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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2017)
5A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 Position 5: Candidates disagree on three-year $1.96M bond measure PAT O’GRADY Continued from Page 1A Age: 58 Commission role O’Grady and Spence recently held a joint radio interview with Joan Herman of Coast Community Radio. Although both agreed on the need for mutual respect among commissioners, the two candidates differed in their views of the Port Com- mission’s role and the perfor- mance of the agency’s staff. Spence has said the Port Commission should set pol- icy and let staff carry out directives without interfer- ence. He said staff is getting bogged down in minutiae caused by the commission’s internal squabbling. “The public is not happy at all with what’s going on there,” Spence said during the interview with Herman. O’Grady, who has largely echoed the arguments of Commissioner Stephen Ful- ton, his ally, said there needs to be more disclosure by staff to the Port Commission. He has claimed the agency’s bylaws are not being fol- lowed, and that the commis- sion is not receiving weekly updates. Without elaborat- ing, O’Grady has alleged that The Daily Astorian has been publishing incorrect informa- tion from Port Commission meetings. Airport bond The Port is asking county voters for a $1.96 million, three-year bond measure to build out a southern portion of the airport to accommo- date Life Flight and future development. While he supports Life Flight, O’Grady said, he does not support the bond measure. He said the measure has been misrepresented as all going toward helping the helicop- ter medevac service. Echoing Fulton’s argument, he said the Port should find a cheaper place to put Life Flight with- out taxpayer funding, while focusing on taking care of Residence: Astoria Occupation: Longshoreman, farmer. Education: Hillsboro High School, Clatsop Community College. Length of time in Clatsop County: 38 years. Prior Experience: Owner, Warrenton Auto & Marine Re- pair Inc.; Clatsop County Plan- ning Commission; Hammond Marina Task Force; Clatsop County Dive Team; Warrenton Business Association; Wash- ington-Oregon Columbia River Recreational Advisory Group. FRANK SPENCE Age: 81 Residence: Astoria Occupation: Retired Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science and mas- ter’s degree in public admin- istration from the University of Michigan. Length of time in Clatsop County: Three years. Prior Experience: City man- ager, county administrator in Florida; Port of Astoria Budget Committee; Astoria Planning Commission; Clatsop County Charter Review Committee. existing infrastructure rather than spending on speculative development. Spence said he supports the bond measure and has not received any negative feed- back. He said the proposed development will help locate Life Flight in a more suitable spot away from other fixed- wing aircraft and helicopters. Support O’Grady has received campaign contributions from Port Commissioner Bill Hunsinger and Chris Con- naway, president of the local International Longshore and Warehouse Union chapter. Spence has received contribu- tions from Bridgewater Bis- tro owner Tony Kischner and Bornstein Seafoods. WORLD IN BRIEF Associated Press White House says Trump won’t immediately pull out of NAFTA WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has told the lead- ers of Mexico and Canada that he will not pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement at this time, just hours after administration officials said he was considering a draft executive order to do just that. The White House made the surprise announcement Wednesday in a read-out of calls involving Trump, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries,” said the White House. Trump said he believes “the end result will make all three coun- tries stronger and better.” The Mexican government confirmed the conversation in a statement issued late Wednesday. As Trump calls for wall, a look at the world’s barriers As President Donald Trump marks 100 days in office, he is vowing to keep his campaign promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Despite widespread skepticism and Mexico’s refusal to pay for the wall, as Trump has demanded, the U.S. government has been soliciting bids and test sections could be built as soon as this summer. Physical barriers are as old as humanity and have proven to be effective over the centuries at protecting borders. But fences can also have unwanted consequences, like destroying city neighbor- hoods, harming the environment and preventing innocent victims from reaching safety. Here is a look at some of the world’s barriers. Some are rather simple, while others are massive enterprises that cost billions. Gen- erally they have been paid for through standard budgeting proce- dures, with none sparking a funding dispute of the kind that has emerged with Mexico. For more video, images and detail on each, visit https://apnews.com/tag/WorldWalls . Science Image Green crabs are an invasive species that have damaged shell- fish harvests and uprooted eelgrass beds. New population of invasive green crabs found in Washington SEQUIM, Wash. — More invasive green crabs have been found in Washington state’s inland waters, this time at Dungeness Spit near Sequim. A team with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captured a total of 13 European green crabs in recent weeks as part of the Washing- ton Sea Grant’s crab team detection program. Officials say the numbers indicate the invasive predators are more abundant at Dungeness Spit than at two