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7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017 County: Charter establishes commissioner seats as volunteer positions Continued from Page 1A “It is made for us to rub- ber stamp,” Thompson said. “I have a great concern about this. This is why I’m making noise.” Other commissioners have a completely opposite viewpoint. “That just doesn’t make sense to me. It never has,” Lee said. “Why are we trying to fix something that’s not broken?” Oversight The charter was adopted in 1989 in a home-rule style, meaning residents decide how the county’s government is set up and operates. It establishes commissioner seats as vol- unteer positions that hire and oversee the county manager, who supervises a full-time staff of roughly 200 people. The board is required to meet twice each month. Staff and the county manager keep a three-month calendar of items they want to have decided on at upcoming board meetings. The meeting agenda, which also can be amended at the start of each meeting, is then passed along to the board chairman for approval. What items are placed on the agenda often varies with each new batch of commis- sioners, said County Manager Cameron Moore, who took over the position last year. “When I got here in April (2016), it was a pretty experi- enced group,” Moore said. “A lot more items were placed on the consent calendar. Routine issues for government are not necessarily routine things for citizens.” A meeting agenda in April, Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Clatsop County Commissioners Sarah Nebeker, left, and Scott Lee, right, preside over a recent board meeting held Wednesday. More photos online at DailyAstorian.com for example, contained nine items on the consent calendar, which is approved by commis- sioners all at once. No items were scheduled to be deliber- ated or decided on individu- ally in what is known as the business agenda. At the start of each meet- ing, commissioners can vote to add or recategorize agenda items. At the April meeting, four of the nine items were moved from the consent cal- endar to the business agenda. “It’s so easy to put some- thing on the agenda,” Lee said. “This is a nonissue to me.” But some commissioners spoke with the Moore about what types of items should be placed on the agenda. As a rule of thumb, any item with a fiscal impact of more than $50,000 is included, Moore said. Lee said commissioners, especially those without pre- vious government experience, such as Sullivan, often have difficulty adjusting to what items should or should not be decided by the board. He dis- tinguished between political activism and being part of a government. “The system works great,” Lee said. “There’s nothing wrong with the way we do things. It comes down to peo- ple knowing how the system works.” Sullivan said she is still learning how the process works and understands the charter does dictate certain things. But she also would like to see changes to how the board makes decisions. “If I believe in government and that citizens should have an input in government, then I should walk the walk,” she said. “I don’t think that is a good way to govern.” Micromanage County commissioners searched for executive stabil- ity when they hired Moore, a veteran government adminis- trator, after going through nine county managers in 16 years. County staff includes those hired specifically to carry out the business of departments such as public health and pub- lic works, as well as those who work in the county manager’s office. Since commissioners are elected volunteers, many of whom have full-time jobs outside of their public roles, they should not microman- age skilled, specialized county staffers, Clement said. “We are not involved in daily operations at all,” Clem- ent said. “We hire the county manager to put good peo- ple in place. We could tech- nically spend time deliber- ating about whether or not to allow staff to buy a Xerox copy machine, but that would not be effective.” As representatives of county residents, commis- sioner business should, when- ever possible, be conducted during open meetings instead of behind the scenes with staff, Nebeker said. “We have to abide by cer- tain guidelines,” she said. “We deliberate in public in open meetings to avoid any appear- ance of lack of transparency. We’re committed to that.” Thompson, on the other hand, does not view the volun- teer title as relevant in terms of how much weight should be given to staff input versus commissioner deliberation and research. “This is the governing body of Clatsop County,” she said. “Staff gives us solutions, but we don’t discuss them. They’re in charge of us. It’s antithetical to change influ- enced by anyone else. It’s about control. ” ‘Rushed’ Thompson recently drew criticism for the amount of travel expenses she has claimed since her election in 2014. She said at a recent meeting that expenses are an essential part of carrying out board business and that other commissioners did not seem to have an appetite to act upon long-term goals. “We’re accountable to the people of Clatsop County the same way as if we were paid $1 million a year,” she said. “It wasn’t intended that we be irrelevant. We have such a thin, rushed time frame.” Thompson and Lee have been particularly at odds with each other over how the board should function, with Thomp- son saying the chairman hands too much power to the county manager when he approves the agenda. “No matter what, Scott backs the county manager,” she said. At the same time, Lee argues he only operates within the confines of the charter. “She has spoken disparag- ingly of the charter since she came to office,” Lee said. “It makes commissioners closer to the citizens. I don’t know why Commissioner Thomp- son has such disrespect for the home-rule style.” Goal-setting sessions One recent solution has been to schedule special goal-setting sessions between commissioners, staff and the county manager, although the sessions have had mixed reviews, as well. While com- missioners such as Nebeker have found them to be pro- ductive, Thompson lamented the lack of concrete goals produced. In the future, commission- ers could