OUR 115th Year
March 4, 2022
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
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Businesses
urged to
prepare for
overdoses
Naloxone can be a
lifesaver
R.J. Marx
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Signal work at U.S. Highway 101 and Broadway.
Winds knock out
power at Roosevelt
and Broadway
Jenna King and Kathryn
Crombie, of the Clatsop County
Public Health Department’s harm
reduction program, came to Sea-
side last week to ask business
owners to take a role in recog-
nizing and responding to drug
overdoses.
Fatal overdoses can be pre-
vented with the help of naloxone,
an opioid antidote.
“We believe everyone should
have naloxone on them or nearby
— not just people who use drugs
and their families. People can
think of it as something that is
part of your first-aid kit, like an
EpiPen (for allergic reactions),”
Crombie told the Seaside Cham-
ber of Commerce at an event last
Wednesday morning.
Seaside Signal
H
See Overdose, Page A5
Residents
seek more
input on
new city
manager
‘Seaside needs a new
perspective’
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
An informal group of Seaside
residents are coming together to
encourage input into the city man-
ager hiring process.
Rebecca Read, an election offi-
cial, a former municipal employee
and participant in the Zoom ses-
sion urged members of the public
to contact City Council members
with their input.
“I am not happy with the way
in which people want to rubber
stamp and just push things through
without a proper open hiring pro-
cess,” Read said. “Seaside needs a
new perspective, someone who’s
had success in other communities
and who can bring a fresh perspec-
tive without local biases. Someone
who can look at Seaside’s poten-
tial and have the energy to bring
innovative ideas to the job. Some-
one who can step in and start
working at a high level of ability.
See Manager, Page A6
Dale McDowell
High winds disabled the traffic signal at the intersection of Roosevelt Drive and
Broadway on Monday.
igh winds knocked
out the traffic sig-
nal pole at the
south east corner of Broad-
way and U.S. Highway 101
on Monday, Feb. 28, Sea-
side Public Works Director
Dale McDowell said.
The intersection reopened
Wednesday morning.
“This led to the Ore-
gon Department of Trans-
portation mobilizing crews
to remedy the issue,”
McDowell said. “Weather
is playing a big part in get-
ting everything back to
normal.”
The temporary loss of
service with all signals at
the intersection means that
east and westbound traffic
is closed temporarily and
turn lanes in all directions
will also be out of service
for several days.
While north and south-
bound traffic proceeded as
normal, the intersection
functioned as a two-way
stop sign until temporary
repairs could be made.
High
winds
pre-
vented crews from using
bucket trucks and other
equipment.
The new pole was
installed and signal opera-
tions mounted by Wednes-
day morning, McDowell
said.
Lifting of mask mandate leaves park district in f lux
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
In-school masking will
be lifted for the state’s
schools on March 11, the
Oregon Health Author-
ity announced, as hospi-
talizations drop and are
projected to reach levels
below those at the start of
the Omicron surge.
The date gives local
communities time to pre-
pare for the transition, the
health authority said, and
allows district and school
leaders to take necessary
actions to ensure students
can safely remain in their
classrooms.
Whether the Sunset
Empire Park and Recre-
ation district will lift its
indoor mask mandate then
remains to be determined,
executive director Skyler
Archibald said.
“No
decision
has
been made at this time,”
Archibald said.
At the Feb. 24 park dis-
trict board meeting, the
members agreed to follow
the state’s school guide-
lines for in-school mask-
ing at park district facili-
R.J. Marx
Entrance to the Bob Chisholm Community Center, with park district COVID protocols
ties — at that
align with the state’s
‘NO DECISION HAS
time, March
timeline.”
31.
Right now, all
BEEN MADE AT THIS
“I wanted
patrons and staff are
TIME.’
to get some
expected to wear
general feed-
masks in park dis-
trict
buildings,
Skyler Archibald, executive director, Sunset
back from the
Empire Park and Recreation District
including the Sunset
board about a
Pool, Bob Chisholm
lot internally
Community
Cen-
with the staff,”
from the board was to line
Archibald said. “It seems up with what the school ter and Sunset Recreation
like the overall consensus district is going to do, and Center, he said, except
when they are actively
swimming.
Archibald said that
early on in the pandemic
there was resistance to the
mask mandate from park
district patrons, but now
most accept the protocol.
After the mandate is
lifted, other COVID pro-
tocols will remain in place
in park district buildings,
including extra sanitizing
stations and temperature
checks for participants in
youth programs.
The park district may
choose to keep a mask
policy in place for those
seeking to wear them or
be around others wear-
ing masks, he said, with a
portion of the day where
people can sign up to
work out in a masked
environment.
Patrons
could sign up for the pro-
grams through a reserva-
tion system.
“There are a lot of sit-
uations where you don’t
know what’s going on,”
board member Michael
Hinton said. “You just
don’t know what’s going
on around you all the
time. You’ve got to protect
yourself.”
Convention center general manager Vandenberg to retire
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Russ Vandenberg, gen-
eral manager of the Seaside
Civic and Convention Cen-
ter, announced his retire-
ment this spring.
At last Wednesday’s
Seaside Chamber of Com-
merce breakfast, Vanden-
berg, 65, said he would be
leaving the role he has held
since 2005.
“I felt that time was
right for me, my age in life
and ready to enter the next
chapter,” he said. “How
honored I am to be part
of the city and be part of
this community that has
welcomed me with open
arms. I’m just extremely
grateful.”
As the center’s general
manager, Vandenberg over-
sees the day-to-day man-
agement of the convention
center that includes admin-
istration, marketing, sales,
operations, fiscal responsi-
bility and approval of facil-
ity contracts.
With extended fam-
ily in Southern Califor-
nia — seven children and
16 grandchildren — he
and his wife, JoAnn, are
planning a move. They’ve
already sold their home
here and are staying in a
rental in Cullaby Lake in
the interim, probably until
the end of May.
Vandenberg has been
involved in the public
assembly facility manage-
ment industry since 1982.
He holds a bachelor’s
degree in management
from Saint Mary’s College
of California.nHe worked
at events centers in Irvine
and San Diego before his
role in Seaside.
Vandenberg didn’t know
much about Seaside before
he applied, but the more
researched the city and the
center, the more exciting
the position looked, he told
The Astorian in 2005.
He quickly settled into
the community, and served
as the president of the Sea-
side Rotary Club.
In his first year as gen-
eral manager, the center’s
economic impact increased
6%. By 2012, the center was
pumping in $40 million in
economic impact for Sea-
side — up from $23 million
when he started.
See Retirement, Page A5
R.J. Marx
Joshua Heineman, director of tourism marketing of the
Seaside Visitors Bureau and Russ Vandenberg, general
manager of the Seaside Civic and Convention Center.