The
Columbia
Press
Celebrating
our
100th year
• 1922-2022
1
50 ¢
June 24, 2022
503-861-3331
Port’s boatyard
plans are doable,
consultant says
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
Port of Astoria commissioners got
a firsthand look Tuesday at a plan for
expanding the boatyard and making
improvements at East Mooring Basin.
The bottom line: Improvements are
financially feasible and would gen-
erate growing revenue as long as the
port reigns in anything grandiose.
“The real key here is to be prudent
in order to have a basis for revenue
higher than the cost,” Paul Sorensen
of BST Associates told commissioners.
“The yard is doing well, particularly in
the last few years. … We’re not talking
about blockbuster growth, but about 1
½ percent per year.”
Plans for expanding the boatyard
– where all types of commercial and
recreational fishermen make repairs
and improvements to their vessels –
has been a top goal for the port, which
has been setting its financial house in
order.
The state’s Business Oregon pro-
gram paid the majority of the boat-
yard study’s $60,000 pricetag.
Astoria is 10th in the nation for
quantity of fish landed. About 75 per-
cent of the 170 million pounds of fish
landings in the city occur on Pier 2.
The boatyard is adjacent, on Pier 3.
Services offered at an expanded
boatyard complement the established
fishing industry, port leaders believe.
The study consultants collected 10
years of data on the services port cus-
tomers use and surveyed dozens of us-
ers to find out what’s lacking.
Among the recommendations: Ac-
quire a 300-megaton boat lift, build
restrooms, a washdown and bilge
cleanout area, and support structures
See ‘Port’ on Page 4
Vol. 6, Issue 25
City takes stock of assets and albatrosses
Head Start building may be next on the chopping block
By Cindy Yingst
ily meaner -- municipality, it has taken the building department for the cost
The Columbia Press
a hard line on ensuring things pay for of reviewing plans and ensuring you
meet city codes.
As the city of Warrenton works to themselves.
A water user? You’ll pay what it
If you’re a developer, expect to pay
become a leaner -- but not necessar-
costs the city to send water through
your pipes.
It hasn’t always been that way. Ear-
lier city leaders dragged their feet as
costs went up; they didn’t want to
pass rate hikes unpopular with con-
stituents.
City managers and commission-
ers have taken a harder line in the
past decade as the need to balance
the budget grows more crucial. City-
owned properties that cost more than
they bring in are on the auction block.
Top of the list: the Head Start build-
ing in Robinson Community Park.
“This is another piece of property
we’ve been talking about getting rid
of,” City Manager Linda Engbretson
said. “It’s a burden on us.”
Years ago, Clatsop County gave
the land to the city with the intent it
would be used as parkland to benefit
Photo courtesy Head Start the public. It included a reversionary
Warrenton Mayor Henry Balensifer reads to children in the Head Start pro-
See ‘Head Start’ on Page 5
gram.
Local doctors volunteer to help in war-torn Ukraine
By Erik Robinson
OHSU Communications
A Columbia Memorial Hospital emergen-
cy room doctor has been working in Ukraine
for the past month, one of several ways the
hospital and its partner, Oregon Health &
Science University, are helping the country
besieged by war.
Since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, CMH
and OHSU personnel have donated thou-
sands of items for Ukraine. Everything from
backpacks and coats, to flashlights and di-
apers have been delivered into the country
Dr. Stephen Donnelly in the
through Poland.
CMH Emergency Room
In addition, OHSU has provided more than
5,600 pounds of surplus medical supplies,
including wound supplies, gloves, antiseptic
wipes, face masks and slings. OHSU contin-
ues to send surplus medical supplies through
an organization supporting Ukraine.
As the bombs began to fall in Ukraine on
Feb. 24, Dr. Stephen Donnelly immediately
started scanning the internet to figure out
how he could help.
Donnelly has worked at CMH since 2018.
“I saw it as a huge injustice – indiscrim-
inate killing with no justification,” he said
before leaving for Ukraine on May 16. “Both
See ‘Doctors’ on Page 4