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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018
North Fork 53: Tillamook County has agritourism codes
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downsizing retreats from a
potential 25 people to 12 peo-
ple and restricting the hours
of operation. North Fork 53
would have to help maintain
the nearby Bridge Lane head-
ing to a gated community and
ensure no on-street parking.
“It’s partially learning
about agritourism, but also
finding that balance between
what is a commercial use in
a residential area,” said Gail
Henrikson, the county’s com-
munity development director.
A farm and forest advi-
sory committee — including
Edwards — has been work-
ing with the county Plan-
ning Commission for the
past couple of years on rural
land use issues such as agri-
tourism, codified in state law
since 2011. A recommended
code change will likely come
before the county Board of
Commissioners this summer,
Henrikson said.
The couple appealed to
the hearings officer to allow
events, periodic camping
during retreats and their food
truck. The hearings officer
extended the review period
of their application until later
this month.
“I feel like what we asked
for was pretty small,” Ginger
Edwards said.
Allowing
agritourism
in smaller residential agri-
cultural lots is especially
important, Brigham Edwards
said, because younger farm-
ers often can’t afford to buy
large farms. The couple made
their down payment on North
Fork 53 by fixing the prop-
erty up for the previous own-
ers, he said.
Several vendors, neigh-
bors and others involved in
North Fork 53 testified on the
couple’s behalf at the county
hearing.
Teresa Retzlaff, owner of
46 North Farm near Astoria
and a member of the farm and
forest advisory committee,
said she sees the Edwards’
application as a test run for
similar operations around
Clatsop County. She worries
that rejection by the county
could set a precedent that
neighbors unhappy with an
idea can decide what people
can do on their own property.
“That bothers me as a
small-business owner, as a
farmer in this county who’s
trying to keep a viable rural
economic development hap-
pening in our area,” Retzlaff
said.
The struggle of get-
ting approval for agritour-
ism in Clatsop County is
particularly ironic for Gin-
ger and Brigham Edwards.
Mere hundreds of feet south
in Tillamook County, agri-
tourism codes have been in
place for several years. Small
businesses have popped
up throughout the val-
leys around Tillamook and
Nehalem bays, offering con-
sumers a chance to see how
food is made.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Brigham Edwards tends to part of the garden at the center.
Food trail
In April, Visit Tillamook
Coast launched the North
Coast Food Trail, a collection
of producers, restaurants and
culinary centers stretching
from Cannon Beach to Lin-
coln City.
Nan Devlin, director of
the group, said the food trail
grew out of farms, ranches,
markets, seafood processors,
brewers, wineries, distillers,
chefs and others in the food
industry all wanting a con-
certed way to highlight their
products.
“Agritourism isn’t just
about coming to look at the
cows and plants,” she said.
“A lot of it is about educa-
tion. People are very, very
interested in how people
grow their things, how they
adapt to the seasons.”
The trail runs north to Can-
non Beach, including local
restaurants, breweries, bak-
eries, a cooking school, Can-
non Beach Distillery and a
local farmer’s market. North
Fork 53 and nearby grass-fed
beef and lamb ranch Meadow
Harvest are the northernmost
farms on the trail. But with
the name North Coast, Devlin
said, the hope is to expand
into Clatsop County.
“I would encourage the
county to revisit their agri-
tourism policies, because
farming, it’s not a hugely
lucrative business,” she said.
Farmers work seven days
a week and seek out val-
ue-added products to help
make ends meet, Devlin said.
“We want to keep those small
farmers in business.”
The owners of North Fork 53 planted their first tea shrub, Camellia sinensis, several
years ago.
Moore: ‘This has got to stop’
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Sullivan said Tuesday she
is “dismayed” by Moore’s
comments and described them
as unfounded.
“My job as an elected offi-
cial is to ask questions, which
I have done,” Sullivan wrote
in an email. “My questions are
a way to enlarge the public’s
understanding of how their tax
dollars are spent. I feel com-
fortable with my relationship
with county staff and respect
the jobs that they do. I am
proud of the work I’ve done as
a commissioner and will con-
tinue working on behalf of the
residents of Clatsop County.”
Thompson said it is criti-
cal for the county manager to
attend board meetings.
