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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017
Water rates: Brownson,
Nemlowill and Price voted
against the resolution
Continued from Page 1A
Public works staff had
recommended
increasing
the percentage rate charged
to outside water customers
to 25 percent, the lower end
of an industry standard that
ranges from 24 to 50 percent,
City Support Engineer Cindy
Moore said at a meeting in
November. Base water rates
have risen over the years, but
the out-of-town percentage
has not changed since 1984.
At a meeting Mon-
day night, Moore and Jeff
Harrington, the public works
director, said an increase
would accomplish several
goals, but the primary goal
is equity. It costs the city to
serve out-of-town custom-
ers, they said, a burden not
reflected in the current fee
structure.
Staff wrote in a memo
that the funds obtained from
the increase would go toward
capital improvement proj-
ects, as well as maintenance
and operations that serve all
of Astoria’s water custom-
ers. Harrington and Moore
pointed to future needs such
as the construction of a clear-
well system, estimated to cost
anywhere from $1 million to
$2 million, that would build
capacity and resiliency across
the city’s water system. It is
an improvement that would
be recommended even if there
were no water customers out-
side city limits, they said.
Public works is still in the
preliminary stages of figur-
ing out the scope and cost of
constructing a clearwell sys-
tem, Price said, and it wasn’t
clear how the money raised
by an increase now would
contribute.
She wanted to be able to
make a clear statement to the
water districts about why the
city is raising their rates but
that — right now — the issue
feels muddy, she said.
“We’ve been very thought-
ful when we have raised rates
on and fees on extracurric-
ular activities and I am cer-
tain we want to be as careful
if not more so when it comes
to water which is a necessity.”
City Manager Brett
Estes said there was no need
to make a decision Mon-
day night, but that city staff
was coming to the council to
ask, “What would you like to
do? How would you like to
move forward?”
Mayor Arline LaMear said
an increase to 12.5 percent
is what the council asked the
staff to bring back.
“I feel like this is at least
a beginning to help the Pub-
lic Works Department meet
some of their needs,” she
added. “It’s not nearly enough
but it’s a partial solution.”
After the resolution failed
to pass in a 3-2 vote, with
Price, Nemlowill and Brown-
son voting against it, Coun-
cilor Bruce Jones asked if
the council as a whole was in
favor of an increase or not.
He thought the council
had reached a “pretty good
compromise” at its meeting in
November when they rejected
the large jump staff proposed
and asked staff to come back
with a proposal for an increase
to 12.5 percent.
The percentage has to go
up, he said, adding that an
increase to 12.5 percent is still
modest and well under the
industry standard.
He wanted to make sure
their instructions to staff were
very clear after the resolution
failed.
“Because what we’ve just
decided not to do is bring in
what some have referred to
as a very small $12,500,”
Jones said. “We’ve already
spent that much in staff time
on this issue and I don’t want
to spend it two or three times
over again in the next six
months to come back with
another rock that might not be
the right rock.”
Price, Nemlowill and
Brownson said they want staff
to return with a more detailed
breakdown of what is needed
and why. Brownson said he is
willing to support an increase
if he understands it.
“I’m just not understand-
ing it,” Brownson said.
Nemlowill echoed Brown-
son and added, “The justifi-
cation for the rate increase
seems to me to be a moving
target.”
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The Astoria City Council voted 3-2 Monday against a
surcharge increase on out-of-town water customers.
Governor: ‘We are looking
at cost sharing/risk sharing’
Continued from Page 1A
an analysis showing how the
proposals could impact Ore-
gonians’ finances and the
state’s budget and services.
“Certainly, what is hap-
pening at the federal level
makes it really hard for us to
have a detailed conversation
about (state) tax policy right
now,” she said.
Also distracting from
negotiations toward a state tax
overhaul is a statewide ref-
erendum Jan. 23 to repeal a
health care funding law passed
by state legislators earlier this
year. The law was intended to
maintain health insurance for
more than 350,000 low-in-
come Oregonians. Its repeal
would compel state leaders
to come up with a way to off-
set the loss in revenue, includ-
ing the possibility of reducing
subsidies for health coverage.
Any state tax overhaul
conversation likely would
spark calls for the state to cur-
tail employee benefit costs
and up employee contribu-
tions to the Public Employees
Retirement System to help
offset a $21 billion unfunded
liability in the system.
“I think the role of the
state is to make sure that we
are incenting local employ-
ers … on paying down their
(unfunded actuarial liabil-
ity) so the entire number
comes down,” Brown said.
“That will eventually reduce
employer rates and enable us
to put more money into class-
rooms … and services that
vulnerable Oregonians need.”
She said she also could ask
employees to “have some skin
in the game.”
“We are looking at cost
sharing/risk sharing,” she
said.
Her staffers also are exam-
ining recommendations by
a PERS task force to come
up with policy proposals for
February.
“I have asked my team
to put together a handful of
options and I look forward
to working with the business
community on what those
look like,” Brown said.
The 15th annual summit
— founded by U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden — drew more than
1,200 businesspeople, policy
wonks, politicians and oth-
ers to the Oregon Convention
Center.
The event also serves as
the vehicle for unveiling the
annual Oregon Business Plan,
a policy roadmap for stimulat-
ing the economy and support-
ing business in the state.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A small waterfall in the upper reaches of the Arch Cape watershed contributes to the area’s supply of clean water.
Arch Cape: Community forest models are
fairly uncommon in the Pacific Northwest
Continued from Page 1A
The state Department of
Environmental Quality identi-
fied 50 coastal municipalities in
Oregon that get water from for-
ested drinking watersheds.