other locations in the state’s inland waters. Volunteers discovered the invasive crab last summer on San Juan Island. More were found and trapped in Padilla Bay near Mount Vernon last fall. Green crabs are an invasive species that have damaged shellfish harvests and uprooted eelgrass beds. Officials say the population can grow quickly so early detec- tion and quick intervention is needed. They’re developing a plan to monitor and remove others. White House backs off as lawmakers work to avert shutdown United raising limit on payments to bumped flyers to $10,000 WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are nearing agreement on sweeping spending legislation to keep the lights on in government, after the White House backed off a threat to withhold payments that help lower-income Americans pay their medical bills. It was the latest concession by the White House, which had ear- lier dropped a demand for money for President Donald Trump’s border wall. Even with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, the Trump administration is learn- ing that Democrats retain significant leverage when their votes are needed on must-pass legislation. A temporary funding bill expires Friday at midnight, and GOP leaders late Wednesday unveiled another short-term spending bill to prevent a government shutdown this weekend, something Republicans are determined to avoid. There appears little chance of that as lawmakers worked to resolve final stumbling blocks on issues like the environment, though a short-term extension of existing funding levels is likely. “The fundamental issue is keeping the government open, that’s our focus,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a top member of the vote-counting team in the House. DALLAS — United Airlines says it will raise the limit — to $10,000 — on payments to customers who give up seats on over- sold flights and will increase training for employees as it deals with fallout from the video of a passenger being violently dragged from his seat. United is also vowing to reduce, but not eliminate, overbooking — the selling of more tickets than there are seats on the plane. The airline made the promises today as it released a report detailing mistakes that led to the April 9 incident on a United Express plane in Chicago. United isn’t saying whether ticket sales have dropped since the removal of a 69-year-old passenger by three airport security officers, but the airline’s CEO admits it could be damaging. “I breached public trust with this event and how we responded,” Oscar Munoz told The Associated Press. “People are upset, and I suspect that there are a lot of people potentially thinking of not fly- ing us.” Thompson: County’s budget meeting will take place in early May Continued from Page 1A Most of Thompson’s expenses this year came in March, when she received more than $5,968 in reim- bursements. A large portion of those expenses stem from two conferences: the Earth- quake Engineering Research Institute in Portland on March 9 and a Mass Timber confer- ence March 27 to March 30. “I called for the whole board to define its work and a work plan with goals,” Thompson said. “I didn’t see an appetite for that process or result from others, and I promised to pursue it on my own.” She added that the board should have more time to dis- cuss goals at a retreat or addi- tional work sessions. Following Thompson’s comments, Commissioner Sarah Nebeker said she was having a hard time connect- ing the points between board goals and expenses. “So am I,” Lee said with a smile to Nebeker. Insufficient Thompson also argued the line-item budget amount allocated to commission- ers each year for expenses is insufficient. Since the 2013- 2014 fiscal year, expendi- tures by the board have risen from $5,527.12 to the figure it sits at this year. Meanwhile, the money allocated to com- missioners has remained the same. “With your statement here and information that will inform the county manager and budget, they should con- sider, possibly, an adjustment for future years to set that bar a little higher,” Lee said to Thompson. Questions about Thomp- son’s expenses initially sur- faced during her first year on the board. Thompson was sworn in as a member of the board in Jan- uary 2015. She has claimed $16,292 in expenses in the two years and three months since. Her $3,653 in expenses during her six months of ser- vice in the 2014-2015 fis- cal year compared to the $8,862 by commission- ers. She expended $5,311 of commissioners’ $10,116 in 2015-2016. “Yes, we’re tracking the financial expenditures,” Steele said the best oppor- tunity to weigh in on expenses would be at the county’s bud- get committee meeting. The meeting will take place in early May. ous year’s spending levels. “We looked at the histori- cal levels and since they were coming in under budget, we maintained that base budget amount,” Steele said. Clatsop Post 12 Beef Stew and Biscuits Saturday May 6 th Don Nelson Celebration Friday Life th April 28 4 pm until gone of $ 8. 00 2 PM Clatsop Post 12 6PM “Karaoke Dave” ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Clatsop Post 12 N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A 1132 Exchange Street 325-5771 Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 now open for N ow Base budget Lee added, though, that it is important for commis- sioners to pursue their goals within the parameters of the county charter. The county maintains the same base budget for all gen- eral fund departments, such as the Board of Commis- sioners, each year, Budget and Finance Director Monica Steele said. 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