“I appreciate Mr. Moore
committing to do his job by
attending (board) meetings,”
she wrote in an email. “That
is critical if we, as elected
leaders, are to do our jobs of
providing governance and
accountability for the work
of the county. I look for-
ward to finding better ways to
ensure all of us can do our job
effectively in a professional
manner.”
Financial deal
Moore, an experienced
administrator who started
working for the county in April
2016, was hired to bring stabil-
ity after a succession of nine
county managers in 16 years.
He received a largely posi-
tive performance review from
the majority of commissioners
last year, but private and pub-
lic clashes between commis-
sioners and county manage-
ment have been common.
Threatening legal action
against the county over com-
missioners’ statements and
actions, Moore has asked for
a financial deal that would
allow him to leave his posi-
tion, sources said. Officials
have not publicly offered spe-
cifics about the request.
“If he did make a deal, I
wasn’t interested in it,” Lee
said.
Moore, who is budgeted
to earn $157,590 this year, is
not entitled to severance pay
in his employment contract if
he resigns. But if commission-
ers fire Moore without cause,
he would receive the same rate
of pay and full medical bene-
fits for six months.
Both Sullivan and Thomp-
son have repeatedly claimed
that commissioners do not
have an adequate role in the
day-to-day operations of the
county. Moore and the other
commissioners, in turn, have
accused Sullivan and Thomp-
son of attempting to direct the
work of county staff, which
they say violates the county
charter and board policy.
Emails between Moore and
commissioners in the past six
months — obtained by The
Daily Astorian through a pub-
lic-records request — reveal
more than a dozen exchanges
that highlight the division.
In a December email, for
instance, Sullivan expressed
disappointment that she was
not invited to hiring inter-
views for a new community
development director. Moore
responded by saying it was
rare for commissioners in the
county’s home-rule style of
government to be involved
in the hiring process of any
employee but the county
manager.
In other emails, Moore
claims that Thompson and
Sullivan
— to varying
degrees — have offered false
or misleading information
to the public and have made
requests of county staff that
are beyond their purview. The
two commissioners, for the
most past, did not respond to
any emails in which Moore
offered criticism.
Moore announced in an
October email that he was
eliminating commissioners’
interactions with staff alto-
gether, citing numerous com-
plaints from department heads
about Sullivan and Thompson.
Another conversation in
September centered on an
independent behavioral inves-
tigation initiated by the county
last summer. The investigation
found that Thompson, while
discussing her dissatisfaction
with Moore, acted inappropri-
ately by allegedly placing her
hands on a county employee.
Thompson said in a statement
that the investigation was an
example of why many staffers,
due to fears of retaliation, do
not share concerns to county
management.
Moore then launched an
investigation into the allega-
tion, claiming no evidence had
been found to support Thomp-
son’s claims. He announced
his intention to resign over
the matter in a Sept. 15 email
to commissioners, but he was
dissuaded by Lee and Com-
missioners Sarah Nebeker and
Lisa Clement.
‘Stop harassing’
Three days after that
email, Moore sent another
one addressed specifically to
Thompson.
“I am extremely fortunate
to also have the funds to hire
counsel to help me,” Moore
said in response to a similar
statement made by Thomp-
son’s attorney. “While I have
always encouraged and bene-
fited from honest, thoughtful
feedback — positive or nega-
tive — throughout my career
of almost four decades, I cur-
rently find myself in the posi-
tion of having to respectfully
request that you cease mak-
ing false and defamatory state-
ments regarding my perfor-
mance as county manager.”
Roughly a month later, Lee
called for Thompson’s resig-
nation over her response to the
behavioral investigation and
her travel expenses relative to
other commissioners.
Then, in an April email,
another employee alerted
Moore about a “confusing and
also concerning phone call”
in which Thompson allegedly
said she was concerned the
employee would “end up in
court” and that county man-
agement had been sending
“threatening emails.”
Moore sent an email to
Thompson about the incident:
“I’m going to make this as sim-
ple as possible. Stop harass-
ing members of my staff. Stop
undermining the effectiveness
of county government opera-
tions. Stop making false state-
ments about county manage-
ment. If you bother to listen,
I am sure county counsel will
advise you that your actions
are creating legal liabilities for
the county.”
Sullivan and Thompson
also have often questioned
Moore’s statements and pro-
posals at meetings.
