November 30, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 5A
Can Clatsop County improve accountability?
What we thought
years ago needs
refreshing
A
s you read this, we’ve already
learned the results of the
November general election.
Most of us are glad it’s over, whether
we “won” or “lost.” Politics is a
game of winners and losers, and it’s
like contact sports, a kind of mixed
martial arts.
What comes after the political
battles is the governing — finding
the courage and generosity to con-
sider the common good, the common
ground, and an equitable distribution
of costs and benefits through public
policies and programs.
Like the rest of our culture, politics
has become a game of constant, nev-
er-ending warfare. We never get to the
governing part, the part where we put
down our weapons and put our heads
together in a positive way. We need
to stop butting heads and start using
more of our heads for their brains, to
generate and execute solutions.
It’s not that we’re doing every-
thing wrong. We are definitely doing
things right. But there’s a body of
challenges that we’re not addressing
effectively as a team. We can do
better.
GUEST COLUMN
LIANNE THOMPSON
But we need a process. And we
need to be willing to be capable,
which means we’re willing to try,
make mistakes, learn from them, and
then try again.
I think we can learn from the last
20 years’ experience with volunteer
commissioners, as provided under
the home rule charter in effect in
Clatsop County.
Taxpayers work hard to earn
the money that government spends
to provide services for the public.
Without a dedicated elected govern-
ing body that can spend the time and
effort to understand what it takes to
earn the money and how to wisely
spend that money, there is no effec-
tive public accountability.
In my experience, volunteer
commissioners are usually part-time,
especially if they have to earn a liv-
ing doing some other job. They may
be too eager to accept “advice” from
a lobbyist or a bureaucrat, neither
of whom is elected by the public or
accountable to the public.
However well-meaning or
self-serving the advice, how is a part-
time elected official to weigh and sift
the truth to arrive at the best path to
the common good? How are trans-
parency and accountability served,
except with dedicated and capable
elected public officials?
Dedicated and capable elected
public officials need to do planning
and evaluation, I think, and they need
to do it strategically. Other Clatsop
County boards of commissioners
have done real and substantive strate-
gic planning.
In 2011, in an open competitive
bidding process, my firm won a
contract to provide strategic planning
facilitation to the sitting board of
commissioners in Clatsop County.
As a result of that strategic planning,
the board committed to follow a
new form of clear and empowering
accountability and developed board
rules to implement the new way of
operating.
That included a series of listen-
ing sessions in 2014. Vision 2030
community input sessions were held
in seven locations all over Clatsop
County, and people showed up to
voice their vision.
What was supposed to happen
after that was a statement of the
board’s mission and measures of
effectiveness in achieving progress
toward achieving that mission. It
didn’t happen. It needs to happen,
now more than ever.
If a volunteer board cannot
achieve the statement of mission that
expresses the will of the people in
this county and the dimensions along
which it should evaluate its employ-
ee, the county manager, we’re in
trouble.
I do see trouble. I see the churn of
both elected and appointed leaders,
the Clatsop County commissioners
and the county manager. Our rate of
turnover is alarming. It’s a waste of
time, talent, and treasure. It’s costly
in money spent and opportunities
lost.
We can and must do better. I hope
the new board that takes office in
January 2019 will do better.
Where do we go from here? Back
to listening to the people, and then
moving forward to refine and define
the county’s mission, what kind of
difference we want to make and how
we intend to make that difference,
for ourselves and for the county
manager — whom we both hire and
hold accountable.
And it is, I think, the board’s job
to hold the county manager account-
able for results achieved in realizing
the county’s mission. The voters, the
people, elect their representatives on
the governing body and hold those
representatives accountable.
If staff isn’t held accountable to
the members of the governing body,
there is no other way to do it. Voters
certainly have no other direct impact
than their votes.
But the board of county com-
missioners can, should, and must be
accountable to the people. The best
way I see to do that is to listen again
to the people. What we thought years
ago needs refreshing. The housing
and opioid crises are much worse
now, for example.
After listening to the people,
the board should define and refine
community input into a compelling
mission. Then comes another inter-
esting part — translating the mission
into focus areas, such as housing,
economic development, community
physical and mental health, public
safety, and the arts.
