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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2017
Jewell: ‘This is one of the more contentious budgets we’ve dealt with’
Continued from Page 1A
The school district’s budget
committee, including three of
the five members on the Jew-
ell School Board, voted 5-3 to
approve the track renovations
and several smaller projects.
The school board will vote
later this month to adopt the
budget.
The track project is part
of an overall budget of about
$22.5 million, including a
$5.1 million operating fund,
more than $800,000 in capi-
tal projects including the track
and more than $15 million in
the district’s investment fund,
from which the funding for
the track will come. Jewell
receives between $3 million
and $6 million annually in tim-
ber tax revenue.
“This is one of the more
contentious budgets that we’ve
dealt with … considering some
major projects,” said Bryan
Swearingen, chairman of both
the Jewell School Board and
the budget committee.
But the budget, he said,
includes some projects the dis-
trict needs to do.
Mike Stahly, another
school board member, said
Megan Golden/Submitted Photo
Junior Emma Guillen practices jumping at Jewell School’s track, which will undergo
more than $700,000 in renovations this summer.
the district is getting a good
deal at $700,000 to reno-
vate the track, with bids at
nearby school districts com-
ing in at more than $1 mil-
lion. Astoria School District
has been discussing options to
renovate the track at Astoria
High School, last rehabbed in
1989.
Improving track
Fix said the track at Jewell
School was likely installed in
the early 1980s, and has been
worn down over the years by
ultraviolet radiation.
“Running on this track is
like running on the highway,
and our kids’ legs get beat up,”
he said.
The main track proj-
ect includes demolishing the
existing surface down to the
concrete and adding 3 inches
of asphalt and another 1/2
inch of synthetic track mate-
rial from the project’s general
contractor Beynon, which spe-
cializes in running surfaces. At
$193,000, the new track will
include a urethane layer to pro-
tect from the sun.
At the D-shaped crook
at the north end of the track
oval will be new areas for
the long and triple jump and
pole vault. The budget com-
mittee also voted to fund sev-
eral options on top of the track
project, including new discus
and shot put areas on the south
end of the oval, a built-in irri-
gation system, new football
goal posts and a blue track sur-
face for the school mascot, the
Bluejays.
Exposed to heavy rains for
much of the year without a
working drainage system, the
track and field can turn into a
swamp, which Fix said also
makes the facility untenable
for meets. Hunsaker said the
project will help address the
entire Jewell School campus’
drainage issues by installing
new underground pipes and
catch basins and routing run-
off from the track and uphill to
the north and south, away from
buildings.
“This will really address
our water issues across the
whole campus,” she said.
Bringing track home
Fix said he still has not fig-
ured out when the last meet
was held at Jewell School but
is compiling a history of the
track team. He envisions the
newly renovated facility host-
ing league, alumni and other
meets, bringing the commu-
nity together.
Hunsaker said the district
is looking forward to
showcasing the campus and
having athletes perform at
home.
“Like any other sport, they
want the opportunity to per-
form on their home facility in
front of their friends and fam-
ily,” Hunsaker said. “They
deserve that like any other
event.”
Boatworks: Tenants cannot extend their leases with the Port beyond 2019
Continued from Page 1A
Tongue Point
Port Commissioner Bill
Hunsinger has been filling
in as president for Commis-
sioner Robert Mushen, who
has not attended a meeting in
person since experiencing a
medical emergency during a
contentious meeting in early
April. Last Month, Mushen
phoned in and said the issue
was related to high blood
pressure, and that he was still
recovering.
Prior to Hill’s presenta-
tion, Hunsinger had added a
discussion of Tongue Point to
the agenda.
“It seems like there’s a
change in direction of the
Port in the direction we’re
going with Tongue Point,”
Hunsinger said.
North Tongue Point
includes J&H, WCT and
Pacific Coast Seafood, tem-
porarily occupying one of
the hangars while rebuild-
ing its burned-down plant in
Warrenton. Port Financial
Director Will Isom said the
Port has lost about $250,000
a year at North Tongue Point
over the past five years.
After 30 years at North
Tongue Point, marine con-
tractor J.E. McAmis recently
moved to a location at the
confluence of the Cowlitz
and Columbia rivers in
Longview, Washington, after
failing to reach a long-term
deal with the Port. Port Prop-
erty and Contracts Direc-
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
WCT Marine & Construction Inc. employee Jeremy Milligan works to cut the outerskin of a ship in order to remove an
engine in 2016, at North Tongue Point in Astoria. The WCT and J&H Boatworks warehouses are adjacent to one another
and the businesses sometimes work together on repair jobs.
tor Shane Jensen has said,
although the Port doesn’t
want to kick anyone out, ten-
ants know they cannot extend
their leases with the Port
beyond 2019.
Even if the Port could
acquire North Tongue Point,
Knight said, the purchase
would be of land with tens of
millions of dollars worth of
problems. “I’m not saying we
shouldn’t do it, but we don’t
have the financial resources
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yet,” he said, adding the state
has declined to help acquire
the property.
Knight said he is still wait-
ing for a meeting between
the Port, economic develop-
ment agency Business Ore-
gon, the state Department
of Environmental Quality
and state Sen. Betsy John-
son, D-Scappoose, about the
possibility of putting North
Tongue Point in a brownfield
land bank. The change would
provide a potential avenue to
acquisition and development
as part of a cleanup of histor-
ical contamination at the site.
Port Commissioner Ste-
phen Fulton, who lost to fel-
low Commissioner James
Campbell in the May elec-
tion, will end his four-year
term next month. He said
the Port needs to figure out
immediately what it will do
at North Tongue Point.
“I hate to kick the can to
the next commission, but I
think this should be No. 1
on your priorities, is what
are you going to do about
Tongue Point,” he said.
In other news:
• The Port Commission
voted to have staff award
a $41,000 contract to Fox
Erosion Control and Land-
scape Inc. to fix the deterio-
rated bioswale that has pre-
vented the Port’s new Pier
3 stormwater system from
being activated. The Port
had been required by July to
activate a new stormwater
treatment system to reduce
the amount of copper enter-
ing the Columbia River. The
agency’s general contractor,
Conway Construction Co.,
largely finished the project
in November, but heavy rains
eroded and compacted much
of a bioswale in the system
meant to leach metals from
stormwater. Port Director of
Operations Matt McGrath
said Fox Erosion control is
ready to start work within a
week’s notice.
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234th Army Band
“Sea to Shining Sea”
An evening of patriotic music and a medley of Service Songs
The 234th A rm y Ba n d w ill be perform in g John W illia m s’ “The Cow boys O vertu re,”
“Shen a n doa h” by Fra n k Ticheli, a n d “Rha psody in Blu e” by George Gershw in .
7:00 p.m. Friday • June 30, 2017
AT THE LIBERTY THEATRE
To receive free tickets, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
Arm y Ba n d Tick ets
c/o The Da ily A storia n
P.O. Box 210
A storia , OR 97103
Tick ets a re lim ited. Up to 4 tick ets per hou sehold. Tick ets a re a va ila ble u n til Ju n e 20, 2017