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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2017 Moore: ‘We follow up on all employee concerns’ Continued from Page 1A Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The Oscar B ferry approaches the Oregon side of the Columbia River. Ferry: Last dredging project was in 2014 Continued from Page 1A company will use the clam- shell dredge Heidi Renee, fin- ishing up another coastal main- tenance dredging contract with the Army Corps this weekend in Chinook, Washington. The company’s dredg- ing project manager, Darrell Jamieson, said he has dredged the ferry channel several times before and expects the job to take about a week. “There’s a sandbar on the Oregon side, and it seems to just build up right there and start working its way over to their approach” to the West- port Slough, Jamieson said. “On the Washington side, it’s a little more finer material.” Jeffrey Henon, a spokes- man for the Army Corps, said the sediment buildup can come from the riverbed upstream and surrounding shorelines. “Higher water flows on the Columbia River, such as those we experienced in spring 2017, cause more sediment to settle in the channel,” he said. Last interstate ferry The ferry route, the only Columbia crossing between the Lewis and Clark Bridge 26 miles upstream and the Astoria Bridge 43 miles downstream, Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Eric Ferguson pilots the Oscar B ferry away from the dock at Puget Island, Wash., on the way toward the Oregon side of the Columbia River. has been operating since 1925, when Walter Coates brought the wooden boat Cathlamet to Puget Island. The ferry originally ran from Cathlamet, around Puget Island and across the Columbia to Westport. Coates brought a second ferry, the Westport, later in 1925 and started mak- ing runs from Puget Island to Westport, with foot passen- Cougar: Network of trail cameras recommended but a cat print.” Naturalist Neal Maine said “A couple of the tenants the reports were “credible,” were out this weekend and but coyotes were more likely actually witnessed a cougar to snatch house cats than grab a cat,” added Paluch, a cougars. An estimated 6,493 cou- mother of a 2-year-old and gars lived in Oregon in 2015, owner of two large dogs. Paluch was told the ani- a healthy population, accord- mal had been spotted and ing to the state. This summer, “snagged a few pets from the people reported multiple cou- gar sightings near downtown complex,” she said. Creekside Village Apart- Tigard, a city of more than ments manager Joelle Brea- 48,000 outside of Portland, zier said she reported the inci- The Daily Astorian reported dents to Fish and Wildlife and last week. Maine recom- state police. mended a network “We’ve had trail cameras to several animals go ‘We’ve of monitor wildlife. missing in the last “Even at night, several months,” had they do a great Breazier said. several job,” he said. Costa Keneno- “With infrared, it’s unis, who lives at an end unit bor- animals enough to ID stuff, so if people see dering the woods, go things, it provides said other pet owners had come missing.’ a slick way to test the theory.” by recently search- ing for missing Joelle pets. Bear sighting Breazier He was called The owner of Creekside Village Monday by a Apartments manager a Maltese dog, Kenenounis said neighbor sitting he used to let his outside who wit- nessed a fight between her cat dog walk ahead of him off leash. and a large animal. “Now I don’t do it,” he “She thought it was a bob- cat, but described it as a light- said. “There’s no way I could tan, knee-high cat attacking a keep up with any animal that neighbor cat and dragging it would snatch him and run.” Paluch is “a little fright- off in the woods,” Kenenou- ful” that there might be a cou- nis said. Kenenounis joined the gar nearby, she said. On Tuesday night, Sea- search. “I was kind of skepti- cal, but I found where it hap- side police received a report of a bear sighting in the same pened,” he said. He found signs of an ani- area, near Cooper Drive and mal struggle and remnants Alder Drive. While the bear was not of the cat’s fur, he said. As a hunter, he recognized witnessed by police, offi- what he described as cougar cers told residents they would tracks, “like a big dog print, increase patrols. Continued from Page 1A gers shuttled across the island between the two landings. In 1938, Wahkiakum County voted to build a bridge from Cathlamet to Puget Island. In the 1960s, county residents voted to take over operation of the ferry from Puget Island to Westport when the existing operator decided to cease passage. By 1969, the state of Wash- ington accepted the ferry as an extension of State Route 409, connecting via the ferry to Westport Ferry Road and eventually Oregon’s U.S. Highway 30. The Army Corps has over- seen maintenance of the chan- nel since 1994. The last dredg- ing project was in 2014, when the Oscar B replaced the ferry Wahkiakum. Catch: Oregon fishermen landed 1.8 million pounds Continued from Page 1A Westport with 92 million pounds, but the Washing- ton state fishing city sailed ahead in 2016 with 108 mil- lion pounds landed. Still, Asto- ria stayed ahead of Newport. Landings at Astoria’s near neighbors, Ilwaco and Chi- nook, Washington, dropped slightly in 2016, but the value went up. When it came to the value of commercial landings, Asto- ria was further down the list, contributing only $42 million as compared to Newport’s $48 million. New Bedford, Massa- chusetts, was at the top of the list with $327 million. The Pacific Coast area that includes Washington, Oregon and California accounts for 10 percent of the United States’ total commercial landings and 13 percent of the value. The report, released Tuesday, notes that total landings were down slightly from 2015, coming in at 9.6 billion pounds — of which Alaska contributed 5.6 billion pounds, topping the list for the 20th consecutive year — but value was up at $5.3 bil- lion dollars. East Coast ports led the nation with 39 per- cent of the total value, closely followed by Alaska’s Dutch Harbor. Average ex-vessel prices — the amount paid to fisher- men — was up, at 55 cents per pound as compared to 2015’s 54 cents per pound. The major domestic spe- cies landed included Alaska pollock at the top of the list in terms of pounds landed fol- lowed by menhaden, an oily forage fish in the Atlantic Ocean. Hake, salmon and crab all came in around the middle of the list. Salmon, an important spe- cies economically and cultur- ally in Oregon, had a rocky year. Commercial