A6
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2022
Meals: ‘It’s always been underutilized’
Continued from Page A1
run by the school district give
out about a hundred meals a
day.
“It’s always been underuti-
lized,” he said. “I’ve been
doing this since summer of
2016. We’ve never really had
a huge turnout.”
School lunches were free
for every student, regardless
of income , during most of the
pandemic thanks to a federal
waiver.
Just days before the waiv-
er’s expiration at the end of
June , Congress passed the
Keep Kids Fed Act to extend
some pandemic fl exibilities
for school meal programs.
The act did not include an
extension of the waiver mak-
ing school meals free for all
students .
The Department Educa-
tion said the USDA, which
administers the summer meal
program, has not issued infor-
mation for next school year,
but is expected to return to
pre-pandemic meal services.
That could mean par-
ents cannot pick up meals on
Now You See It...
response cutters that will
be stationed in Astoria will
ensure that future genera-
tions of Coast Guard men and
women continue to provide
expert service to the people
of the Pacifi c Northwest for
many years to come.”
While no timeline for con-
struction was given, Coast
Guard personnel will begin
arriving at the site next summer .
Fast response cutters,
the newest class of ships
being produced for the Coast
Guard, are designed for sev-
eral uses, including drug
interdiction, port, waterway
and coastal security, fi sheries
law enforcement, search and
rescue and national defense.
The 154-foot ships typ-
ically have 24 crewmem-
Wright, who moved to the
city in 2014 with his wife,
Patty, after retiring from a
career that included work as
a chief fi nancial offi cer of an
international grain company.
“ I wish I could have lived
here my whole life. I’m at
heart, I think, a small-town
guy.”
Wright served on the
city’s budget committee and
Planning Commission before
appointment to Barber’s
council seat after the death of
former mayor Don Larson in
2016. Wright was unopposed
for election in 2018 .
“I’ve been a councilor
now for fi ve years and coun-
cil president for the last
year and a half and working
closely with Jay,” he said.
“And when he said he wasn’t
running again, it seemed like
a natural step. Want to keep
some kind of consistency
Alexis Weisend/The Astorian
behalf of their children, meals
cannot be delivered to homes,
students must be present to
receive meals , multiple meals
cannot be served at once and
most schools will establish
meal prices again.
Kelly said the hope is
that the Astoria School Dis-
trict will continue to provide
all students with free meals,
but the policy will have to
be approved by the school
board.
The Department of Edu-
cation will implement incen-
tives included in the Stu-
dent Success Act after they
were delayed by COVID-19
waivers .
Funding from the 2019
act expanded income eligi-
bility for free meals to house-
holds that earn up to 300% of
the federal poverty level. Stu-
dents that qualify will receive
free meals in the upcoming
school year.
bers assisted by shoreside
personnel.
“The city of Astoria is very
excited to have this increased
Coast Guard presence in
Astoria,” Mayor Bruce Jones,
a former commander of Sec-
tor Columbia River, said. “
… We’re very proud of the
Coast Guard presence here. It
contributes to the local econ-
omy signifi cantly, so having
new cutters, plus the crews,
plus the maintenance assist
team, a new dock and all
the supporting infrastructure
– it’s going to be a tremen-
dous boost to our community
economically, as well as just
a great asset for our overall
maritime economy.”
Referring to Tongue Point
as a “maritime super campus,”
Jones said, “It’s kind of return-
ing us to our maritime roots,
so it’s a win-win. Good jobs –
jobs that are aligned with our
historic maritime heritage.”
Astoria was chosen over
Newport for two fast response
cutters.
In 2020, U.S. Sen . Ron
Wyden, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merk-
ley and U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici wrote a letter to the
Coast Guard recommending
that four fast response cutters
be stationed in Astoria.
Members of the congres-
sional delegation also sent a
letter to the Coast Guard in
2019 requesting that two new
360-foot off shore patrol cut-
ters be sited in Astoria. Larger
off shore cutters are intended
to replace the 1960s-era
medium endurance cutters,
such as the Alert and Stead-
fast, which are homeported at
the 17th Street Dock.
and leadership? You know,
we’ll have at least two new
city councilors, my district
and Dana’s (Phillips), and
we need to have some kind
of continuity through the
process, especially with all
the new department heads
and city manager.”
