September 21, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
Low turnout sends levy back to ballot Moore to retire as
county manager
Fire District
is hopeful for
future support
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
A local option fire chief
levy for the Cannon Beach
Rural Fire Protection District
failed Tuesday night.
If this were a regular elec-
tion, the five-year levy, which
pays for the chief’s salary, ve-
hicles, administrative costs and
supplies, would have passed
67 percent to 32 percent. But
during a special election, a mea-
sure can only pass if there is at
least 50 percent voter turnout.
Only 38 percent — 498 out
of the district’s 1,300 voters —
cast ballots, according to unof-
ficial county results.
The levy would have raised
the tax rate to $0.19 per thou-
sand of assessed property val-
ue, up from an average $0.14
voted in five years ago. At the
new rate, a homeowner would
pay $95 a year on a $500,000
house.
Between 2019 to 2024, the
levy was estimated to bring
COLIN MURPHEY
Cannon Beach Fire Chief Matt Benedict makes the rounds
of the garage doing routine maintenance and checking gear.
the district about $1.2 million.
The increase was designed to
account for growing costs as-
sociated with the position, such
as rising health care and PERS
rates, Fire Chief Matt Benedict
said.
While disappointing, Ben-
edict said the results were en-
couraging and the district plans
to put the same levy on the
November ballot, where the 50
percent voter turnout rule will
no longer be an issue.
“We will continue to ed-
ucate more people about the
levy before November,” Ben-
edict said. “It’s a pretty decent
margin but we won’t take this
for granted.”
The board decided to take
a chance at a special election
earlier this year out of fear
that voters would have “tax
fatigue” from multiple levies
and bonds on the ballot in No-
vember.
“We thought in a small
community like this we could
see a bigger turnout with only
one thing on the ballot,” Bene-
dict said. “It turns out we were
wrong in this case. But you
never know unless you try.”
If the levy fails again in
November, Benedict said the
district has about a year’s
worth of contingency funds
that would pay for his position
until the district could get the
levy on the ballot again. Fail-
ing to renew this levy again
would cut off the district’s only
funding mechanism to pay for
a fire chief, leaving the board
with the choice of finding a
new way to fund the position,
to make cuts in other areas of
the general fund to pay for it,
or to forgo the position alto-
gether, Benedict said.
“We’re already on a shoe-
string budget, so we’d have
to get creative and look at our
priorities if this doesn’t pass,”
he said.
Now that the levy will
compete against the county’s
jail bond and marijuana tax on
the ballot, Benedict hopes the
work the district has already
done to educate voters about
the issues will carry forward as
an advantage in November.
“It’s always a threat, having
competition, never knowing
who is going to vote for what,”
Benedict said. “All we can do
is educate. (Voters) are going
to have to make that choice
on what they are going to sup-
port.”
Administrator
was hired in
2016
By Jack Heffernan
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County Manager
Cameron Moore will retire in
January.
Moore, an experienced
administrator, was hired in
2016 to help bring stability to
a county that had nine man-
agers in 16 years. A perfor-
mance review from the county
Board of Commissioners last
year — written by Scott Lee,
the board’s chairman — was
largely positive, but Moore
has clashed with some com-
missioners.
“I thought Cam did a great
job,” Lee said. “I’ve really en-
joyed working with him, one
of the best county managers
I’ve been able to work with.”
Moore has been at odds
with Commissioners Lianne
Thompson and Kathleen Sul-
livan. While the two commis-
sioners have asked for more
open discus-
sions about
county deci-
sions, Moore
has accused
them of im-
proper inter-
Cameron
actions with
Moore
county staff.
Moore offered to resign
at one point last year but was
asked by the majority of the
five-member board to stay.
The infighting peaked pub-
licly in April, when Moore
skipped a board meeting,
writing in an email that the
commissioners had made him
their “verbal punching bag.”
He later apologized for skip-
ping the meeting.
“I thought he handled those
rough spots with commission-
ers very well,” Lee said.
