OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
OUR VIEW
Commission should
have authority over
ODOT’s director
O
regon legislators charged with crafting a transportation
package worth hundreds of millions of dollars are doing
the right thing by seeking more accountability within the
state Department of Transportation.
They should take the next step by including language in their
transportation bill to give the Oregon Transportation Commission
greater management oversight of ODOT’s performance.
Several disconnects between ODOT and the Transportation
Commission were detailed in a report by our Capital Bureau
last week when four past Transportation Commission chairmen
spoke with a subgroup of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on
Transportation Preservation and Modernization, which is charged
with creating a passable package. The meeting’s focus was to
help legislators get additional insights on ODOT accountability.
According to the state’s website, the commission estab-
lishes Oregon transportation policy and guides the planning,
development and management of our transportation network.
It meets monthly to oversee and evaluate the Department of
Transportation’s activities to carry out those policies.
Cry for oversight
A cry for more ODOT oversight arose in January when a $1
million independent audit portrayed the agency as lacking in dis-
sent and accountability, wasting money and needing greater over-
sight and guidance.
Two weeks prior to the audit’s release current Transportation
Commission Chairwoman Tammy Baney had complained to
Gov. Kate Brown that the commission, whose all-volunteer
members are gubernatorial appointees, needs more oversight
authority of ODOT’s director, who reports to the governor rather
than to the commission.
In Baney’s letter to the governor, she asked that Brown
include the commission in evaluating ODOT Director Matt
Garrett’s performance.
However, according to Garrett’ office as detailed in our report
last week, Garrett has not received a performance evaluation
since he began his tenure in 2005.
Until 1999, the ODOT director reported directly to the com-
mission rather than to the governor, former Commission
Chairman Stuart Foster told legislators. But the Legislature,
after years of pressure from then-Gov. John Kitzhaber, took
that authority away from the commission and placed it in the
Governor’s Office, Foster said. Minutes from the 1999 legislative
meetings on the bill don’t contain indications of the reasoning for
the change.
Like a private board
In the meeting with the legislative subgroup, former
Commission Chairman Mike Holleran, who served from 1987
through 1993, compared the commission to a private company’s
board of directors.
“You’re running the place, and you are responsible to the
shareholders, and then all of a sudden, someone else is appoint-
ing the director,” he said.
Foster, who served as
The commission
the commission’s chair-
is much closer
man from 2003 to 2007,
to the action
went even further, calling
the removal of the oversight than the
of the director’s position a
governor, and
“huge mistake.”
Holleran and Foster are
its members are
right, and legislators need to
qualified and in
correct that mistake by alter-
ing the leadership structure place to use the
in the transportation bill they expertise they
submit.
bring to those
What well-run, pri-
vate-sector company doesn’t positions.
evaluate its chief executive
at any point during a 12-year tenure, and how would any CEO
know if they were managing and leading successfully without
performance reviews?
Embarrassingly, Garrett’s tenure also includes the two years of
Brown’s governorship, so while she has publicly called for more
accountability — including ordering the independent audit that
was released in January with the negative findings — her leader-
ship actions since haven’t fully matched her words.
The commission is much closer to the action than the gover-
nor, and its members are qualified and in place to use the exper-
tise they bring to those positions.
They should be allowed to do just that, and legislators should
change ODOT’s chain of command structure. For additional
accountability in state government, they should also demand a
list of any other agency heads who report to the governor who
haven’t been evaluated and should consider changing those lead-
ership structures, too.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
No need to ‘wait till next year’
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
I
t’s a testament to just how
long Seaside fans have been
waiting that this is the first state
basketball championship for the
Gulls’ boys. They
defeated nemesis
Valley Catholic
March 11 73-61,
providing that
small can be better
when the right
elements come together.
For the Gulls, those elements
included top starters, a marquee
player in Jackson Januik, superior
coaching, depth on the bench and
a fan base that served as the “sixth
man” at the Gulls’ Nest.
Over the course of this miracle
season, we had a chance to celebrate
the Gulls’ basketball tradition,
following an arc of a school that just
kept getting better and better in the
march toward the hoops.
