A4 • Friday, January 29, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Seaside moments
Photos by Lou Solitske
Broadway Middle School purchase is bad deal for rec district taxpayers
GUEST COLUMN
JOHN HUISMANN
I just read an article that was
printed a few days ago touting a
Sunset Recreation Center. It was
complete with children hold-
ing up a sign. Broadway Mid-
dle School is an old, broken-down
73,000-square-foot building that
needs millions of dollars in reme-
diation, repairs and improvements
before it would even begin to be
usable for the things being talked
about. The district’s board of direc-
tors is trying to sell you a lie.
They tout a number of poten-
tial activities such as pre- and
after-school activities. I have to
ask, who is going to provide the
transportation for the children?
Wouldn’t it make much more
sense and be safer to have those
activities at their schools?
They claim that it will provide
indoor recreational space for citi-
zens. I believe that the taxpayers
just spent many millions to build
new schools in a safe zone. There
is a lot of recreational space in
our new schools.
They also tout sports tour-
ism and childcare. Is it now the
policy of the district to com-
pete against private companies?
What’s going on here?
The truth is that you have not
been told is how much it costs.
Skyler Archibald, the district’s
executive director, told you in 2018
that it would be much more expen-
sive to buy the middle school than
to approve the $20 million plus
they sought to remodel the Sunset
Pool building. You did reject that
plan at the ballot box.
In purchasing the middle school,
the district board claims to have
done due diligence, in other words
investigating the facility prior to
the purchase. What they did not do
was to get bids on actually making
the building usable again. This is
also part of due diligence.
In this failure, they have vio-
lated their fiduciary responsibil-
ity to the taxpayers. Fiduciary
responsibility means that they are
required to act in the conservative
best interests of the taxpayers. I
wonder if this breach is covered by
their director’s insurance?
So, what needs to be done to
make this 73,000-square-foot
building usable? First, you need a
new roof and replacement of leak-
ing windows. This alone will cost
at least $5 million, if not more.
Then there are the issues of asbes-
tos, mold and lead paint remedia-
tion. This will add another $5 mil-
lion to the cost.
We have not even begun to
address the structural needs of a
building this old. Some of the walls
are crumbling as they were not
properly built to begin with. The
heating and ventilation systems
need to be totally replaced. What
will it cost to bring this build-
ing up to current codes as will be
required? The answer is many mil-
lions of dollars.
With what you are paying for
the new schools, does this make
sense to you? Are you taxpay-
ers willing to pay that much more
because a few folks seem nostal-
gic for Broadway Middle School?
I’m retired and on a fixed income.
I know that I can’t afford it. Can
you?
BRIEFS
Latham joins
Columbia Memorial
in Seaside
Board-certified pediatri-
cian Dr. Whitney Latham,
D.O., joined CMH Medi-
cal Group & Urgent Care in
Seaside.
Latham
previously
worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
where she was a clinical
associate professor of pedi-
atrics for Oklahoma State
University Center for Health
Sciences. She provided out-
patient and nursery care for
Oklahoma State University
Pediatrics, inpatient care as
a pediatric hospitalist for the
St. Francis Children’s Hos-
pital and was also active in
pediatric intern, resident and
medical student education.
She was an attending phy-
sician for current Columbia
Memorial pediatrician Dr.
Emily Pirmann during her
residency in Oklahoma.
Latham earned her doc-
tor of osteopathic medi-
cine degree from Oklahoma
State University Center for
Health Sciences, in addition
to completing her residency
and internship there. She
takes special medical inter-
est in newborn care, early
childhood
development,
nutrition and wellness.
Carter wins
Elk award
Westin
Carter
was
selected as the Most Valu-
able Student boy in the
Northwest District of the
Oregon State Elks Associa-
tion. The judging was held
at Newport Elks Lodge with
competitors ranging from
St. Helens to Florence. As
a district winner, Westin
will receive $1,800 from the
association. As a state final-
ist, his application has been
forwarded to the associa-
tion, to compete against stu-
dents throughout Oregon for
further awards. Carter was
awarded a $1,000 scholar-
ship by Seaside Elks Lodge.
Carter plans to major
in business finance with a
minor in marketing. His
goal is to enter an acceler-
ated program that allows
him to graduate in four years
with both a bachelor’s and
master’s degree.
He is also interested in
playing college soccer and
plans to weigh soccer offers
before committing to a
university.
After college, he plan
on gaining corporate expe-
rience as a financial advi-
sor before building his own
financial advising firm.
“This pandemic highlighted
how financially vulnerable
many Americans are,” he
said. “I am passionate about
teaching personal finance
as a means of helping peo-
ple provide for their fami-
ly’s security, achieve their
dreams and in turn help one
another.”
Advantage Dental
opens in Seaside
A new dental office
opened this month at the
Seaside Outlets. Advantage
Dental Oral Center becomes
the 52nd Advantage den-
tal practice in Oregon and
among 80 practices overall
throughout six states, with
200 dentists and 800 support
staff.
The Advantage Den-
tal practice in Astoria has
closed.
Dentist Hatai Jivagun-
chainan, referred to as “Dr.
Jiva,” offers routine dental
care, restorative treatments,
endodontics and oral sur-
gery. For more information,
call 971-704-7011..
‘Game of Tiaras’
opens high school
drama season
Seaside High School
Drama announces its first
production of the new year,
“Game of Tiaras: A Stay-
At-Home Play,” by Don
Zolidis, will be available to
stream at home from Feb. 12
through Feb. 18.
The
comedy
com-
bines aspects of “Game of
Thrones” and “King Lear.”
Senior Lucas Ethridge
appears as the King, juniors
Elizabeth Jesberger as Cin-
derella, Gracie Klemp as
Belle, Kaiya Taylor as the
Snow Queen, Sophia Reyn-
olds as the Mermaid, Abi-
gail Sills as Snow White,
Lilli Taylor as the French
Prince, Riley Wunderlich
as Prince Charming, sopho-
more Parker Davis as Smea-
gol and a supporting cast
full of eccentric characters
played by sixth- through
12th-grade students.
The play is directed
and produced by Susan
Baertlein.
Visit bit.ly/36j6nYe to
purchase tickets.
The cost is $10 for
individuals or $20 for a
household.
For more information,
contact Seaside High School
at 503-738-5586 or email
Susan Baertlein at sbaer-
tlein@seasidek12.org.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Contact local agencies for lat-
est meeting information and
attendance guidelines.
TUESDAY, FEB. 2
Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District, board
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
workshop, 4 p.m., sunsetem-
pire.com.
sion, 6 p.m., cityofseaside.
us.
Gearhart City Council,
7 p.m., cityofgearhart.com.
Seaside Planning Commis-
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 3
THURSDAY, FEB. 4
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Darren Gooch
Joshua Heineman
Rain Jordan
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
Seaside Parks Advisory
Committee, 6 p.m., cityof-
seaside.us.
Seaside Signal
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