WEEKEND
WANDERING REEL TRAVELING FILM FESTIVAL COMES TO TOWN COAST
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INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 94
ONE DOLLAR
Commissioners hear new county jail options
Cost to taxpayers
is a lingering issue
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County commissioners
appear open to relocating the county
jail to Warrenton. The lingering ques-
tion, though, is which design they
— and taxpayers — can stomach
financially.
In a September work session, the
Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office and
DLR Group presented two propos-
als for an expanded jail at the site of
the closed North Coast Youth Correc-
tional Facility in Warrenton. But at a
second work session Wednesday, the
sheriff’s office offered several other
options.
One renovation plan introduced
in September would create space
for 140 beds and cost more than
$12 million. The other plan calls
for a new structure in the middle
of the youth facility to house 200
inmates, at a cost of more than $28
million.
The larger plan would accom-
modate future expansion of up to
252 beds. Less staff supervision of
inmates — 36 employees required
compared to 46 in the smaller plan —
would be required due to the design.
Architects predict fewer staff would
save the county 18 percent in staffing
costs, offsetting the construction cost
difference after 10 years.
STAYING WARM
Warming centers for homeless prepare to open for winter
Though the larger plan is his
favorite option, Sheriff Tom Bergin
recognized it would be a heavy ask
from taxpayers.
“This is absolutely the most effi-
cient in both construction and opera-
tions costs. However, it’s a Cadillac,”
Bergin said.
See JAIL, Page 5A
Commission
chews over
Thompson’s
expenses
Discussion ended
with calls for civility
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Dan Parkison walks by a rack of donated coats and other clothes as he brings in supplies to the Astoria Warming Center.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
I
f temperatures dip low enough, warm-
ing centers in Astoria and Warren-
ton will open for the winter season on
Wednesday, providing a place out of the
elements for homeless people to spend the
night.
The continued operation of the Asto-
ria Warming Center in the basement of the
First United Methodist Church — up the
hill from the downtown core — was a con-
tentious topic this summer. People on both
sides of the debate dedicated hours to hash-
ing out a good-neighbor agreement, a series
of commitments by warming center staff to
reduce the real and perceived impacts on the
neighborhood.
No one contested the necessity of the
warming center given the increasingly vis-
ible homeless population downtown, but
some said a residential neighborhood was the
wrong location.
Astoria and Warrenton are trying to answer
what social service groups say can seem like
unanswerable questions about how to bal-
ance community concerns and the needs of
See HOMELESS, Page 7A
After a discussion on what has become a
heated issue, Clatsop County Commissioner
Lianne Thompson will be reimbursed for
travel and other expenses
she has incurred so far this
year, though she may have
to pay her own way on
some future trips.
Thompson has claimed
$3,640 in expenses in the
first three months of the
fiscal year, which began in
Lianne
July. Under the county bud- Thompson
get, the five commission-
ers are allowed a combined $17,500 for the
year.
Thompson has been criticized repeat-
edly by commissioners for claiming nearly
$20,000 in travel and education expenses
since 2015.
At an October meeting, Scott Lee,
the board’s chairman, placed an item on
Wednesday’s agenda centered on whether
many of Thompson’s expenses should be
approved and to discuss how to manage
expenses for the remainder of the year.
“As the commission chair, it is my
responsibility to ensure that my fellow com-
missioners adhere to the policies estab-
lished by them and for them,” Lee wrote
Thompson in a Nov. 1 letter. “Unfortu-
nately my efforts in this regard have been
met with hostility from you in the past. As
a result I have been remiss in not enforcing
the travel policy more stringently but must
insist that, in the future, all Clatsop County
commissioners follow this policy until it is
changed or amended by a majority of the
commissioners.”
Lee also referenced limitations placed on
commissioners, who are volunteers under
the county charter.
See THOMPSON, Page 7A
Ramon Navarrete prepares a spot at the First United Methodist Church in
Astoria for a new bike rack for patrons of the warming center.
Gun concerns prompt talk of pawn shop ban
Cannon Beach
chooses new
city manager
St. Denis was a town
manager in Florida
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
Worries about gun sales
in downtown Astoria
The Astoria City Council may consider a ban on
pawn shops amid concerns about gun sales downtown.
Councilor Cindy Price and Mayor Arline LaMear, at
a work session Wednesday, voiced their unease about
a new pawn shop slated to move into a vacant store-
front on Commercial Street. The council was meeting
to discuss its overall vision for Astoria’s future devel-
opment and where the vision intersects with city poli-
cies and codes.
Councilors Bruce Jones and Zetty Nemlowill said
the council needs to approach a potential ban on pawn
shops carefully. Jones said he doesn’t want to ban pawn
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
CANNON BEACH — After a four-
month hiring process, Cannon Beach has
selected Bruce St. Denis as the new city
manager.
St. Denis, a manager at a private devel-
opment company, is a former town manager
for the coastal city of Longboat Key, Florida,
and holds a master’s degree in management
from the University of South Florida.
He was chosen over two other finalists
— Peter M. Jankowski, former city man-
ager of Cave Creek, Ariz., and Kevin Green-
wood, former general manager of the Port of
Newport. Thirty-three people applied for the
position.
“We are confident that he will do an
excellent job,” Mayor Sam Steidel said in
See PAWN SHOPS, Page 5A
Some city councilors are concerned about the po-
tential for gun sales if pawn shops move downtown.
See MANAGER, Page 8A
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian