A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021
IN BRIEF
Clinics for teenagers planned as
pace of virus vaccinations slows
Clatsop County will begin holding clinics for
teenagers who want to get vaccinated against the
coronavirus starting next week.
The Pfi zer vaccine will be administered at clinics
in Astoria on May 15 and Seaside on May 22 to 16-
and 17-year-olds and their families.
Pfi zer has requested emergency approval of its
vaccine for children 12 to 15. The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration is expected to give authoriza-
tion soon. If the vaccine is authorized, the county’s
vaccine task force said it is prepared to vaccinate
children 12 to 15 at the clinics as well.
The task force will continue Moderna vaccina-
tion clinics at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds and
the old Seaside High School into June, but at a
smaller scale.
The task force will focus on reaching people who
have diffi culty making or getting to appointments
for vaccination. There are also plans for some
smaller pop-up walk-in clinics, like one that took
place at Jewell School on Friday.
People can fi ll out the vaccine survey on the
county’s website or choose from a list of upcom-
ing vaccine clinics listed on the website and sign
up directly.
Vaccines are also available through pharmacies
at Fred Meyer, Walmart, Costco and Safeway. The
one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is available
through Providence Seaside Hospital and will be
available at Columbia Memorial Hospital primary
care clinics beginning Monday.
“We are starting to wind down the mass vaccina-
tion clinics because as we have less people coming
into those clinics to get fi rst doses, we don’t need
to have the big clinics for the second doses,” said
Chris Laman, the director of pharmacy and cancer
center services at Columbia Memorial Hospital in
Astoria, who is leading the county’s vaccine task
force.
“We’re trying to reduce the barriers to people.
So if they’re going to get health care, or if they’re
in their supermarket, like Fred Meyer or Safeway
or Walmart, they’ll be able to get vaccinated there.
And then the task force is going to move into trying
to be where people are at. And so in June, the clin-
ics will be more like pop-up clinics.”
As of Friday, 30,202 doses have been adminis-
tered in the county and 13,588 people were fully
vaccinated. The county’s goal to reach herd immu-
nity against the virus is vaccinating 27,533 people,
or 70% of the population.
Laman said the number of fi rst doses adminis-
tered at each clinic has gone down dramatically.
“About a month ago we were giving 700 or so
fi rst doses at a clinic, and I think last night we were
at about 150,” he said. “It’s been a little more than
a week since we started allowing walk-ins because
we’re trying to increase that uptake.
“The task force has been doing the best we
can, but ... we are — just like all the counties, and
really the whole country — seeing a slowdown in
the uptake in that kind of last 40% group. They’re
a little more hesitant or a little more adamant that
they’re not going to be getting shots. And so we’re
trying to come up with ways to reduce barriers and
make it easier for people to get shots.”
Margo Lalich, the county’s interim public health
director, asks everyone she vaccinates what it means
to them. She said there are benefi ts people often do
not realize.
“Generally speaking, they’re fully protected,
and it is a game changer in terms of whether or not
they will have to quarantine once they’re exposed to
COVID,” Lalich said. “They still want to be wear-
ing their masks out and about in public. What it
also means is if they’re in a household or a com-
munity where everybody is completely vaccinated,
meaning they’ve got two doses and they’re two
weeks post that second vaccination, they no longer
need to be wearing that mask when they all come
together.”
— The Astorian
DEATH
May 6, 2021
In BACKUS,
Brief:
May
2021
Gouverneur,
92, of 8,
Seaside,
died in
Seaside. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
Death
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
TUESDAY
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District, 5:15 p.m.,
work session; 7 p.m., budget committee, 1225 Avenue A,
Seaside.
Lewis & Clark Fire Department Board, 6 p.m., board and
budget meeting, main fi re station, 34571 U.S. Highway 101
Business.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
Clatsop Community College Board, 6:30 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Workshop focuses on
Seaside parking issues
Parking structure,
off -site shuttle
among options
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE
—
Got
parking?
That was the question
business leaders wrestled
with at a workshop Tues-
day at the Seaside Civic and
Convention Center hosted by
C ity C ouncilor David Pos-
alski and City Councilor
Randy Frank.
“What I want to hear is
what are businesses and the
community’s perception that
are issues with parking here
in Seaside?” Posalski asked.
The city’s last parking
study was done in 2003 and
2004 . “Ninety-six percent of
them felt parking was a prob-
lem, and that was 17 years
ago,” he said.
Calling it a systemic prob-
lem, Posalski asked for a
long-term view. “Where are
we going to be in 10 years?
And how are we going to deal
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
Even in the middle of the week, many parking spots in
downtown Seaside are taken.
with it?” he said. “Because
at least with the trends that
I’ve seen, in the 10 years I’ve
been here, it’s gotten worse
every year.”
Lack of spaces
Attendees agreed on a
lack of spaces within walk-
ing distance of downtown
for visitors and residents , not
only during the peak tourism
season but throughout the
year. Remedies centered on a
multilevel parking structure,
paid parking options, off -site
parking and shuttles. Solu-
tions included greater use of
the upper level of the World-
Mark Seaside parking lot,
more clearly marked signs
throughout town and in park-
ing lots, parking areas out-
side downtown and shuttles
to shopping and the beach.
“I was here during the
2003 survey,” Susan Deshon,
of the Carousel Mall, said.
“The problems have not
changed, they have been
augmented.”
Deshon said RVs and
buses seeking to fi nd
spaces have been problem-
atic during an “astronomi-
cally busy time” for down-
town during the coronavirus
pandemic.
Bus parking will only
worsen, said Keith Chandler,
the general manger of the
Seaside Aquarium. “We hav-
en’t had the problem because
we don’t have the groups that
we have normally, because
there’s no school. When
school gets back in session,
all those bus drivers are
going to park right down-
town,” he said.