Thompson and Sullivan
could not immediately be
reached for comment.
Moore, the former chief
executive officer for the
Champaign County Regional
Planning Commission, re-
placed Scott Somers, who re-
signed in 2015 to take a job in
Maryland.
CANNON BEACH POLICE LOG
Aug. 19
Two incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
1:56 p.m., Hemlock and Second:
A male juvenile reported missing
is reunited with his parents.
11:09 p.m., N. Larch: Several beach
fires reported burning are advised
of the fire ban.
Aug. 20
Nine incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
1:51 p.m., Haystack Parking: A fe-
male came into the police station to
report being threatened and men-
aced by a male driver who said he’d
run her over while she waited for
her family. Police located the driver
and advised him his behavior could
be construed as menacing.
Aug. 21
Three incidents of overnight
camping are reported.
1:48 p.m., Ecola Creek and Beach:
A daughter and her father who lost
track of each other are reunited.
Aug. 22
Seven incidents of overnight
camping are reported.
9:34 p.m., 100 block N. Hemlock: A
father who reported his daughter
missing called back to say she’d
returned.
Aug. 23
Three incidents of overnight
camping are reported.
11:37 p.m., 3400 block S. Hemlock:
Police assist fire department evac-
uate a building where there was a
fire on the first floor. Police stood
by until the fire was extinguished.
Aug. 24
Two incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
5:46 p.m., Breakers Point: A report-
ing party notified police about a
missing bipolar juvenile. When
police spoke with the subject’s fa-
ther, the father refused to report
his son missing, saying he’d seen
police shoot bipolar subjects in the
past, and he did not want anything
to happen to his son. He told police
he would contact another agency
if he has further issues relating to
his son.
Aug. 25
Six incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
5:24 p.m., Fir Street Bridge: Caller
reports youth preparing to jump off
the bridge into Ecola Creek. Police
on scene talk to the youth who
denied he was planning to jump.
Aug. 26
Six incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
1:15 a.m., 4000 block Ocean: A person
is arrested and charged with DUII; po-
lice say their blood alcohol was .15%.
Aug. 27
Two incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
2:35 p.m., Beach and Ecola: Police
respond to a report of a naked man
said to be frolicking in the ocean. He
had his trunks back on when police
arrived; he said he was not trying
to arouse himself or others. He was
warned there are children in the area.
3:50 p.m., Tolovana Park: A juvenile
reported missing was reunited with
parents.
Aug. 28
Three incidents of overnight
camping are reported.
10:40 a.m., Arbor Lane: A man un-
successfully trying to open a lock
box reported as suspicious turned
out to be a man trying the lockbox
of the wrong rental. He was gone
prior to police arrival.
1:16 p.m., Spruce: A disturbance
between neighbors is reported.
ed missing is reunited with its parents.
5:08 p.m., Spruce: The neighbor is-
sue continues; the reporting party
is advised what steps they can take.
Aug. 30
5:57 p.m., Second Street: Police re-
ceive a report of two juvenile females
who attempted to use a fake $50 at a
shop to buy pastries. An employee of
the shop used a counterfeit marking
pen first on the bill and rejected it.
The incident is under investigation.
Aug. 31
9:43 p.m., Silver Point: Cannon Beach
police assist Coast Guard with a fish-
ing vessel 2 miles south of Haystack
Rock that was disabled. Four subjects
were on board. Police assisted the
Coast Guard in towing the vessel out.
Aug. 29
Two incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
4:48 p.m. Downtown: A child report-
Two incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
Two incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
9:09 Avenue U and The Tides: Cannon
Beach police assist Seaside police with
a report of a woman pointing a gun at
two subjects. The female was located
near Avenue S and Mill Pond. She was
taken into custody without incident.
Sept. 1
Ten incidents of overnight camp-
ing are reported.
4:20 p.m., Ocean Shore/Tolovana:
Police respond to a report of a man
said to have gone swimming who
did not return. The subject was later
found walking on the beach.
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