OUR 114th Year
April 23, 2021
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT
$1.00
Candidates
evenly split
on policies
Bond rating
edges slightly
downward
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
A new ratings methodology by
Moody’s Investor Service downgraded
the Seaside School District’s issuer
rating. The rating reflects the district’s
ability to repay debt and obligations.
“Moody’s has adopted a new meth-
odology for rating school district bonds
that claims to standardize their review
in accordance with a scorecard,” the
district’s business manager Justine Hill
said. “In that effort, they have reduced
the rating on the district’s bonds from
Aa3 to A1. This occurs despite the fact
that on every metric, the district’s per-
formance was improved since its last
rating in October of 2020.”
Under the new methodology, intro-
duced in January, the school district’s
rating is one notch lower at A1, David
Jacobson of Moody’s Public Finance
Group said.
“In accordance to the new method-
ology, we placed 637 school districts
around the country on review — 304
for potential upgrade, 236 for poten-
tial downgrade, and 97 in a ‘direction
uncertain,’” Jacobson said.
Results are announced on a rolling
basis, and Seaside School District’s
review was concluded last week.
The methodology, used to analyze
K-12 school districts, was introduced
in January. “The main factor is a school
See Downgrade, Page A3
Gearhart
homeowner
sues city
Photos by Katherine Lacaze
Nancy Holmes, right, chair of the Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, talks with a visitor during
the Art in the Park event Saturday.
NATURE’S PALETTE
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
Balmy, summer-like weather on Sat-
urday created the perfect opportunity for
members of the public to visit and cele-
brate local parks, learn about salmon habi-
tat on the Neawanna Creek and raise funds
to enhance the Necanicum Estuary Natural
History Park.
Art in the Park … Naturally and Virtu-
ally, organized by the Seaside Parks Advi-
sory Committee and supported by local
partners, featured a trio of events at dif-
ferent locations throughout Seaside that
accomplished all three goals.
It started at the Seaside Mill Ponds on the
east side of U.S. Highway 101 off Avenue U,
which is “the southern anchor” of the Neca-
nicum Estuary Natural History Park that has
been under development for decades, com-
mittee chair Nancy Holmes said.
“We’re trying to get it down to some
actual details,” Holmes said, adding, “It’s
sort of the whole concept of ‘a city in a
park.’”
She and other committee members and
volunteers were giving away tree seedlings
and reusable bags donated by Safeway and
selling copies of a coloring book created by
local artist Dorota Haber-Lehigh. The book
features images of flora and fauna found in
the region, and specifically the Mill Ponds.
All proceeds from sales — as well as the
silent auction held virtually and in-person at
the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation Dis-
trict in conjunction with the Art in the Park
event — will support a couple key projects
planned for the natural history park.
The first is creating a fully handicap-ac-
cessible trail in the park to provide expanded
opportunities for individuals to experience
nature along the quiet edges of the ponds.
According to Holmes, the surveying and
construction of the path, along with ele-
vated viewing platforms, will be completed
in the next few months.
Additionally, the committee wants to
embellish the park with artwork. Washing-
ton-based artist Jeff Anderson will be creat-
ing five metal Coho salmon to install some-
See Art, Page A5
Ten candidates take center stage for the
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation Dis-
trict’s May 18 board election.
Candidates have split into two groups,
with the five board incumbents facing a
challenge from those aligning under the
campaign slogan, “It’s time for a change.”
“I’m joined by four like-minded peo-
ple who are also very disappointed with the
way the current board has discharged their
responsibility to care for SEPRD,” candi-
date John Huismann wrote in a letter to the
Signal.
The incumbents — Celeste Tuhy Bod-
ner, Su Coddington, Michael Hinton, Erika
Marshall Hamer and Katharine Parker —
are running as part of “ProgressforSEPRD.
com,” with support for the development of
the Broadway Middle School as a commu-
nity resource.
They present a list of community com-
mitments, including improved self-gover-
nance, board transparency, improving the
board’s connection to community feed-
back, supervision and support for the exec-
utive director.
“We continue to engage with every-
one as we expand community access with
expanded indoor recreation, our scholar-
ship programs and sensible cost recovery,”
Hinton wrote in a letter to the Signal on the
group’s behalf.
Candidates
Huismann,
Patrick
Duhachek, Jackie Evans, Al Hernandez and
See Candidates, Page A6
Candidate
residency
at issue
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
A complaint filed in Clatsop County
Circuit Court claims that Gearhart is
responsible for mismatched stormwater
pipes offset by 5 inches, causing water to
escape from the gap in the pipes, which
created a sinkhole on Julie Hamilton’s
Fifer Heights Road property.
