7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Astoria public
works director
set to retire
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s public works
director announced his retire-
ment this morning after 35
years with the city.
Ken Cook started out as
a utility worker in 1982 and
worked his way up through
the ranks. He has served as
the public works director for
the past 11 years, overseeing
a busy department responsi-
ble for water treatment and
distribution, waste water col-
lection and treatment, street
maintenance, engineering
services, fleet maintenance
for city vehicles, forestry
management, city facil-
ity maintenance, trolley line
maintenance, and mapping
with geographic information
systems.
Cook also frequently
stepped in as acting city
manager when City Manager
Brett Estes was out of town
or otherwise unavailable.
His retirement is effective
Nov. 30.
“I’m leaving at a time
when the department is at
its best and I credit past and
present employees for get-
ting us here,” Cook said in
a statement. “So many indi-
viduals along the way have
worked really hard and have
been dedicated to this city. I
am confident that this is the
right time for me to make this
transition.”
In past interviews, Cook
praised his team, saying he
is proud to work with such a
collaborative group.
“We are grateful to Ken
for his long service to the
Public Works Department,”
Estes said. “He has led the
department in a direction that
has allowed the city of Asto-
ria to evolve. We wish him
the best in his retirement.”
The announcement comes
on the heels of two other
department heads leaving:
Astoria Police Chief Brad
Johnston retired abruptly in
August and, last week, Com-
munity Development Direc-
tor Kevin Cronin put in his
two weeks’ notice.
Cook’s
retirement
announcement, however, had
been anticipated for some
time.
Dam: Water district
can’t remove dam
without a city permit
Continued from Page 1A
“One of the beauties of
having a model is you can
do all sorts of things without
actually physically going out
and doing that,” said Shane
Cline, the levee safety pro-
gram manager for the Army
Corps in Portland. “So I think
it is possible to develop a
model that represents a con-
dition with the tide gates on.”
Fight for control
Warrenton had declared
an emergency last Decem-
ber, describing the dam as a
risk to public safety and prop-
erty, and asked the Army
Corps to investigate whether
the water district improperly
removed the tide gates. The
city, which had threatened to
sue the water district and take
control of the dam, wanted to
put the tide gates back on for
flood control.
Over the past few months,
however, it became clear that
the Army Corps would not
intervene on behalf of War-
renton. The city carefully
walked back its legal threats
and agreed to meet with the
water district on a solution.
Helwig and Cline said
Tuesday night that the Army
Corps has no authority over
the dam, which was built in
1963 with the help of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
and operated and maintained
for 54 years by the water
district.
“Our levees here were spe-
cifically authorized under the
Corps’ authorizations and
appropriations,” Helwig said,
“and that dam was not part of
that levee authorization.”
The Army Corps also
assured Warrenton that there
appears to be no damage to
the levees related to the tide
gate removal at the dam.
The city is going through the
lengthy process of getting the
levees certified by the federal
government for a 100-year
flood, and the Army Corps
said the dam, while built sep-
arately from the levees, is part
of the broader flood-control
landscape.
“I think it would be good
to look at both the dam and
the levee as a system, and not
just the dam or not just the
levee,” Cline said.
Face-to-face meeting
Earlier Tuesday, city
commissioners and water
district board members
met at City Hall to
discuss a compromise on the
dam. The work session, mod-
erated by Clatsop County
Sheriff Tom Bergin, was
Joshua Bessex/The Daily
Astorian
Warrenton wants more
study of the Eighth Street
Dam before reconsider-
ing a proposal by the Ski-
panon Water Control Dis-
trict to remove the aging
structure.
intended as a fresh start after
a $1.2 million deal to remove
the dam and construct a sin-
gle-lane bridge over the river
for city emergency access dis-
solved last year into a political
and legal confrontation.
While Balensifer and
Commissioner Tom Dyer
pressed for a new study on
the dam that might reassure
residents concerned about
flooding, water district board
members defended previous
studies that found that remov-
ing the dam would not signifi-
cantly increase flooding.
“What I’m saying is it
doesn’t hurt to be certain,”
Dyer said. “And we’re never
going to be 100 percent.”
Tessa
Scheller,
the
chairwoman of the water
district’s board, said there
is no evidence the dam
has ever worked as
intended. She said the struc-
ture — originally built for
a 10-year flood, then later
downgraded as protection
for a two-year flood — actu-
ally poses a flood risk to prop-
erty owners by trapping water
upriver. “It floods us,” she
said. “The Eighth Street Dam
floods us. It doesn’t protect
us.”
Warrenton, while back-
ing off on ownership claims
to the dam, has some leverage
because the water district can-
not remove the dam without a
city permit. The water district
would also likely be unable to
convince previous partners —
the Bonneville Power Admin-
istration and the Columbia
River Estuary Study Task-
force — to help finance
another project unless the city
was an eager participant.
“Someone’s
got
to
bend here a little bit,” Bergin
said.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Lead Dispatcher Jennifer Peden, left, keeps a close eye on her computer screens during a recent shift at the Astoria
911 Dispatch.
Dispatch: 400 overtime hours logged in July
Continued from Page 1A
Operations supervisor
The assessment, based
largely on interviews with
staff, found that Johnston
would often micromanage
Rusiecki without providing
actual training or mentoring.