A recent example came in
February when Sullivan pro-
posed adding a letter to min-
utes from a previous meet-
ing. During the discussion,
Nebeker asked Moore for his
opinion, but Sullivan objected.
“I would like the commis-
sioners to make the decision,”
Sullivan said before Nebeker
repeated the request. “Well,
point of order, he’s not stand-
ing on this board.”
Moore, with a surprised
look on his face, paused for
a few seconds before saying
that he wouldn’t be opposed to
adding the letter even though
it would be an unusual prac-
tice. About 15 minutes later,
he declined to give a county
manager report, typically
the last item on the meeting
agenda.
“Well, apparently I’ve
said enough, so I don’t have
a report tonight,” Moore said.
Later that week, Sullivan
sent an email to commission-
ers and Moore apologizing for
the exchange, which Moore
did not accept.
“While some of your com-
ments and behaviors during
Wednesday’s (board) meeting
were disappointing, they were
not unexpected. Almost from
the time you joined the com-
mission in January 2017 you
have treated me with contempt
and have demonstrated a high
level of indifference to any-
thing I have to say both pub-
licly and privately,” Moore
wrote in response.
The county manager said he
has had to apologize to county
department heads repeatedly
for how Sullivan has treated
county staff both during and
after meetings. “From here
on I will address every false
statement or instance of rude
behavior by Commissioners
Thompson and Sullivan in an
open and public manner.
This has got to stop.”
Dredging: ‘This dredge
we have is probably
antiquated 30 years ago’
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recommended the Port
reconsider the cost of dredg-
ing in-house given the new
information, and release a
bid as quickly as possible to
hire a private company for
the dredging season between
November and February.
Commissioner
Bill
Hunsinger, a commercial
fisherman and former long-
shoreman, decried how much
of the Port’s maintenance
staff is dedicated in that four-
month window to maintain-
ing and manning the dredge
instead of docks.
“This dredge we have is
probably antiquated 30 years
ago,” said Commissioner
James Campbell, a marine
tower and contractor.
Commissioner
Dirk
Rohne said the Port should
see what sort of deals it can
get on a longer-term contract,
while factoring in staff time
spent on the Felkins. Com-
missioner Robert Stevens, a
retired Coast Guard captain,
said some of the Port’s cus-
tomers have complained of
slips silting in immediately
after dredging.
“These are paying cus-
tomers who rent the slips,
and at low tide they can’t get
their boats out,” he said.
The Port Commission
also agreed in a 4-1 vote to
sign a letter of support for
Christa Svensson, fleet man-
ager for Jessie’s Ilwaco Fish
Co. and an Oregon candi-
date for federal appointment
to the Pacific Fisheries Man-
agement Council. Hunsinger
was the lone “no” vote. The
other two candidates for the
council are Mariel Combs,
legal counsel for ocean
advocacy group Oceana, and
Bob Rees, executive direc-
tor of the Northwest Associ-
ation of Steelheaders, Svens-
son said.
Cormorants: Two species
nest seasonally on island
Continued from Page 1A
seasons, contractors killed
adult double-crested cor-
morants and destroyed their
nests and eggs.
“The colony collapsed in
2016 after weeks of relent-
less shooting of cormorants
by government agents and
within days of the initiation
of nest destruction on the
island,” Bob Sallinger, the
society’s conservation direc-
tor, said in March.
“Despite that fact, the
agencies resumed shoot-
ing activities in 2017 and
less than 500 birds returned
to nest,” he added. “Instead,
tens of thousands of cor-
morants moved further up
the estuary where the Corps
models indicated they would
eat more salmon than if they
had been left alone on East
Sand Island.”
The Corps blamed the
birds’ dispersal on preda-
tors, particularly bald eagles,
which are often seen in the
estuary, and were witnessed
flushing cormorants at East
Sand Island at times, accord-
ing to the agency’s monitor-
ing reports.
Both years, cormorants
appeared to move upriver
and nested in large numbers
on the Astoria Bridge.
Two species of cormo-
rant nest seasonally on East
Sand Island. Over the years,
the number of double-crested
cormorants swelled. The
birds threaten juvenile
salmon and steelhead runs,
the Corps and others said.
In 2015, the Corps finalized
a management plan with the
goal of reducing the colony
from over 14,000 breeding
pairs to no more than 5,380
to 5,939.