As far back as we can go in
our archives, Seaside took its
basketball seriously — even back
in 1920 when the game was very
different and the Gulls played in
what was then called the Columbia
League. The long-defunct Seaside
Independent Basketball League kept
players of all ages on the courts and
barnstorming teams put on game
demos in the 1930s and ’40s, from
the “Whiskered Wizards” to the
“Redheads Lady Basketeers,” surely
one of the first regional advances for
gender equality on the court.
Foundation for winning
In the 1960s, longtime coach
Larry Elliott took over Seaside’s
high school program from Tom
House, who built the foundation for
a winning tradition after coaching at
Knappa. Elliott went on to lead nine
tournament teams for the Gulls in
25 years.
In the days before the 3-point
shot, size was king, and the Gulls
built an offense around big players
who could find their way inside the
paint.
In a January interview, Elliott
shared how the Gulls have adapted
to changes in the game. Ball-
handling, the run-and-gun offense,
the smart percentage shots — all
contributed to the team’s extraordi-
nary success.
This year’s team may be the
school’s best ever.
“I was on the basketball team
when I was in high school, but we
didn’t do nearly as good,” City
Councilor Tom Horning said.
This year’s championship team
is “definitely” the best lineup former
Gulls’ star Brian Taylor has seen.
Taylor, now a school board mem-
ber and basketball coach, remembers
the 1993–94 team with standouts
Tim Campbell, Byren Thompson
and Ben Morris. “They were one of
those teams that went to state every
year but couldn’t close the deal,”
Taylor said. “Last year’s team had
the best record. They even had some
big guys, but when they went up
against Philomath, they were a little
bit bigger, they were a little bit faster
than us.”
Elusive title
Elliott’s successor, Coach Bill
Westerholm kept the winning tradi-
tion alive. But until this year, victory
at the state championship tourney
proved elusive.
“Everybody can handle the ball,
even the big guys,” Taylor said.
“We are just scrappy, tough. We
are in incredible shape. When half
your team is on the cross-country
and soccer team in the spring and
fall, you know that when they show
up on the basketball court, they’re
File Photo
The Redhead Basketeers were part of the basketball craze in Sea-
side that stretches back to the 1920s.
Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian
Boys huddle as Coach Bill Westerholm outlines the play.
Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian
Gulls’ girls and boys shared the stage.
going to be in shape and they’re
going to fly around. Their defensive
intensity was always at the highest
level and for me as a coach, that’s
how you coach kids to play basket-
ball. If you can keep the other team
from scoring more points than you,
you’re going to win every time.”
Coaching is key
with her biweekly updates of school
scores and activities, with every
Gulls’ win getting an official nod of
approval.
Is it any surprise that the Gulls
were greeted by a late-night motor-
cade as the team returned from their
win in Forest Grove?
For once, there was no talk of
bedtime.
Coaching is the key word, as
both boys’ and girls’ successes can
be directly attributed to coaches and
mentors.
To say that Seaside’s fans had
a role in the achievement is an
understatement: turning out for
every home game with enthusiasm
and game savvy. The support from
the Seaside community didn’t hurt
either — residents followed the
progress of the Gulls from early
on, as the boys started hot and kept
getting hotter. The girls under Mike
Hawes played strong, steady ball
and compiled a record that carried
them to the semifinals.
If they were to suffer defeat at
any team’s hands, it was fitting they
would fall in their finale to Sutherlin,
the team to take the crown.
And the city was there for the
Gulls every step of the way. City
Council student representative Lizzy
Barnes kept officials in the loop
What’s next for these Gulls?
A visit to City Council, for one
thing. They’ll be invited to City
Hall for the April 10 meeting. “They
deserve a proclamation,” Mayor
Jay Barber said at the March 13
meeting.
“As I was watching it all roll
out, I was thinking, ‘Seaside, we’re
a pretty small town,’” Councilor
Tita Montero said. “To have the top
placer and the third-placer come
from Seaside is a pretty big deal.
Congratulations to all the players
and coaches.”
“I echo those comments,” Barber
said. “I just think it’s a privilege to
the community where we have that
kind of teen sport energy.”
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s
South County reporter and editor
of the Seaside Signal and Cannon
Beach Gazette.
What’s next?