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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2015)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015 NORTH COAST 3A Cannon Beach takes ‘community approach’ to emergency planning By DANI PALMER EO Media Group CANNON BEACH — When an emergency hits, the city of Cannon Beach intends to be ready, and it wants the community to play a part. During a City Council work session Tuesday, Emer- gency Management Consul- tant Stacy Burr gave a pre- sentation on the community emergency asset program, which aims to coordinate community resources to pro- tect lives and property fol- lowing a disaster. After stocking up on food and water at its three emer- gency cache sites for three years, Cannon Beach cur- rently has enough to support about 1,500 people short- term, Public Works Director Dan Grassick said. Money is in the general budget to replace those items when needed. The city also encourages residents to prepare go-bags, ¿lled with items such as food and water to last at least 24 hours after a disaster, and of- fers barrels for residents to purchase and store supplies in. About 100 are currently in use. “That program remains intact and we hope to ex- pand it,” City Manager Brant Kucera said. He said the city needs to establish a “more robust framework” for dealing with potential emergencies. During an Emergency Pre- paredness Committee meeting in July, Mayor Sam Steidel said staff need to work on helping “people stay alive” for longer than a few days. Warrenton’s April Clark moves up to ¿nance director Submitted Photo Stacy Burr, emergency pre- paredness coordinator for the city of Cannon Beach, addressed city officials Tuesday night. Assessing needs The community emergen- cy asset program is based on the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency’s “whole community approach” in which residents, emergency managers, community lead- ers and government of¿cials work together to assess needs and determine how to best strengthen assets, Burr said. Those assets include food, water, medical resources, transportation, continuity of government assets and more. Cannon Beach budgeted nearly $40,000 for hooking up water and power services to the cache container and as- sembly sites this ¿scal year. Burr said the city needs to take more preparatory mea- sures to build disaster-resis- tant and resilient resources, be collaborative with community organizations and be coordi- nated to provide effective re- sponse and recovery. “A more sophisticated un- derstanding of a community’s needs and capabilities also leads to a more ef¿cient use of existing resources,” she said. The program’s goals in- clude developing continuity of operations and a govern- ment plan, and an emergency operations plan that reÀects the whole community ap- proach at each of the cache sites. So who is in charge? Kucera is listed as the emergency manager under the city manager job de- scription, but Emergency Preparedness Committee Chairwoman Karolyn Ad- amson said the city needs to address the fact many staff, including Kucera, don’t live in the city. She added that residents may find themselves at a cache site without an author- ity figure. The discovery of guns in personal emergency barrels has already raised safety concerns. “Unless we can schedule emergencies between 8 and 5, we need to have an inci- dent commander who lives in Cannon Beach,” Council- or Mike Benefield said. Burr noted someone at the city level, perhaps the fire chief or public works director, could serve as that leader. “It doesn’t mean the com- munity isn’t a critical part of the conversation,” she added. It’s just that the city is obligated to provide services while a community member may decide to ignore an old- er population, for example, in order to provide more food to a younger one. Burr said staff are aiming to have those draft emergen- cy operation plans ready to go by February. A dog day at McClure 13-year city employee to assist with budget, perform audit By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — The city of Warrenton didn’t need to look far to ¿nd the right ¿nance director. April Clark, a 13-year employee with the city, stepped into the position last week. One of 11 applicants, and one of two interviewed in per- son, Clark will oversee the city’s ¿nancial operations, including assisting with the budget and performing the annual audit. She will also be involved in labor nego- tiations, City Manager Kurt Fritsch said. A Warrenton resident, Clark was hired as the city’s account tech in 2002 before moving up to accountant in 2006. With her latest promo- tion, Clark replaces Laurie Sawrey, who became Cannon Beach’s ¿nance director in June after 14 years with War- renton. “She has a tremendous amount of knowledge about Warrenton. She has a great deal of experience. It’s going to be an easy transition for her to come in and be the full- time ¿nance director,” Mayor Mark Kujala said. Clark, who served as the interim ¿nance director after Sawrey’s departure, said she is most looking forward to “the opportunity to continue to serve the citizens of War- renton and learn new things and working with the staff.” Clark’s annual salary starts at $74,000. “We’re just glad to have April,” Fritsch said. “All of our executive staff work well with April and look forward to working with her in this new position.” Maggie Wilski leads her dog, Bandit, through the agility course during “Dog Days of Astoria” at McClure Park Saturday afternoon. Dog lovers converged on the park for an event that helped pups and Friends of McClure Park. Linh DePledge/For The Daily Astorian Business group quietly works to shape wage debate By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian April Clark, the city’s former accountant, stepped into the finance