Hamilton wants $50,000 in property
damages and the city to permanently
repair the mismatched pipes.
The city designed, constructed and
has an obligation to maintain the storm-
water pipe drainage system that runs
underneath the front yard of the property,
A candidate for the Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation District’s board
could win the election on May 18 but
be unable to serve. A conflict between
a mailing address and voter registration
may put Al Hernandez, candidate for
Position 1, out of the running.
“We have been informed that he does
not live at the address in Seaside but
rather at his home in Gearhart,” County
Clerk Tracie Krevanko said Tuesday.
“Since he provided the Seaside address
on his filing form we accepted it as it is
within the district. His home in Gearhart
See Pipes, Page A3
The Seaside Parks Advisory Committee had a booth set up near the Seaside Mill Ponds on the
south end of town.
See Hernandez, Page A6
Gearhart 10-year-old spearheads playground fund drive
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
When the former Gear-
hart Elementary School was
shut down, the playground
equipment was transferred
to the new Pacific Ridge Ele-
mentary School — a loss for
Gearhart families that could
be rectified in the coming
months, thanks in part to the
efforts of a local 10-year-old.
Berkley Sturgell has ini-
tiated a Quarter Mile Chal-
lenge to raise funds for the
city’s Play Equipment Fund.
The goal is to collect enough
quarters to stretch the length
of one-quarter mile. Accord-
ing to Sturgell’s estimate,
that is about 17,160 quarters,
or roughly $4,290.
“I know it will be a chal-
lenge, but it’s definitely
worth the work because it
means the kids in Gearhart
will have a place to play
and be active, now and in
the future,” Sturgell says
in a video shared on social
media.
Her efforts started in Jan-
uary, when she wrote a letter
to the Gearhart City Council,
imploring them to get new
play equipment for local
children. As a former Gear-
hart Elementary School stu-
dent, she wrote, “I know how
much the kids loved playing
at the school’s playground.
Gearhart is an amazing small
town, and I love living here,
but the kids in Gearhart need
somewhere where they can
run around and play.”
She received a response
in February from Mayor
Paulina Cockrum thanking
Sturgell for the letter. It was
shared with the Parks Mas-
ter Plan Committee that is
working on developing a
comprehensive plan.
“The Parks Committee
agrees that even though that
plan is still being written, we
may want to have a fund-
raising effort for some play
equipment before the formal
plan is completed,” Cock-
rum wrote.
After general approval
from the council at its
March meeting, Cock-
rum announced the plan is
for the community to raise
$50,000, and then the city
will contribute an additional
$50,000. Cockrum has pro-
posed the Centennial Park
near Trail’s End Art Associa-
tion as the preliminary loca-
tion for the equipment.
“While the Master Parks
Plan is under development,
this location will be consid-
ered temporary while the
committee looks for alterna-
tives or deems this location
the perfect place for a play
center permanently,” Cock-
rum said in a March post on
the city’s blog.
Sturgell wanted to help
with the fundraising, so she
started exploring ideas with
the help of her mom, Nicole.
They selected the Quarter
Mile Challenge.
“I thought it was a cool
way to do it, and would be
different from the other
fundraising,” Sturgell said.
She likes that the fundraiser
is accessible to anyone, even
if they just have a couple
spare quarters lying around.
In addition to the video,
she also created flyers to post
around town, letting the pub-
lic know they can bring their
quarters to the drop box at
the Windermere Realty Trust
office downtown, or she
can pick them up. There are
also jars at the Sweet Shop
Gearhart and By the Way,
or donations can be made
directly to the City of Gear-
hart and designated for the
Play Equipment Fund.
So far, the fundraising is
going strong. As of last week,
nearly $14,000 had been
raised in total. Yet Sturgell
plans to continue her quarter
campaign through the end
of the month. On April 30,
she will take the quarters to
either the new Seaside High
School campus or the old
one, and lay them around the
Katherine Lacaze
Gearhart resident Berkley Sturgell, 10, initiated the Quarter
Mile Challenge to raise funds for a new playground in
Gearhart.
track to see if they go the full
one-quarter mile.
“I have a younger brother
and sister, and I think that it
would be amazing for them
to have a place to play,”
Sturgell wrote in her orig-
inal letter. “In the future, it
will be important for the kids
in Gearhart to have a play-
ground that is accessible to
everyone.”