From those focus areas come log-
ical action steps, with analysis and
planning to evaluate needs, methods,
and results or outcomes.
The details remain to be worked
out. But the operative word here is
“worked.” The time has passed for a
board that does not perform the es-
sential work of thoughtfully proceed-
ing to answer the question, “Where
do we go from here?”
Lianne Thompson represents
District 5 — South County — on the
Clatsop County Board of Commis-
sioners.
Hunkering down with hot tea and a great holiday read
T
his Saturday two festive com-
munity events — the annual
Cannon Beach Library Hol-
iday Tea and, across Hemlock St.
from the library, the annual Lamp
Lighting Ceremony in Sandpiper
Square — open the season in Can-
non Beach and offer an opportunity
for friends, neighbors and visitors
to meet and share conversations
and exquisite holiday treats.
At the Holiday Tea hot mulled
cider, tea and a plethora of holiday
cookies and candies, homemade by
library members and volunteers,
will tempt one and all Saturday,
Dec. 1, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the
library, 131 N. Hemlock St. The li-
brary’s drawing for a hand-stitched,
vintage grandmother’s flower
garden quilt will occur at 3 p.m.
during the Holiday Tea. So, come
AT THE LIBRARY
JOSEPH BERNT
to the library for warmth, con-
versation and nourishment before
crossing Hemlock for the Lamp
Lighting Ceremony at 4 p.m. Both
traditional events are free and open
to the public.
Cannon Beach Reads
December is the perfect time
to consider joining Cannon Beach
Reads, which meets the third
Wednesday of every month to dis-
cuss important fiction or nonfiction
books by Pacific Northwest, U.S.
and international authors.
At the group’s November meet-
ing, Elizabeth Becker’s “Over-
booked: The Exploding Business
of Travel and Tourism” elicited the
most intense discussion of the year
as the author’s critique of tourism
industry practices brought com-
parisons with tourism marketing,
practices and effects on the North
Coast. One conclusion: Cannon
Beach residents, city council mem-
bers, planners and chamber mem-
bers should read “Overbooked.”
Cannon Beach Reads will
discuss Yuval Noah Harari’s
“Sapiens: A Brief History of
Humankind” Wednesday, Dec. 19,
at 7 p.m., at the library. Consid-
er joining the discussion of this
beautifully crafted history of,
and predictions for, our species.
These sessions are free, open to
the public and offer coffee and
refreshments.
Also, at the November meeting
current CB readers selected five
fiction and seven nonfiction books
to read and discuss next year. The
monthly discussion schedule and
discussants, beginning in January,
will be posted in the library and at
the Cannon Beach Book Company
in early December. The five fiction
titles, all classics, for next year
include: “The Wind in the Willows”
by Kenneth Graham, “A Tree Grows
in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith, “The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
by Douglas Adams, “A Portrait
of the Artist as a Young Man” by
James Joyce and “Cannery Row” by
John Steinbeck.
Next year Cannon Beach Reads
will focus on seven, recently pub-
M U N I C I PA L M E M O
NOVEMBER 2018
3
MEETINGS
DECEMBER 2018
4
11
20
27
CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING,
November 6, 2018
•
Polife Chief Sfhermerhorn introdufed new
Polife Department Offifers Joshua Utley and
Christian Salinas; Mayor Steidel swore them in;
•
Introdufed new Community Development
Direftor Jeff Adams who replafes Mark Barnes;
•
•
•
•
SRG Partnership, Inf. Prinfipal, Lisa Petterson
presented an update on the City Hall building
projeft;
Jeff Adams was appointed to represent
Cannon Beafh on the Columbia River Estuary
Study Taskforfe; CREST;
Counfil approved the fontraft for bond
founsel for the proposed May 2019
Government Obligation (GO) Bond referral for
the City Hall projeft;
Counfil approved the fontraft with a finanfial
advisors for the proposed May 2019 GO Bond
referral for the City Hall projeft.
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION,
November 14, 2018
•
Pafifif Power advised the Counfil of the
upfoming sfheduled power outages needed
to make repairs;
•
Counfil and staff disfussed a request for
paving on Ross Lane. They disfussed paving in
general.
•
Counfil disfussed a request from Coaster
Properties to be reimbursed for fees assessed
in the fonstruftion of the Sea Lark Apartments.
