August 3, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
BOND BUNDLE
County voters
will have
four bonds to
choose from in
November
By Jack Heffernan
The Daily Astorian
PHOTOS BY COLIN MURPHEY/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
The North Coast Youth Correctional Facility sits vacant in Warrenton.
During a meeting earlier
this month, Clatsop County
Commissioner Sarah Nebeker
argued that a November bond
measure to relocate and expand
the county jail needs to pass.
But she recognized that voters
may be leery of the tax burden.
“It’s the cheapest bond out
there, though,” Sheriff Tom
Bergin said.
Bergin was referring to three
other bonds — for the Astoria
and Warrenton school districts
and the Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District — that
will be on the ballot. Local gov-
ernments are trying to address
several long-standing needs
while the economy continues to
boom, betting that voters will
not have bond overload.
“The bond passage rate the
last three to five years has re-
ally been on an upswing state-
wide,” said Mark Jeffery, the
superintendent of the Warren-
ton-Hammond School District.
“It’s pretty incredible for a
county this size. And not just
small projects.”
Officials have not coordinat-
ed the timing of the bonds and
say they do not feel a sense of
competition. But the number
of tax hikes has been a topic of
slight concern.
“Obviously bond fatigue, I
guess, is a concern, but I think
that we started this over a year
ago and we can’t, you know,
we don’t have a crystal ball to
know what other cities are go-
ing to do,” said Scott Lee, the
chairman of the county Board
of Commissioners.
Lee and Bergin are correct.
The county’s efforts to move
the 60-bed jail from Astoria to
the shuttered North Coast Youth
Correctional Facility in War-
renton began last spring. The
$20 million bond would be the
least expensive in terms of its
impact on property taxes — an
estimated 21 cents per $1,000
of assessed value. County and
law enforcement leaders hope
a new jail will solve persistent
overcrowding.
Turnout may be a positive
for some bonds and a negative
for others.
“I really want to see folks
that don’t own property and
that haven’t been here for a long
time to get involved and register
to vote,” Lee said.
On the other hand, young
voters may be pivotal to the $20
million Sunset Empire bond to
expand its Seaside recreation
center — at 70 cents per $1,000.
The recreation district hopes the
new facility will generate addi-
tional revenue following a de-
crease last year.
Some have speculated that
younger voters would be more
likely to utilize the upgraded fa-
cility and, therefore, more will-
ing to pay for it.
But, “I would hope that all
of our residents — both young
and old — can see the benefit of
this,” said Skyler Archibald, the
executive director of the recre-
ation district.
Seaside School District vot-
ers overwhelmingly passed a
$99.7 million bond in 2016 to
relocate schools out of the tsu-
nami inundation zone. Though
it’s for a different purpose, the
recreation district hopes for sim-
ilar support.
“I guess I’d be lying to say
we weren’t motivated by the
voters’ approval of the school
bond,” Archibald said.
While the entire county will
vote on the jail bond, only voters
within the recreation district will
decide on the Sunset Empire
plan. Although the bonds would
come at an identical price, more
taxpayers would share the bur-
den of the new jail than the rec-
reation facility.
“The jail bond affects all
of the county obviously, so it’s
not going to be as easy for us to
market it,” Archibald said. “We
do have to be a little bit insight-
ful with how we message it.”
School bonds
Seaside-area voters will not,
however, be asked to pitch in as
much as those who live in the
Warrenton-Hammond or As-
toria school districts. The $70
million Astoria bond to mod-
ernize the school district’s five
campuses would cost taxpayers
$2.83 per $1,000 of assessed
property value. Those in War-
renton-Hammond would need
to pay $2.49 per $1,000 to buy a
master campus and build a new
middle school outside the tsuna-
mi inundation zone.
At a smaller price but with
a similar goal of moving out-
side the tsunami zone, Warren-
ton-Hammond officials hope
their $32.4 million bond will
have as much success as the
2016 one in Seaside. The school
district did not specifically move
forward with the bond because
of the Seaside example, but it
did compare the upcoming bond
to the past one, Jeffery said.
In Astoria, the motivations
are largely about timing. A
bond from 2000 is set to expire,
and the school district hopes to
modernize its campuses. Voters
in both school districts will also
decide on the jail bond. While
maintaining that the bonds are
not competing, Bergin made a
case for the relative importance
of the new jail.
But will voters choose one
bond over another after doing
the tax math?
“I think the voters are smart-
er than that and, kind of, can un-
derstand what’s going on here,”
Lee said. “It’s a coincidence, but
I don’t think it’s a deal breaker
to pass these.”
Max Price performs a trick at the skate park
in the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation Dis-
trict in Seaside. A bond to expand the recre-
ation center will be on the ballot in November.
Lori Nicole Visser
Winner winner — from Dundee’s dinner
Fort Pierce, Florida
June 10, 1978 — July 14, 2018
Lori Nicole Visser, 40, died July 14, 2018, future winter home.
in Fort Pierce, Florida, from an undiagnosed
Lori is remembered for her bubbly, outgo-
ing and charismatic spirit, accompanied by a
medical condition.
Born June 10, 1978, in Corvallis, Lori was smile and witch-like cackle that would make
a Gearhart native, perpetually proud
anyone in her vicinity grin, too. She
of her roots as a Gearhart Elementa-
loved laughing, the movie “Grease,”
ry School Eagle.
bike rides and getting competitive
She graduated from Seaside
playing any and all games with her
High School in 1996, where she was
sisters.
known as an accomplished swimmer
She was kind, but also revered for
and for her gregarious spirit. She
her straightforward nature and abil-
ity “to tell you how it is.” Anyone
then went to Oregon State Universi-
ty, where she picked up her lifelong
close to Lori would know to be on
and unflappable allegiance to the
their toes, as she was known to be a
Beavers, until transferring to Ore-
notorious prankster.
gon Health & Science University to
Lori Visser
No matter where she lived, Lori
receive her bachelor’s of science de-
was always proud of her North Coast
gree in nursing in 2000.
roots. She loved Fultano’s pizza, and
Lori worked as a nurse at Denton Regional would have family members bring her a slice
Medical Center in Texas for 15 years, serving even when she lived as far away as Texas.
as a career mentor and close friend to many.
She was the type of person who could create
Always a lover of football, this is where Lori a community no matter where she landed, cre-
became dedicated and lifelong Dallas Cow- ating friendships and memories all across the
boys fan — even convincing the rest of her country. She brought light and love into any
family to join her.
room she entered, and will be dearly missed
She received her master’s degree in nursing by many.
at University of Texas Arlington in 2012.
Lori is survived by her parents, Dan and
For the past four years, Lori split her time Sharon Visser of Warrenton; and by two sisters,
between Herndon, Virginia and Bellingham, Julie Visser of Gearhart, and Jennifer Visser
Washington, at various hospitals as nurse di- Harper of Seaside. She is also survived by her
rector. Lori had just moved to Fort Pierce a fiancé, Tracy Amos, of Fort Pierce, Florida.
There are no plans for a service at this time.
month prior with her fiancé to establish their
Seaside Signal
Keno winner
Tony Beck of
Kennewick,
Washington.
An Oregon coast vacation is go-
ing to be memorable for both Oregon
Lottery player and Neil Dundas of
Dundee’s Bar and Grill, the retailer
that sold the $76,000 winning ticket.
Beck wasn’t even sure how to
play, he said.
Dundas said he the ticket was the
largest payoff the bar and grill had
sold since their opening in 2002.
Beck said that he was going to
spend his $76,000 on his family.
“With kids and college and diapers,
it will get soaked up.”
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