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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2017)
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2017 145TH YEAR, NO. 92 ONE DOLLAR Water rates may rise for out-of-town customers Decision expected by Astoria in December SEEKING HIGHER GROUND By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Rates could be going up for water cus- tomers outside of Astoria’s city limits — but not as high as originally proposed. At a meeting Monday night, the City Council walked back from a proposal by Public Works staff that would have gradu- ally raised the percentage out-of-town water users pay on top of their regular water bills from 10 percent to 25 percent over the next three years. A 5 percent increase would have gone into effect starting next July. After hearing the concerns of outside water customers and water district and asso- ciation members, the c ouncil asked staff to come back in December with a 2.5 percent increase starting next summer. Water customers outside the city lim- its include a handful of small water districts and associations and other users like Tongue Point Job Corps Center . The average out-of-town water customer would have paid an additional $2.35 a month, or $28.25 a year, for each 5 percent increase recommended by city staff. But water dis- trict and water association groups maintain their own infrastructure off a city main and often must pass these costs on to customers. The groups also pay for any water lost due to leaks or burst pipes. Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Gary Aspmo looks out over a piece of property his family owns near Warrenton and one that is being considered for the new site of the Lewis and Clark Rural Fire Department’s main station, which currently sits in a tsunami inundation zone. Lewis and Clark fi re looks to move out of tsunami zone By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian See WATER RATES, Page 4A Three fi nalists compete to lead Cannon Beach Questions asked about tourism, community, emergency response I The main station of the Lewis and Clark Rural Fire Department currently sits in a tsunami inundation zone and authorities worry if a disaster were to occur, first responders would be unable to access all of their equipment and vehicles. By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — Dozens of peo- ple came with questions about community engagement, tourism and emergency pre- paredness Monday night for the three fi nal- ists for Cannon Beach city manager . The public forum held at the Surfsand Resort was one step out of the many it takes to hire a new city manager. The process started four months ago after Brant Kucera left the position for a job in Sisters. Thirty-three people applied , with only three making it to the fi nal stages: Bruce St. Denis, former city manager of Longboat Key, Florida; Peter M. Jankowski, former city manager of Cave Creek, Arizona; and Kevin Greenwood, former general manager of the Port of Newport. City councilors anticipate making a fi nal decision Wednesday after consider- ing feedback from staff and the community . Comments from two panels will also be con- sidered One panel represents the Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce, the hospital- ity and arts communities, and environmental f a Cascadia Subduction Zone earth- quake and tsunami struck the North Coast today, the Lewis and Clark Rural Fire Department would be almost entirely incapacitated. The department’s main fi re station at 34571 U.S. Highway 101 Business — one of two in the small, unincorporated com- munity — is located less than a mile away from the Lewis and Clark River and well within the tsunami inundation zone. In response, the department has eyed a plot on an 85-acre property southeast of Lyngstad Heights for nearly two years. But the property is the subject of a 12-year legal battle over development. “We’re basically going to lose our apparatus; we’re going to lose our equip- ment,” said Gus Fennerty, a Lewis and Clark Rural Fire Protection District direc- tor. “We are not going to have the capa- bility of responding to the emergencies that are bound to come up from a serious earthquake.” The proposed new location sits in an elevated area roughly a mile away from the inundation zone. It is also centrally located near other critical infrastructure outside of fl ood areas — Lewis and Clark Elemen- tary School, a number of potential houses, a water reservoir, sewer access and Pacifi c Power’s substation. “Our equipment would be safe, our emergency supplies would be safe. If somebody had an emergency route, they’d Gary Aspmo closes the gate to his family’s property near Warrenton that could be the site of the new main station for the Lewis and Clark Rural Fire Depart- ment. The current station lies in a tsunami inundation zone near Young s Bay. See FIRE DEPARTMENT, Page 7A ‘WE ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE THE CAPABILITY OF RESPONDING TO THE EMERGENCIES THAT ARE BOUND TO COME UP FROM A SERIOUS EARTHQUAKE.’ Gus Fennerty | a Lewis and Clark Rural Fire Protection District director See CANNON BEACH, Page 4A Unclear why state leaders weren’t told of health care overpayments State overpaid providers by $74 million By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — The Oregon Health Authority can’t say who the federal government told in 2016 that it wanted repayment of $74 million in health care funds, or why that information wasn’t shared with top managers or the gov- ernor until last month. In 2016 the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Ser- vices notifi ed the health authority that the state had since 2014 mistakenly cat- egorized people who were eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. The mistake resulted in Oregon receiving excess federal funding with which it overpaid providers by about $74 million. The state was able to qui- etly recoup $10.1 million from providers in 2016. The state could be on the hook for all of the remaining $64 mil- lion, unless the Medicare pro- gram shares the tab. Nevertheless, it was a state mistake that caused the over- payment. Improper data entry and software fl aws on the health authority’s end led to patients getting improperly coded and paid for, offi cials say. Neither Gov. Kate Brown or her then-health care pol- icy adviser were alerted to the problem when the fed- eral government notifi ed the health authority in 2016. Brown learned of the issue late last month. It’s unclear why Brown was not notifi ed sooner. “I don’t know what informed the decision to share and not to share,” said Robb Cowie, a health authority spokesman. Cowie said Monday that new leadership at the agency, including Director Patrick Allen and Chief Financial Offi cer Laura Robison, are trying to get to the bottom of the problems, including how much the state may owe to the federal government and whether they can claw it back from Medicaid providers. This latest issue occurs in the wake of controversy over the state’s handling of the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Two months ago, for- mer Oregon Health Author- ity Director Lynne Saxton resigned after revelations about an internal plan to pub- licly discredit a Portland-area Medicaid provider network. That announcement fol- lowed several months of ten- sion over the state’s hiccups in verifying that Oregonians on Medicaid were indeed still eligible for the program. The state’s woes around Medicaid implementa- tion began, though, in 2014 with the failure of Cover Ore- gon, a massive technology project that was supposed to become a state health care exchange. The public-facing website never went live, but the state ended up using some Cover Oregon databases internally, which the health author- ity says led to problems that are being aired now in the wake of reporting and pub- lic-records requests by The Oregonian. See OHA, Page 4A