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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 7 ONE DOLLAR Youth prison to close in new state budget County hopes site becomes new jail By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Clatsop County will lose the North Coast Youth Correctional Facility but could gain a new county jail. The Warrenton facility was not in the state’s two-year budget adopted last week. Gov. Kate Brown placed the youth facility on the chopping block in December when she released her proposed spending plan , hoping to address a budget shortfall. The 50-bed facility near the Clat- sop County Sheriff’s Offi ce on S.E. 19th Street houses 14- to 25-year- old males. It specializes in sub- stance-abuse treatment, gang pre- Major fi xes needed for academy’s building vention and corrections for parole violators. Inmates can earn diplo- mas, take GED exams and learn trade skills through the facility’s educa- tional program, featuring one of the highest graduation rates of youth pris- ons in the state. “This is a big deal for the youth, the staff, their families, Clatsop County and the Oregon Youth Authority,” Benjamin Chambers, a spokesman for the youth authority, said. The number of inmates at the facil- ity has already been whittled down to 16. Everyone currently housed there will be transferred by mid-Septem- ber, and the facility will be offi cially closed by Oct. 1. The Oregon Youth Authority has been coordinating with facility’s 40 staff members to search for other work options, including positions at youth facilities in Florence and Tilla- mook as well as other state agencies. Overcrowded jail Clatsop County hired a private fi rm in May to study the feasibility of relocating the overcrowded county jail in Astoria to the youth facility site. Part of the study will examine how See YOUTH PRISON, Page 9A ‘HELP WANTED’ NORTH COAST EMPLOYERS GET CREATIVE TO FIN D NEW EMPLOYEES Cannon Beach school aims to make deadline By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — The city voted unanimously Monday night to approve a lease agreement with Cannon Beach Academy , leaving the school about a month to secure a building permit to tackle major renovations necessary to open in the fall. The city has fast-tracked the process ever since the academy was forced to change locations to the former Preschool and Children’s Center at 3781 S. Hemlock St. after a cost estimate at the original location on Sunset Boulevard was $150,000 over the board’s $90,000 budget. When the board decided MORE to pursue the former C hil- dren’s C enter, support- INSIDE ers heralded the space as a Cannon great alternative because it Beach was already designed to host tables timed children. But a report done in parking early June by an independent downtown contractor shows the build- Page 3A ing is in “substantial code non-compliance” to become a school as it stands, which could drive up costs. At one point, the report suggests that the city “weigh the options of removing the build- ing” versus doing the repair work . City Planner Mark Barnes said this partic- ular inspection should be considered a draft, and that a more tailored assessment will come after Cannon Beach’s newly hired building offi cial reviews the academy’s building plans. F ormer City Manager Brant Kucera and interim City Manager Jason Schermerhorn said there were no discussions about remov- ing the building. This still leaves the academy about a month to address a series of mold, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and fi re Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Businesses in several communities in Clatsop County are facing a labor shortage and are advertising for help. By KATIE FRANKOWICZ and BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian W See ACADEMY, Page 4A Submitted Photo Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The former Cannon Beach Preschool and Children’s Center needs significant repairs to become the new home to the Cannon Beach Academy. Rubi Torres preps food in the Buoy Beer Co. kitchen in Astoria. Torres is part of the Tongue Point Job Corps Culinary Program, which helps fill the labor gap in some local restaurants. hen Steve Sinkler, owner of The Wine Shack and Provi- sions 124 in Cannon Beach, decided to expand his business to include a small deli, he didn’t think fi nding some- one to work part time making sandwiches would be so diffi cult. It was 45 days before he fi lled the job . Even now, it is only a temporary solution. He had advertised the job via social media and word of mouth, expecting to see responses from a college student look- ing for summer work or a local looking to pick up more hours. He offered fl exi- ble scheduling and an hourly wage much higher than Oregon’s minimum wage — $10.25 an hour in Clatsop County as of July . “We couldn’t even get someone to walk in the door,” he said. Sinkler is not alone. “Help wanted” signs are everywhere in Cannon Beach this summer, and employers county wide See HELP WANTED, Page 4A Astoria honors Snow, ‘the conscience of the Column’ Nonprofi t gives annual report to City Council By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian Jordan Schnitzer holds a microphone next to former Astoria M ayor Willis Van Dusen’s phone so the audience can hear s tate Sen . Betsy Johnson’s remarks in honor of Hal Snow, an Astoria attorney and founding member of the Friends of the Astoria Column. Snow’s wife, Jeanyse, listens in the front row. The opening guitar riff of the Rolling Stone’s “Sat- isfaction” suddenly rang out across the courtyard in front of the Astoria Column Monday evening. Former M ayor Willis Van Dusen paused mid-speech and answered his phone. It was s tate Sen . Betsy Johnson, calling to say a few words about former C ity A ttorney Hal Snow, who died in December. Leaving City Hall for the evening, the Asto- ria City Council met at the Column to hear the Friends of the Astoria Column’s annual report and to honor Snow, a founding member of the group. “Your guy was a pretty spe- cial guy,” Johnson told Snow’s wife, Jeanyse, “and I held him with enormous respect.” Johnson said there is noth- ing “wonderful and good” in Astoria “that doesn’t have his fi ngerprints on it.” City Councilor Cindy Price, who led the special meeting for an absent Mayor Arline LaMear, said Snow was survived by his wife and chil- dren “and 10,000 Astorians.” “I’ve never met anyone who was a better listener,” said Jordan Schnitzer, a Portland developer and philanthropist who is the president of Friends of the Astoria Column . “You’d always get wise counsel.” ‘He deserves credit’ Snow was a founding member not only of the Col- umn group but also of Friends of the Liberty Theater and Astoria High School Scholar- ships Inc. In addition to these boards and running an Astoria law fi rm, Snow & Snow, with See COUNCIL, Page 9A
