A3
THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, OcTObER 21, 2021
Mandate: Astoria lost one
volunteer and one intern
continued from Page A1
having to provide. So that’s really what it
came down to,” Walling said. It’s a decision
he wrestled with. “I could have made it work
for me,” he said, “but as a leader I couldn’t
come to a point where I could make people do
things that I don’t feel are right.”
Walling did not mention the vaccine man-
date in his resignation letter to the West-
port-Wauna Rural Fire Protection District
Board.
“I didn’t necessarily want to make a big
deal out of it, but I’m not going to hide from
it, either,” he said. “It is what it is.”
Walling emphasized he is not taking a stand
against the vaccine. “I don’t care if you’re vac-
cinated. I don’t care if you’re not vaccinated,”
he said. “It’s taking a stand on: You should not
have to provide that information.”
Asked if he is vaccinated, Walling said,
“That’s personal health information that I
don’t think is relevant. I think we all have a
right to our privacy, and to me that was the
point of it.”
No one else left the Westport fire depart-
ment, which now stands at 10 people.
However, two firefighters chose to stop
working as emergency medical responders
and instead just serve as firefighters. If they
show up on medical calls, they will not be
doing hands-on patient care.
The only person on Westport’s staff who
can respond to medical emergencies now is
the new fire chief, Greg Brody, who joined the
department in December 2019.
Brody said he believes the state mandate is
devastating to the people of Oregon who rely
on volunteer-driven departments. Westport
has long had trouble attracting volunteers, and
the department is not alone.
“I’m disappointed it came down to this,”
Brody said.
‘No different than any of the other
vaccinations’
about the vaccine mandate, knowing there
was little the leaders could do about it, either.
‘The mandate I don’t really agree
with’
Olney Walluski’s all-volunteer fire depart-
ment lost two of 10 over the mandate; one vol-
unteer had tried to get a medical exemption
and was denied. The department also recently
lost two others for nonmandate reasons.
Fire Chief Jeremy MacDonald said he got
vaccinated right off the bat. “That’s kind of
part of the deal. That doesn’t bother me at all.
If people don’t want to get it, I understand,” he
said. “The mandate I don’t really agree with.”
Astoria Fire Department, which has 12
paid staff, lost one volunteer and one intern
over the state mandate, bringing its manpower
down from 23 to 21.
“In my book, it is what it is, so we just
needed to figure out how we could comply
with it, and that’s what we did,” Fire Chief
Dan Crutchfield said.
A few Astoria firefighters got a medical or
religious exemption, according to City Man-
ager Brett Estes.
The Gearhart fire department did not lose
anyone; their personnel remained at 29 — two
paid staff, 27 volunteers — according to City
Manager Chad Sweet. Four exemptions were
given.
“A lot of our employees have other jobs
and some of those jobs had the mandate, so
in order to continue to feed their family and
take care of them, some of them made the
decision to do that,” Sweet said. “But many
of them had already gone down the path. So
the mandate increased our vaccinations a bit.
Our wonderful volunteers, they were already
on top of it.”
Seaside Fire & Rescue has so far kept most
of its 32-person staff; only a small number of
volunteers had yet to turn in their vaccina-
tion cards as of Tuesday, according to division
chiefs David Rankin and Genesee Dennis.
Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue, which has
a crew of 21 — three paid staff and 18 volun-
teers — did not lose anyone. Most had got-
ten vaccinated without pressure from the state,
Fire Chief Marc Reckmann said.
Asked about his stance on the vaccines,
Reckmann said, “My position was: It was a
state mandate, and to protect the district and
myself, I had to enforce it.”
The Elsie-Vinemaple fire department
could not be reached for
comment.
At the Knappa fire department, which has
about 20 people on staff, one or two had not
turned their proof of vaccination in to Fire
Chief Kurt Donaldson as of Tuesday. The
chief said he doesn’t know their intentions.
No one on his staff got medical or religious
exemptions.
“We haven’t been affected at all, really,”
Donaldson said.
On the vaccine man-
date, Donaldson expressed
STATE SET THE
a different view than many
‘We do everything we
fire chiefs.
VACCINATION
“I was in favor of it, per-
can to educate and
DEADLINE FOR
sonally,” he said. “As fire-
encourage people to
fighters, the last thing we
take the vaccine’
MONDAY.
In Warrenton, Mayor
want to do is get some-
thing and give it to another
Henry Balensifer and Fire
patient or bring it home to our families.
Chief Brian Alsbury worried about crippling
“To me it was no different than any of the losses in their department due to the state man-
other vaccinations we’re required to get to date — a prospect that led Balensifer to pen a
become EMTs (emergency medical techni- letter to Brown, telling her that, if she did not
cians),” he continued. “We had to go and get exempt volunteer firefighters, he would have to
a full set of vaccinations just to take an EMT declare an emergency and request the Oregon
class. So, to me, there wasn’t a big difference.” National Guard to fill the gaps in services.
At Lewis and Clark, where Fire Chief Jeff
But the city came out ahead, losing one
Golightly feared he might lose roughly half of longtime volunteer over the mandate and gain-
his 31-person crew, the department ended up ing five new ones. The fire department chose to
losing one volunteer because of the mandate. put the volunteer on a leave of absence, rather
Six volunteers managed to get an exemption, than terminate him, so that his certifications
can be put on hold and he remains eligible to
he said.
Vaccines “still should be the individual’s serve again if he either gets the vaccine or the
choice, not forced upon everybody,” Goli- mandate is lifted. “It was a tough decision for
ghtly said. “And even with the exemptions, him,” Alsbury said.
that could all change, too, as we well know.”
The department now stands at 27. A handful
Hamlet Volunteer Fire Department dropped of volunteers got exemptions.
from 11 people on the roster to 9. “We’ve had
Alsbury and Balensifer worked to counter-
two firefighters that have elected not to con- act vaccine misinformation.
tinue on the fire department because of the
“We do everything we can to educate and
mandate,” Fire Chief Matt Verley said.
encourage people to take the vaccine. We did
The loss “hasn’t really affected our everything short of hold their arm down on the
response,” he said. “Both of those firefighters table and jab a needle in them,” Alsbury said
weren’t high-level volunteers.”
with a laugh. “We can’t do that.”
But for Hamlet, the mandate comes at a
City commissioners also put in their time to
time when emergency calls are up across the keep the firefighters, Alsbury said. This made
board, he said. The all-volunteer district cov- an impression on the volunteers, who don’t see
ers a large stretch of U.S. Highway 26.
the commissioners as often as paid staff do.
“Last year, we set an all-time record for
“I think that went a long way with the vol-
calls, but we’ve superseded that one already unteers,” he said.
Donaldson, in Knappa, said he is glad to
by a significant amount for 2021,” he said.
His personal position is that “the vaccine’s see the other departments had good vaccina-
tion turnouts.
good, the mandate is not,” he said.
“I think this falls squarely in the category
“It’s been a rough thing for us to go through,
of, ‘If you do X, then Y happens.’ And I don’t but every growing process is tough,” he said,
think that the mandate is going to convince “and at some point you just kind of have to fig-
anyone that’s already got their heels dug in ure out what to do and go with it.”
Thinking of the losses in other depart-
about not getting vaccinated,” he said. “And
so simply pressing the issue is causing lots of ments, Dennis, in Seaside, said one feature of
volunteers to leave during a time when call the county is that “we have a real good mutual
aid system, so we’re always willing and able
volume’s up across the county.”
Verley said he sent letters to state Sen. to help each other out in need. So we’ll make
Betsy Johnson and state Rep. Suzanne Weber it through it.”
Church: Land has been vacant for years
continued from Page A1
property is not near a known landslide.
The City Council voted 4-1 in favor of the
annex project and against the appeal. City
Councilor Tom Hilton was the sole “no” vote.
“To separate the emotion from this is a chal-
lenge to me,” he said. He lives in the neighbor-
hood and has known the Tadei family, as well
as many Bethany Lutheran congregants, for
most of his life.
But the other city councilors said they were
satisfied with the Planning Commission’s
reasoning and city staff’s responses to issues
raised in the appeal.
City Councilor Tom Brownson noted
that the zoning on the lot allows Bethany
Lutheran or any other developer to construct
a much larger building for a variety of uses,
some of which might be even less palatable to
the neighborhood.
The land has been vacant for years, City
Councilor Joan Herman added, and what the
church wants to do is allowed under the city’s
codes. Like other city councilors, she felt the
annex would not impact the historical integrity
of the neighborhood.
“Honestly,” she said, “I think the neighbors
are up in arms over something that will not
come to pass.”
Perhaps in the future, the annex will be
seen as a buffer between the commercial dis-
trict below and the neighborhood above, City
Councilor Roger Rocka suggested.
“I think it’s going to have a positive effect,”
he said.
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