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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2018)
THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM ❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ Best of Florence Ballots @ SIUSLAWNEWS SATURDAY EDITION SPRING YOUTH BASEBALL INSIDE — B4 ❘ FEBRUARY 24, 2018 ❘ $1.00 Spring Home & Garden INSIDE — A8 SPORTS — B 128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 16 SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON Boys & Girls Club replaces executive director OCHS, ODJ agree on new board voting process Chuck Trent takes over from Jack Davis, who was terminated “without cause” New procedures will allow members to directly vote for nonprofit’s leaders B Y J ARED A NDERSON Siuslaw News Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane County (BGC) Executive Director Jack Davis has been let go from his position and will be replaced by Interim director Chuck Trent. Davis was terminated “without cause” last Friday, Feb. 16, according to sources who asked to remain anonymous. A statement released by BGC did not give a reason for the termination. “The Boys and Girls Club Governing Board of Directors announced today that it has appointed Chuck Trent, past executive director, to serve as the club’s interim execu- tive director,” the statement read. “Trent replaces Jack Davis, who has served as the club’s executive director for the past seven months. Davis stated that he was privileged to serve the Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane County and wished the organization well.” Multiple requests made to BGC representa- tives to clarify the decision were declined. The termination comes less than a week after Davis, along with BGC board members Harold Kinney, Michael Pearson and Jordan Nivilinszky, disclosed potential financial dif- ficulties the club faced. At the time, no indications were given by those board members that Davis’ job was in jeopardy. And while there were no accusa- tions of financial malfeasance on behalf of the board or Davis, they did state the club was expected to be $40,000 short in donations in the summer of 2018 — a figure that had not been previously disclosed. BGC expected to end the year in the black, but to get to that point, it needed to raise tens of thousands of dollars from projected dona- tions. The $40,000 amount was a cash flow issue, though it is not a rare occurrence for the club. Last year, before Davis’ tenure, the club was also expecting to be short funds for the year if not for a donation by John Hardison at the annual BGC fundraising event Fraudville. One of the main expenses for BGC is salary. While Davis’ remuneration was not disclosed by the club, it was more than Trent’s $1 salary during his first tenure as executive director. The nominal salary was a rare arrangement, considering the majority of major nonprofits in the area have paid, full- time executive directors. It is unknown what Trent’s new salary will be as he re-assumes the role of interim exec- utive director. Though there was speculation that Davis was fired as a response to Facebook posts and a recent report in The Register-Guard newspa- per regarding controversy over the inclusion of INSIDE See BOYS & GIRLS 7A Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B7 A3 A4 A2 COURTESY PHOTO S WEET AS HONEY : P LIGHT OF THE P OLLINATORS P ART I Honey festival, Florence Garden Club highlight honeybees B Y M ARK B RENNAN Siuslaw News he Florence Garden Club held the perfect Valentine’s Day event at its monthly meet- ing Feb. 14. Anne Schatz, a member of the Central Coast Bee Keepers Association, was the guest speaker and pro- vided an entertaining, but sobering, window into the science of pollination. Schatz has extensive knowledge of local honey- bees and other pollinators, MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS many of which are facing The Oregon Coast Honey Lovers Festival in Yachats on existential challenges. Feb. 17 featured honey and bee products. Current assessments of the work pollinators do estimates that more the country for the past 10 years, but Schatz than half the crops grown across the coun- said the importance of pollinators is under- try depend on honeybees for pollination. A appreciated by the general public. partial list of these crops includes potatoes, “Ninety percent of plant species need onions, cashews, celery, beets, broccoli, animal pollinators to reproduce or spread watermelons, carrots, limes, melons, genetic diversity. Life on this planet can’t squash and cucumbers. survive without plants,” Schatz said. The public is generally aware of the phe- nomenon of “colony collapse, ” which has See POLLINATORS 7A been impacting bees and beekeepers across T B Y M ARK B RENNAN Siuslaw News The Oregon Coast Humane Society (OCHS), in close consultation with the Oregon Department of Justice (ODJ), has settled upon the process the nonprofit organ- ization will use to elect its new board of directors. In a letter sent to current members and prospective board members, and later posted on social media, OCHS detailed the voting and election process for interested people. It stated that the nonprofit is “transitioning back to a membership organization, whereby members elect the board of directors.” Primarily due to tensions that arose between members and some OCHS Board directors over the past six months spurred by disagreements surrounding the legitimacy of the current OCHS board, an elections coor- dinator has been appointed to oversee the agreed upon process. Florence attorney Jane Hanawalt has been given the responsibility of oversight authority, in consultation with the ODJ, for ensuring the integrity of the upcoming voting process. Hanawalt’s office confirmed her appoint- ment as election coordinator and added that a special drop box has been installed at the Law Office of Jane C. Hanawalt, at 327 Laurel St. in Florence, to facilitate the vot- ing process. The OCHS special election will be con- ducted by mail. See VOTING 7A Port discusses Business Oregon IGA, public input Meetings feature comments on erosion repair project, public perception and ATVs B Y J ARED A NDERSON Siuslaw News In two meetings on Wednesday at the Port of Siuslaw, the commis- sioners, along with the public, dis- cussed a wide variety of topics, including finding additional fund- ing through help from the state, public input committees and progress on the erosion repair proj- ect. In a public work session, com- missioners listened to a presenta- tion by Dave Harlen with the Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD), also known as Business Oregon, who is getting ready to enter into an intergovern- mental agreement (IGA) between the port and Business Oregon to Sideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Spring Home . . . . . . . . . . . A8 This Week on the Coast . . . . A5 THIS WEEK ’ S help obtain funding from county, state and federal agencies. OBDD is an Oregon state agency which provides assistance with economic and community develop- ment to state businesses, nonprofit organizations and regional districts, such as Oregon ports. Harlen laid out why such an IGA would be needed for the Port of Siuslaw, saying, “I know you face a lot of challenges. The property tax limitations in Oregon have locked jurisdictions into low tax bases. At the time you had pretty good rev- enue streams from natural resource industries which have since declined, so you’re in a squeeze. There’s a recognition of the value of the ports by state legislatures, but there’s not a deep understanding of how ports function and what they do for the communities.” OBDD’s statewide Port Strategic Plan of 2010 calls for IGAs to be put in place between the depart- ment and individual ports to jointly implement each port’s strategic business plan and the priority proj- ects identified within their districts. The IGAs provide a framework for the department and port to work together to implement the plan, fund needed improvements and build the case for increased state investment. Currently, the agency has 18 IGAs set up with different ports in the state. Oregon ports are required to develop and maintain strategic business plans to access financial TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 47 42 44 34 45 34 47 40 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 assistance from OBDD. Business Oregon helps find grants and loans for these ports to help fund projects that would help bolster local economic drivers. “One example would be food and beverage,” Harlen said. “You refer to wine activity in your strate- gic plan. Let’s say a winery wants to come down here and build a tast- ing room facility. It’s in your IGA, it’s in your strategic plan. You can walk in the door and say you want to talk about financing for this proj- ect because it relates to your port district.” If the port creates an IGA with Business Oregon, the agency could S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS ❘ 20 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2018 See PORT 6A
