149TH YEAR, NO. 88
WEEKEND EDITION // SATuRdAY, JANuARY 22, 2022
$1.50
State
discloses
outbreaks
at Seaside
care homes
By ERICK BENGEL
and GARY WARNER
The Astorian and Oregon Capital Bureau
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
A ‘Thin Gold Line’ flag to honor people who work in public safety telecommunications hangs in the Astoria emergency dispatch center.
Challenges at 911 dispatch centers
revive discussions of consolidation
Staffing shortages, equipment problems create risks
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
A
fter more than 20 years
of on-and-off discussions
about consolidation, Asto-
ria and Seaside are evalu-
ating whether to combine emergency
dispatch centers.
Sheriff Matt Phillips said the
Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office has
strongly supported the concept for
years and believes a single county-
wide 911 dispatch center would be
in the best interests of the public and
emergency responders.
Staffing shortages at Astoria’s dis-
patch center reached a critical point
last fall, prompting the city to tem-
porarily move operations to Seaside.
Astoria plans to resume normal
operations in the coming months,
but the temporary merger has pin-
pointed deficiencies in technology
and interoperability that have left
many emergency responders on the
North Coast frustrated.
“The temporary merger of the two
911 centers has demonstrated the
model can work,” Phillips said in an
email. “The merger also highlighted
and brought to the forefront portions
of the communications infrastructure
which has failed, is failing or just
didn’t exist but needs to.
“The radio network needs to be
fully linked and interoperable,” the
sheriff said. “Since the merger, the
cities of Astoria and Seaside have
been working diligently to accom-
plish this. A consolidation would
maintain the interoperability and net-
work capability that is difficult to
achieve when the system is split in
ownership and locations.”
The Oregon Health Authority has dis-
closed coronavirus outbreaks at two care
homes in Seaside.
Avamere at Seaside, on S. Roosevelt
Drive, had 10 virus cases dating to Jan.
14, according to the health authority’s
weekly outbreak report. Suzanne Elise
Assisted Living Community, on Forest
Drive, had eight cases dating to Jan. 11.
Margo Lalich, Clatsop County’s
interim public health director, said that,
as of Friday, Suzanne Elise had 10 virus
cases associated with the outbreak.
In early August, Suzanne Elise had
three virus cases. The outbreak disclosed
in Thursday night’s report is the first time
Avamere in Seaside has appeared on the
state’s list.
Both facilities are owned and operated
by Avamere Health Services LLC, based
in Wilsonville.
Paula Nickles, an administrative assis-
tant at Avamere at Seaside, said no one was
hospitalized as a result of the outbreak.
Administrators at Suzanne Elise could
not immediately provide a comment.
No other information was immedi-
ately available.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the
federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention singled out care homes as set-
tings of special concern.
See Outbreaks, Page A6
Liberty Theatre
to launch new
education
program
Staffing has been a challenge at the Astoria emergency dispatch center.
‘Wake-up call’
Staffing shortages have plagued
emergency
dispatch
centers
nationwide.
Astoria has not been immune. Over
the past couple of years, the city’s dis-
patch center has been operating with
only a handful of dispatchers, requir-
ing staff to work a significant amount
of overtime each month.
Astoria dispatch handles emer-
gency calls for 15 agencies, including
the Astoria and Warrenton police and
fire departments, the sheriff’s office
and rural fire districts.
Meanwhile, Seaside dispatch,
which handles emergency calls for
about half the number of agencies, has
found stability in staffing.
Seaside dispatchers started travel-
ing north to help in Astoria, but last
fall the cities agreed to integrate Asto-
ria’s four dispatchers in Seaside until
new hires can be fully trained. With
a new emergency communications
manager hired in August and three dis-
patchers in training, Astoria expects to
resume normal operations in May.
Under the temporary merger,
Seaside went from dispatching for
seven agencies in the southern part
of the county to handling 911 calls
countywide.
The merger, ideally, should have
been a flip of the switch. However,
the two dispatch centers are not com-
pletely interoperable, which revealed
many gaps and resulted in frustration.
In Knappa, for example, dispatch-
ers can hear firefighters over the main
channel, but firefighters can’t hear
dispatchers.
Outreach financed by a
$100,000 donation
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
When the Liberty Theatre’s executive
director, Jennifer Crockett, asked the staff
how they should use a recent donation,
she said the decision to start a new educa-
tion program was unanimous.
In the hours before shows, staff some-
times have to call up friends to ask them
to help out backstage, because there are
few workers in the region with the tech-
nical skills needed to operate the rigging,
lights and curtains.
With stage expansions and new equip-
ment on the horizon, that worker shortage
will become a bigger issue for the down-
town theater.
“We were sort of like, ‘How do we
create this supply chain again?’” Crock-
ett said.
See Dispatch, Page A6
See Liberty Theatre, Page A6
Warrenton student selected for prestigious program
One of two students
in Oregon chosen
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
WARRENTON — A student at
Warrenton High School known on
the North Coast for her outspoken
and passionate activism has earned
a new distinction.
Alejandra Lopez Nestor, who
organized Black Lives Matter
demonstrations in Astoria and War-
renton in the aftermath of George
Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis
police in 2020, was selected to rep-
resent Oregon in the competitive
U.S. Senate Youth Program.
“I was speechless … I thought it
was unimaginable being one out of
two students chosen out of the entire
state to represent Oregon,” Lopez
Nestor said. “ ... Once I submitted
(the application), I didn’t have high
expectations for it. I thought my
resume was great but I knew there
were a lot of other students across
Oregon that were also really pas-
sionate about political change.”
The merit-based program,
founded in 1962, offers two students
from each state the opportunity for
an intensive weeklong study of the
federal government and leaders.
Caroline Gao, of Albany, was the
other student selected from Oregon.
Lopez Nestor will join U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Sen. Jeff
Merkley — Oregon Democrats —
for the program’s 60th year during
Washington Week, which is held
in March. Typically, the students
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
See Student, Page A6
Alejandra Lopez Nestor is a senior at Warrenton High School.