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. Departments then
can request additional funds,
prompting the county to make
a decision based on the previ-
W A NTED
registration
Reg ister
Thompson said. “What we’re
not doing in my mind is look-
ing at community needs.”
Leinassar Dental Excellence
summer and fall classes in
Trusted, Caring and Affordable Dental Care
• Co ntem po ra ry
• M o dern
• M usica l Thea tre
• Acro ba tic Arts
Hear what loyal and new patients alike are saying...
• Ba llet
• Ta p
• Ja zz
• H ip-H o p
Photo by James Olson | Alderbrook Imaging
Little Ba llet Thea ter sponsors
17th An n u a l N UTCRACK ER
TIO N S
Ta p Festiva l AUDI
S EPTEM BER 23 RD
S a tu rd a y
M a y 6th, 7p m
Lib erty Thea ter
Friend ly, com petent service...I
ha d a tooth em ergency a nd
they sta yed la te to fix it the
very d a y I called .
- D avid M .
333333
3333
MADDOX
Dance Studio
389 S . M AIN AVE.
W ARREN TO N
503-861-1971
m a d d o xd a n cers.co m
Life member of Dance Educators of America | Certified to teach Dance Masters of America
Member Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce
5 03 .3 25 .03 10 14 14 M a rin e Drive, Asto ria
w w w .sm ilea sto ria .co m
JEFFREY M . LEINASSAR
DM D, FAGD