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SATURDAY EDITION
BACK TO HIS
ROOTS
Warm wishes
SPORTS — B
INSIDE — A3
126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 9
Port
changes
insurance
❘ NOVEMBER 19, 2016 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
Port manager’s
recommendation
overturned by 3-2 vote
In a contentious three to two vote, Port
of Siuslaw commissioners overrode the
recommendation of port manager Steven
Leskin on select-
B Y J ACK D AVIS
ing a new insur-
Siuslaw News
ance agent during
the Nov. 16 meeting.
Every three years, the port issues a
request for proposal on selecting a new
insurance agent of record to handle the
port’s insurance portfolio. The agents
compete on analyzing exposure, recom-
mending insurance carriers, consultation
and maintaining policies for a fixed per-
centage of the premiums.
In the past, interested companies would
make a presentation to the board and the
board would then select a company to
manage the policies for the next three
years.
This year, Leskin and port employees
did the research, heard presentations and
made a recommendation based on the cri-
teria established in previous years.
Leskin said, “Our criteria were experi-
ence with public entities and special dis-
tricts, experience with ports and proximity
to Florence and the port. We received four
bids. One from Wilson Hargood out of
Eugene, who has been our current agent
for six years, Fullhart Insurance out of
Reedsport, Coastal Insurance in Florence
and Able Insurance also out of Florence.”
Leskin and the port staff recommended
the board approve giving the contract to
Able Insurance.
“Able gave a very solid presentation,”
Leskin said. “She looked over quite a bit
of our port records and went out of her
way to make some recommendations that
frankly we hadn’t seen. Additionally, they
have quite a bit of experience representing
ports. They currently represent Gold
Beach, Port Orford and Coos Bay.”
Commissioner Terry Duman quickly
made a motion, but not before voicing his
discontent with the process. “I sat through
this process three years ago with the same
applicants. I make a motion that we award
the insurance contract to Coast Insurance
Services.”
Commissioner Mike Buckwald imme-
diately seconded the motion, prompting
commissioner Nancy Rickard to ask
Duman why he was doing this.
See
PORT 7A
NOTICE
EARLY DEADLINES FOR
THANKSGIVING WEEK
INSIDE
Siuslaw News is joining other area
businesses
by
being
closed
Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24.
Advertisements and news items
should be submitted as soon as possible
next week to accommodate early dead-
lines.
All news articles and press releases
must be submitted by Monday, Nov. 21,
at noon, for both the Wednesday, Nov.
23, and Saturday, Nov. 26, issues.
The deadline for display advertising
in the Nov. 26 paper is Tuesday, Nov. 22,
at noon. Line classifieds and legal
notices for Saturday are due by
Wednesday, Nov. 23, at 1 p.m.
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Picture of the Week . . . . . . . .
Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Native American students and parents were recognized at the Nov. 16 Siuslaw School Board meeting for their contributions to the
school community and in recognition of November as National Native American Heritage month.
Connecting the dots
T
he City in Motion continues
its momentum with the hir-
ing of Jesse Dolin, of
Yachats, as the City of Florence’s
first economic development catalyst
to bring talent and jobs to the area.
“We’ve been on an economic
development journey since March
2015,” said City Manager Erin
Reynolds, when Mayor Joe Henry
launched an Economic Summit.
That led to the creation of the
Economic Development Committee.
“Through that work, we realized
there were a lot of action items that
could be done to help increase jobs
and growth of our existing business-
es in our community. That was
something more than our current
staffing capacity could handle,”
Reynolds said.
The city decided to fund an eight-
month project position to focus on
economic development. The posi-
tion runs from Nov. 1 to June 30.
“To have someone who can
always say this is their priority —
growth of our community — that’s
an amazing thing that the Florence
City Council decided to fund,”
Reynolds said.
“It’s an intriguing title, economic
development catalyst. What am I
catalyzing? Anything economic
development related,” Dolin said.
“As a catalyst, my job is to facilitate
making things happen more smooth-
Florence selects Jesse Dolin as
new economic development
catalyst to drive growth
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
Florence’s Economic
Development
Catalyst Jesse Dolin
COURTESY PHOTO
ly and expedited, making sure noth-
ing is left on the table, connecting
people and bringing more jobs.”
Dolin, 38, lives in Yachats and is
originally from the Waldport area.
“I’m very passionate about seeing
these coastal towns thrive. I’m a
third generation ‘coastie.’ I moved
back, like most people who grew up
on the coast who have to get away
for a while. I realize a lot of people
my age are moving back to have
babysitters and be closer to family,
whereas I moved back just from a
love of the area. I never got enough
of it,” he said.
As an avid fisherman, Dolin loves
the outdoors and spending time in
nature. He even has a small business
in Yachats, Stoney River Sinkers,
that works to remove lead from the
fishing industry.
“I also appreciate all the gifts that
living in a small community brings
you, such as connecting with people
and knowing everyone. It couldn’t
be a better position for that, since
I’m going to get to know the com-
munity so well and really work on
being there in any way that facili-
tates growth for the city,” he said.
City Recorder Kelli Weese said,
“We have three legs to our econom-
ic development stool: business
retention and expansion, marketing
and recruitment and entrepreneur-
ship and innovation. Jesse is taking
on two of those.”
Regional Acceleration
and
Innovation Network (RAIN) hired
David Youngentob on Nov. 1 as its
coastal venture catalyst to target
entrepreneurship and innovation in
coastal and rural communities.
“We’re really psyched, because
now we have movement in all three
of those economic development
aspects,” Weese said.
Dolin will be working with
Florence’s 1,500 existing businesses
and helping to bring in new busi-
nesses.
“I believe in connecting people to
make things happen. That’s part of
being a catalyst — listening and
being as effective as possible to cat-
alyze growth,” he said. “So much
comes from collaboration and part-
nerships. It’s amazing what can hap-
pen when everyone rallies together
to go after mutually beneficial game
plans.”
Since 2015, Florence has formed
partnerships and strengthened ties
with RAIN, South Coast Develop-
ment Council, Lincoln Couny
See
CATALYST 7A
Land/Sea Symposium packs the Commons with information, people
ore than 200 central coast
residents attended the fourth
annual Cape Perpetua Land/Sea
Symposium at the Yachats
Commons on Nov. 17.
The symposium was sponsored
by the Audubon Society of
Portland, Oregon Surfrider
Foundation, Oregon Marine
Preserves Partnership and the
Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
M
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A11
Side Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . B6
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . A12
THIS WEEK ’ S
State Sen. Arnie
to discuss ocean
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Roblan was the fea-
issues, and because
Siuslaw News
tured speaker and his
the health of our
energized presenta-
oceans is really
tion touched on numerous aspects
important to our economy and to
of the work necessary to restore
our residents.”
and maintain the Oregon coastal
Roblan added that his interest
resources that create jobs, draw
in the ocean has always been an
tourists and support our economy. integral part of his life and he is
Roblan said, “I am here
determined to do whatever he can
because this is one of the most
to safeguard the fragile resources.
important gatherings in the state
To that end, he is preparing to
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
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WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
introduce a bill designed to speak
to a serious problem in a major
Oregon industry, fishing.
“One important piece of legis-
lation we are working on deals
with ocean acidification. It is real-
ly affecting our shellfish industry
and we need to address it, or we
will completely lose this once
thriving business,” he said.
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