director position last week. She replaces Laurie Sawrey, who became Cannon Beach’s finance director in June. Coast Guard rescues distressed surfer The Daily Astorian TILLAMOOK — A U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Sta- tion Astoria medevaced a dis- tressed surfer near Cape Ki- wanda Sunday afternoon. Tillamook emergency re- sponders contacted the Coast Guard requesting assistance to rescue a surfer drifting in and out of consciousness. The helicopter, training nearby, di- verted to the scene, while the Coast Guard also launched a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Tillamook Bay. While the helicopter and boat were en route, the Coast Guard was noti¿ed that good Samaritans pulled the surfer onto a rock formation, and the Coast Guard’s assistance was no longer needed. But local authorities decided a helicop- ter hoist would be the safest option for retrieving the man, considering his location and condition. “This rescue highlights the importance of team- work with local emergency response agencies,” Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Ro- driguez, an aviation surviv- al technician and member of the crew who hoisted the man, said in a release. “The responders on scene were well trained, and their clear communication allowed us get the man out quickly and safely.” W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 SALEM — A group of Portland business leaders wants to shape the debate over raising Oregon’s min- imum wage ahead of the 2016 legislative session. New Seasons Mar- ket co-founder Stan Amy formed North Star Civic Foundation earlier this year with his wife Christy Eu- genis, who is a partner in a real estate development company, and Rejuvenation Hardware founder Jim Kel- ly. The group plans to work on solutions to income in- equality and climate change, and it is quietly arranging a statewide listening tour to learn what Oregonians think about the state’s minimum wage. The tour appears to be an effort to develop a min- imum wage proposal with support from rural areas as well as urban centers. “Oregon has one of the strongest track records of bipartisanship in the coun- try, but in recent years we’ve seen more polarization,” North Star Civic Foundation executive director Caitlin Baggott wrote in an email. Baggott helped launch the Portland get-out-the- vote nonprofit Bus Project in 2002 and served as its exec- utive director form 2011 to 2013. Amy said part of the group’s strategy was to work “in the background,” and he referred questions to Bag- gott. Competing proposals Oregon’s minimum wage is currently $9.25 an hour and two existing coalitions, 15 Now Oregon and Raise the Wage, are promoting competing proposals to in- crease it. Both coalitions in- clude unions, and both plan to seek ballot measures in 2016. Raise the Wage wants a ballot measure that would increase the minimum wage to $13.50 by 2018, and 15 Now Oregon has filed pa- perwork for a measure that would raise the wage grad- ually to $15 per hour by 2019. Raise the Wage also plans to push for legisla- tion next year that would increase the minimum wage to $13.50 an hour. North Star Civic Foun- dation has not yet put for- ward its own minimum wage proposal, and Baggott said the group wants to first gather input from people around the state. Howev- er, the group is concerned about “the growing share of low-wage workers who can- not earn enough to support Aug ust 27 th 1 PM o r 6 PM CON CEAL CONCEAL CARRY CARRY PERM IT PERMIT CLASS CLASS Oregon – O rego n 34 - U States tah Utah - Valid Valid 35 States Best W estern : 5 5 5 Ha m b urg Ave, Asto ria O OR/Utah–valid R/U ta h— va lid in in WA W A $80 $80 or o r Oregon O reg o n only o n ly $4 5 $45 | Firea rm Tra in in gN W @ gm a il.com w w shauncurtain.com w .Firea rm Tra in in gN W .com ~ shauncurtain@gmail.com 36 0-921-2071 360-921-2071 themselves without govern- ment assistance,” Baggott wrote in an email. “It is clear that the min- imum wage will be a major focus in next legislative session and that if it is not resolved in that session ex- pectations are it will be on the ballot the following No- vember — where current polling shows strong sup- port for an increased wage,” Baggott wrote. “We’re in the process of organizing a series of “kitchen table” conversations around the state with rural and urban business owners, farmers, non-profit leaders, and com- munity groups this fall.” Connect with leaders As North Star Civic Foundation planned the conversations, the group sought recommendations from newspaper executives around the state. Publish- ers of The Daily Astorian and East Oregonian news- papers were among those that helped North Star Civ- ic Foundation connect with local business leaders and other community mem- bers. Baggott said North Star Civic Foundation wants to engage “people on all sides of this issue. We are opti- mistic that there is an op- portunity to find common ground and a path forward that works for all of Ore- gon’s communities, and for all the parts of Oregon’s economy.” The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. ,19,6$/,*1p '$< :HGQHVGD\ 6HSWHPEHU SPSP -())5(</(,1$66$5'0' /HLQDVVDU'HQWDO([FHOOHQFH 0DULQH'ULYH $VWRULD25 7UDQVIRUP<RXU6PLOH:LWK,QYLVDOLJQ -HIIUH\/HLQDVVDU'0'ZLOOEHSURYLGLQJ)5((FRQVXOWDWLRQVWRDQVZHU\RXUTXHVWLRQVDERXW,Q YLVDOLJQWUHDWPHQWWKHFOHDUZD\WRVWUDLJKWHQWHHWK,I\RXKDYHZRQGHUHGLI,QYLVDOLJQWUHDWPHQWLV ULJKWIRU\RXPDNHDQDSSRLQWPHQWIRUWKLVVSHFLDOHYHQW Ř&RPSOLPHQWDU\ZKLWHQLQJZLWK,QYLVDOLJQWUHDWPHQW Ř'RZQSD\PHQWPDWFKLQJZLWKGROODUYDOXHXSWR ŘPRQWKLQWHUHVWIUHHŵQDQFLQJXSRQDSSURYHGFUHGLW 6SDFHLVOLPLWHGWRWKHŵUVWDSSRLQWPHQWV &DOOWRGD\WRVFKHGXOH\RXUDSSRLQWPHQW RUFRQWDFWXVRQOLQHDWZZZVPLOHDVWRULDFRP ,19,6$/,*1p'D\DQGDVVRFLDWHGSURPRWLRQVDUHKRVWHGDQGVSRQVRUHGE\ -HIIUH\/HLQDVVDU'0'/HLQDVVDU'HQWDO([FHOOHQFHDQGQRWE\$OLJQ7HFKQRORJ\,QF l l