At the top of his city to-do
list is creating more housing .
“Our housing task force
has come up with a lot of
good ideas,” Wright said.
“The county came out with
a list of areas in Seaside the
county owns. We’re well in
the process of getting them
to transfer that land to the
city. My plan right now is to
make it some kind of either
low-income or aff ordable
housing.”
To address homeless-
ness, he seeks to partner
with “somebody that’s good
at it,” he said, like Clatsop
Community Action or Help-
ing Hands Reentry Outreach
Centers.
“We need to be just the
partners to facilitate that,”
he said. “I’ll tell you that
kind of thing is underway
now. It’s not necessarily
public yet. We’re working
on it. Something will come
out pretty soon.”
Wright said he hopes to
preserve and maintain the
land across from the high
school along the estuary .
Transportation projects
remain a high priority, he
said, with improvements
from Broadway south. “That
is going to happen,” he said.
“The money’s been iden-
tifi ed and the contracts are
supposed to be open for bid
later this month.”
Wright gives Barber high
marks as mayor. “I think
he’s done a great job,” he
said. “He’s remained lev-
el-headed and reasonable.
And those are all things that
I want to emulate.”
Levy: Would generate $1.5M over fi ve years
Continued from Page A1
ballot, which would raise the
tax rate from 33 cents to 38
cents per $1,000 of assessed
property value.
The levy, if approved,
would generate nearly $1.5
million over fi ve years,
funding operations and com-
munity programs, support-
ing library staff and extend-
ing hours.
“I don’t think any of our
board members would say
this levy decision was easy,”
Kelsey Balensifer, the chair-
woman of the library board,
said at a June meeting. “We
refl ected, discussed, stud-
ied, argued and deliberated,
but we ultimately came to a
unanimous decision — one
that we hope refl ects a rea-
soned conclusion when faced
with the library’s undeniable
need for additional funding
and the public’s valid eco-
nomic concerns.”
While staying open for
30 hours a week, the library
functions with signifi cantly
ou
Grant Roe hands out meals at Fred Lindstrom Memorial Park.
Wright: Housing is at top of his city to-do list
Continued from Page A1
Now You Don’t!
ou
Tongue Point: No timeline for construction
Continued from Page A1
Tiny Micro-Chip Now
In The Ear: Available!
less staff than neighbor-
ing libraries in Astoria and
Seaside.
The 5 -cent increase to
the tax rate will allow one
of the part-time positions to
become full time, City Man-
ager Linda Engbretson said.
“Throughout our nearly
30 years of history, it is
clear that the heart and soul
of the community library
has always been its people
— passionate staff mem-
bers, committed volunteers,
enthusiastic patrons and gen-
erous donors,” Balensifer
said. “In light of this real-
ity, our board would like to
increase the library staffi ng
levels to continue the same
excellent service our com-
munity has come to expect
while simultaneously reduc-
ing the risk of employee
exhaustion and burnout.
“Enhancing the quality of
life for our patrons should
not diminish quality of life
for our personnel.”
The library board eyed
three options — keeping the
rate at 33 cents, or raising it
to 38 cents or 43 cents —
before eventually settling on
the 38-cent option.
“I think in an ideal world,
we would love to give the
library as many options as
possible, as many resources
as possible, but the board also
felt like we needed to be real-
istic about the pressures fac-
ing our world right now,” said
Balensifer, who is married to
Mayor Henry Balensifer .
Commissioner
Rick
Newton cited the success
of the library’s commu-
nity programs in support-
ing the move to put a 5 -cent
increase on the ballot.
The library, fi rst estab-
lished in 1993, operated out
of a small building in Ham-
mond for a number of years
before the structure began
to deteriorate. In 2017, the
library moved to a larger
location on Main Avenue.
Later that year, voters
approved a large jump in the
levy rate, from 9 cents to 33
cents.
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