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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2018
Lee: ‘I didn’t go out and start any of the struggles’
Continued from Page A1
ple haven’t followed that.”
that the county is in good
shape, we’re working on
providing services.”
Lee, a progressive and
environmentalist, pointed
to major environmental
decisions as some of his
most memorable moments .
Top of mind for him are
choices to reject a liquefi ed
natural gas pipeline and ter-
minal in Warrenton and to
withdraw from a class-ac-
tion timber lawsuit against
the state.
“The LNG controversy
really brought the commu-
nity together,” Lee said. “I
think protecting the diverse
value of our forests was a
really important position
we made.”
County Manager Cam-
eron Moore has been with
the county since 2016
and is retiring in January .
Moore said he tends not to
focus on the past and did
not offer many refl ections
on his tenure.
“That’s sort of not the
way I approach my thought
process,” Moore said. “It’s
just more my philosophy.
You just have to go in and
earn it.”
But he did speak a lit-
tle bit about his time work-
ing with Lee. Moore and
Lee would meet ahead of
county commission meet-
ings to review agendas.
“I think it was fairly easy
to work with Scott because
I respected his position as
chair and he respected my
position as county man-
ager, and that allowed
us to have a positive
working
relationship,”
Moore said.
Commissioner
Sarah
Nebeker — the board’s vice
chairwoman, who has served
since 2013 — incoming
Commissioner Mark Kujala
— a former Warrenton mayor
— and Thompson have all
expressed interest in replac-
ing Lee as chair.
Lee, who has served as
chairman for the past fi ve
years, has endorsed Nebeker.
“She’d be the obvious
choice based on experience
and skills leading the board,”
Lee said. “I think she has a
great personality to lead the
board.”
The new chair will l ead
the commission’s search for
a new county manager. Mon-
ica Steele, the county’s bud-
get and fi nance director, as
well as the interim county
manager, has said she would
likely apply.
Moore had had discus-
sions with Steele about the
job for more than two years.
“I think if she decided she
wanted to apply, given my
opportunity to work closely
with her in my time here, she
is certainly someone I support
based on what I know about
her and her ability,” Moore
said.
Lee, who owns Bikes and
Beyond in Astoria, said he
will remain involved in local
politics. He will volunteer
with a local environmental
group, but is waiting to show
his hand until the new com-
mission is in place.
“You never know where
I’ll pop up,” Lee said. “You
never know which next fi ght
is going to come that I’m not
going to invite.”
‘Obvious choice’
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Commissioner Sarah Nebeker, left, recognizes Scott Lee for his service as chairman of the Clatsop County commission at a
meeting in December.
‘Don’t go looking
for a fi ght’
Lee’s relationships with
other county commissioners
were not always positive. He
did not shy away from fi ghts,
but the chairman insists he
never picked them.
“My philosophy is, ‘Don’t
go looking for a fi ght. Wait
until it comes to you,’” Lee
said. “I didn’t go out and
start any of the struggles I
dealt with in my time on the
board.”
One of the most nota-
ble strains was between Lee
and Commissioner Lianne
Thompson. Since she was
elected in 2014, Lee has crit-
icized her on multiple fronts,
and the arguments have often
boiled over at commission
meetings.
“The only comment I have
is that his record speaks for
itself,” Thompson said.
Lee put the sticking points
with Thompson and oth-
ers into a historical perspec-
tive. While recent interactions
have been stressful, problems
on the commission in the
2000s — including several
recalls — were far more dam-
aging, Lee said.
“I think the issues I’ve
had to confront don’t come
close to what happened in the
2000s. It was a disaster,” Lee
said. “There are still echoes
of that era, but I don’t think
what I’ve dealt with rose to
that level.”
Both Lee and Moore
emphasized that commis-
sioners should adhere to the
county charter to avoid future
friction. The charter delegates
the responsibility for carrying
out board policies and hiring
and fi ring employees to the
county manager.
Heated discussions have
taken place about what that
means , including whether
commissioners have the
right to sit in on interviews
during the hiring process for
department directors . Moore
and Lee have said the char-
ter, which voters approved,
removes commissioners from
any role in day-to-day county
operations.
“I think one of the most
important things commis-
sioners can do is follow the
rule and the letter of the home
rule charter,” Lee said. “Every
time a commissioner has
gone astray, it’s because peo-
Wildfi res: Cost of fi ghting wildfi res Wauna: ‘By
estimated to be about $500M this year banking them,
we legitimize
these businesses’
Continued from Page A1
Forest practices likely
won’t be part of council’s
review, but could become a
consideration.
