Friday, February 5, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
Center: Sunset Recreation Center to await district master plan
Continued from Page A1
new Spruce Drive location
outside of the tsunami inun-
dation zone. Three acres of
the 5.4-acre property at 1120
Broadway are zoned medi-
um-density residential and
the remaining portion gen-
eral commercial.
Fiber
internet
was
installed this week for broad-
band data service, and an
alarm system is in progress.
The park district is now
conducting an inventory
of items left behind after
the school district’s move,
including desks, chairs,
offi ce supplies and paper.
R.J. Marx
Broadway Middle School has been renamed the Sunset
Recreation Center after the building was purchased by the
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District.
Signifi cant changes or
investments will wait for
a master plan, a process
involving staff, consultants,
board and the community,
Archibald said.
Major projects, if they
come, may be managed by
an external consultant, but
for now are simply focused
on cleaning, organizing and
assessing the state of the
building, Archibald said.
“Earlier this fi scal year
we hired a second full-time
maintenance employee, in
partial anticipation of this
opportunity,”
Archibald
said. “It’s possible that we
will expand that department
as the need arises.”
Only the emergency child
care program is operating
without interruption in the
former school.
While sports leagues have
Pool remains closed due to virus risk level
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Sunset Pool and Bob
Chisholm Center will remained
closed even as Gov. Kate Brown
modifi ed some guidelines for indoor
activities and recreation facilities
and Clatsop County remains in the
state’s extreme risk level for the
coronavirus.
The modifi cation allows for a
maximum of six people indoors at
facilities larger than 500 square feet
for all activities except dining.
Skyler Archibald, executive
director of the Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District, said while
the governor’s guidance has changed
capacity limits, the limit of six may
still be too restrictive to allow safe
operation of the pool and facility.
“We can only have the minimal
amount of staff we need to operate,”
Archibald said. “We typically have
extra lifeguards because of the rota-
tion, and two people at the front desk
with check-in and screenings.”
For facilities smaller than 500
square feet, the new guidance allows
for one-to-one customer experiences
such as personal training.
“We’re still waiting for more
details to come out,” Archibald said.
“As we get that information, we’ll
make a decision about the next two
weeks. There are concerns about
potentially reopening with a much
more limited capacity but we have to
balance that with our desire to serve
the public and use the pool. We’re in
a bit of a wait-and-hold period as far
as COVID.”
The district’s emergency child-
care program will remain open as
an essential service for working
families.
not restarted as a result of
the coronavirus pandemic,
the district has had interest
in indoor facility rentals for
pickleball, basketball, vol-
leyball and soccer.
“We’re defi ning our rental
process until the time is right
and COVID allows us to,”
Archibald said. “We want
to make sure those spaces
are adequate and everything
is in good repair and then
we’ll be able to handle those
rentals.”
A Tuesday work session
discussed priorities for the
executive director regarding
the former school until the
end of the fi scal year, June
30.
Board members agreed
to change the park district’s
meeting date from the third
Tuesday of the month to
the fourth, in order to avoid
a confl ict with the Seaside
School District Board of
Directors schedule. The park
district’s next regular board
meeting is Feb. 23 at 5:15
p.m.
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Warming center: ‘Clearly is the most pressing need’
Continued from Page A1
of directors. The park dis-
trict purchased the build-
ing from the Seaside School
District in January.
“This clearly is the most
pressing need in Seaside
during inclement weather
and is a beginning step to
do some specifi c things to
deal with our homeless situ-
ation,” Barber said . “I’ll be
asking the city to become
a fi nancial partner at some
level, and clearly our police
department and other fi rst
responders will be involved
as referring agencies.”
The conversation arose
after a presentation at a City
Council meeting in January
that included representatives
from Clatsop Community
Action.
Viviana Matthews, Clat-
sop Community Action’s
executive director, and
Susan Prettyman, the orga-
nization’s social services
program manager, explained
what Seaside could do for
the homeless, including
opening a warming center.
Seaside is grappling
with a surge in homeless-
ness, challenging the city,
law enforcement and social
services. Last year, Clatsop
Community Action provided
more than 600 services to the
homeless population in Clat-
R.J. Marx
This former social studies classroom is one of the Sunset
Recreation Center rooms planned for use as a warming center.
sop County, with about 25%
of those services to people
who reside in the Seaside
area. Barber joined a walk-
through at the Sunset Recre-
ation Center with Archibald,
Matthews and Alan Evans,
CEO of Helping Hands.
Matthews said Clatsop
Community Action will
provide the funds and case
management to assist people
with intakes and reporting.
“I am hoping this will
lead to future projects in
Seaside to help the Seaside
homeless population and
overall residents as well,”
she said.
City Councilor Tita Mon-
tero will lead the City Coun-
cil’s role on next steps for
the city’s homeless situation.
With Helping Hands pro-
viding some staff and vol-
unteers, Clatsop Commu-
nity Action the fi nances and
furnishings needed — cots,
sleeping bags, food — and
the park district the facility,
the plans just came together,
Barber said.
The warming center
could also help offi cials
determine the number of
homeless people in Seaside
and what kind of services
are needed.
How the warming center
will fi t into the park district’s
grand scheme will be deter-
mined by the board of direc-
tors, Archibald said.
“What I love about the
buildings, we could meet
three or four signifi cant
needs in our community or
partner needs and we can
still have a space to do what
we want to do in our build-
ing, expand programming
for our needs and the gym
for sports tourism,” he said.
“It’s a good opportunity
to use the space here for the
short term, see what works,
what doesn’t, and we’ll have
a lot more information.”
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some of the challenges the
city will likely face in the
coming years.
“In the next couple of
years you are going to be
looking at not the build-
ing of streets and the recon-
struction of buildings like
the convention center or the
acquisition of $1 million
fi re trucks, as much as the
construction of electronic
ways that we communicate
with our constituency,” he
said. “The development of
more interactive websites,
our ability to communi-
cate with our constituents
— those are going to be the
type of infrastructure you
have to deal with.”
Winstanley proposed a
timeline for selection of his
replacement, which should
be underway by December
or January, with options to
choose internal or external
candidates.
Winstanley
recom-
mended , Jon Rahl, who
was named assistant city
manager in April 2018.
“Jon is every bit the tal-
ented individual I thought
he was and I am even more
impressed with him today
than I was 2 1/2 years ago
when I made the decision to
hire him,” he said. “I have
no reservations in recom-
mending to you that Jon
should be that person. He
has ties with the other com-
munities in this county and
knows all of the leadership
in those different cities.
T hat will serve you remark-
ably as you move forward.”
The hiring process
should be one of the city’s
highest goals for the next
two years, Winstanley said.
Mayor Jay Barber said
planning should begin
sooner rather than later. A
best-case scenario would
include Rahl among the
candidates. “I’ll be bring-
ing forward, with Mark’s
help, a proposal for a calen-
dar to start succession plan-
ning. We have work to do,”
the mayor said.
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