I’m not saying this is
bad, it’s just not going to have
meaning. To me, we’ve al-
ready got most of that already
in our goals, and now we’re
going to all this expense.”
Kucera said he anticipated
it would take no more time or
personnel in Cannon Beach
3A
Warrenton passes
budget, says
goodbye to O’Brien
for non-represented staff to
bring them in line with other
employee groups.
The board also approved
a memorandum to allow ex-
ceptions to the district’s in-
ter-district transfer caps put
in place a few months ago.
Superintendent Mark Jeffery
said it was to allow students
to be enrolled in a “closed”
grade level if a sibling is en-
rolled in an “open” grade.
The board, meeting last
week, also increased the sal-
ary for the information tech-
nology supervisor and the
business manager.
Jeffery
announced
that Athletic Director Ian
O’Brien is leaving Warren-
ton High School and taking
the same position at Laker-
idge High School in Lake
Oswego.
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The
Wa r r e n t o n - H a m m o n d
School Board has adopted a
2015-16 budget of $15 mil-
lion.
The district’s general op-
erating fund will be $10.7
million, with $6 million for
instruction, $2.9 million for
support services and $1.5
million for contingencies.
For staff, the school
board passed memoran-
dums of understanding to
offer tuition prepayment for
professional development,
increase tuition reimburse-
ment, increase incentives for
employees to seek affordable
health care options through a
Health Savings Account, add
back to previous furlough
days and add salary steps
Cannon Beach seeks new goal of ‘strategic budgeting’
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH —
Cannon Beach will move
forward with a strategic plan
to solicit input from local
residents and use that input
to prepare a vision statement
for the city. The cost would
be approximately $10,000 for
the survey and $10,000 for the
consultant.
“You’ve already got a
good start with the compre-
hensive plan,” City Manager
Brant Kucera said. “The ul-
timate goal is now strategic
budgeting. Now my budget is
completely tied to the strate-
gic plan. That’s the ultimate,
most effective way of using
our limited resources.”
At a City Council work
session last week, Kucera
told council members that all
successful strategic planning
processes include input from
three stakeholder groups: cit-
izens, council and staff. The
strategic plan is “very differ-
ent” from a comprehensive
plan, which typically talks
National survey,
local audience
According to Kucera, the
National Citizen Survey is a
nationally recognized survey
instrument for finding out the
people’s opinion of commu-
nity services and community
direction. The comprehensive
plan does not address specif-
ic goals or specific actions to
accomplish the vision of the
city.
Kucera said the proposed
strategic plan, prepared by
the nonprofit National Citizen
Survey under the auspices of
the National Resource Center
in Boulder, Colo., would be
updated in about two years,
while comprehensive plans
are typically updated every 10
years. Comprehensive plans
are legally mandated, but the
strategic plan is not, he said.
“The National Citizens
Survey is the best means of
Polling the community
“The goal is to find out
what the community thinks,”
said Councilor Mike Bene-
field in support of the survey.
“This is a well-proven system.
I can sit here and say what’s
important, but with a survey
we may find things we hav-
en’t thought of.”
“I’m looking for ideas,”
Benefield said. “We want to
know what people like and
dislike and are comfortable
with in the city. What works
and what doesn’t work.”
Councilor Wendy Higgins
said she welcomed the feed-
back that the survey would
provide, which would provide
a perspective that could come
from new sources in the com-
munity.
Benefield said the council
would have to implement the
policy and assign the resourc-
es. “You’re trying to pull out
of the citizens what needs to
be done and make this the
Knappa School Board approves superintendent contract GO ONLINE
The Daily Astorian
KNAPPA — The Knap-
pa School Board approved
a contract through 2018
for new superintendent and
Knappa High School Prin-
cipal Terrence Smyth at its
Monday meeting.
Smyth, who is coming
to Knappa from being prin-
cipal at Springwater Trail
High School in Gresham,
will earn $105,000 in 2015-
16, increasing by $1,000
each of the next two years.
He also gets $300 a month
toward a tax-sheltered ac-
count of his choice, along
with up to $1,400 a month
toward health coverage for
he and his family.
The board adopted a $6
million budget for 2015-
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kind of community people
want to move to for, and live
here for,” he said. “For us, it’s
making priorities based on
the information. You might
be surprised. You might think
you know exactly how ev-
erybody feels. Some people
might say, ‘I don’t want to be
like Seaside.’ Others might
say, ‘I love it, I like the carni-
val atmosphere.’ That’s what
these general surveys will
help you do. I’m not look-
ing for ideas, I’m looking for
emotion, feel and perception
of the town, what we’re do-
ing, not doing.”
Kucera said he sees “it as
an opportunity to make sure
that the goals of the commu-
nity and the goals of council
and staff are all lining to-
gether and make sure we are
(going) to use our resources
effectively to make what we
want to see happen.”
Council members agreed
to further discussion of the
survey, including a review of
costs and customization of the
survey, at future council meet-
ings.
than in other communities he
has prepared strategic plans
for as city manager.
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