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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2018)
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018 145TH YEAR, NO. 216 New rule threatens building inspection programs Cities and counties are pushing back By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — A new state rule prohibit- ing municipalities from using independent inspectors to administer local building pro- grams could jeopardize cities and counties’ ability to spur housing and economic devel- opment, city advocates say. Under the temporary rule — expected to become permanent — cities and counties will be required to either hire a building offi- cial or cede their programs to a larger juris- diction with a building official on staff, such as a county or the state. Up to three cities are allowed to share a building official. The rule also boosts the certifications required to be a building official, and it requires jurisdictions to hire an electrical inspector. “I think a lot of folks are questioning pretty much everything about why the rule is necessary, how they can afford to comply and why they should have to when they hav- en’t received complaints from builders,” said Erin Doyle of the League of Oregon Cities. The change was prompted by a 22-page memorandum issued in February by the Ore- gon Department of Justice in which Assis- tant Attorney General Katherine Lozano concluded that relying entirely on third par- ties to conduct a building program violates state law. The state Building Codes Division within the Department of Consumer and Business Services is the agency responsible for dele- gating the state’s authority to approve build- ing plans to cities and counties. Approving local building programs that depend on inde- pendent contractors to administer those pro- grams would be unconstitutional, according to the memo. It is legal for cities and coun- ties to use such third-party services when the contractors are under the supervision of a building official, Lozano wrote. Third-party contractors may continue to review and conduct inspections on behalf of cities based on lists of standards, statutes and rules. However, they are prohibited from issuing or denying building or electrical per- mits, issuing stop-work orders, resolving disputes or providing code interpretations, said Jake Sunderland, a department spokes- man. Those tasks need to be assigned to a building official on staff, he said. Leaders of municipalities with popula- tions as small as 1,000, such as Aurora, said they cannot afford to hire a building official. Malheur County officials are considering adding positions for a building official and an electrical inspector to the county’s next budget. But they are concerned they will be unable to attract qualified candidates to fill the positions, Malheur County Attorney Stephanie Williams said. “We think it will be hard to obtain a build- ing official, structural inspector and electri- cal inspector in Malheur County,” Williams said. “We are not in close proximity to larger jurisdictions that might have those.” An estimated 25 jurisdictions rely entirely on independent contractors to operate their building and electrical inspection programs, ONE DOLLAR Debris after a storm brought large waves to coastal areas. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian ‘THE UNSUNG HEROES’ Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay celebrates 10 years By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian M ANZANITA — When disaster strikes, communi- ties around Nehalem Bay are the place to be. It’s a strange badge of honor, but one that the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay wears proudly. The corps, which started with a handful of volunteers from Wheeler, Nehalem and Manzanita 10 years ago, has stepped into the spotlight as one of the largest and most effective emer- gency preparedness groups in Oregon. On Monday, more than 100 people from around the region gathered in the Pine Grove Community House in Man- zanita — including state Rep. Deborah Boone, state Sen. Betsy Johnson and Andrew Phelps, the director of the Ore- gon Office of Emergency Management — to celebrate the group’s 10-year anniversary. “Every single one of you are the unsung heroes making this (town) the gold standard of community prepared- ness,” Johnson said. “Thanks for show- ing Oregon how to do this right for 10 years.” The idea to form a volunteer corps came after hurricane-force winds and flooding from the Great Coastal Gale of 2007 temporarily isolated Manzanita, Nehalem and Wheeler from emergency services. “That’s when we realized emer- gency preparedness was really up to us, neighbor by neighbor,” Linda Kozlo- wski, the group’s president, said. “We just don’t expect to get much help.” From there, volunteers embarked on a mapping project, which focused on preparing each neighborhood with supplies and knowledge on how to be self-sustaining in a disaster. A decade later, the program has 300 active mem- bers — almost a quarter of the region’s population. Starting out with no shelters, each neighborhood now has one stocked Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian State Sen. Betsy Johnson congratulates the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay. MORE INSIDE Manzanita woman nominated to serve on DOGAMI board. Page 7A Unique approach Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian The Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay gave out free MREs at the group’s annual meeting Monday. with a week’s worth of supplies. A water sanitation and hygiene program was formed, and volunteers offer classes on how to properly filter water when the utilities inevitably fail. The corps pur- chased 400 ham radios for emergency communications and each month holds classes on how to communicate with one. The group this year anticipates tap- ping into $140,000 in lodging taxes to fund a countywide wayfinding and sig- nage project, which, if completed, will be the most comprehensive in the state. Part of the group’s success comes from the unique approach to offer classes on a routine basis, Kozlowski said, which keeps people engaged. She also attributes a lot of the group’s suc- cess to its origins. “We started from the ground up, get- ting our own funding. And then we got noticed by the city. I think other com- munities have had more of a top-down approach, where (emergency man- agement) came from the city or the county,” she said. Kozlowski also believes having a population that is mostly retired is an asset. “We are blessed with a smart retire- ment community that come from such See CORPS, Page 7A See NEW RULES, Page 7A Federal judge dismisses suit against mental health agency Former program manager intends to appeal the ruling By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a former program man- ager at Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare who alleged she was fired in 2015 after seeking medical leave for work-related stress. Cheryl Varese, who worked in the mental health agency’s developmental disabilities unit, claimed she was retal- iated against after complaining about unethical and illegal management prac- tices and a hostile work environment. But U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken in Portland ruled in March that Varese “was on the road to termination well before she invoked her right to protected medical leave and irrespec- tive of her decision to do so.” An independent investigator hired by the agency to look into Varese’s complaint found that Varese had been untruthful and had actively sought to undermine management. An agency administrator said he made the decision to fire Varese based on the investiga- tor’s findings. Varese’s attorney filed notice in April to appeal the judge’s ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Aiken, meanwhile, declined to consider Varese’s claims under Ore- gon medical leave and whistleblower protection laws. Varese filed a new lawsuit against Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare and two former administrators in late April in Clatsop County Circuit Court, alleg- ing whistleblower retaliation and vio- lations of state medical leave law. The suit seeks $600,000. “This lawsuit has been ongoing,” Amy Baker, the executive director of Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare, said in an email. “As expected, the federal judge recognized that Varese’s claims were baseless and dismissed them without even going to trial. “Without any more federal claims, it was appropriate that the remaining claims were referred back to state court. We are confident that the state court will similarly see the baseless nature of her claims so that Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare can get back to serving the needs of the community, rather than directing precious time and resources to this type of groundless claim.” An attorney for Varese could not immediately be reached for comment. The legal skirmishes stem from management turmoil at the county’s mental health contractor that led to staff turnover and a leadership over- haul in 2016. Varese was close to two other staff- ers who filed a lawsuit against the agency in federal court. Richard Holmes, a case manager who resigned in 2015 after allegedly being sexually harassed, and Colleen Studinarz, a program supervisor who was fired after allegedly intervening on Holmes’ behalf, have claimed discrim- ination. Their case is pending in U.S. District Court.
