The daily Astorian., November 08, 2016, Page 7A, Image 7

7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016
Brian Davies/The Register-Guard
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Election board workers prepare ballots for counting on
Monday in Astoria.
Election workers sort through ballots in Salem on Mon-
day in the Marion County clerks office. Oregon’s secretary
of state says just over half of Oregon’s registered voters
had cast ballots by Monday morning.
Robert Graves, back right, and Tom Lesiak, front right,
take ballots from passing motorists on the eve of the
election in downtown Eugene on Monday. The pair, one a
Democrat and the other a Republican, have been working
the busiest ballot box in town for more than a decade.
Election: County voter turnout hit 83 percent in 2012
Continued from Page 1A
county officials, and they had to shift
gears to deal with the high volume.
As ballots began to flood the office
at the end of October, county clerk
staff helped the two election workers
on duty sort ballots.
Election workers also began the
bulk of their processing and validat-
ing work a day earlier than normal,
on Thursday. This work continued
through Friday, stopped for the week-
end, then started up again Monday.
They will continue counting ballots
through Tuesday night.
In the last presidential race in 2012,
total voter turnout in Clatsop County
hit 83 percent with more than 21,000
registered voters and 18,007 ballots
cast.
Other races
Voters in Seaside will weigh a
$99.7 million bond to move three
schools out of the tsunami inunda-
tion zone. In Cannon Beach, voters
will decide whether to ban retail sales
of marijuana. And in Warrenton, vot-
ers will determine whether to require
double-majority voter approval to dis-
pose of city assets valued at $100,000
or more.
In Astoria, east side voters will
chose between Bruce Jones, a former
U.S. Coast Guard commander, and
Cory Pederson, a music teacher, for
City Council.
Pam Ackley, a real-estate broker
appointed to the Warrenton City Com-
mission in 2015, is facing Ryan Lampi,
a construction project manager.
Don Johnson, the Seaside City
Council president, is up against Tom
Horning, a geologist.
In Gearhart, Matt Brown, a golf
pro, and Bob Shortman, a property
manager, are running for mayor.
Three candidates have thrown in
their names for two councilor-at-large
positions in Cannon Beach: Herb
Florer, Brandon Ogilvie and Nancy
McCarthy.
Countdown
No need for Clatsop County vot-
ers to leave the comfort of their couch
or bed on election night this year. A
new website will allow anyone to
track and follow election results as
they unfold.
This new centralized website was
launched by the Secretary of State
in partnership with county elections
officials across Oregon. It replaces
an old state elections results web-
site and includes individual election
results pages for each county. Go to
http://bit.ly/2egAW87. Results will
be posted beginning at 8 tonight.
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Marion County clerk Bill Burgess stands Monday next to
shelves laden with ballots whose results have been digi-
tally recorded in Salem.
Election official Linda Read carries ballots through the
processing center at the Lane County Election Headquar-
ters in Eugene on Monday.
John Hawkins collects a ballot from a driver at the drive-
by drop site located at the corner of Wall Street and Lafay-
ette Avenue in Bend on Monday.
Pool: Aquatic Center is
subsidized by the city
Continued from Page 1A
Expensive sport
Parents pay $60 a month
in swim club dues and $40 a
month for youth passes at the
Aquatic Center, in addition to
a USA Swimming annual reg-
istration fee, an annual club
registration fee, and swim
meet entry fees. The Dolphins
have 19 swimmers, down from
about 50 in years past, and
typically use three lanes for
training.
Wingard said the swim
club, which has a four-decade
history in Astoria, expects to
pay its fair share. But he called
the rental fees unreasonable
and said there would be conse-
quences for the club.
“The first is we fold,” he
said.
An alternative would be to
rent one lane, instead of three,
which would limit training
opportunities.
“We feel that the value of
competitive swim club is too
great to be lost,” Wingard said.
“So we’re going to do every-
thing that we can to avoid
ceasing operations.”
Jeff Smith, whose daughter
‘Parks and Recreation needs
to patch up its sinking ship.
This is not the way to do it.’
Zetty Nemlowill
Astoria city councilor
is on the swim club, said the
club is a community treasure.
“Please let us try to find a
compromise that will allow
both the AAC and NCSC to
thrive and fulfill their mutual
missions,” he said of the
Aquatic Center and the swim
club. “The fee proposal put
before you this evening does
not make that possible.”
Subsidized by city
The Aquatic Center, like
other parks programs, is sub-
sidized by the city. The Parks
and Recreation Department is
under pressure to contain costs
and could face significant cuts
in the coming months.
While the lane rental fees
would not cover costs, Cosby
said, “I think the $5 per lane,
per hour is a step in the right
direction to a reasonable
subsidy.”
The City Council, though,
did not impose the rental fees
on the swim club. Council-
ors voted unanimously for a
60-day moratorium to discuss
discount options for young
swimmers at the club and the
high school.
City Councilor Zetty Nem-
lowill said the swimmers “are
some our best customers at the
Aquatic Center. And so I don’t
see any reason why it’s fair to
start charging lane rental fees
for North Coast Swim Club.
“Parks and Recreation
needs to patch up its sinking
ship,” she said. “This is not the
way to do it.”
Mayor Arline LaMear said
the rental fees appear exces-
sive on top of what parents are
already paying. “Cities have
to subsidize pools,” she said.
“But I don’t think it should be
on the back of these parents.”
Smithart: Port has also been looking at
some type of legal action against Smithart
Continued from Page 1A
Smithart signed a con-
fession of judgment on his
$119,918 debt that allows the
city to go to court to collect
without a trial if he defaults.
He had agreed to pay $150 a
week from June through Sep-
tember and $100 a week from
October through May.
The City Council last April
had authorized Henningsgaard
to sue Smithart, but there
was some skepticism about
whether the businessman,
who is involved with the Arc
Arcade downtown, has assets
to cover the debt. The pay-
ment plan was seen as a way
to recover at least some of the
back taxes.
The city is concerned that
letting Smithart off would set
a precedent for other hoteliers
who fail to pay room taxes.
Smithart could not immedi-
ately be reached for comment.
The Port of Astoria has also
been looking at some type of
legal action against Smithart
for his debt to the Port.
The civil cases arose after
Clatsop County District Attor-
ney Josh Marquis decided last
year not to prosecute Smithart
on criminal charges. Prose-
cution was considered diffi-
cult because the state would
have had to prove Smithart
intended to defraud the city
and the Port.
Smithart was pushed out as
operator of the Riverwalk Inn
last year by the Port, which
owns the property. He had
struggled to make payments
since taking over the former
Red Lion in 2012.
Attorney William Orr and
developer Chester Trabucco
were chosen as the short-term
operators of the Riverwalk Inn
while the Port weighs a long-
term redevelopment plan for
land near the West End Moor-
ing Basin.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The North Coast Swim Club was shocked by a city plan to enforce lane rental fees at the
Astoria Aquatic Center.
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