6A • August 25, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Airport bond defeat could foreshadow
trouble for other measures down the pike
Cannon Beach
rejects the bond
By Derrick DePledge
EO Media Group
Voters rejected a $1.96 mil-
lion bond measure in May that
would have helped finance the
expansion of Life Flight Net-
work and other improvements
at Astoria Regional Airport.
The bond failed by a slim,
146-vote margin in a special
district election where voter
turnout was a paltry 35 per-
cent. But a closer look inside
the vote tally by precinct
showed a pattern that could
foreshadow trouble for future
bond measures, like money
for a county jail.
Precincts in Astoria fa-
vored the airport bond, while
Warrenton was divided. The
rest of Clatsop County, out-
side pockets of Seaside, North
Clatsop, Hamlet and Walluski,
went against the bond.
The geographic divide
could be important if the
county seeks a bond to turn
the North Coast Youth Cor-
rectional Facility in Warrenton
into a larger county jail. Coun-
ty commissioners have or-
dered a study into whether the
youth facility, which is closing
because of state budget cuts,
could be an alternative to the
overcrowded 60-bed jail in
Astoria.
The rejection of the air-
port bond by voters outside
of Astoria suggests advocates
for relocating the county jail
would have to make a strong
argument that a jail would
benefit the entire county.
“People are concerned
about the amount of taxes that
they pay on their property. And
I think that all bond measures,
regardless of the benefit — for
the most part — people are go-
ing to be skeptical,” said Jim
Knight, the executive director
of the Port of Astoria, which
backed the airport bond.
Trapped by infighting
Former Astoria Mayor Wil-
lis Van Dusen and state Sen.
JOSHUA BESSEX/EO MEDIA GROUP
Life Flight Network wanted financial help for a new hangar,
while the other infrastructure improvements at the south
end of the airport could have enabled future development
at the regional hub.
Betsy Johnson, two of the
most well-known politicians
in the county, led a political ac-
tion committee for the airport
bond. But the vote was called
on relatively short notice, the
amount of the bond was re-
duced for technical reasons just
weeks before the election, and
the merits of the infrastructure
investment became trapped
within the bitter infighting at
the Port.
Knight believes several
factors doomed the vote, from
the unexpected opposition
from some on the Port Com-
mission to the lack of a voters’
pamphlet. He also thinks some
voters in South County were
apprehensive about making an-
other financial commitment so
soon after the $99.7 million in
bonds they approved last No-
vember to move three schools
out of the tsunami inundation
zone.
Port commissioners all said
they supported Life Flight Net-
work, but Commissioner Bill
Hunsinger attacked the airport
bond as a giveaway to special
interests, while Commissioner
Stephen Fulton, who was run-
ning for a second term in the
May election, called it specu-
lative development that should
be rejected. Fulton and his slate
of Port candidates lost the elec-
tion, but they may have influ-
enced the narrow 51 percent to
49 percent defeat of the bond.
“I don’t think any of us
were really prepared for the
negative position, or the an-
ti-bond measure information
that was being put out there,”
Knight said.
The airport bond and the
Port Commission elections
received extensive coverage
in The Daily Astorian, but
Knight and others believe a
voters’ pamphlet would have
helped educate voters about
the issues at stake. The coun-
ty does not typically publish
voters’ pamphlets for special
district elections because can-
didates have balked at paying
fees for the service.
“In this particular case,
I think the voters’ pamphlet
could have been one of the
more helpful documents for the
bond measure,” Knight said.
Unity
Warrenton Mayor Hen-
ry Balensifer, who works at
Lektro, the aircraft tug mak-
er at the airport, and who is a
former chairman of the Port’s
Airport Advisory Committee,
said the lesson from the air-
port bond is unity.
Subversion from with-
in the Port Commission, the
mayor said, likely confused
and distracted voters. He said
county commissioners, if they
decide to pursue a bond for a
jail, will need to get fully be-
hind a bond campaign.
“I think the real lesson
here is the bond became an
election issue more so than a
bond issue,” Balensifer said.
Sheila Roley, the superin-
tendent of the Seaside School
District, said she heard from
people before the election
who did not understand exact-
ly why the Port was asking for
the bond money.
Life Flight Network, which
provides emergency medical
flights, wanted financial help
for a new hangar, while the
other infrastructure improve-
ments at the south end of the
airport could have enabled
future development at the re-
gional hub. Taxpayers would
have paid an estimated $12.35
a year for property assessed at
$100,000 as the bond matured
over four years.
