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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2022)
OUR 115th Year January 21, 2022 $1.00 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM CITY MANAGER Seaside enlists consultant for search Officials look for lessons from tsunami advisory By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal The city wants to fill its lead staff role by June 30, when City Manager Mark Winstanley steps down. The city manager, who started with Seaside as finance director in Septem- ber 1985, was named city manager in November 2001. After announcing the opening inter- nally, Seaside received one internal can- didate for the position in December. To expand that search, the City Coun- cil has voted to expand the recruitment and search to the hiring of consultants Jensen Strategies. “I’m recommending that we retain Jen- sen and his team,” Mayor Jay Barber said at last Monday’s meeting. “They are very competent. They’ve done searches in War- renton. They’ve done searches in Cannon Beach. They are just winding up one in one of the suburbs east of Portland, one of the suburbs. Based on the references that I’ve checked, they are very competent and will do an excellent search.” According to the city’s website, the responsibilities of the city manager Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian A tsunami advisory was issued for Oregon, Washington state and California on Saturday morning after a volcanic eruption in Tonga. By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal See City manager, Page A6 L GEARHART City landscaping restrictions dropped from parks master plan Gearhart planners reject city park landscaping policy By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal A policy regulating city landscaping sent the Gearhart Parks Master Plan back for changes last Thursday night. “I don’t want to throw cold water on anything but I’m not going to be able to support this as written as it contains pol- icy No. 19,” Planning Commissioner Terry Graff said. “In my opinion, the issues addressed in policy 19 are already addressed in the existing tree and vegeta- tion standards and the new language in 19 appears to me to be in direct contrast with that existing policy.” ocal leaders who oversee emer- gency response on the North Coast looked for lessons from a tsunami advisory over the weekend. The advisory was issued early Sat- urday after an underwater volcanic eruption near Tonga. The National Weather Service first issued a statement about 4 a.m. announcing the eruption was being evaluated for a tsunami. Initial tsunami advisories are not uncommon when a distant earthquake has occurred, Clatsop County Emer- gency Manager Tiffany Brown said. Wave arrival takes some time, so local governments sit tight after the alert to see what comes out next. “Generally speaking, we are sup- posed to hear something 30 minutes later, when they brief the state, then every hour thereafter,” Brown said. “What’s happening during that time is that the earthquake warning center in Alaska is analyzing buoy and other data to anticipate whether a tsunami is expected.” More often than not, the advisory is canceled within two to four hours of being issued, Brown said. But with confirmation from the warning system at 5:20 a.m., Oregon, along with Hawaii, California, Wash- ington state and Alaska, asked that peo- ple move out of the water, off the beach and away from harbors. INITIAL TSUNAMI ADVISORIES ARE NOT UNCOMMON WHEN A DISTANT EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED, CLATSOP COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER TIFFANY BROWN SAID. WAVE ARRIVAL TAKES SOME TIME, SO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SIT TIGHT AFTER THE ALERT TO SEE WHAT COMES OUT NEXT. In hours to come, local, county and state resources were involved in the response. “For my part, we began early with the public messaging on our depart- ment Facebook page to make sure everyone was getting the same mes- sage,” Brown said. Both Cannon Beach and Seaside activated emergency operations cen- ters and state, city and county agencies coordinated beach closures from the Seaside operations center, Brown said. Seaside Seaside Public Works Director Dale McDowell said he received an initial call from Seaside dispatch at 6:29 a.m. “When the call was completed, I telephoned our wastewater foreman, water foreman and street department,” McDowell said. “The calls were com- pleted by 6:36 a.m.” McDowell telephoned employees that the coastline might be impacted by high water and asked them to reach out to their surfer friends to let them know, as a good-sized group meets at the Cove every morning. Seaside police first sent notice of a tsunami advisory in effect for Seaside beach at 7:39 a.m., with public safety monitoring the event. Mayor Jay Barber said he was noti- fied by the city manager shortly after 8 a.m. The emergency management team was already assembled, including all of the emergency management agencies in the county. “It was determined from the infor- mation coming in from the report- ing agencies that Seaside was likely to see about a 3-foot wave at about 8:55 a.m.,” Barber said. “I agreed that, with that information, it would be best not to sound the tsunami warning sirens, rather to warn residents to get off the beach and as a precaution, close Sunset Boulevard in the Cove. Fire See Tsunami, Page A5 See Parks, Page A6 Polar plunge coming to Coffenbury Lake Cemetery plots see purchase price hike Event for Special Olympics Oregon By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Even with a $250 price hike, the city’s Evergreen Cemetery remains a bar- gain, Public Works Direc- tor Dale McDowell told the City Council last week. Councilors approved the hike from $500 to $750 per plot. Nearby cemeteries average almost $1,750 per plot, while the state aver- age exceeds $4,000. “That is a real bargain at that price,” Mayor Jay Bar- ber said. The cemetery is over- seen by the city’s Public Works Department. The earliest marked grave was placed in 1909. The city obtained the property in 1981. The cem- etery has two sections, the old section and first sec- Ready to brave the 40-degree temperature of Coffenbury Lake? Special Olympics Ore- gon hosts the Polar Plunge on Jan. 29, a tradition of plunging into frigid waters with the goal to raise aware- ness for Special Olympics Oregon. Scott Friesen, director of fundraising and signature events, and Madison Kuther, director of partnerships, joined the Seaside Chamber See Plunge, Page A5 R.J. Marx Scott Friesen, director of fundraising and signature events with Special Olympics Oregon; Madison Kuther, director of partnerships; and Brian Owen, CEO of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce. R.J. Marx Entrance to Evergreen Cemetery on Beerman Creek Road. tion. Total acreage is 21.31 acres, with a population of 1,331. In 2016, the City Coun- cil raised the plot fee from $250 to $500. “Over the last five years, significant maintenance improvements have been made to our cemetery, and we are look- ing to expand the ceme- tery grounds, to accom- modate our residents,” McDowell said. “I have See Cemetery, Page A6