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.