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