The daily Astorian., July 21, 2022, Page 25, Image 25

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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022
TAKING AIM
IN BRIEF
Seaside voters to consider
renewal of local option tax
for fi re department
Xander Smith, of Yelm, takes aim
during the Bear River Archers 3D
trophy shoot last weekend.
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
SEASIDE — Voters in November will be asked to
renew a fi ve-year local option tax to provide funds
for the purchase of a training tower and a training
and safety offi cer for the Seaside Fire Department.
The last operation levy, passed in 2017, approved
$2 million over fi ve years for fi re equipment and per-
sonnel. The new levy will show a decrease from 34
cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to 33
cents per $1,000.
If passed in November, the new levy would take
eff ect in November 2023.
“We happen to be one of the bigger agencies in
the county and so we tend to help out our smaller
agencies,” Fire Chief Joey Daniels said. “What we
do in Seaside also aff ects the rest of the county and a
lot of decisions we make.”
College hires historic
preservation instructor
Clatsop Community College has hired Ryan Pro-
chaska as the next instructor of the historic preserva-
tion program.
Prochaska, who will start in the fall, has an exten-
sive background in historic preservation, including
time as an instructor of a similar program at a com-
munity college in Iowa.
Prochaska replaces Lucien Swerdloff , who helped
found the program and retired earlier this year.
— The Astorian
Schrader endorses
Johnson for governor
U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader was spurned by mem-
bers of his party in May, losing his bid for the Dem-
ocratic nomination to keep his seat.
Now Schrader is doing some spurning of his
own.
The seven-term congressman announced Tuesday
he’s endorsing unaffi liated candidate Betsy Johnson
over Democrat Tina Kotek in this year’s hotly con-
tested race for Oregon governor.
“People are concerned with the far right and
they’re exhausted with the extremism on the left,”
Schrader said in a statement released by Johnson’s
campaign. “It seems the extremes on both sides
just want to fi ght, leaving the rest of us frustrated. I
believe Betsy Johnson is the leader Oregon needs to
move us forward.”
Schrader’s decision to oppose his party’s nominee
is not surprising — he hinted he was likely to do as
much in an interview with KATU last month.
And Schrader has much in common with John-
son. He has long been Oregon’s most centrist con-
gressional Democrat, and recently angered members
of his party by voting against a major pandemic-re-
lief package and a proposal to allow Medicare to
negotiate prescription drug prices.
Schrader lost in the primary for the 5th Con-
gressional District to the more progressive Jamie
McLeod-Skinner.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
MEMORIALS
Friday, July 22
Memorials
WALKER, James L.
— Celebration of life
from 1 to 4 p.m., War-
renton Community Cen-
ter, 170 S.W. Third St. in
Warrenton.
Saturday, July 23
MacDONALD, Rob-
ert R. “Rob” — Cele-
bration of life and small
service from 1 to 4 p.m.,
Peninsula Church Center,
5000 N Place in Seaview,
Washington. Reception
with light refreshments
follows. Please feel free
to share a story.
ON THE RECORD
Criminal mischief
ond-degree theft.
On
the Edwin Record
• Randall
Van
DUII
Osdol, 44, of Astoria,
was indicted on Friday
on counts of fi rst-degree
criminal mischief and
failing to perform the
duties of a driver after
allegedly being involved
in a crash. The crimes are
alleged to have occurred
in January.
Theft
• Brianna Lucille
Knapp, 38, of Seaside,
was arrested on Satur-
day at Walmart for sec-
• Ginny Eileen McCa-
rgish, 39, of Astoria,
was arrested on July 12
on U.S. Highway 26
near Little North Fork
Nehalem River for driv-
ing under the infl uence of
intoxicants and reckless
driving.
• Mark Allan Staf-
ford, 35, of Portland,
was arrested on July 11
on U.S. Highway 101
in Seaside for DUII and
reckless driving.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Seaside Transportation Advisory Committee, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
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Ilwaco mayor rebuff ed
over RV park dispute
City Council orders
Cassinelli to recuse
By BRANDON CLINE
Chinook Observer
ILWACO, Wash. — The
City Council has voted to
order Mayor Mike Cassinelli
to recuse himself from all
discussion regarding the dis-
pute at the Beacon Charters
and RV Park.
The vote came after Cassi-
nelli, the former owner of the
RV park, made an emotional
speech last week defend-
ing his actions as a private
citizen and challenging the
council over what actions the
city could take in the matter.
Cassinelli has faced some
criticism from RV park res-
idents and others at council
meetings in recent months
over his $1.5 million sale of
the business to Michael and
Denise Werner, who moved
aggressively to try to evict
long-term renters before the
sale had even gone through.
The Werners have since
taken the remaining tenants
to court to attempt to have
them lawfully evicted.
But public criticism from
fellow elected city offi cials
had been generally sparse
until the July 11 meeting.
The RV park dispute was
on the meeting’s discussion
agenda, but two city council-
ors made mention of the dis-
pute during their individual
reports that are given regu-
larly toward the beginning of
meetings.
