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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2022
IN BRIEF
Astoria selects executive recruiting
fi rm to search for new city manager
The Astoria City Council on Wednesday voted
unanimously to enter into an agreement with GMP
Consultants, a Northwest-based public sector execu-
tive search fi rm, to conduct the recruitment of a new
city manager.
City Manager Brett Estes will step down on July 4
after accepting a job with the state. Paul Benoit, a for-
mer city manager, will serve as interim city manager
until the search is complete.
The City Council will work with GMP Consultants
to create a schedule and timeline.
County survey seeks feedback
on accessory dwelling units
Clatsop County residents are invited to participate
in an online survey about whether accessory dwelling
units should be allowed in unincorporated rural areas.
The units are secondary, self-contained housing
that can be used by visitors or long-term renters. The
county allows them in places hooked up to a commu-
nity sewer system.
By state law, accessory dwelling units cannot be
used as vacation rentals.
The survey, available on the county website, will
close June 24.
CO-OP STOP
State discloses virus cases
at local schools
The Oregon Health Authority has disclosed 12 new
coronavirus cases at schools in Clatsop County.
Eight of the cases were from Astoria High School,
according to the health authority’s biweekly outbreak
report. Six were students and two were staff members.
One case of a staff member was also reported at Lewis
and Clark Elementary School.
The other three virus cases were students from the
Warrenton-Hammond School District, with two from
Warrenton Grade School and another from Warrenton
High School.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici dropped by the produce section while
touring the Astoria Co+op on a visit to the North Coast on Thursday.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
State fi shery managers
expand salmon fi shing days
Fishery managers have adopted additional oppor-
tunities for spring Chinook salmon in the main stem
Columbia River following a run upgrade.
Starting Saturday, the daily bag limit will increase
to up to two adult hatchery salmonids, Chinook or
steelhead, per day.
The boat angling deadline has also expanded to the
permanent boat angling boundary below Bonneville
Dam.
The updated season runs from Saturday to June
15, with the open area being from the Tongue Point/
Rocky Point line upstream to the Bonneville Dam
deadline.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
Deaths
June 1, 2022
BUCKMAN, Eliza-
beth Edwina, 76, of Port-
land, formerly of Clatsop
County, died in Portland.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
GRANT, Lavina Ethel,
104, of Astoria, died in
Warrenton. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
LUNDY, Sandra Jean,
80, of Cannon Beach,
died in Portland. Cald-
well’s Funeral & Crema-
tion Arrangement Center
of Seaside is in charge of
the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Harassment
Unauthorized use
On
the
Record
• Billy
Joe Walton,
of a motor vehicle
25, of Pendleton, was
arrested on May 27 near
the intersection of Bagley
Lane and Donald Mar-
shall Road in Knappa
for harassment and sec-
ond-degree
criminal
mischief.
• Jack Thomas Fisher,
31, of Astoria, was
arrested on Wednes-
day for unauthorized use
of a motor vehicle and
fi rst-degree theft. The
vehicle had been stolen
from Warrenton and was
found near the Astoria
Riverwalk in late May.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
TUESDAY
Seaside Community Center Commission, 10 a.m., Bob
Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue A.
Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m, 1131 Broadway.
Clatsop Care Health District Board, 5 p.m., 947 Olney
Ave.
Clatsop County Fair Board, 5:30 p.m., Clatsop County Fair
& Expo Center, 92937 Walluski Loop.
Cannon Beach City Council, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E.
Gower Ave.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Oregon botched drug treatment
plan tied to decriminalization
Few seek help
via new hotline
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — Eff orts to get
millions of dollars in fund-
ing to treatment centers and
related services as part of
Oregon’s pioneering drug
decriminalization have been
botched even as drug addic-
tions and overdoses increase,
state offi cials and lawmakers
said on Thursday.
