COAST WEEKEND: ASTORIA PRIDE 2019
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 233
$1.50
Port Commission pursues staff survey
Scrutiny after criticism
of executive director
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
A divided Port of Astoria Com-
mission voted Tuesday to anony-
mously survey employees about
their experiences , escalating t he
Port
needs
to fi x
house
Consultant previews
fresh strategic plan
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
The consultant hired to
create the Port of Astoria’s
strategic plan told the Port
Commission the agency
needs to get on stable fi nan-
cial footing and address fail-
ing infrastructure over the
next two to four years before
focusing on broader eco-
nomic development goals.
Mary McArthur, the
executive director of the
Columbia-Pacifi c Economic
Development District, began
work about three years ago
on the business plan. She
unveiled her fi nal draft
Tuesday to the Port Com-
mission and a room packed
with interested locals . The
draft will make the rounds
of local governments.
The business plan, an
update of an outline from
2010, lays out the Port’s eco-
nomic development focus.
scrutiny of Jim Knight, the
missioner Robert Stevens
Port’s executive director .
and Commissioner James
Commissioner
Dirk
Campbell opposed the
Rohne brought the motion
motion.
to have a consultant sur-
Rohne called for an
vey staff, which was
investigation and staff sur-
approved by a 3-2 vote.
vey after Matt McGrath,
Jim Knight
Frank Spence, the com-
the Port’s former director
mission’s president, and
of operations , submitted
Commissioner Bill Hunsinger a letter and observations describ-
voted with Rohne, while Com- ing Knight as dishonest, incom-
petent and incapable of running
the agency. A n ad-hoc fi nance
committee also recently recom-
mended an anonymous feedback
loop for staff, including an annual
survey.
Knight questioned the process
for the survey, what questions
would be asked of staff and how
the results would be reported to
the Port Commission.
“It’s a little fuzzy as to what’s
the purpose of interviewing and
asking the employees, my employ-
ees, questions about their employ-
ment with the Port,” he said.
Annual, confi dential surveys
are a best management prac-
tice used by local governments,
Spence said.
See Commission, Page A6
MILITARY DOES DRY
RUN FOR CASCADIA
QUAKE RESPONSE
A landing at Sunset Beach
By R.J. MARX
and EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
ith the 75th anniversary of D-Day on
Thursday, the military treated Clatsop
County residents to their own landing
at Sunset Beach.
The Navy sent two hovercraft ashore on Mon-
day as part of a dry run to deliver emergency sup-
plies after a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake
and tsunami. The Air Force delivered H umvees
to the Astoria Regional Airport aboard two
cargo planes.
W
See Response, Page A6
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Astorian
ABOVE: Crew members pilot a landing craft onto Sunset Beach.
BELOW: A member of the military talks on a radio as a landing
craft arrives on Sunset Beach during the exercise.
MORE ONLINE
See a video of the hovercraft landing at DailyAstorian.com
See Port, Page A6
Astoria to
sell more
carbon
credits
New deal with
The Climate Trust
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
A plan to sell more car-
bon credits from Astoria’s
Bear Creek watershed could
bring in around $1 million in
revenue for the city.
On Monday, the City
Council
unanimously
approved an agreement with
The Climate Trust, a Port-
land-based nonprofi t, to pur-
chase carbon credits in 2020.
In 2015, Astoria entered
into a voluntary carbon pro-
gram. The city agreed not to
aggressively harvest timber
in the 3,700-acre watershed
that supplies Astoria’s drink-
ing water. In exchange, the
city received carbon credits
After suicides, some want signs on the Astoria Bridge
Two men jumped
from the span in May
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
See Carbon, Page A5
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Emergency responders circle underneath the Astoria Bridge after a man
jumped in May.
After two apparent suicides at
the Astoria Bridge in May , emer-
gency responders and state offi cials
say there is little they can do to dis-
suade people from jumping off.
But two local pastors believe sui-
cide prevention signs could be an
important fi rst step.
Karen and Fred Humber, co-pas-
tors at Peninsula Church of the Naz-
arene in Long Beach, Washington,
wrote to the Oregon Department of
Transportation days after one man
jumped off the Astoria Bridge and
ahead of a second apparent suicide
on Friday .
“One death is too many,” they
wrote. “A sign posted, especially
more than one, can help a person
pause long enough to reconsider
their actions and prevent death by
suicide on the bridge.”
The Humbers asked if the state
could post signs containing suicide
prevention hotline numbers and
information at regular intervals in
both directions along the entire 4.1-
mile span .
But the answer was “no.”
The Astoria Bridge is closed to
pedestrians, so there is the question
of who such signs would target, as
well as safety concerns, said Lou
Torres, a spokesman for the Depart-
ment of Transportation. The signs
might distract motorists and create
unintended hazards, and he is not
See Bridge, Page A5