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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2017
Council OKs loan for bridge project
Absence of
matching funds
would force
‘hard decisions’
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria City Council
on Monday night authorized
staff to apply for a loan to pay
for a portion of the Waterfront
Bridges Replacement Project.
Aging wooden bridges
that connect the ends of Sixth
through 11th streets to overwa-
ter piers, and provide pedes-
trian and vehicular access to
waterfront businesses and
sites, can no longer safely bear
heavy loads and need to be
replaced.
In 2014, the city entered
into an intergovernmen-
tal agreement with the state
Department of Transporta-
tion for the design phase. The
department is funding 90 per-
cent of the bridge replacement
project; Astoria is responsible
for a 10 percent match.
As the design comes
together, the city has discov-
ered two additional costs,
according to City Sup-
port Engineer Cindy Moore,
co-manager of the project with
City Engineer Jeff Harrington.
One, the city will need to
relocate utilities — water and
sewer — in the area.
Two, the city needs to
improve the “11th Street
extension” — wood plank-
ing that extends from the 11th
Street bridge east of the road-
way (in front of Wet Dog Cafe
& Brewery). The work would
ensure the extension can also
handle highway loads when
the project is finished.
With the council’s approval,
city staff will apply for a
25-year loan, with a 3.5-per-
cent interest rate, through the
state Infrastructure Finance
Authority. The city will lever-
age its Surface Transportation
Program funds; future STP
funds will be used to pay back
the loan, Moore said.
‘There’s a possibility of
using other funds, but
this is a 25-year loan
that we’re lookintg at.’
Cindy Moore
city support engineer
These expenses are cur-
rently estimated at $337,000,
and the entire cost must be paid
solely by the city, according to
a staff report.
The project’s total estimated
cost to the city is $1.6 million.
So far, the city has contributed
$242,987 from Surface Trans-
portation Program funds, fed-
eral fuel tax money used by
states and localities for trans-
portation projects.
That leaves about $1.4 mil-
lion of the remaining match
amount for the city to raise.
Staff asked ODOT for a fund-
ing increase a few months ago,
and the request was denied, pri-
marily because the department
wanted to see the design devel-
oped a little further, Moore said.
Mayor Arline LaMear asked
Moore at Monday’s meeting
what will happen if the bridge
replacement project becomes
more expensive than is cur-
rently estimated and Astoria
can’t pay for the 10-percent
match.
“Then we will be making
some hard decisions,” Moore
said, including “the possibil-
ity of eliminating one of the
bridges from the project.”
“We really will be lever-
aged as much as we can with
STP funds. There’s a possibil-
ity of using other funds, but
this is a 25-year loan that we’re
looking at,” Moore continued.
“We would have to look at
more drastic alternatives.”
In other business:
• LaMear said the City
Council would send a note
of sympathy to the widow of
Frank Preusser, the conser-
vation scientist who led the
1995 restoration of the Astoria
Column.
John Goodenberger, a
local historian who worked
under Preusser for that project,
announced during public com-
ments that Preusser died last
month.
“Many of you may not
know of Frank Preusser, but
you’ve benefited from his
work,” he said.
Goodenberger, who served
as site manager for the col-
umn’s 2015 restoration, said,
“Without Frank’s guidance
and expertise 21 years ago, we
would not have had the base to
work from when we restored
the column a year and a half
ago. The 2015 restoration was
raised to a new level because
Frank laid the groundwork for
our approach.”
A conservationist of world
antiquities, Preusser worked
on the Dead Sea Scrolls,
Queen Nefertari’s tomb and the
Sphinx, Goodenberger said.
LaMear had heard the
recent restoration team speak
of Preusser fondly and often.
“He was just sort of the godfa-
ther of the Column,” LaMear
said.
• The council adopted an
ordinance increasing the city
manager’s spending authority
from $10,000 to $50,000.
Brown accepts putting records advocate under secretary of state
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Gov.
Kate Brown is open to hous-
ing a public records advocate
in the Secretary of State’s
Office, rather than under her
control.
The Oregonian reported
that Brown, who ran on a
platform of ethics reform, has
proposed creating a records
advocate but has repeat-
edly wavered on who should
direct the new position. On
Monday, Brown’s counsel on
government accountability
Emily Matasar said the posi-
tion would be under the sec-
retary of state.
A bill in the Legisla-
ture filed at the request of
Brown would create a public
records advocate. The advo-
cate would serve as a medi-
ator between journalists, citi-
zens and public agencies.
Matasar said Monday in
a Legislative hearing that
Brown is in talks to put the
position under the Secretary
of State’s Office, where the
state archives are housed.
Republicans had criticized
W A NTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Brown for wanting the advo-
cate under her control. Secre-
tary of State Dennis Richard-
son is the first Republican to
hold the office in 30 years.
Port wants lawsuit
over hotel thrown out
Fallout from
Smithart’s
rocky tenure
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria has
asked a judge to throw out the
case brought by Portland-area
hotel operators Param Hotel
Group over operation of the
Astoria Riverwalk Inn.
The Port’s lawyers filed
a motion for summary judg-
ment last week against
Param, arguing that “the
undisputed facts confirm that
there was never an enforce-
able contract.”
Param originally filed suit
in November 2015, claim-
ing the Port had breached an
agreement to re-assign the
company a lease on the Riv-
erwalk Inn from heavily
indebted hotelier Brad Smi-
thart and his company Hospi-
tality Masters. The Port Com-
mission had approved of such
a transfer at a June 2015 meet-
ing, but the two sides never
finalized the transfer.
The Port claims Smithart,
who operated the hotel from
March 2012 to September
2015, went behind the back
of the agency and Param try-
ing to find a better deal as he
ended his tenure.
“Upon learning of this
behavior, the Port declined to
risk further reliance on Smi-
thart and exercised its right to
terminate the lease between
the Port and Hospitality
Masters so it could negoti-
ate a new lease directly with
other potential operators,” the
Port’s lawyers argued.
The Port heard several
proposals to run the hotel,
and in September 2015 chose
Astoria Hospitality Ventures.
Param included Hospitality
Ventures in its lawsuit, claim-
ing the Port showed favorit-
ism toward the chosen oper-
ator, whose co-owner is a
brother-in-law of a Port com-
missioner. Hospitality Ven-
tures was eventually removed
from the lawsuit, after a
judge ruled there was nothing
wrong with company’s lob-
bying of the Port Commission
for the hotel’s operation.
Debt mounting
As the Port seeks to have
Param’s case against it dis-
missed, the agency continues
a lawsuit against Smithart.
The Port is seeking
more than $400,000 in past-
due rent and revenue-shar-
ing from Smithart, who has
denied most of the allega-
tions. A trial was set for July.
The same month the Port
filed suit, a Clatsop County
Circuit Court judge levied a
$118,331 judgment against
Smithart for past-due room
taxes owed to the city of
Astoria.
Last month, the Ore-
gon Department of Reve-
nue issued a distraint war-
rant against Smithart for
more than $55,000 in unpaid
income tax, allowing the state
to garnish his wages and bank
accounts. The warrant can
become a judgment and lien
on any property controlled by
Smithart until the debt is paid
in full. Smithart still operates
the Arc Arcade in downtown
Astoria.
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Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
G o n e , B u t N e v e r F o r g o t t e n
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