The fonsensus was to use the money building
up from the Construftion Exfise Tax to
reimburse after the City and Coaster Properties
fome to an agreement. This agreement will
be the basis of granting infentives to other
developers to build affordable/workforfe
housing.
Is published monthly by the City of Cannon Beach
163 E. Gower Street • P.O. Box 368 • Cannon Beach, OR 97110
(503) 436-1581 • Fax: (503) 436-2050 • TTY (503) 436-8097
City Council Retreat/Goal
Setting-Tolovana Hall
City Council Regular Meeting
City Council Work Session
Design Review Board
Planning Commission
9:00 a.m.
7:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
6:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m.
DESIGN REVIEW BOARD
The Design Review Board did not meet in Oftober.
They met November 15th for a work session to
disfuss the Warren Way interseftion.
lished, nonfiction titles: “Fascism:
A Warning” by Madeleine Albright,
“The Good Rain: Across Time and
Terrain in the Pacific Northwest”
by Timothy Egan, “The Water
Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking
Cities, and the Remaking of the
Civilized World,” by Jeff Goodall,
“Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics,”
by Stephen Greenblatt, “Lab Girl,”
by Jahren Hope, “Barracoon: The
Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo,’”
by Zora Neale Hurston and “Hillbil-
ly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and
Culture in Crisis,” by J.D. Vance.
Sponsored by the Friends of
Haystack Rock, Samantha Zeman,
research assistant at the Hatfield
Marine Science Center in Newport,
will present “Zooplankton: Indica-
tors of Ocean Change,” Wednesday,
Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., at the library.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
MAYOR: Sam Steidel
COUNCILORS: Mike Benefield,
Nancy McCarthy, Brandon
Ogilvie and George Vetter
CITY MANAGER: Bruce St. Denis
Of Interest…
City Hall will be Closed:
Monday/Tuesday Defember 24th
& 25th in observanfe of Christmas
Holiday
Monday & Tuesday Defember 31st &
January 1st, 2019 in observanfe of the
New Year Holiday
PLANNING COMMISSION -
The Planning Commission met Oftober 25, 2018
and disfussed:
SR 18-04 Request by Sfott Laird for a Setbafk
Reduftion in Conjunftion with the fonstruftion of
a garage on the vafant lot West of 211 E. Surffrest
Ave. Approved with Conditions.
ZO 18-01 and CP 18-01 Zoning Ordinanfe and
Comprehensive Plan Text Amendments Updating
the City’s Foredune Management Plan. Continued
to 11/20/18.
ZO 18-03 City of Cannon Beafh Request for Zon-
ing Ordinanfe Text Amendments to Chapter 17.70
Tree Removal. Continued to 11/20/18.
Postponed the work session to disfuss
amendments related to the Short Term Rentals until
the 1/24/2019 meeting.
November 6, 2018
General Election News
The results are in:
Mayor Position:
Sam Steidel
2 Councilor Positions:
Mike Benefield (infumbent)
Robin Risley
They will be sworn in to servife at the January
8th, 2019 City Counfil Meeting.
Thank you for voting!
The Planning Commission met November 20, 2018
and disfussed:
V18-06 Request by David Vonada for a Setbafk
Reduftion and Parking Varianfe in Conjunftion
with the Remodel of an Existing Home at 235
W. Siuslaw. Approved Varianfe, Denied Setbafk
Reduftion.
SR 18-06 Request by David Vonada for a Setbafk
Reduftion in Conjunftion with the Remodel
of a home at 187 E. Madison. Approved with
Conditions.
ZO 18-01 and CP 18-01 Zoning Ordinanfe and
Comprehensive Plan Text Amendments Updating
the City’s Foredune Management Plan. Approved
Refommendation to City Counfil.
ZO 18-03 City of Cannon Beafh Request for
Zoning Ordinanfe Text Amendments to Chapter
17.70 Tree Removal. Continued to 12/27/18
Beach Volunteers Wanted!
Do you enjoy being outside and sharing
your love of Haystafk Rofk? No experienfe
nefessary – we train! Families welfome.
Please contact:
Lisa Habefker
Edufation & Volunteer Coordinator
503.436.8064
habefker@fi.fannon-beafh.or.us