SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 • VOL. 41, ISSUE 19
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
COMPLIMENTARY COPY
City proposes changes to transient room tax
Discussion to continue in November
tax returns is proving to be a chal-
lenge, Cannon Beach Finance Direc-
tor Laurie Sawrey said.
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
In the past year, Cannon Beach
took in more than $3.8 million in
transient room tax. Without prop-
er tracking and enforcement, how
much is being unreported is un-
known.
The city is considering making
changes to a city ordinance that
would require lodging intermediar-
ies like AirBnB and Expedia to pay
taxes directly to the city.
These entities are subject to pay-
ing the transient room tax, but keep-
ing large online booking companies
accountable for providing the infor-
mation necessary for the city to fi le
Issues
In the hospitality industry, it is
becoming increasingly common
for hotels and short-term rental
owners to sell their rooms through
intermediary companies like Hot-
wire and AirBnB, who will rent
them out on their sites and take a
cut of the profi ts made off the sale
of the room.
In 2013, the state Legislature
passed a law requiring those inter-
mediaries to deliver tax collections
directly to the taxing community.
She wants the city to amend the
city code to follow this state law,
which will help in the collection,
accounting and enforcement of the
tax.
“If a hotel sells 100 rooms to an
Choral group celebrates 30 years
A milestone for the
Cannon Beach Chorus
By Brenna Visser
N
See Taxes, Page 6A
School
building
repairs are
on hold
Plugging holes until
new campus in 2020
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
ot a minute is wasted at the Cannon Beach
Chorus.
Every Monday night, the lobby of the Can-
non Beach Community Church is packed with
more than 60 singers with name tags that show
people from Ocean Park, Washington to Oceanside
ready to sing at 6:30 p.m. They come from all walks of
life, with some members still in high school and others
more than 80-years-old.
And at the helm is their director, John Buehler, who
made sure warm ups began no later than 6:31 p.m.
“The discipline is what allows people to do this ca-
sually,” Buehler said. “You don’t get this time back, so
I plan to the minute. There are many different needs
intermediary, we have no tracking
mechanisms to see who they sold
them to,” Sawrey said at the Tues-
day, Sept. 12, City Council work
session. “From the intermediaries,
we want more information of who
they purchased the room from.”
City staff have been always ask-
ing for this information, but so for
most intermediaries have not been
Cannon Beach Gazette
that need to be addressed every minute, and it’s su-
premely important that people’s time is honored.”
But moments of seriousness were laced with light-
hearted fun.
“Bless your heart but not your throats,” Buehler said
after the choir was trending fl at after multiple repeti-
tions of a phrase, a comment met with a roll of laughter.
In its 30th anniversary, the choir, currently in the
throes of preparing a Christmas Oratorio, is known
to perform regularly in the community and across the
coast. To celebrate, the choir will have a piece com-
missioned especially for them to premiere next spring.
See Chorus, Page 11A
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Dr. John Buehler conducts the Cannon Beach Chorus during a rehearsal. Th e group is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
SEASIDE — Gearhart Elementary
School, Broadway Middle School and Sea-
side High School were built with an expect-
ed lifespan of 45 to 50 years. Each school
has been used well beyond that span.
A new school campus is not expected
to open until fall 2020. Until then, schools
deemed old and at risk in a Cascadia Sub-
duction Zone earthquake and tsunami con-
tinue to house students.
A fact sheet by proponents of the suc-
cessful $99.7 million bond measure for the
new campus last year described the three
schools as in a state of deterioration, in-
cluding crumbling concrete that is decreas-
ing structural integrity, rusted pipes, leaky
roofs, old electrical wiring, and failing heat-
ing systems. “It would cost well over $30
million to fully correct the roofi ng, plumb-
ing, heating, and electrical issues,” Save
Our Schools wrote at the time. “The dete-
riorating structural walls and seismic issues
cannot be corrected.”
Maintenance crews spent the summer
polishing fl oors, painting and doing exterior
work to keep pests at bay.
“We did not focus on any major repairs
in any of the buildings, or any improve-
ments or anything like that,” Chuck Loesch,
the school district’s head of maintenance,
said . “With an up-and-coming new school,
we are just maintaining what we have.”
The budgeted cost of building mainte-
nance stands at about $306,000 for repair of
school buildings , according to the district’s
budget, a fi gure less than half the $800,000
the year before.
“We are looking at any maintenance we
need to do,” Superintendent Sheila Roley
said. “Do we need this for student safety? Is
this something that is imminent or urgent?
Do we need to address it, or is it something
we can maybe work out? Because we know
there will be a new facility.”
What Roley described as “the three legs
of the stool” — architect, project manag-
er and general contractor — a re now in the
preliminary stages and groundbreaking of a
new K-12 campus. The campus is expected
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
See Schools, Page 7A
Tom Drumheller, 64, dies aft er short illness
Key fi gure in Cannon
Beach tourism
By R.J. Marx and Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Tom Drumheller, chief executive
offi cer of Escape Lodging and co-own-
er of Tom’s Fish & Chips, died Sunday
morning at his home after a short ill-
ness. He was 64.
Drumheller, a former chairman of
the city’s Tourism and Arts Commis-
sion, played a key role in the region’s
hospitality industry and beyond, serv-
ing on the board of directors of Travel
Portland and most recently as founder
of the 62,773-square-foot Columbia
Point Hotel in Tri-Cities, Washington.
“I’ve known Tom for 30 years, and
we’ve been business partners since
1999,” Patrick Nofi eld, the president of
Escape Lodging, said . “There’s nobody
SUBMITTED P HOTO
want to spend his last days in the hos-
pital, so he returned to home hospice in
Cannon Beach.
He had friends and family members
come from all over the Northwest, No-
fi eld said. “For the last week of his life
it was like one continuous party. Tom
was greeting everyone, engaging peo-
ple, meeting with employees, sharing
stories, sharing humor.”
Tom Drumheller, a key fi gure in
Cannon Beach tourism, died Sunday.
A career in hospitality
like him. It’s a huge void — not just
for those who loved him, but for our
community, and the people of eastern
Washington where he grew up.”
According to Nofi eld, Drumheller
was diagnosed with metastasized colon
cancer in August . “When they were in
the hospital they found cancer was all
over his body,” Nofi eld said. “It was to-
tally unexpected.”
Nofi eld said Drumheller did not
John Thomas Drumheller, known
as “Tom,” was born in Walla Walla,
Washington, on Aug. 15, 1953. Drum-
heller’s family worked in the hardware
business for generations.
Growing up, he watched how his fa-
ther used humor and respect to develop
strong relationships with customers.
That set the foundation of his phi-
losophy toward the hotel and restaurant
industry, where he worked for 25 years
before establishing his own business.
A key experience came when Tom
turned 9; he was hit by a baseball, No-
fi eld said.
The ball concaved his skull and he
lost all ability to talk. “They were able
to do surgery and put the skull where
it needed to be, but he had to reteach
himself to talk,” Nofi eld said.
His mother, a schoolteacher, read
him the Dr. Seuss classic, “Thidwick,
the Big-Hearted Moose.”
The incident inspired Drumheller’s
future career direction, Nofi eld said.
“Thidwick always wanted to take
care of his guests, and of all the peo-
ple I have ever met, Tom was the most
hospitable person to anytone, whether
it be a housekeeper at one of our ho-
tels, or whether it be a billionaire de-
veloper,” Nofi eld said. “He treats them
all the same. All with love and all with
encouragement.”
See Drumheller, Page 6A