OUR 115th Year
February 4, 2022
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
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Staff survey is ‘wake-up call’ for schools
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For the Seaside Signal
In a survey completed last fall,
Seaside teachers expressed con-
cerns about district communica-
tions, central office setbacks and
inadequate training opportunities
— all of which are exacerbated by
shortcomings and stresses caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chad Clouse, the president of
the Seaside Education Association,
presented results of a survey con-
ducted in late October to the Sea-
side School District board of direc-
tors during a work session Jan. 18.
Clouse didn’t share percent-
ages or statistics for responses at
the meeting but gave a summary
of the results to highlight the main
issues. Survey results were not
made available to the public.
The survey isn’t done on an
annual basis, but Clouse said they
Short-term
rental
moratorium
off the table
believed it was an important tool to
use at this time to “get the feel of
how our teachers are doing.”
Results
The survey revealed there have
been occasional issues in regard to
teachers and staff members receiv-
ing salaries and benefits on time or
in the right amounts. Clouse noted
this could be due to turnover in the
central office.
When staff are not getting
money properly or contractual
benefits, it causes stress and often
amplifies other challenges and
concerns, Clouse said. “Employ-
ees start to feel worried, scared
about things,” he said.
Superintendent Susan Penrod
agreed that was a problem and one
they were working to solve.
“That is absolutely unaccept-
able for us that these things have
been happening,” she said. “We
don’t want to mess with people’s
money.”
Another issue for teachers,
according to the survey, is poor
communication from and with dis-
trict staff. Some communications
aren’t responded to in a timely
manner, or at all.
With many new teachers com-
ing onboard in 2020 and 2021,
there also has been a lack of suffi-
cient training, according to survey
See Staff survey, Page A5
Clamming day
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
After learning more about the number
of new vacation rentals over the past sev-
eral years, the City Council has stepped
back from a moratorium.
The City Council and Planning Com-
mission indicated after a workshop in
November that the city would discuss
potential action to curb the growth of short-
term rentals, including a one-year morato-
rium on permits.
Vacation rentals bring in more than
$1 million in annual lodging taxes to the
city, but can drive up housing costs and
availability for residents.
While the city has hundreds of vacation
rentals, Jeff Flory, the city’s compliance
officer, said in a memo that the net increase
in new vacation rentals since 2015 is 13.
“We came out of our workshop in
November with the idea or the commu-
nication that we were getting from our
constituents that VRDs were out of con-
trol,” City Councilor David Posalski said
at a meeting last Monday. “It was grow-
ing like a wildfire. It was taking over
everywhere.”
The city’s density restrictions — 40%
in the areas west of Holladay Drive and
50% in oceanfront areas that are not zoned
resort residential — have started to limit
vacation rental permit applications.
See Moratorium, Page A5
Sunset
Recreation
Center marks
anniversary
of purchase
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Sunset Empire Park and Recre-
ation District meeting in late January rep-
resented the one-year anniversary of the
district’s purchase of the former Broadway
Middle School.
Since that time, the school has hosted
athletic events, child care and rented por-
tions of the space.
“There’s been a lot of learning, there’ve
been some tough moments,” Skyler
Archibald, the park district’s executive
director, said. But, he added, the building
is “doing awesome.”
“I’m really happy with it,” Archibald
told the district’s board of directors. “Every
time I walk through, there’s a really posi-
tive energy there. If you’ve been there
especially at night when there’s two or
three basketball teams using it, PBL tour-
naments have used it, pickleball is loving
it. We’ve done a lot of cleaning and main-
tenance. It’s been great.”
The park district purchased the build-
ing from the Seaside School District for
$2.15 million.
See Rec Center, Page A5
R.J. Marx
With low tides Saturday, visitors flocked to Seaside beaches for clamming.
City attorney says Seaside must
provide options for homeless
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The city needs not only
to define where people can’t
camp, but where they can.
Before Seaside can put into
law its camping ordinance,
alternatives for people without
shelter must be in place, City
Attorney Dan Van Thiel said in
late January.
The City Council regrouped
after an earlier meeting in
which they considered a
no-camping ordinance devel-
oped in Coos Bay.
“I don’t think this city
should deal with the exist-
ing ordinance any further,”
Van Thiel said. “I don’t think
it’s one that is suitable for this
community. If it proceeds fur-
ther and is in fact unconstitu-
tional, I can almost assure you
that there will be legal groups
that will focus on this and will
immediately start making noise
and rattling their sword and ini-
tiating litigation. And those are
powerful forces.”
Seaside’s proposed ordi-
nance laid out areas where
campers could not sleep or park
overnight, but unlike the Coos
Bay ordinance, failed to offer
options where they could.
The ordinance, as written,
says where camping is prohib-
ited, but not where it can exist,
Van Thiel said.
“When I look at that I don’t
know where you could go,” he
said. “I imagine a lot of these
people would not know, even if
they were given a copy of the
See Ordinance, Page A3
City Attorney Dan Van Thiel, left, provides analysis of court decisions regarding homelessness, with
Tom Horning, Randy Frank, Jay Barber, Steve Wright, Tita Montero and David Posalski.
Without no-camping ordinance,
RV encampment can stay
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Without an ordinance pro-
viding options for overnight
camping, encampments like
the 30-vehicle lot on Necan-
icum Drive and 10th Avenue
will remain in place.
“I do think that you prob-
ably could restrict using that
property, but you’d have to
have an alternative,” City
Manager Mark Winstanley
said.
At a City Council work-
shop in late January, coun-
cilors sought rules for health
and safety. How any property
selected for encampments and
parking would be managed
would also be a concern, City
Attorney Dan Van Thiel said.
“There has to be a sanc-
tion or provision in the ordi-
nance that sanctions or allows
the court to do something with
those people, if they have vio-
lated the ordinance,” Van
Thiel said.
Nearby residents continue
to protest the encampment,
which formed last year when
the city enforced no park-
ing rules on Necanicum. The
number of cars and trailers
parked on the property has
grown from a handful to its
current level.
“What I’ve noticed is, they
got that inch, and they’re just
going to keep going,” resident
Dylan Riekkola said. “You
can cater to it, or you can just
put a stop to it at some point.
There’s more people moving
in. It’s getting to where if there
was a fire, I don’t think people
would get out of there.”
Neighborhood
resident
Karl Schorr said the city will
never adequately meet the
needs of those seeking refuge
in Seaside.
“What is stopping you
from every person that gets
thrown out of Montana —
there are a lot of Montana peo-
ple here by the way — from
coming to Seaside?” Schorr
asked. “Absolutely nothing
you’re going to try to do is
going to adequately meet their
needs. And it is a futile effort
to even try. You don’t have the
land. You don’t have the bud-
get. This needs to be pushed
at the state (level) and we
need to repeal the laws that
See Campground, Page A3