benefit from clearly articulating their ideas in a productive manner, Nebeker said. “I have full confidence that every commissioner has the best intentions,” she said. “Whether that is well-commu- nicated is what we need to be mindful of.” Kucera: Also served as the city’s emergency manager Continued from Page 1A in my mind, an aggressive agenda that needs to be pur- sued when it comes to afford- able housing, how we’re going to use our room tax money in the future and implementing the water and sewer master plans,” he said. Kucera’s last day in Can- non Beach will be June 30. He starts in Sisters July 5, replac- ing Rick Allen, who has served as interim city manager since April 2016. Final approval is contingent upon the ratifica- tion of an employment agree- ment between Kucera and the city. In Cannon Beach, Kucera succeeded interim City Man- ager Jennie Messmer. The previous city man- ager, Rich Mays, held the posi- tion for more than eight years before retiring. Nationwide recruitment A University of Idaho grad- uate with a master’s degree in public administration from Northern Michigan University, Kucera was chosen over three other candidates from a pool of 47 applicants. The nationwide recruitment effort was led by the League of Oregon Cities. Over the past 13 years, Kucera has worked in munic- ipal governments in Pennsyl- vania, Michigan and Idaho. He had previously managed Penn- sylvania’s Borough of Kennett Square before coming to the Oregon Coast. At a 2014 meet-and-greet at the Surfsand Resort with community members and local officials, Kucera said that he envisioned himself settling down on the Oregon Coast for quite some time. During his time in Cannon Beach, Kucera helped the city adopt its first strategic plan, which he called “the founda- tion we’re going to need to move forward as a commu- nity.” The plan was devel- oped from a citizen survey that received a 40 percent response rate from the city’s 1,700 residents. He worked to prioritize and address housing, infrastructure and emergency services needs, Kucera also served as the city’s emergency manager. “I had heard he was in the running, but I had not heard anything about any decision being made,” City Councilor George Vet- ter said. “It’s too bad, but I’m sure we’ll get a good replacement.” Salmon: Only 14,700 pounds have been landed in April, May Continued from Page 1A ‘Bad one’ The entire southern half of the Oregon Coast and a portion of Northern California is closed to commercial ocean salmon fishing to protect a record low run of salmon returning to the Klamath River. Farther north in Oregon, fishing is restricted and poor weather condi- tions have limited fishermen’s chances to get out on the water. Commercial ocean salmon fishermen in Oregon have landed only 14,700 pounds in April and May. Last year, with the entire coast open, they landed 75,000 pounds in April and 86,000 pounds in May. Every year, fishery manag- ers have to juggle a combina- tion of forecasts and factors to set seasons on the ocean, said Chris Kern, a deputy adminis- trator with the Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife’s fish division. Some years are worse, some years are better. “This is a particularly bad one,” he said. Kern serves as a department designee on the Pacific Fish- ery Management Council, the body that, among other things, manages salmon species off the Washington state, Oregon and California coasts. This year, they had to choose between short, infrequent fishing peri- ods coastwide or slightly more fishing, but with closures in the south. ‘What do we do?’ Nancy Fitzpatrick, exec- utive director of the Oregon Salmon Commission, says she is fielding phone calls from cies put together an indus- try disaster assistance package that included cash payments, temporary jobs at state agen- cies, contracts with vessels for research work, human services counseling and other types of assistance. The Oregon Salmon Com- mission that year landed a grant that made it possible for them to contract with specialists who worked directly with fisher- men, connecting them with AP Photo/Don Ryan Oregon Gov. Kate Brown resources and information. speaks during her State of Fitzpatrick recently forwarded the State address in Portland the 2007 report on these activi- in 2015. Brown has joined ties and the state’s involvement California Gov. Jerry Brown at the time to Kate Brown’s in asking for a federal disas- office. She doesn’t know if a ter declaration over salmon. reminder of how the state fishermen asking, “What do we stepped in to help fisheries 11 years ago will produce any do?” Unfortunately, says Fitzpat- results. “From what I’ve heard rick, this is familiar ground. In 2006, salmon fisheries numbers are pretty tight right were also in the middle of a now (at the state),” she said. “I know there are people disaster declaration. The fleet faced the possibility of com- out there who are saying, ‘Fish plete closure in some areas and for other fisheries,’” she added. “Fish harder.” reduced fishing and Fitzpatrick bristles trip limits in others. at these kinds of state- Fishermen had ments. Often the com- landed 2.6 million mercial ocean salmon pounds in 2005, but in fishermen are already 2006 they only landed participating in other 485,500. This repre- fisheries. There is sented an 81.5 per- Nancy crab that typically cent drop in landings Fitzpatrick runs from Decem- for troll-gear fisheries, ber through March, while the overall har- vest revenue was the lowest salmon that starts up in April fishermen had seen since 2000, and tuna that runs through the according to a 2007 study by summer. “You can do all three of the Oregon Coastal Zone Man- those and it takes you through agement Association. Declarations of fishery the year,” Fitzpatrick said. emergencies, failures and “You take away salmon … disasters followed at the state well, you’re already fishing and federal level. Oregon Gov. harder. You can’t just make it Ted Kulongoski and state agen- up in the other fisheries.” 1 2 3 4 1. 2. 3. 4. CMH cares for the whole family. You can pay your bill online. CMH provides an athletic trainer to schools at no cost. 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