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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2019)
HAPPY NEW YEAR! DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019 146TH YEAR, NO. 131 ONE DOLLAR Mental health director placed on leave Reason was not publicly disclosed By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Bonds will finance the renovation of Astoria Middle School. ASTORIA, WARRENTON TRY TO CONTROL BOND COSTS Lessons from Seaside Amy Baker, who was brought in to fix Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare after a management breakdown in 2016, said she has been placed on administrative leave. The reason behind the move was not publicly disclosed, but the deci- sion stunned some of the Amy Baker staff at the mental health agency and surprised county leaders who believe the executive director was mak- ing progress. Baker said she was informed by the agency’s board on Wednesday. “I respect this process and the community volun- teers who serve on the board,” she said in By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian easide voters in 2016 approved a $100 million bond to build a new K-12 campus east of town out of the tsunami inundation zone. But the project has ballooned to more than $120 million, largely because of the unforeseen costs of preparing the steep, forested hillside for construction. Astoria and Warrenton, which passed significant new bond mea- sures in November to improve schools, are planning for escalating costs in a busy, expensive construction market to ensure voters get what they expect. Each school district started with a 10 percent contingency baked into the blueprints, while estimating between a 3 and 6 percent escalation in construc- tion costs per year, along with routes to drop smaller projects if unaffordable. “You want to make things adequate to fund your project, but you don’t want to make it too fat … or you’re funding above what your taxpayers can afford,” said Scott Rose, a regional school bond consultant who worked with Warrenton. Facing overcrowded campuses and tsunami dangers, Warrenton voters backed $38.5 million in bonds to buy a master campus and build a new mid- dle school, slated to open in the fall of 2021. The project is the first of multiple bonds the school district hopes to pass to relocate all schools to higher ground. One of Rose’s first recommenda- tions was increasing Warrenton’s pro- posed bond by $6 million to better account for land preparation and con- struction costs. The school district is negotiating with the Nygaard family See Director, Page A4 S DLR Group The Warrenton-Hammond School Board asked voters for $38.5 million in bonds to fund the purchase of a new master campus and build a middle school. Future bonds would relocate the school district’s other campuses. on the purchase of about 60 acres on Dolphin Avenue. Priority list Mark Jeffery, the school superinten- dent in Warrenton, said the school dis- trict has created a priority list of proj- ects that need to be funded and others that might be deleted depending on costs. Buying the campus and construct- ing the middle school is the top pri- ority, followed by building a new career-technical education center, replacing Warrenton High School’s roof, re-siding campuses and installing security vestibules, doors and cameras. “It is our hope we will be able to complete at least the top five or six projects and are fairly certain we will get through the top three or four,” Jef- fery said. Astoria’s $70 million bond is high- lighted by a $45 million modernization of Astoria Middle School, including a new, three-story academic hall by the end of 2021. The middle school and other campuses will receive another $30 million in remodels. Craig Hoppes, the school superin- tendent in Astoria, said the school dis- trict is focused on finding a contrac- tor with the regional gravitas to attract subcontractors. “We want competitive bidding to go on, so that we can get the best price we can,” Hoppes said. “It’s tougher to get big contractors out here. We’re hoping to use local subs … as much as possible.” Hoppes and Jeffery don’t see hav- ing the same challenges with wet- lands, streams and leftover tree stumps that have plagued Seaside on its new Four vie for council vacancy Appointee will replace Jones on east side By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Kevin Leahy, the executive direc- tor of Clatsop Economic Development Resources, is one of four people who have applied to fill a vacancy on the Asto- ria City Council. City Councilor Bruce Jones, who rep- resents the east side’s Ward 4, was elected in November to replace Mayor Arline LaMear. City councilors hope to appoint a new councilor to fill out the remainder of Jones’ term, which runs through 2020, at the council meeting on Monday. See Bond, Page A7 See Council, Page A4 Mo’s coming Pelayos becomes local Mexican chain Started with to Seaside a food truck By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — Mo’s Restaurant is com- ing to Seaside. The regional seafood and chowder chain has signed a long-term lease with the Shilo Innfor the hotel’srestaurant space overlooking the Promenade and Pacific Ocean, according to an announce- ment from Mo’s. The restaurant will start renovations this coming week and could open in the spring. “The addition of Mo’s in Seaside is a great opportunity for our entire company,” Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian A local family that started out with a food truck has expanded into a chain span- ning both ends of Clatsop County. Jorge Antonio Vazquez Pelayo, from Guadalajara, Mexico, founded Pelayo’s Taqueria, a food truck named after his mother’s surname that he bought from friends and parked outside See Mo’s, Page A4 Heather Vazquez runs the third location of Pelayos in the former Casa Del Sol on Roosevelt Drive in Seaside. See Pelayos, Page A7