City Councilor Dave
Cundiff said that he had the
chance to talk with some of
the remaining RV park resi-
dents during a visit , as well
as the county’s housing pro-
gram administrator. He also
said he was beginning to
conduct research “on the
hypothetical case of a hypo-
thetical mayor, whose mil-
lion-dollar fi nancial inter-
est might be infl uencing city
legislation.”
“It turns out that’s a pretty
complicated issue, and one
in which the answers about
the liability to the city are not
completely clear. But I’m
beginning the research on
that,” Cundiff said.
City Councilor Margar-
ita Cullimore took exception
to some parts of the written
briefi ng that the city had pre-
pared for the council on the
issue , but was quickly cut off
by Cassinelli and told that
she should wait to detail her
objections until the council
reached that discussion item
on the agenda.
Chinook Observer
The Beacon Charters and RV Park on Port of Ilwaco property has been a source of city concern.
ILWACO MAYOR MIKE CASSINELLI
HAS FACED SOME CRITICISM FROM
RV PARK RESIDENTS AND OTHERS
AT COUNCIL MEETINGS IN RECENT
MONTHS OVER HIS $1.5 MILLION
SALE OF THE BUSINESS TO MICHAEL
AND DENISE WERNER.
Cullimore also said she
has received many inquiries
— in-person, by phone, by
text and by email — from
other peninsula residents,
who she said “are very con-
cerned about how things
are being done in Ilwaco.”
She also lamented persisting
issues at the RV park, such
as overfl owing trash cans
and problems with receiv-
ing mail, as well as the city’s
inability up to that point
to schedule a joint meet-
ing with the Port of Ilwaco,
which hosts the RV park.
A meeting has since been
scheduled for Tuesday , as
the port had asked to put off
scheduling a meeting until a
commissioner vacancy on its
board had been fi lled.
Mayor launches defense
When Cassinelli kicked
off discussion of the RV p ark
dispute, he said that the city
has to be careful moving for-
ward when dealing with the
issue because of the legal
action the Werners have
taken against the remaining
tenants.
Cassinelli then said
he’s “getting tired of being
thrown under the bus.” The
mayor referenced a story that
ran in the July 6 issue of the
Chinook Observer, which
cites him as saying that there
is little the city can do in
the confl ict. He also men-
tioned a county health and
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human services offi cial who
was cited in the story as say-
ing that there was little the
county could do other than
what it has already done,
which has been to support
the tenants and help connect
them with legal services to
ensure their rights are being
upheld.
“Going forward, let me
say something to you: Mike
Cassinelli has spent over
$10,000 keeping the power
turned on in that RV park,
and part of that power has
kept the cable turned on so
everybody down there who
has internet can have inter-
net,” Cassinelli said, add-
ing that the Werners hav-
en’t signed off to transfer the
electric bill over to them.
“If I take my name off of
that account, they’re going
to cut the power,” he contin-
ued. “I have to go down and
sign the termination slip on
the power. I have not signed
that termination slip, and the
reason I haven’t done it is I
don’t want those people to
have a day without power.
So don’t say Mike Cassi-
nelli hasn’t done anything.
I’d like to see somebody
else step here and say that
they’ve put money forward
like Mike Cassinelli, mayor
of the city of Ilwaco, has.”
Cassinelli acknowledged
he did say that there was little
the city could do, and asked
for anyone who said there
are things the city could do
to come forward and explain
what can be done.
At that point, Cundiff
called for a point of order, but
Cassinelli said he still had
the fl oor. Cundiff explained
that a point of order takes
precedence over any other
business.
“My point of order is that
the mayor is confl ating the
mayor’s role — in my opin-
ion — with the role of a pri-
vate citizen,” Cundiff said.
“It’s perfectly fi ne for the
mayor to talk to the council
as a private citizen. It is not
fi ne to use the mayor’s chair,
as chair of the meeting, to do
it.”
Cassinelli did not appear
to object to the point of
order, and continued by ask-
ing, in his role as the mayor,
what the city can do that it
hasn’t already done.
“Make a list. I want some-
body to tell me right now
what we can do that we hav-
en’t done,” he said.
Left the room
Cundiff then moved to
have the council ask the
mayor to recuse himself
“from all matters pertain-
ing directly, or indirectly,
to the Beacon RV p ark.”
The motion was seconded
by Cullimore. Cassinelli
acknowledged the motion
and the second, and called
for any further discussion
of the motion among the
four councilors present at
the meeting — City Coun-
cilor Jonathan Quittner was
absent.
With no discussion being
heard, he called for the
vote. Cundiff and Cullimore
quickly voted in favor of the
motion, and newly appointed
councilor, and former mayor,
Gary Forner voted in favor
soon after. Cassinelli then
asked for those opposed to
the motion. It was not clear
whether City Councilor Matt
Lessnau voted to oppose the
motion or abstained from
voting.
The mayor then left the
room that the in-person
meeting was being held in
at the Ilwaco Community
Building. Lessnau took over
to chair the meeting, and
Cassinelli did not return until
the discussion surrounding
the Beacon RV p ark dispute
had ended.