Oregonians passed Mea-
sure 110 in 2020 decriminal-
izing possession of personal
amounts of heroin, cocaine,
methamphetamine and other
drugs — the fi rst in the nation
to do so. A person found with
drugs receives a citation, like
a traffi c ticket, with the max-
imum $100 fi ne waived if
they call a hotline for a health
assessment.
But in the fi rst year after
the new approach took eff ect
in February 2021, only 1% of
people who received citations
for possessing controlled
substances asked for help via
the new hotline.
The ballot measure redi-
rected millions of dollars in
tax revenue from the state’s
legal marijuana industry to
treatment. But applications
for funding stacked up after
state offi cials underestimated
the work required to vet them
and get the money out the
door, offi cials testifi ed Thurs-
day before the House Interim
Committee on Behavioral
Health.
“So clearly, if we were to
do it over again, I would have
asked for many more staff
much quicker in the process,”
said Steve Allen, the state’s
behavioral health direc-
tor. “We were just under-re-
sourced to be able to support
this eff ort, underestimated
the work that was involved
in supporting something that
looked like this and partly
Andrew Selsky/AP Photo
Oregon offi cials and lawmakers said eff orts to get millions of
dollars in funding to treatment centers and related services as
part of the state pioneering drug decriminalization have been
botched even as drug addiction and overdoses increase.
we didn’t fully understand it
until we were in the middle
of it.”
Allen, who works for the
Oregon Health Authority,
told lawmakers in the remote
hearing that this $300 million
project has never been done
before.
State Rep. Lily Morgan,
a Republican from Grants
Pass, said lives are being lost
while the state waits for the
ballot measure to have a pos-
itive eff ect.
“Director, you’ve men-
tioned a couple of times that
you’re waiting to see, and yet
we have overdoses increasing
at drastic rates, in my commu-
nity a 700% increase in over-
doses and a 120% increase in
deaths,” Morgan told Allen.
“How long do we wait before
we have an impact that we’re
saving lives?”
Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan appeared before the
committee and described
her own mother’s struggles
with heroin and methamphet-
amine addiction. Fagan said
Oregon remains in a drug
abuse crisis, despite the bal-
lot measure.
“When the voters of Ore-
gon passed Measure 110,
we did so because it was a
change of policy in Oregon
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to improve the lives of peo-
ple, to improve our commu-
nities,” Fagan said. “And in
the years since, we haven’t
seen that play out. ... Instead,
in many communities in Ore-
gon, we’ve seen the prob-
lem with drug addiction get
worse.”
Allen
acknowledged
there has been a “dramatic”
increase in overdoses and
overdose deaths statewide
and attributed much of the
cause to the recent arrival of
methamphetamine laced with
fentanyl, a synthetic opioid
that is so powerful that a tiny
amount can kill, and illicit
pills containing fentanyl.
That adds urgency to the
eff ort to provide treatment
services and harm reduction,
like medication to treat over-
doses and needle exchanges,
that the measure also pays
for, he said. Advocates point
out that the services are avail-
able to anyone in Oregon, not
just those who were cited for
possession.
“Getting these resources
out to the community is
incredibly important ... not
just the harm reduction
resources, but people who
can support folks who are at
risk for overdose,” Allen said.
“So time is of the essence.”
Ian Green, an audits man-
ager for Fagan, said the text
of the ballot measure lacked
clarity around roles and
responsibilities of the health
authority and the Oversight
and Accountability Council
that the measure established.
That “contributed to
delays, confusions and
strained relations,” Green
said. He also blamed the
health authority for not
always providing adequate
support to the accountability
council.
Council co-chair Ron Wil-
liams said most of the avail-
able funds still haven’t been
released.
“I feel these challenges
can be overcome and cor-
rected with deliberate, inten-
tional, focused eff ort and
courageous,
solution-ori-
ented conversations,” Wil-
liams said.
The health authority said
it has off ered a three-month
extension to grantees through
Oct. 1, who will receive a
prorated amount based on
their prior award and bring-
ing the total funds disbursed
to $40 million.
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