A6 • Friday, June 28, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
SEPRD adopts reader board policy
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Want to get your name in lights?
You can do it using the Sunset Empire Recre-
ation District’s reader boards, an electronic one in
front of the Broadway Pool and a manual one in
front of the Bob Chisholm Community Center on
Avenue A, according to Skyler Archibald, executive
director of the district.
“There’s come some requests by communities
and agencies to utilize market them for other activ-
ities and special occasions, while the staff is com-
fortable making those decisions, we’d like to codify
a policy that explicitly states what we are accepting
and why,” he said.
Archibald said they have received requests
for birthday parties, community focus groups and
nonprofi ts.
According to the policy presented at the June 17
meeting, staff can accept requests for personal mes-
sages at least seven days in advance of the date, and
include information on what is being requests.
District staff will allocate no more than three
days per month for use of the reader boards for
personal messages, managed on a fi rst-come, fi rst-
served basis.
Users of the reader board will make a $25 dona-
tion to the Sunset Park and Recreation Foundation.
The district may rejected messages that do not fi t
the mission of the district, including those that are
“deemed to be derogative, infl ammatory, and/or
offensive.”
R.J. Marx
Rec board position available
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
With a close race for Sun-
set Empire Park and Recre-
ation District board director
settled with a difference of
only two percentage points
between four candidates, a
new board seat has become
available.
In a June 10 letter to the
board, Veronica Russell
said she had recently pur-
chased property outside the
district. “We will be build-
ing a home and moving in
the near future.”
Her resignation will
be effective immediately.
“It has been my pleasure
to serve alongside you,
(executive director) Skyler
(Archibald), and the gen-
tlemen on the board for the
past two years,” she wrote.
Russell served as board
secretary. Her term would
have expired on June 30,
2021.
On June 6, the Clatsop
County Board of Elections
fi nal results confi rmed a
win for John Chapman,
who edged out Katha-
rine Parker, Marti Wajc
and Shirley Yates. Twen-
ty-eight votes sep-
management staff
arated the four
training in August,
candidates.
Archibald said.
Lindsey Morri-
The
position
son won the Posi-
will be open for the
tion 5 race.
next four weeks,
Morrison
re-
Archibald said, at
Veronica
ceived 496 votes, to
which time new
Russell
win with 41.75% of
board members will
the vote. Patrick Du-
select a replace-
hachek and Rodney Roberts ment for Russell. A board
followed.
president and secretary will
Chapman and Morrison also be chosen.
will be sworn in at the next
Along with Chapman
board meeting, Tuesday, and Morrisson, Jeremy
July 16.
Mills and Michael Hin-
Board members will ton fi ll the other two board
be encouraged to partic- seats. Their terms expire in
ipate in special district 2021.
Seaside adult foster home provider
hit with another neglect fi nding
By DERRICK DEPLEDGE
The Astorian
The state has substan-
tiated another fi nding of
neglect at KC Care LLC, a
Seaside-based adult foster
home provider fi ghting to
stay in business.
An investigation found
Ken Biamont, the registered
agent for KC Care, failed to
report sexual abuse of a res-
ident by a staff member. The
fi nding stems from previ-
ous state investigations that
determined a woman who
worked for KC Care had a
sexual relationship with a
man living in adult foster
homes.
Biamont, through his
attorneys, denied the state’s
fi nding and asked for judi-
cial review in Circuit Court.
The latest turn, outlined
in court fi lings last week, is
among a thicket of legal and
administrative responses by
KC Care to the state Depart-
ment of Human Services’
intent to revoke the provid-
er’s licenses.
KC Care continues to
operate adult foster homes
in Astoria and Warrenton for
people with intellectual and
developmental disabilities
while appeals are pending.
Investigations into abuse
and neglect at KC Care
helped uncover poor man-
agement and a lack of over-
sight in Clatsop County’s
developmental
disability
program.
Last week, county com-
missioners voted to transfer
oversight to the Department
of Human Services, which
will contract with Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare, a
private nonprofi t, to provide
services and coordinate with
adult foster homes, group
homes and supported living.
Several fronts
Biamont and KC Care are
challenging the license revo-
cations through the state’s
administrative hearings pro-
cess, while seeking judicial
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
KC Care LLC, an adult foster home provider based in Seaside,
is challenging the state’s fi ndings of abuse and neglect.
review of specifi c fi ndings
of abuse and neglect in Cir-
cuit Court.
In April, Judge Dawn
McIntosh agreed to allow
Biamont to intervene in the
review of the former care-
giver accused of sexual
abuse and neglect. A trial is
scheduled for October.
Biamont also asked the
court to review the state’s
fi nding that he neglected a
young man in his care who
was on probation for harass-
ment involving girls. The
man was not supposed to
be around children, but the
state found Biamont let an
employee with fi ve children
stay in an apartment under
a foster home in Seaside. A
trial is set for September.
Judge McIntosh dis-
missed a petition from
Biamont to review the state’s
fi nding that he neglected a
young woman by moving to
transfer her from a Gearhart
foster home to a provider in
Portland before an admin-
istrative hearing on her liv-
ing arrangement. The judge
ruled in May that Biamont’s
attorneys missed the dead-
line to fi le the petition.
Allegations of sexual
abuse at KC Care surfaced in
2016.
Both the caregiver and the
man denied having a sexual
relationship. Roger Bighill,
who investigated for Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare, deter-
mined the allegations were
inconclusive.
Last year, however, the
man told state investigators
he denied having sex with
the caregiver because he was
on probation for third-de-
gree rape and unable to have
intimate relationships with-
out approval from his proba-
tion offi cer. He confi rmed the
sexual relationship, accord-
ing to the state, after being
assured it would not jeopar-
dize his probation.
In court fi lings, Biamont’s
attorneys describe the man
as having fetal alcohol spec-
trum disorder and attention
defi cit hyperactivity disorder
and claim he has a history of
making false and inconsistent
statements. The attorneys
characterize a witness who
complained about the sexual
relationship as a transgender
person with autism and a his-
tory of making false claims.
Biamont, his attorneys
claim, did not know of the
allegations against the care-
giver until he was informed
by Bighill as part of the
investigation in 2016.
But a state investigator
found Biamont had given
different explanations of
when he found out. Based
on information and witness
statements, the investigator
concluded there is reason to
believe Biamont had knowl-
edge of the sexual relation-
ship before it was reported
to
Clatsop
Behavioral
Healthcare.
Biamont’s attorneys have
called the state’s investiga-
tions and fi ndings against KC
Care biased and procedurally
fl awed.
The latest fi nding of
neglect against Biamont for
failing to report sexual abuse,
the attorneys argue, is “based
upon unreliable statements
from fl awed investigations
that were improperly infl u-
enced by biased or incompe-
tent witnesses.”
Inconsistent monitoring
The
Department
of
Human Services nearly
pulled the county’s devel-
opmental disability contract
last fall after detailing a pat-
tern of inconsistent monitor-
ing of adult foster homes and
raising doubts about the pro-
gram’s management.
Bighill was removed as
the program’s manager at
Clatsop Behavioral Health-
care, but he has since been
brought back to work in the
program.
“The decision to have Mr.
Bighill return to CBH in a
different role was reviewed
carefully and thoughtfully,”
Amy Baker, the executive
director of Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare, said in an
email. “As an organization
whose mission it is to pro-
vide the highest level of qual-
ity service to our commu-
nity, we see every decision
related to client care as the
most important decision we
make.”
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