Brown also wants the
state to hire a consultant to
analyze budgeting for fi res.
Oregon’s byzantine array of
reimbursements, borrowing
and insurance burdens the
state’s general fund.
Expensive to fi ght
From 2008 to 2012,
annual fi re costs in the state
hovered at $20 million or
less, according to state data.
Costs spiked to $122
million in 2013, as fi res
in the Rogue Valley per-
sisted. While expenses hav-
en’t reached that point again,
they continue to stay above
pre-2012 levels.
The Department of For-
estry had to bump up its bor-
rowing from the state trea-
sury to pay this year’s bills
while waiting for the federal
money.
“Payments to contrac-
tors and vendors must be
made by on a timely basis,”
state analysts wrote in a
recent report on the fi re sea-
son. “Many people and busi-
nesses assisting with fi ghting
large fi res are self-employed
or own small businesses and
cannot wait to be paid until
the department receives
reimbursements.”
And fi re-induced cash
fl ow issues aren’t limited to
the Department of Forestry.
The Oregon State Police
feels the impact too.
The state fi re marshal’s
offi ce, part of the state police,
incurred about $32 million
in unbudgeted expenses in
2017 and 2018 due to wild-
fi res, according to legislative
documents.
When fi res threaten peo-
ple and homes, the governor
can call on the fi re marshal
to dispatch local fi refi ght-
ers to action and cover their
costs. This year, about 1,000
fi refi ghters protected 7,600
homes that were threatened
by fi res.
The federal government
will cover about two-thirds
of those costs, but not before
next summer, when the
state’s two-year budget ends.
The cost of fi ghting all
wildfi res, including feder-
ally-managed fi res, is esti-
mated to be about $500 mil-
lion this year.
The Legislature has
appropriated about $3 mil-
lion to help with projects
on federal lands in Oregon.
These include thinning and
other measures that could
reduce the risk of fi res.
Travel Oregon, which
promotes tourism, said in
August that the state lost
an estimated $51 million in
tourism due to fi res last year.
Fire danger
Fires are worsening in
the West — a combination
of decades of postwar for-
est management policy and
conditions exacerbated by
climate change — and came
into the spotlight last month
as California dealt with the
deadly Camp Fire, which
resulted in at least 85 deaths.
“Forest
management
practices are at the center
of all of our thoughts right
now,” said state Sen. Jackie
Winters, R-Salem, during a
recent legislative hearing to
vet the Department of For-
estry’s request for funds to
pay for the fi re season.
Meanwhile, the land use
group 1 000 Friends of Ore-
gon released a report this
month calling for the state to
map wildfi re risk across the
state and avoid development
in high-risk areas.
In 2015, about 107,000
homes were at high risk of
being damaged by wild-
fi res, according to a report
that year from the Union
of Concerned Scientists.
More development in wild-
fi re-prone areas means the
risk of fi re damage grows.
“Federal, state, local bud-
gets have been woefully
inadequate to cover fi refi ght-
ing costs, not to mention the
costs of lost lives, homes
and businesses,” Russ Hoe-
fl ich, the executive director
of 1 000 Friends of Oregon,
said in a prepared statement.
“We hope to see that change
in 2019.”
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
of EO Media Group, Pam-
plin Media Group and Salem
Reporter.
Continued from Page A1
the time of a memorandum
by then-Deputy Attorney
General James M. Cole
directing federal resources
away from legal state can-
nabis programs. Nine
states and the District of
Columbia have legalized
recreational marijuana for
people 21 and older. Medi-
cal marijuana is legal in 30
states.
Wauna is required to
have an exit strategy in
which it would liquidate
assets in the Cannabis
Business Solutions pro-
gram if mandated to to so,
Smiley said.
Marijuana
banking
slipped nationwide in the
fi rst couple of months after
then-Attorney
General
Jeff Sessions rescinded
the Cole m emo in Janu-
ary, according to a report
by Forbes, but has kept
growing since clarifi ca-
tion that the guidelines are
still in place. More than
400 fi nancial institutions
nationwide take marijuana
accounts.
“We felt with the Cole
memo and the FinCEN
guidelines … we’re not
breaking the law,” Blum-
berg said.
Wauna hired two staff-
ers to monitor the trans-
actions of marijuana busi-
nesses, inspect properties
and review permits. That
helps the state ensure
transactions from seed to
sale are legal, Blumberg
said.
“They have all this cash
they don’t know what to
do with, so they operate
under the radar,” Blumberg
said. “By banking them,
we legitimize these busi-
nesses,” Blumberg said.
Jesus is the Reason
for the Season