The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, October 25, 2016, Page 7A, Image 7

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    7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016
Avakian: Claims of advocacy on the job
Continued from Page 1A
Bontecou, who previously
worked as Avakian’s cam-
paign manager during his
2011 bid for Congress, was
hired as his executive assis-
tant at BOLI in late 2013,
according to Andrzejewski.
Andrzejewski claims cam-
paign records show Bontecou
received $1,000 from Avaki-
an’s campaign fund in 2014
and donated $220 to Avaki-
an’s campaign fund in 2016.
Andrzejewski also claimed
Bontecou posted political
endorsements of Avakian on
social media during “official
BOLI business hours.”
Pyle said bonuses Labor
and Industries employees
received in 2014 and 2015
were in appreciation for
“advice and counsel” given in
those years.
He said that to his knowl-
edge, BOLI employees did
not engage in campaign work
on state time.
Pyle also said volunteers,
including Labor and Indus-
tries employees, have “sup-
ported” Avakian’s campaigns
in “a variety of ways.”
“It is also worth noting that
some BOLI employees are
former campaign employees,”
Pyle wrote. “…These bonuses
were issued in apprecia-
tion for providing advice and
counsel but the volunteers had
no expectation of payment.”
Political advocacy
Oregon law says that pub-
lic employees cannot engage
in political advocacy on the
job.
Andrzejewski also raised
questions about redactions
in public calendars for BOLI
employees obtained by a
watchdog group, the Ore-
gon Capitol Watch Founda-
tion, through a public records
request.
Under Oregon’s public
records law, public employ-
ee’s calendars are con-
sidered
public
records,
with an exemption for
personal appointments.
Calendars for the three
employees for an eight-month
period in 2015 included 1,660
redacted entries, a number of
personal appointments incon-
sistent with personal time
claimed by the employees on
payroll records, Andrzejewski
claimed.
Andrzejewski claimed the
agency “stalled” on the Ore-
gon Capitol Watch Founda-
tion request.
Jeff Kropf, the executive
director of the Oregon Cap-
itol Watch Foundation, who
made the initial requests for
employee calendars, pay-
roll, travel and reimburse-
ment information, could
not be reached for comment
Monday.
Charlie Burr, a spokes-
man for BOLI and one of the
employees who received a
bonus and made a contribu-
tion to Avakian’s campaign
committee, deferred ques-
tions about campaign funds to
the campaign. He said that the
public records request made
by Kropf to BOLI was filled
in a timely manner. “We did
not delay the release of the
records and in fact, waived
fees for the original portion
of the request,” Burr wrote in
an email Monday. We fulfilled
the calendar portion of the
request eight calendar days
after receiving payment.”
Pyle said the Forbes piece
was politically motivated.
“On the face of this, and
digging in to the personal
schedules of employees and
things like that, this is more
of Dennis Richardson and
his supporters using public
records requests to invade the
privacy of public servants of
Oregon,” Pyle said Monday.
Pyle referred to a 2012
incident in which Richard-
son, Avakian’s opponent
in the race for secretary of
state, obtained the emails of
thousands of state employ-
ees through a public records
request and sent messages to
those addresses en masse.
Seaside: Applicants
‘can’t just walk in and
get a business license by
walking into City Hall’
Continued from Page 1A
“I don’t know the details
of Astoria and how that could
be prevented under code,” he
added. “That would be some-
thing I would like to talk to
about with Mr. Mitchell.”
Seaside City Manager
Mark Winstanley said appli-
cations are reviewed by
building, planning and fire
officials.
Applicants “can’t just
walk in and get a business
license by walking into City
Hall,” he said. “They can
start the process, but that
does not finish the process.”
While councilors adopted
the ordinance, Montero was
alone in voting against a sec-
ond reading. She said she
wanted more time before
making a decision.
“I would advise anybody
who’s renting their build-
ings out, put in their leases
that they forbid that kind of
butane extraction or see what
their insurance companies
say,” Montero said after the
meeting, referring to a possi-
ble cause of last week’s fire
in Astoria. “I really am con-
cerned what could happen in
Seaside if someone’s not fol-
lowing the rules.”
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Gearhart: Dec. 16 is deadline for applications
Continued from Page 1A
testimony and all the accounts”
over a more than three-year
period after growing numbers
of complaints about short-term
rentals.
“The city took their time,
they listened to everybody,”
Connell said. “The process
provided an opportunity to
reinforce the intent of the
Gearhart comprehensive plan,
that Gearhart is primarily a res-
idential community and tour-
ism shall be limited.”
The city held at least 30
meetings and issued eight
drafts of the staff report, she
said. More than 300 letters,
both for and against the new
rules, were considered. A
Planning Commission draft
ordinance was modified to
eliminate a minimum-stay
requirement and lift some per-
mit limits.
information. Property owners
have until Dec. 16 to file their
application.
While property owners can
apply for a variance from a
requirement by applying to the
Planning Commission, all con-
ditions must be met within 180
days from Dec. 16, the last day
of the 60-day short-term prop-
erty owner application period.
Initiative ahead?
Townsend said he hopes
the notice of appeal will lead
to discussion between property
owners and city officials. “It
would be a good idea to work
on some of the things that are
punitive to be a win-win for
everybody,” he said.
“There’s no reason for there
to be winners or losers if we
can figure this out,” Townsend
said. “I think regulation is fine,
but it should be fair and rea-
sonable. We need to sit down
and think about the goals of
everyone involved. Some peo-
ple want to eliminate STRs,
others want to regulate. I’m in
the regulate camp.”
If the state appeal is unsuc-
cessful, Townsend said, prop-
erty owners plan to file a city
initiative to present alternative
short-term rental rules.
“The initiative is the
nuclear weapon we don’t want
to use,” he said. “As a commu-
nity in Gearhart, we should be
trying to find a solution that
works for everybody, not one
where there are winners and
losers. That doesn’t make for a
very good community.”
Residents supporting the
new rules have indicated they
will look to the city to challenge
any repeal of the rules and
could file a counter-initiative.
“We’ll see what LUBA
says,” Connell said. “It’s a leg-
islative process. We took all
the time needed and listened to
everybody.”
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Gearhart’s Ordinance 901
regulating vacation rentals
imposes caps mandates regis-
tration to existing short-term
rental properties.
According to Gearhart’s
City Administrator Chad
Sweet, properties available for
less than 30-day periods may
only be transferred by inheri-
tance, not sale.
Applications will only be
accepted if a homeowner can
prove they’ve rented out their
homes by paying transient
rental tax to the city prior to
submitting the application.
No new permits will be issued
after the application period
which ends Dec. 16. They’ll
need to pay a $600 application
fee — less $100 if homeown-
ers can show an approved go
bag.
After an application is pro-
cessed and the vacation rental
dwelling found to meet the
city’s requirements, the city-is-
sued permit must be posted in
a prominent location within
4 feet of the front entrance,
Sweet said.
The ordinance details occu-
pancy limits, parking rules and
property management contact
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