The Columbia press., January 21, 2022, 0, Page 3, Image 3

January 21, 2022
The Columbia Press
3
Astoria takes win from Warrenton Planning: Warrenton needs city manager, planner
By Bruce Dustin
For The Columbia Press
The Astoria Fisher-
men came out on top
60-36 in a nonleague
contest against the
Warrenton
Warriors
last Saturday.
The Warriors were
ahead 14-13 at the end
of the first quarter, but
fell behind 23-29 at the
half.
By the end of the third
quarter, the Warriors
had fallen farther into
the hole, 29-41, but
there was a sense the
team would dig its way
out. It didn’t happen.
Joshua Earls and
Dawson Little were
high scorers for War-
renton, each achieving
nine points.
The Warriors hosted Bruce Dustin
Riverdale on Tuesday. Joshua Earls gets control of the ball
with backup from Zander Moha.
Continued from Page 1
system of family and friends are
30 hours away. He even had to
place his dogs with family.
“The main reason is (that)
I’m not close to my family at all
and I’m having a hell of a time
finding a place to live,” he said
Wednesday.
When Hazelton took the job
in October, he was thrown into
the controversy over City Com-
missioner Rick Newton’s accep-
tance of a gift of infill from a city
contractor. Hazelton has taken
fire from Newton, who views the
city’s stop work order and other
involvement as an injustice.
City planners have to make
difficult decisions and deal with
challenges, Hazelton said. He
did not take it personally.
There have been other person-
nel changes in the single office
that houses both building and
planning. Christian Jensen was
hired in March 2020 as residen-
tial building inspector and Van
Wilfinger was hired in October
2020 as building official. Build-
ing clerk Janice Weese is the
lone employee to work in the of-
fice more than five years.
The lack of continuity has been
difficult for developers and oth-
er customers of the city as well.
And City Manager Linda Eng-
bretson also has retired. Her
position has been open since
October, but she has remained
in an interim basis until a re-
placement can be found.
“It is problematic,” said Ger-
ald Poe, Warrenton’s newest
city commissioner. “It’s pretty
confusing.”
During a work session earlier
this month, city commissioners
agreed to advertise the city man-
ager job at a higher salary after a
study confirmed Warrenton was
paying the lowest among com-
parable cities in the state.
“I don’t know what the salary
is (for planning director), but
he can’t find a house,” Poe said.
“Housing. Pay. To get a city
manager now, we’ve upped the
pay. We probably need to do the
same thing with the planner.”
Longtime Planning Commis-
sioner Ken Yuill sees housing as
a definite problem.
“It has been a very taxing
problem because if you go back
to who was the last planner that
lived in the area and that goes
back to Carol Parker.”
Parker was planning director
prior to 2013.
“It has been enlightening to
see these various planners,”
Yuill said. “I feel bad that Scott
has to leave because of our hous-
ing situation. I’d love to have a
young man of his age stay here
and grow with the city.”
City commissioners held a
joint meeting Tuesday night
with planning commissioners.
Many things were on the agen-
da, including staffing.
Most of them agreed informal-
ly that another planning tech-
nician should be added to the
budget.
“It’s crazy to think we have
more building officials than
we do planners,” Mayor Hen-
ry Balensifer said. “We have
one-quarter of a staff member
for the fastest growing city on
the coast.”