Dispatchers raised concerns
about Rusiecki’s communi-
cation style while saying he
could occasionally be “steam-
rolled” by an outspoken
subordinate.
“We’ve tried to open the
lines of communications bet-
ter,” said Rusiecki, a 19-year
veteran with the police depart-
ment who speaks in a succinct,
serious manner and often
exudes a dry sense of humor.
Rusiecki had attempted
to address the problem for
months by advocating for an
operations supervisor posi-
tion. The supervisor would
oversee the day-to-day oper-
ations of dispatchers by han-
dling schedules and provid-
ing oversight, guidance and
accountability.
He or she would report to
Rusiecki, who would then
have time to perform exter-
nal duties such as managing
direction of cellular traffic and
coordinating with the public
safety agencies that utilize the
dispatch center. The freedom
would allow him to effectively
execute a full-time job while
dispatchers’ needs are satis-
factorily met, Rusiecki said.
Though Rusiecki had
requested the creation of the
position months ago, it was
barely addressed by Johnston,
the report found. The police
department opened the appli-
cation process soon after his
departure and are consider-
ing eight candidates, some of
whom live locally. Interviews
were conducted last week
and the position will likely be
filled in a month or two.
Long shifts
Dispatchers often work
10-hour shifts during which
they handle numerous calls
Candace Pozdolski, lead dispatcher at the Astoria 911 Dispatch, closely monitors her
computer screens during a recent shift at the facility.
and constantly divert their
eyes between four computer
monitors. Green lighting was
even installed inside the dis-
patch center recently to coun-
teract the visual strain.
“This is the ultimate cus-
tomer service job,” Lead Dis-
patcher Jennifer Peden said.
“You can quietly make a dif-
ference that no one sees.
That’s important, and I like
that.”
After questioning 911 call-
ers, dispatchers then decide
what level of priority the call
receives and which available
officer or agency will respond.
“They truly are the gate-
way for people accessing pub-
lic safety services,” Rusiecki
said.
This year has been more
stressful than usual.
The city has allocated 11
positions in the dispatch cen-
ter, including nine dispatchers.
In July alone, typically one of
the busiest times of the year
for 911 centers, the six dis-
patchers on staff at the time
logged 400 overtime hours.
Since then, another dis-
patcher has been hired, and
overtime hours were cut below
100 in August. One more dis-
patcher is undergoing back-
ground checks, and just one
more position will need to be
filled after that.
“We’ve been short people
before. We’ll be short people
again,” Rusiecki said. “Cur-
rently we’re in the uptick of
the cycle. It’s not as if Astoria
is unique.”
External factor
An external factor add-
ing to dispatchers’ strain is
the growing number of calls
this year. The most recent data
reveals calls have already sur-
passed last years’ totals.
Rusiecki pointed to a
larger homeless population,
more road traffic, easier cell-
phone access and more med-
ical emergencies as possi-
ble reasons, but the police
department will not know for
sure until its annual report is
released next year.
“I can’t put a finger on why
we’ve seen an uptick in calls,”
Lead Dispatcher Candace
Pozdolski said. “I just know
we have.”
Rusiecki said he is proud
of the performance of dis-
patchers who have trudged
forward despite management
issues, staffing shortages and
higher service demands. As
operations at the center slowly
begin to normalize, he said he
hopes to provide more train-
ing opportunities for dispatch-
ers who he said will have
ample opportunities for career
advancement.
“They’re highly dedicated,
highly motivated. Regardless
of what’s going on external to
the center, they’re going to do
the best job possible” Rusiecki
said. “It’s a stressful job as it
is. Having the additional bur-
den of command problems
just aggravated that, but now
with Chief Spalding on board,
we’re looking ahead, not
back.”
Strickland: Governor’s office invited Knappa mom
Continued from Page 1A
D-Oregon, and Oregon’s U.S.
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley.
Opportunities for politi-
cal advocacy came to Strick-
land as she was in the early
stages of grieving her son’s
death. Around the same time
she founded Jordan’s Hope,
Strickland was asked to sit on
a number of panels, including
some organized by Wyden.
“That kind of snowballed
into my political arena,” she
said. “I have a personal story
and I talk a lot. I have a lot of
thoughts.”
In July, Strickland partic-
ipated in a work session with
the Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners in which she
advocated for a pilot needle
exchange program. Commis-
sioners unanimously approved
the program the following
month.
Her increasing political
voice eventually led to the
governor’s office inviting her
to the Sept. 19 events in Salem.
“We’ve been out there tell-
Submitted Photo
Gov. Kate Brown held a ceremonial signing last week for a new law intended to improve
access to Naloxone and other drugs that can reverse opioid overdoses.
ing my story,” Strickland said.
“It puts a face to it. If some-
thing comes to me and I agree
with it, I’ll say something.”
Strickland said she was
encouraged by the task force’s
diversity of expertise — law-
makers, doctors and medical
professionals. Still, though,
Strickland and her organiza-
tion plan to continue pushing
for additional resources and
treatment that could curb the
opioid epidemic.
“We didn’t get here over-
night,” she said. “We’re not
going to get out of it overnight
either.”