Discussion of creating a
community forest intensi-
fied about three years ago after
coastal communities started to
notice they were suffering from
similar problems, Oregon Coast
Alliance President Mike Man-
zulli said.
The North Coast Basin Coa-
lition, representing more than
a dozen communities on the
coast, formed in 2014 as a way
to band together to come up
with solutions — and develop-
ing community forests was one
of them.
In Arch Cape, the water dis-
trict is working with the North
Coast Land Conservancy to
raise enough money to buy the
land from Ecotrust Forest Man-
agement, which is managing the
property until the district can
afford the purchase.
If the watershed is owned by
the district, Manzulli said the
community can make differ-
ent management decisions, like
requiring larger buffers, ban-
ning pesticides and choosing to
select cut trees for revenue that
could be given back to support
the community.
“It’s in the best interest of
the community to control their
drinking watersheds locally so
they can decide for themselves
what kind of buffers they want
to see, what harvest levels they
want to see and what kind of
protections they want to see
in their local drinking water,”
Manzulli said.
Community forest models
are common in other parts the
country, but fairly uncommon in
the Pacific Northwest, Manzulli
said. Astoria is a notable excep-
tion as a city which has had full
ownership of its Bear Creek
watershed since the 1950s.
“The people living in the
forest are managing the for-
est,” Manzulli said. “When
Phil Chick takes a drive up into the higher elevations of the Arch Cape watershed, where
much of the water supply to the area originates.
Signs warning not to spray chemicals dot the landscape
of the 2,100-acre Arch Cape watershed.
you are connected to the forest
you are managing, you aren’t
going to clear-cut it and spray
pesticides.”
Moving forward
A step forward was made
this month when Sustainable
Northwest, an environmental
organization which works with
forest collaborative groups in
the Pacific Northwest, received
a Meyer Memorial Trust grant
for $250,000 to help fund
efforts to map these watersheds
and identify which are most at
risk for issues like sedimenta-
tion and erosion.
“Most of the drinking water-
sheds are managed for timber
production,” said Andrew Spa-
eth, the forest program director
at Sustainable Northwest. “The
goal of this project is to main-
tain those watersheds as work-
ing forestlands and manage
them in a way that aligns with
the best available science, com-
munity interests and priorities,
and the quantity and quality of
water available to local resi-
dents and visitors.”
Manzulli hopes the grant
will help identify which parts
of the watershed are suitable for
sustainable timber production
and which need to be preserved
for recreation and conservation,
he said.
The land conservancy and
the water district have also been
recommended by the Oregon
Department of Forestry’s State
Forest Stewardship Coordinat-
ing Committee to be considered
for $4.5 million grant from the
U.S. Forest Service to purchase
the land.
Because timber prices fluc-
tuate, there is not a static price
for the land, Manzulli said. But
next steps will be the water dis-
trict entering a purchase and
sale agreement with Ecotrust
Forest Management, followed
by a series of public meetings
and fundraising efforts over the
next few years.
“We hope this project
becomes a project for what we
all can do, and it can get repli-
cated down the coast,” Manzu-
lli said.
Tongue Point: ‘It’s a diamond in the rough’
Continued from Page 1A
recently approached the Port
Commission with a plan to
develop North Tongue Point
into a full-service marine con-
struction and repair facility.
Hyak inherited more than
30 subleases from the Port to
tenants on the site, from stor-
age for discount store Deals
Only to large processor Pacific
Coast Seafood leasing an
entire hangar.
“For the time being, we’re
happy with all the clients,”
Dorn said. “Over time, we see
it as a repair and fabrication
facility. It’s really not a place
where a lot of cargo operations
can take place. We see it as an
industrial park that lends itself
to supporting commercial
fishing and the tug and barge
industry.”
Knight had mixed feelings
about leaving North Tongue
Point, disappointed the Port
couldn’t develop the site but
hopeful Hyak will add quality
employment to the region.
“By simply getting out of
Port of Astoria
North Tongue Point includes 30 acres of industrial dock space,
bounded to the north by Tongue Point Job Corps Center.
the way and letting private
industry take over, the com-
munity benefits,” he said. “In
spite of feeling bad about leav-
ing, I’m happy to help this new
ship, barge-building business
take off.”
One of the Port’s former
tenants expected to benefit the
most is marine repair and fabri-
cation company WCT Marine
& Construction, operating out
of the site’s other seaplane
hangar. WCT recently pur-
chased hangar co-tenant J&H
Boatworks, one of the Port’s
first tenants at North Tongue
Point, after the retirement of
owner Tim Hill, becoming the
site’s sole shipwright.
Hill and WCT owners Wil-
lie and Carol Toristoja all
endorsed Hyak’s purchase.
“They’re the reason we
were attracted to the property,”
Dorn said of WCT. “Willie
Toristoja I’ve known for 20
years. He’s one of the best in
marine fabrication and repair.”
The Port had attempted to
buy North Tongue Point for
$4 million in 2000 with Alas-
ka’s Clearwater Environmen-
tal Inc., a company planning
a controversial ship-break-
ing facility. But the deal fell
through, and the property was
later sold for $4 million by the
Department of State Lands to
Washington-based Cresmont
Inc. and shortly thereafter to
Washington Development Co.
for $4.2 million.
There is no master plan
for developing North Tongue
Point beyond trying to
improve the site, help WCT
add more business and become
a replacement for the eight or
nine smaller shipyards that
have shut down over the last
decade in the Puget Sound
and along the Columbia River,
Dorn said. “It’s a diamond in
the rough with respect to help-
ing people maintain fleets.”