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146TH YEAR, NO. 172
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019
ONE DOLLAR
1949-2019
Decision
nears on
data center
feasibility
Developer sets a
deadline for early May
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Mark Cox hopes to decide by early
May whether the data center and tech-
nology incubator he’s proposed at the
North Coast Business Park in Warrenton
is feasible.
Clatsop County last year approved
a $1.2 million sale of 67 acres to Cox’s
company, Agile Design, which hopes to
develop the project on 19th Street across
from Costco .
Cox has pitched the project as bring-
ing a new, transformative industry to the
region, including up to 76 local jobs with
an average wage of $75,000.
Data centers have been rapidly expand-
ing in the Pacifi c Northwest because of
an abundance of cheap water and power.
Cox’s site is also part of the Clatsop
Enterprise Zone providing three- to fi ve-
year property tax breaks on new projects.
See Data center, Page A7
Bradley W. Parks/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson poses for a portrait in 2017.
Oregon Secretary of State
Richardson dies of cancer
TAKE THE SURVEY
A Republican who broke
Democratic dominance
Agile Design has posted an online
survey at agiledesign.net/datacenter
to gather public feedback about the
proposed data center in Warrenton
By JEFF MAPES
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Deputy
director
sues housing
authority
Claims punishment
for whistleblowing
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
A top administrator for the Northwest
Oregon Housing Authority who was put
on administrative leave last spring is suing
the organization and its executive director .
In a lawsuit fi led on Monday, Teresa
Sims, the deputy director, alleges that she
has faced retaliation from Todd Johnston
and the housing authority for speaking
out about mismanaged public funds and
unlawful hiring practices.
Sims is seeking nearly $1 million in
emotional and economic damages.
In May, Sims was placed on paid leave
while the housing authority investigated
whether she falsifi ed records to allow
her son and fellow employee, Benjamin
Natividad, to receive public housing assis-
tance while he was renting from his uncle.
ennis Richardson, the fi rst
Republican to hold the Ore-
gon secretary of state’s offi ce
in nearly four decades, died Tuesday
night following a battle with brain can-
cer, his offi ce announced this morning.
Gov. Kate Brown will appoint
Richardson’s successor, who must be
a Republican. But under the Oregon
Constitution, that appointee cannot
ascend to the governorship in the case
of a vacancy, as is the normal chain of
lineage.
The next in line of succession is
now Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read, a
Democrat.
Richardson, 69, in 2016 became
the rare Republican to win statewide
offi ce in Oregon in recent decades. A
trial attorney from Jackson County, he
served 12 years in the Oregon House
before he unsuccessfully ran for gover-
nor in 2014.
The name recognition he earned in
that race — against Democratic incum-
bent John Kitzhaber, who resigned amid
a scandal just weeks into his new term
— helped set Richardson up for a suc-
cessful campaign for secretary of state.
“He really thought you should be a
moral actor in the world,” said former
state Rep. Peter Buckley, an Ashland
Democrat who often clashed with Rich-
ardson on policy but came to admire
him as a person. “He was always tre-
mendously hardworking and a skilled
advocate for his positions.”
“There’s just not a person down here
(in state government) that doesn’t have
respect and regard for Dennis Richard-
D
AP Photo/Timothy J. Gonzalez
Dennis Richardson, the fi rst Republican to win a statewide race in 14 years, pumps
his fi st at an election night event at the Salem Convention Center in 2016.
son,” said former Republican Rep. Julie
Parrish, who managed his campaign
for secretary of state. “He’s an honest
broker.”
Brown ordered that fl ags be lowered
to half-staff in honor of Richardson.
“Regardless of what side of the aisle
his colleagues sat on, we all knew Den-
nis’ kind heart guided his career of ser-
vice to the people of Oregon,” Brown
said in a statement. “His reputation
for perseverance not only guided him
through the fi ght with cancer, it also
gave us all reassurance that he was
fi ghting cancer with the same determi-
nation he brought to work every day.”
Other tributes also quickly poured
in. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon
Republican , praised Richardson as a
“wonderful public servant, and a deeply
loving husband and parent. Dennis’
quiet competence and civility is such a
rarity in today’s world.”
State House Speaker Tina Kotek,
a Portland Democrat, called him “a
man of integrity and a dedicated public
servant.”
Richardson, who didn’t turn to pol-
itics until his 50s, freely admitted that
he struggled as a young man to fi nd his
sense of direction. His fi rst marriage
ended in divorce while he was serving
as an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam.
He returned home having a “diffi -
cult time trying to fi gure out what I was
going to do with my life, where I was
See Richardson, Page A7
See Lawsuit, Page A7
Astoria hires a new fi re chief
Crutchfi eld spent
career in Coos Bay
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Astoria has a new fi re
chief.
Dan Crutchfi eld, the bat-
talion chief of the Coos Bay
Fire Department, will take
over the job on March 15.
Interim Fire Chief Richard
Curtis has led the depart-
ment since September fol-
lowing the retirement of for-
mer Fire Chief Ted Ames.
Curtis will stay on
through the end of
“Frankly, I really
March to help ease
like that he comes
the
department’s
from an Oregon
transition. The City
coastal community,”
Council approved
Estes said of Crutch-
an amendment of
fi eld. “He under-
a personal services
stands what it’s
Dan
contract with Curtis
like to live in this
Crutchfi eld
in January to keep
environment.”
him while the city
He
believes
continued to look for a fi re Crutchfi eld will be a good
chief.
fi t for the community and
City Manager Brett Estes the city. He described
had anticipated the fi re chief Crutchfi eld as possessing
position could be diffi - a “can-do” personality and
cult to fi ll given the unique said he is well-respected
demands of the job. The within the fi re department
city worked with a recruit- and the city of Coos Bay.
ment agency to fi nd possible
See Chief, Page A7
candidates.
Warrenton eyes master plan
for Spur 104 zone change
Commissioners
walk back an
earlier decision
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON
—
Walking back an earlier
decision, the City Com-
mission will now require
a master plan to accom-
pany a zone change to res-
idential properties between
U.S. Highway 101 and
Spur 104.
The city will pay for
the plan and lead a pub-
lic workshop to develop it
over the next 90 days.
At a prior meeting, the
commissioners voted 4-1
to approve a zone change
to allow mixed commercial
use at the wedge of proper-
ties. Mayor Henry Balen-
sifer voted against the zone
change because of ongo-
ing concerns about how
further development could
exacerbate traffi c issues
in the area and impact
more than just the people
who already live there. He
See Warrenton, Page A7