4
The Columbia Press
July 2, 2021
County wants to evaluate health equity
The public is invited to review
and provide comments on a
draft study examining health
equity in Clatsop, Columbia
and Tillamook counties.
The counties want to evaluate
access to health, identify factors
that contribute to differences in
health, and to plan how to ad-
dress those differences.
The study project was initiat-
ed in 2019.
As the study’s lead agency,
Clatsop County hired The Rede
Group to collect data through
surveys, interviews and other
sources and assemble a draft
plan. The study includes an
analysis of the local response to
the pandemic.
To view the full study or give
feedback, go to co.clatsop.or.us
and click on “Health Equity
Plan” under “What’s New.”
Four hourlong online public
forums are scheduled. The first
is 6 p.m. July 6. Others are 11
a.m. July 15, 6 p.m. July 22 (fa-
cilitated in Spanish), and noon
July 28.
To attend one of the forums,
contact briana.arnold@rede-
group.co.
RVs: City wrestles with their use as residences
Continued from Page 1
It becomes an issue when
people tie into water, sewer
and electrical lines without
benefit of inspection -- a po-
tential health and safety prob-
lem -- and without paying fees
for the connection or even the
utility provided, which isn’t
fair to other ratepayers.
Since RVs were not intend-
ed to be full-time residences,
they are more susceptible to
fire and abandonment – leav-
ing the problem for others to
clean up. The city recently had
to pay to remove two RVs and
a boat that had been aban-
doned on public property.
“As far as people blatantly
living in their motorhome for
years, they’re paying no prop-
erty taxes or sewer fees and
we need to look at that,” Com-
missioner Gerald Poe said. “If
you have a couple hundred
Warrenton Police Department
A sign on this RV in the Home Depot parking lot says it’s dis-
abled and the owner will retrieve it soon, yet the vehicle has
moved from parking lot to parking lot with the same note.
people out there using the
sewer without paying, we’re
losing.”
Yet state legislation seems
to be headed in another direc-
tion, Workman said, as some
argue RVs provide a solu-
tion for those on the verge of
homelessness.
House Bill 3115, for instance,
was signed into law June 23
and makes it legal for people
to loiter on public sidewalks
and in public places if they
have nowhere else to go.
“I think it was very unneces-
sary for the state to do that,”
Mayor Henry Balensifer said.
“The state now has enabled
it.”
All commissioners agreed
the city needs to tighten up
its ordinances dealing with
recreational vehicles, partic-
ularly whether they should be
allowed as permanent dwell-
ings. They asked to have the
issue placed on their July 13
agenda.