Jeff Ter Har, the owner of
Ter Har’s, a clothing store,
proposed an app that could
provide available park-
ing options to visitors and
residents.
Workshop
participants
suggested parking at a loca-
tion outside of the down-
town area, possibly at the
former Broadway Middle
School, the former Seaside
High School or an area east
of U.S. Highway 101, with a
park and ride to bring people
downtown.
There are 160 parking
spots in the WorldMark lot
and 225 in the convention
center parking lot, Frank
said.
See Parking, Page A6
Embattled state forester resigns
Daugherty led
agency since 2016
By TED SICKINGER
The Oregonian
Peter Daugherty, Ore-
gon’s state forester and the
leader of the long-struggling
Department of Forestry, has
submitted his resignation
to the state board that over-
sees the department, eff ec-
tive May 31.
Daugherty has led the
agency since 2016, and his
tenure has been marked by
deep fi nancial problems
within the department, a
dysfunctional relationship
with the Board of Forestry
and the loss of state law-
makers’ confi dence, even
as the agency is looking for
a massive infusion of new
resources to better respond
to the state’s increasingly
severe wildfi re seasons.
The Oregonian in recent
years documented many of
the agency’s troubles in its
Failing Forestry series.
Daugherty’s
resigna-
tion comes in the wake of
a scathing report from an
outside accounting consul-
tant, MGO, that described a
fundamental lack of fi nan-
cial controls and oversight
within the agency. The report
was reviewed in a hearing
this week before the natu-
ral resources subcommit-
tee of the Ways and Means
Committee, prompting some
incredulity from lawmakers,
who said they were aware
of the problems in general
but found details the fi rm
uncovered eye-opening and
troubling.
State Sen. Kathleen Tay-
lor, D-Portland, laid a good
deal of the blame on the
Board of Forestry.
“It’s no secret that I’m
not a supporter of hav-
ing a Board of Forestry,”
she said. ‘I don’t support
that. I believe the Legisla-
ture should be overseeing
the Department of Forestry.
The board has been given
Peter Daugherty has resigned as state forester.
this awesome responsibility
by the public ... and I’m con-
cerned the board did not do
its duties of overseeing the
department.”
Rep.
Jeff
Reardon,
D-Portland, said MGO’s
report was just the begin-
ning of the actions that need
to be taken.
Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eu-
gene, said many of the short-
comings called out in the
report had been noted in
an audit of the department
by the secretary of state in
2015.
“We are six years later
dealing with the same damn
issue and I don’t see any
improvement,” he said.
“And so either the Legis-
lature needs to step in and
do something dramatic or
… I really appreciate (the
report), but it just solidifi es
and exemplifi es what we’ve
been dealing with for years.
I’m just so frustrated that I
don’t see any improvement.”
Last straw
The airing of the report
may have been the last straw
for Daugherty. In his resig-
nation letter, he said he had
discussed the decision with
the governor’s offi ce and
decided it would be in the
best interest of the newly
reconstituted board and the
department to select a new
state forester. Daugherty
said his last eff ective day in
offi ce would be May 28.
In an email to staff ,
Daugherty said leading the
department had been the
highlight of his long career
in forestry. He said the agen-
cy’s “executive team is com-
mitted to supporting the
transition and helping pre-
pare Oregon’s next state
forester for the challenges
and rewards that come with
this role, both of which are
immense.”
The Board of Forestry
has the authority to hire
and fi re the state forester, a
fact that left the governor’s
offi ce and legislators with
less control as the agency’s
fi nances spun out of control
in recent years and the board
took no defi nitive action
beyond putting Daugherty
on notice and implement-
ing a performance improve-
ment plan. However, law-
makers did demand that
Daugherty begin submitting
monthly fi nancial reports to
the co-chairs of the Ways
and Means Committee.
Frustration
Gov. Kate Brown, mean-
while, also expressed deep
frustration last fall with her
inability to remake the board
and bring stronger fi nan-
cial expertise to its ranks, as
lawmakers from timber-de-
pendent counties joined
Republicans to kill her slate
of board nominees. That
changed this spring, as the
Senate confi rmed three of
her nominees to the board,
eff ectively remaking it.
“The board will soon
meet to discuss leadership
during this time of tran-
sition,” said Liz Merah, a
spokesperson for Brown.
“While the board has statu-
tory authority in appointing
the state forester, the gover-
nor is interested in a national
search for someone who can
further drive the agency as
a national leader in fi ghting
wildfi res, while at the same
time adapting to new tech-
nology and changing condi-
tions on the ground.”
Reached at his home in
Eastern Oregon, the for-
estry board’s new chair,
Jim Kelly, said Daugh-
erty’s decision to resign was
reached mutually and that
the board would look to hire
an interim replacement with
strong fi nancial expertise,
as the agency needs to get
its fi nancial house in order
before it can do anything
else eff ectively.
“You cannot have an
eff ective state forester
unless they have the confi -
dence of the governor and
the legislature,” Kelly said,
“and clearly that isn’t the
case with Peter.”
Kelly said he thinks the
dynamics on the board have
already changed.
“There’s reason to believe
we have the chance to cre-
ate a highly functional board
and have that trust reestab-
lished,” he said.
Bob Van Dyk, the Ore-
gon policy director of the
Wild Salmon Center, and a
frequent critic of the depart-
ment, said Daugherty’s res-
ignation was long overdue.
“Under
Daugherty’s
leadership, critical voices on
the Board of Forestry were
marginalized and bullied,”
he said in a statement via
email. “Oregon faces enor-
mous challenges on our for-
ests to protect water quality,
manage fi re and respond to
climate change. I hope the
board can take this moment
to turn the page and move
the agency into the 21st
century.”
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