JANUARY 27, 2017 • VOL. 41, ISSUE 2
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
COMPLIMENTARY COPY
WANTED
MORE CANNON BEACH
VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Th e South Wind property is east of U.S.
Highway 101 and south of the Haystack
Heights neighborhood. A 55-acre site
was acquired by the city in 2013, adding
to the 3.3 acres the city acquired in 1990.
South Wind
could off er
shelter in
disaster
By Lyra Fontaine
For Cannon Beach Gazette
n the next months, Cannon Beach Rural
Fire Protection District will ramp up its
efforts to recruit and train volunteer fi re-
fi ghters.
Garry Smith, board member and for-
mer fi refi ghter, said at the Jan. 9 board meet-
ing that the board should address volunteer
recruitment and retention.
“We’re down to our lowest that we’ve ever
been, as far as volunteers on the department,
and I think we need to make a substantial ef-
fort in planning for the future,” Smith said.
The fi re district currently has 18 volun-
teers, though Fire Chief Matt Benedict said
certain volunteers show up for most drills
while others do not.
“Most volunteer agencies cut that in half
for the people that show up for trainings,”
Benedict said.
October through March are slower
months, with calls increasing in April through
September and peaking during the summer.
“It’s a little bit of a strain right now, but
not a huge strain,” Benedict said. “Right
now, we’re in the low-call volume so it’s
not really hurting us too bad. Hopefully in
the next few months, we can start recruiting,
I
See Firefi ghters, Page 7A
Cannon Beach plans to
transform 55-acre site
CANNON BEACH FIRE AND RESCUE
By Lyra Fontaine
Cannon Beach volunteer fi refi ghters at an emergency medical services
training in early January, from left , Mike Johnson, Joanne Cremer,
Margaret Strozyk-Hayes and TJ White.
Volunteer
Firefi ghter
50%
21,500,000
12%
$139.8
billion
For Cannon Beach Gazette
With tsunami safety in mind, Cannon
Beach hopes to transform 55 acres of forest
into a place for shelter and long-term ser-
vices in a disaster.
The South Wind site, located east of
U.S. Highway 101 almost entirely outside
the tsunami inundation zone, was pur-
chased by the city in 2013. The goal was
to relocate an emergency shelter, police
station, fi re station, school, child care and
a food bank .
In 2014, the rough estimate of infrastruc-
ture development costs — highway, street
and storm drainage improvements, among
others — was about $3.4 million.
Preliminary engineering work would
cost an additional $400,000, staff mem-
bers said at a work session last week. The
City Council will decide in coming months
whether to include this amount in the bud-
get next fi scal year.
South Wind is vacant except for a wa-
ter tank and a building used for emergency
supply storage. The property needs a new
road access, since its current highway ac-
cess is a logging road. Sewer service could
FACTS
Percent of volunteer fi refi ghters working
at fi re departments that protect a
population of less than 2,500.
The number of calls for medical assistance,
the top reason for fi refi ghter response.
The decline in the number of volunteer
fi refi ghters in the United States since 1984.
The amount that time donated by
volunteer fi refi ghters save localities
across the country per year.
NATIONWIDE FIREFIGHTER STATISTICS AS COMPILED BY THE NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION
‘We’re down to our lowest that we’ve ever been, as far as volunteers
on the department.’
—Garry Smith, Cannon Beach RFPD board
See South Wind, Page 6A
With high bids, offi cials put City Hall renovations on ice
Bids exceed budget
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
R.J. MARX/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
Th is area of City Hall was among those slated for re-
model.
The envelope, please.
But this time there was no winner.
After months of design, updates and re-
view, Public Works Director Dan Grassick
opened sealed bids on Tuesday for a major
remodel of City Hall. Two construction bids
had been received — and both well exceed-
ed the $150,000 cap the city had budgeted.
“Both were well over the estimate and
budget by at least $80,000,” Grassick said
after bid opening Tuesday.
A new building would have cost at least
$3 million, but renovations to the existing
City Hall at 163 Gower were expected to
come in at a fraction of that cost. The De-
sign Review Board approved the fi nal stage
of a plan to upgrade offi ce space, windows,
doors and exterior at a public hearing
Thursday, Jan. 19, with board members
unanimously voting to approve a site plan
to modify three windows on the north side,
a change missed at earlier board meetings.
The proposed major modifi cations in-
clude changes to the windows on a portion
of the building’s north elevation, including
the offi ces occupied by the city manager,
assistant city manager and IT director.
“This is major, major retrofi t,” Public
Works Director Dan Grassick said after the
Design Review Board meeting. “We’ll end
changing the entire inside of City Hall in
four phases.”
Among changes, the police department
would have received a new entrance and
doorway and more space for storage.
Plans had placed Haystack Rock Aware-
ness Project offi ces in an exterior building
and the fi nance corner completely redone
and rebuilt.
Building and planning departments
would also receive a new, separate entrance
so contractors seeking permits can come di-
rectly to the appropriate offi ces.
See Renovations, Page 6A
Voices from Cannon Beach join protest at Women’s March
Messages of resolve, unity
By Jack Heff ernan with R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
Hundreds of people including supporters from Can-
non Beach and the South County gathered in Astoria
Saturday for a Women’s March to counter President
Donald Trump, sending messages of resolve and unity
against potential threats to equality and civil rights.
The large, peaceful crowd — mixed with women,
men, children and pets from across the Columbia-Pa-
cifi c region — fi lled one side of Heritage Square down-
town. Many carried handmade signs like “Make Amer-
ica Sane Again,” “Power to the Peaceful,” and “Girls
Just Wanna Have Fundamental Rights.”
Cannon Beach was particularly well-represented said
attendee Rex Amos, who joined the crowd with his wife
Diane. Among those were Betsy Ayres, Watt Childress,
Tom Jiroudek, Susan Glarum, Flora Young, Jim Osburn,
Leslie McClanahan, Beth Holland, Prissy Martin, Eeva
Lantela, Julie Walker and Hank Johnson.
“When I heard Trump say he wanted to ‘Make
America Great Again’ by taking us back to the 1950s,
Diane and I decided to join the Women’s March in As-
toria to meet with those who recognize that in the 1950s
women had little access to professional jobs, were paid
less than men, were pressured to stay home and have
as many babies as the husband wanted, were subject to
verbal and physical abuse including rape, had no prop-
erty or fi nancial rights without consent of the husband,
and could not even make out a will on their own,” Rex
Amos said on Monday.
Organizers stressed that the march was not a pro-
test against Trump, but the undercurrent was plainly
about resistance to the Republican real-estate magnate.
Marchers also participated to raise awareness for a
number of different issues, from public education and
immigration to gay rights.
Some organizers said they were surprised by the
turnout. Astoria Police estimated the crowd at more
than 1,300.
“We would’ve been excited if it was 100 people,”
Sharon Kloepfer, a former physician’s assistant who
lives in Gearhart, said.
The demonstration was in solidarity with a national
Women’s March in Washington, D.C., and in “sister
marches” in cities and small towns across the nation
and the world.
Clatsop County usually favors Democrats, but
REX AMOS PHOTO/FOR CANNON BEACH
Diane Amos, right, among those at the Women’s
March in Astoria on Sunday, Jan. 22.
Trump won 41 percent of the vote in November. The
march was a reminder that a majority of voters — in
Oregon and the nation — preferred other presidential
candidates.
The demonstration began shortly after noon. Along
See March, Page 9A