salmon landings in 2016, overall, were down significantly from 2015, at 561,036 pounds as com- pared to more than 1 million pounds the previous year. The average from 2011 to 2015 has been 854,242 pounds. In 2015, salmon was ranked third in volume of landings and fourth in terms of value. In 2016, the species also dropped slightly in value. In Oregon, fishermen landed 1.8 million pounds val- ued at almost $8.3 million, a decrease of pounds and value as compared to 2015. Crabs retained their sec- ond-place rank, valued at $704,288, just under lob- sters but ahead of scallops and shrimp. Albacore tuna, an important species for Oregon fishermen, remained about the same in landings and value as compared to 2015. The report noted that though recreational fish- ing landings make up a much smaller percentage of the over- all weight of finfish harvested in the U.S. in the regions the report covers, “the fishing activities of millions of anglers are important to monitor because marine recreational fishing significantly impacts the stocks of many finfish spe- cies, and recreational catches surpass commercial landings of some species.” In the Pacific region, marine recreational fishermen took 3.8 million trips and caught nearly 13 million fish. The majority of the trips — 92 percent — occurred in California. “To ensure that there are no fears of retaliation from the county manager among any staff that come forward with concerns, I am resigning as Clatsop County manager effective March 31, 2018 or at another date mutually agree- able to the Clatsop County Board of County Commis- sioners,” Moore wrote in the Sept. 15 email. But with direct support from Board Chairman Scott Lee as well as commission- ers Sarah Nebeker and Lisa Clement, Moore decided against resigning. Weeks after the email, Lee asked Moore to stay longer. “It think he’s a capable manager,” Lee said. “I would like him to stay on through the budget process.” Moore said he does not plan to resign and that he sim- ply wanted to give commis- sioners enough time to poten- tially search for a new county manager, which is why he listed the specific date. “Sometimes when you’re in leadership roles you have to say, ‘Hey, I’m willing to step aside for the betterment of the county,’” Moore said. One day before the email was sent, The Daily Asto- rian published a story that included comments from Thompson. “Several staff have raised issues about county govern- ment with me,” Thompson wrote in a July email to the newspaper. “They said they feared retaliation if they went public. I now understand their fears of retaliation.” Investigations Thompson’s email referred to an internal investi- gation regarding her behavior toward a county employee at a public meeting in June. The incident centered on a discus- sion about Moore. Despite the report’s finding that Thomp- son had “crossed the bound- ary of decorum” by placing her hands on and speaking loudly to the employee, the county does not intend to take disciplinary measures. At a Sept. 27 Board of Commissioners meeting, nearly two weeks after his email to commissioners, Moore called for an investiga- tion into Thompson’s claims. He had notified commission- ers in the Sept. 15 email of his intention to make the public request. “We follow up on all employee concerns. This one sort of came to us in a lit- tle bit different way than we might typically hear about it,” Moore said. “It’s a little bit vague to me about what the concerns are, and I was partic- ularly concerned about any- body having any fear of retal- iation. I don’t think it’s the kind of thing we can afford not to follow up on.” He also said, without specifying his personal inten- tions, that the investigation should be conducted by an outside party, presuming that the retaliation fears stemmed from county management. “If you feel it’s appropri- ate for me as county manager to step aside temporarily or — frankly — permanently, I think you need to know I’m willing to do that,” Moore said. “Obviously, that’s your decision ultimately.” ‘Ridiculous statement’ Since the September meet- ing, County Counsel Heather Reynolds reached out to Thompson’s lawyer to ask about specific instances of county employees’ fears of retaliation. No specifics were given, Reynolds said. “As far as I know, that was just a ridiculous statement,” Lee said. The county has retained Jill Goldsmith of Work- place Solutions Northwest, a Portland mediation service, to investigate Thompson’s claims and interview county employees. She also con- ducted the investigation into Thompson’s behavior in June. Lee has called on Thomp- son to resign over her conduct and expenses. Thompson has said she plans to remain and run for re-election next year. Thompson declined to say whether or not she would prefer that Moore resign. Both Thompson and Com- missioner Kathleen Sullivan have questioned in the past whether Moore and county staff hold too much power in county decision-making rela- tive to the board. Sullivan said she wished to remain neutral about Moore’s future. “When I got the email, I was confused and dismayed,” Sullivan said. “I would like us all to be working well together.” Co-op: Paying for about half of its new location at Mill Pond Continued from Page 1A is also looking into possibly trading shares for contracting work as the new store is built. Leveraging the fundrais- ing with financing and other internal revenue sources, the co-op is paying for about half of its new location at Mill Pond, estimated to cost $8 million. It’s four times larger than the current store at 14th and Exchange streets. The store signed a 20-year lease with landowner Astor Ven- ture. The company will pay for the other half and oversee the design, permitting and construction. Don Vallaster, a Portland architect and partner in Astor Venture with Tom Tucker, said Wickiup Consulting recently submitted an appli- cation to change the zoning of the site, currently zoned Attached Housing-Mill Pond. “We may not need a con- ditional use permit if we do a rezone … which probably looks like it would be the best approach,” Vallaster said. There will also be a geo- technical study of the site to figure out what sort of pil- ings are needed under the new store’s foundation, Val- laster said. “Initially the ground level was 15 feet lower from where it is now,” he said. “With the mill, they produced a lot of sawdust and wood shavings. They put it down on the old tidal basin” and topped it with other soil. Astoria Co-op Grocery The Astoria Co-op Grocery has raised $1.5 million to open a new store in the Mill Pond neighborhood.
