143RD YEAR, NO. 220
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
SPORTS: KNAPPA BASEBALL CLINCHES ANOTHER NWL TITLE PAGE 7A
‘Hatfi elds and McCoys’ as rental showdown nears
Gearhart city leader
wants to grandfather
more properties
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
Chad
Sweet
GEARHART — Changes may be
ahead in Gearhart’s short-term rental rules.
Gearhart City Administrator Chad
Sweet has proposed maintaining the city’s
comprehensive plan, which limits tourism.
However, he recommended lifting a pro-
posed limit of 35 vacation rental permits.
“Allow homes renting short-term 90
days to apply for a permit, set the permit-
ted limit at the number that apply,” Sweet
wrote. “The community can adjust the
number of available permits in the future,
or let the permits phase out to zero over
time. As homes are sold or conveyed,
the permit will be lost.”
Sweet asked the Gearhart Planning
Commission to drop a proposed seven-day
rental block requirement, which, he said
“will be very diffi cult to administer.”
He also sought an exemption to
24-hour managed properties, such as
some condominium units. “Only units that
are not managed by 24-hour staff should
be included for safety and impact,” Sweet
wrote.
Sweet also recommended the rules
only apply to the city of Gearhart, not
the neighborhoods of the Palisade and
Highlands .
A deep divide
The Planning C ommission — which
is meeting Thursday — is weighing a
short-term rental registry, with limits on
the number of guests per bedroom, off-
street parking spaces and septic system
capacity.
See GEARHART, Page 10A
A gap in public health
County needs more than double the staff and money to fully serve residents
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
F
Warrior
in name,
change
in image
Warrenton to
change Native
American ties
to all mascots
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Birth-control information at the Clatsop County Public Health Department.
PUBLIC HEALTH HELP WANTED
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
23.5
CURRENT
Community partnership development
Health equity and cultural responsiveness
Policy and planning
Communications
Emergency preparedness and response
Assessment and epidemiology
NEEDED
Totals: 9.8
See GAP, Page 10A
Clinical preventive services
Prevention and health promotion
Full-time positions for public health capabilities and programs
Environmental health
Public Health 3.0
Public health modernization
stems from a national trend to
address new challenges in an era
of chronic diseases and various
social determinants of health.
The American Journal of Pub-
lic Health last month coined the
phrase “Public Health 3.0,” that
refers to the public health system
upgrading to a modern approach
that focuses more on social barri-
ers and chronic diseases.
A century ago, public health
grew with the creation of anti-
biotics and vaccines. The jour-
nal refers to that early period
as “Public Health 1.0.” In the
1980s, the Institute of Medicine
defi ned core functions that have
since helped departments suc-
cessfully treat diseases such as
infl uenza and tuberculosis. That
result of defi ning baseline func-
tions is described as “Public
Health 2.0.”
“This seminal report was
enormously infl uential in shap-
ing and re-energizing pub-
lic health,” an American Jour-
nal of Public Health editorial
reads. “However, there was lit-
tle emphasis on how public
health leaders might work across
Warrenton’s football helmet with
the W logo.
Communicable disease control
or Clatsop County Pub-
lic Health to fully serve
the county’s 37,000 popu-
lation, it would need 2 1/2
times the staff and funds.
The department recently
completed a self-assessment that
showed it would have to spend
more than $2.4 million annually
on about 25 full-time equivalent
positions to be fully operational.
It currently spends $1.1 million
each year on about 10 FTEs.
Public Health Director Brian
Mahoney compiled the self-as-
sessment as part of a statewide
public health modernization
effort. Each health department
in the state is reviewing capacity,
capability, spending and costs.
The self-assessments will be
compiled into a plan for a public
health modernization bill in the
2017 l egislative session.
“This is a long-term view of
where we would like the pub-
lic health effort to be going,”
Mahoney said.
Warrenton refi nes ballot initiative standard
Higher threshold
would apply for
some measures
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Ballot initiatives
that would require supermajority or dou-
ble majority voter approval to change city
law or take government action will fi rst
have to win voter support by the same
margin.
The Warrenton City Commission
agreed Tuesday night to adopt the higher
standard. The threshold will apply to citi-
zen ballot initiatives and measures referred
to voters by the City Commission.
Supermajority or double majority
requirements are meant to make it more
diffi cult to change the law or
more than $100,000.
take a government action. A
The charter amendment
double majority, for example,
is a response from residents
requires a majority vote among
who had opposed a potential
more than 50 percent of regis-
land swap between the city
tered voters, a high bar.
and Warrenton Fiber at Tansy
The new standard will pre-
Point.
vent such requirements from
Yuill hopes to qualify the
being enacted by majority
charter amendment for the
vote.
November ballot.
“If you want to create a
Last year, when Yuill’s
Henry
double-majority requirement,
group fi rst announced a signa-
Balensifer
you’re going to have to get
ture drive, Mayor Mark Kujala
a double majority to get that in the law,” had said the charter amendment would be
said City Commissioner Henry Balen- “very limiting to the City Commission.”
sifer, who introduced the change.
“The petition is not directed against the
The Warrenton Property Protection commission,” Yuill said. “This is solely a
Committee, led by Ken Yuill, has col- group that felt that this needed to go to the
lected signatures for a charter amend- voters, to get the voters’ decision on that.
ment that would require double -ma-
“By them passing that,” he said of
jority voter approval before the city the City Commission’s decision Tuesday
transfers or disposes of assets valued at night, “I don’t know where we’re at.”
WARRENTON — The Warren-
ton-Hammond School Board voted
Tuesday to move away from Native
American imagery in its mascots,
in advance of a statewide ban that
becomes effective next year.
The Warrior mascot at Warrenton
High School will be redesigned to be
non-native. The mascot will replace
the Warrenton Grade School mascot,
the Braves.
Superintendent Mark Jeffery
reiterated concerns that, despite an
exception recently passed to the mas-
cot ban, the issue is not settled. If the
district does not comply, it could lose
state funding, which Jeffery has said
is about 65 percent of Warrenton’s
budget.
The state Board of Educa-
tion voted to ban Native Ameri-
can mascots in 2012. Under pres-
sure from the Oregon Legislature,
the board voted 4-2 earlier this year
to allow an exception if districts got
the sponsorship of a federally rec-
ognized tribe. Vice Chairwoman
Angela Bowen said the Board of
Education had been “bullied” by
the Oregon Legislature into acting
against their consciences.
Warrenton had been pursuing a
possible agreement with the Confed-
erated Tribes of Grand Ronde, which
last month signed a sponsorship
agreement with the Banks School
District regarding their mascot, the
Braves. Banks will have a redesigned
logo approved by Grand Ronde, and
incorporate local Native American
history curriculum designed by the
tribe into social studies classes.
Jeffery said all it would take is
a change in the governor’s offi ce or
tribal council in Grand Ronde to end
the exception, adding the sponsoring
tribe could nix the agreement with
two weeks’ notice. Similar concerns
led the Three Rivers School District
in Grants Pass to move away from
the Fort Vannoy Elementary School
Indians and Fleming Middle School
Rogues earlier this year.
“I think it’s important to note that,
however we feel about keeping imag-
ery, there’s a lot of district resources
spent working through this,” board
member Greg Morrill said. “I think
we’ve got a lot more important
things you could be doing.”
See MASCOT, Page 10A