“I did hear quite a few
people mention their misun-
derstanding of what it was
and why would we be voting
for something that’s going to
benefit Astoria,” Roley said.
Three of the four precincts
in Seaside rejected the air-
port bond, as did precincts in
Gearhart and Cannon Beach.
Roley said there is always
a little bit of South County
versus North County senti-
ment, but she believes the fail-
ure of the airport bond does
not cloud a potential bond for
a jail. She said it is easier for
voters to see how a jail would
benefit the entire county.
“I think that was fairly is-
sue specific,” she said of the
May vote.
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‘Messaging is really
important’
Clatsop County could
place a bond for a jail on the
ballot as soon as next year,
when there are primary and
general elections that typical-
ly draw more voter interest.
Voters in May 2012 turned
down a $14 million bond
measure to expand the jail in
Astoria. The measure failed
56 percent to 44 percent de-
spite evidence of jail over-
crowding and appeals from
law enforcement, led by Sher-
iff Tom Bergin. Voter turnout
was 52.6 percent, significant-
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Stevens named to Port of Astoria Commission
Retired Coast
Guard caption
fills vacant seat
By Edward Stratton
EO Media Group
ASTORIA — The Port of
Astoria Commission on Tues-
day unanimously appoint-
ed retired U.S. Coast Guard
Capt. Robert Stevens of War-
renton to fill the vacancy left
by Robert Mushen, who re-
signed earlier this month be-
cause of medical issues.
Stevens, a veteran of 34
years in the U.S. Coast Guard
and Navy and a merchant ma-
rine, said he would offer calm,
quiet confidence to help the
Port promote growth and stay
fiscally responsible.
“The Port’s received a lot
of criticism, some of it justi-
fied,” he said during introduc-
tions of the seven hopefuls for
Mushen’s seat. “I’m here to
make this a professional, de-
liberative body, the way that
democracy is envisioned, and
I know that several of you be-
lieve the same thing.”
He was joined in interviews
Tuesday by former commis-
sion candidate Pat O’Grady,
former budget committee
Chairman John
Lansing, land
use
planner
Pamela Wev,
former Yam-
hill
County
Commissioner
Robert John-
Robert
stone, South
Stevens
County devel-
oper Russ Earl and retired in-
ventor Ronald Meyer.
Stevens, a licensed captain
of vessels large and small who
recently retired from teaching
and evaluating captains of off-
shore platforms in emergency
management, ran Port Com-
missioner James Campbell’s
successful re-election cam-
paign against fellow incum-
bent Stephen Fulton in May’s
special districts election. He
said he was encouraged by
others to apply for Mushen’s
seat and felt he had something
to offer the Port.
Stevens’ take
Stevens fielded questions
Tuesday from Port commis-
sioners on several of the agen-
cy’s big-ticket issues.
A bond measure to fund
infrastructure improvements
at the Astoria Regional Air-
port narrowly failed in May’s
special districts election.
Asked by Commissioner Dirk
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Rohne about his outlook at the
airport, Stevens said it was a
shame the ballot measure
failed, but that the Port can
take baby steps to improve the
facility, help medevac service
Life Flight find a better loca-
tion and attract more business.
“I would be supportive of
maybe looking at going to the
voters again with a bond mea-
sure and doing a better job
of selling it,” he said. “I’d be
welcome to help do that.”
Most of the people who
voted the bond down were
in South County, he said, and
he’d be willing to stump for
the project on behalf of the
Port.
Stevens said he wants to
help get government sup-
port on big issues such as
the $13.7 million difference
between the Port’s and the
Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency’s estimates on
damage from the December
2015 storms, and in dealing
with stormwater-treatment re-
quirements.
The Port Commission re-
cently voted to send a letter to
North Tongue Point landown-
er Washington Development
Co. seeking to terminate the
agency’s remaining lease and
allow boatbuilder Hyak Mar-
itime to negotiate a purchase
of the property. Commission-
er Hunsinger, who abstained
from the 3-0-1 vote and has
blasted the decision, asked
Stevens whether he would
want more history and public
input on the issue.
“Tongue Point appears to
me to be a classic example
of opportunity exceeding re-
sources,” Stevens said of the
property, which staff has said
loses the Port $250,000 annu-
ally.
Stevens said the Port needs
public input on the issue, but
that the Port needs to consid-
er turning the property over
to private enterprise. “The
Washington Group, if they
agree with the letter we wrote
to terminate the lease early —
they come back and say that’s
fine — then I think we need to
take a look at public comment
and testimony and make a de-
cision.”
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