T he C olumbia P ress
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C latsop C ounty ’ s I ndependent W eekly
www.thecolumbiapress.com
January 10, 2020
Vol. 4, Issue 2
City faces $10,800 fine over
alleged violations in fire agency
B y C indy y ingst
The Columbia Press
A sign on the door at the Hammond post office.
Hammond post office temporarily
closes due to structural problems
The Columbia Press
Hammond’s post
office has been
closed since Dec.
20, when a part of
the ceiling became
unstable and ceil-
ing tiles fell to the
floor.
“It happened a
few weeks ago on
the 20th, the Friday
before Christmas,” The U.S. Postal Service facility in Hammond.
said Lindsey Stark,
a U.S. Postal Service clerk in
Hammond. “It was really stormy
out and the ceiling came loose
on the inside.”
At least one construction per-
son has been out to look at the
damage, but employees there do
not know when repairs will be
scheduled.
In the meantime, “we’ll tell
people what we know when we
know it, but we don’t know a
whole lot now,” Stark said.
Those with post office boxes in
Hammond can pick up their mail
at the Warrenton post office.
In 2011, the U.S. Postal Ser-
vice announced plans to close
3,653 small post offices across
the country and many feared the
Hammond station would be one
of those.
But
Congress
eventually
stepped in, calling rural post
offices an essential service in
smaller communities.
See the city’s entire response to
the citation on Page 3.
The city of Warrenton
The state received the anon-
should pay $10,800 for al-
ymous complaint in August,
leged safety and health vi-
which cited 11 instances when
olations within the fire
the fire department’s admin-
department, the state’s Oc-
istration didn’t protect its
cupational Safety and Health
workers or volunteers. OSHA
Division decided.
conducted interviews and in-
The violation deemed most
spections between Aug. 16
grievous – and the one that
and Nov. 11.
received the largest fine – Engbretson
The biggest hit – with a
dealt with the use of respira-
proposed $7,500 fine – was
tors in protecting firefighters.
because the fire department
“We have gone over the ci-
didn’t have a written respira-
tation with a fine-tooth comb
tory protection program with
and many of the issues have
worksite-specific procedures
been addressed,” City Man-
addressing how respirators
ager Linda Engbretson said
are selected, when firefighters
in a statement issued Jan. 3.
are medically evaluated, how
“We are confident the mea-
they’re trained and when and
Alsbury
sures instituted will satisfy
how the equipment is fit-tested.
OSHA …”
The second largest fine,
The city plans to appeal the pro- $2,100, was for not ensuring em-
posed penalty.
See ‘OSHA’ on Page 4
Port backs Fort George incentives;
plans in Warrenton undetermined
The Columbia Press
The Port of Astoria unanimously ap-
proved a tax-incentive plan Tuesday
night for the owners of Fort George
Brewery, who intend to build a tast-
ing room and warehouse at the for-
mer Astoria Warehousing complex
on Marine Drive.
“Right now the plan is to get into the
distribution and manufacture of beer
out of the warehouse and, at some
point, we’re interested in having a
taproom there on the property as
well,” said Chris Nemlowill, co-own-
er of Fort George Brewery. “We es-
timate an opening and cans coming
out by the end of 2020.”
Clatsop County, the city of War-
renton and the Port of Astoria es-
tablished the local enterprise zone in
2015 in hopes of spurring econom-
ic development. The agreement is
one of the first to take advantage of
breaks allowed within the state-ap-
proved enterprise zone.
The agreement with Big Beams
LLC, the construction arm of the
brewpub’s operations, still must be
approved by the city of Warrenton
and Clatsop County.
The agreement exempts the com-
pany from paying property taxes for
See ‘Fort George’ on Page 7