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Park district forum targets issues In new $3M budget,
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
Candidates for the Sunset
Empire Park and Recreation
District met at a forum last
Thursday night to discuss
their thoughts on transpar-
ency, the controversial pur-
chase of the former Broad-
way Middle School building
and other pressing issues
facing the board.
The forum, hosted by
the Seaside Signal and the
American Association of
University Women Sea-
side Chapter at the Bob
Chisholm Community Cen-
Katherine Lacaze
Jackie Evans (center), candidate for Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation’s board of directors Position 4, shares opening
statements during a candidates forum.
ter, featured the park dis-
trict’s five directors and their
five challengers.
While those vying to
unseat the board have fre-
Hernandez
candidacy
rests on future
board policy
quently appeared together
in campaign materials and
echo many of the same con-
cerns about the park district,
they maintain that they’re
not necessarily running as a
coalition, but as individuals
with distinct ideas and skill
sets.
“I would not say there’s
one philosophy that we all
agree with completely,” said
John Huismann, who is run-
ning against board mem-
ber Celeste Bodner. “We all
have different things we’re
interested in pursuing.”
Based on Huismann’s
comments during the forum,
the main issue for him is
the state of the Sunset Pool,
which he claims has gone
downhill since 2016.
See Forum, Page A6
park district sees
chance to expand
services, revenue
District adds
three positions
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation Dis-
trict presented a $3.07 mil-
lion budget to members of
the district’s budget com-
mittee last Tuesday. With
the acquisition of the for-
mer Broadway Middle
School, the district antic-
ipates an opportunity to
expand services and reve-
nue by 27%.
See Budget, Page A6
A QUARTER MILE IN QUARTERS
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The residency of Al Hernandez, a Posi-
tion 1 candidate on the Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation District’s board of
directors, remains in question after the
district’s regular meeting last Tuesday.
He is running against Su Coddington,
the incumbent who was appointed to the
position last spring. Ballots have been
sent out to district residents.
“In Mr. Hernan-
dez’s filing informa-
tion, he indicated an
address within district
boundaries,” said Skyler
Archibald, the park dis-
trict’s executive director.
Archibald
received
Al Hernandez
information in mid-April
that Hernandez lived
in Gearhart, outside of the park district
boundaries.
“The deadline for withdrawal has
come and gone,” Archibald said. “After
election results are tallied, the district will
be asked to certify those results. If Mr.
Hernandez is the leading vote-receiver
for that position the district would be in
the position of determining his eligibility
based on his residency.”
“I consider Seaside my permanent
address, and I feel I am eligible to run,”
Hernandez said at the meeting.
If the district decided that he was not
eligible to serve on the board there would
be a vacancy and the board would fill the
vacancy using their normal process or
other processes.
What is unclear is who within the dis-
trict has that authority, Archibald said.
“It’s the position of staff that the dis-
trict board’s role in this is to outline a clear
and coherent policy that will guide them,
should this outcome occur,” he said.
Archibald recommended the board
codify their process for certifying the
election results and do so in a transpar-
ent manner.
In a letter to Archibald, Sheryl Hol-
com, an elections technician for Clatsop
County, said once the park district certi-
fies the regular district election, an abstract
Nicole Sturgell
Berkley Sturgell celebrates the Quarter Mile Challenge.
Gearhart playground to get big boost from fourth-grader’s fundraiser
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
T
R.J. Marx
Nicole Sturgell and her daughter, Berkley,
at the old Seaside High School track.
en-year-old Berkley Sturgell,
friends and supporters lined the
old Seaside High School track
with quarters last Friday. Sturgell’s Quarter
Mile Challenge aimed to collect enough
quarters to stretch the length of one-quar-
ter mile — by Berkley’s estimate, $4,290.
Starting Friday morning, the group
carefully laid out the quarters along the
dirt track.
“My daughter Berkley has raised these
quarters to contribute to the city of Gear-
hart playground proposal,” Nicole Sturgell
said. “So right now we are literally lin-
ing them. Her goal is to make it one time
around the track. And we’ll just keep
going from there.”
Berkley Sturgell’s efforts started in Jan-
uary, when she wrote a letter to the Gear-
hart City Council, imploring them to get
new play equipment for local children.
Mayor Paulina Cockrum picked up on
the idea, proposing Centennial Park near
Trail’s End Art Association as the loca-
tion, funded by a mix of donations and
city dollars.
Through donations from the Quar-
ter Mile Challenge, the fourth grader set
a goal to collect 10% of the proposed
$50,000 playground in the city’s down-
town Centennial Park.
To promote the event, she created
a video, flyers and added drop boxes
throughout town.
“I’m hoping to go over my goal of
about $4,000,” she said. “I think that it will
be about $6,000 or $7,000.”
By mid-afternoon, Nicole Sturgell
reported that Berkley had reached her goal
of quarters stretching a quarter mile “with
a huge pile to spare.” A final tally will
follow.
See Hernandez, Page A6
Como to serve as interim Gearhart fire chief
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
R.J. Marx
Josh Como has been named
Gearhart’s interim fire chief.
Josh Como has been named
interim fire chief after the retire-
ment of Gearhart Fire Chief Bill
Eddy.
“Josh has been around the
department since he was in kinder-
garten and is a second generation
Gearhart firefighter,” City Admin-
istrator Chad Sweet said in making
the announcement. “I’m very con-
fident in Josh’s abilities. And I look
forward to responding to emer-
gency calls with him.”
“I have been involved with the
fire department since I was 6 years
old,” Como said. “That’s how old
I was when my dad joined. I was a
cadet when I was 14.”
It was “kind of a family affair,”
Como said.
There was a period of time where
there were four Comos on the fire
department: Randy Sr., Randy Jr.,
Josh and younger brother, Tony.
Both Randy Sr. and Tony are still in
the Gearhart department, Randy Sr.
as assistant chief.
Eddy started with Gearhart fire
in 1983 and was named chief in
2001. He announced his retirement
earlier this year.
“I’ve had the privilege of work-
ing alongside Chief Eddy full time
since 2017,” Como said. “We all
knew he was retiring within the
next 10 years. So we knew that was
coming eventually. But they are
very huge shoes to fill.”
Como is married to Trissa
Como. He has four children: Tan-
ner, Jayden, Brighton and Elianna.
Among the first items ahead for
the interim chief is a potential bond
vote on a new firehouse.
“A new fire department would
be very beneficial to us,” Como
said. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes
through in that process, planning
and preparing, and so I have not
yet been able to review everything.
And so at the time, I’m not pre-
pared to weigh in on it. But I know
that it would be very beneficial to
the volunteers and the citizens of
Gearhart in a huge way.”
Is he anticipating applying for
the full-time chief position?
“Yes sir,” Como said. “And I
was beforehand.”
For now, his hope is that he
doesn’t disappoint the volunteers.
“The volunteers are very important
thing, the most important thing we
have here in this department,” he
said. “I’m hoping that we continue
to keep moving forward, that noth-
ing falls through the cracks — we
don’t miss anything along the line.”