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.