OUR 115th Year
March 11, 2022
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
$1.00
New city
manager
could come
with a high
price tag
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Erik Jensen of Jensen Strate-
gies met with members of the Sea-
side City Council last Wednesday
to present their profile for the next
city manager. The role could come
with a high price tag and candi-
dates may be hard to come by.
“We have been experiencing a
significant uptick in the last year
or two to the city manager’s job,”
Jensen said. “That is due in large
part because there’s a lot of move-
ment with the city manager jobs.
They’re moving around quite a
bit. And we’re also experiencing
the end of the pandemic. People
are ready to move around, so it’s a
very competitive market.”
Earlier this month, members of
the public weighed in via an online
survey and a public information
session. Mark Winstanley, named
city manager in 2001, will retire in
June.
Qualities in the recruiter’s pro-
file were the “perfect candidate,”
Jensen said. “You will not find the
perfect candidate. However, what
we’re striving for is the candidate
that’s going to check the most of
those boxes. And get the closest to
those attributes.
Attributes include strong com-
munication skills, strong work-
ing relationships and public safety
knowledge, Jensen Strategy’s
associate Amelia Wallace said.
They should have experi-
ence fostering an environment
that maintains and enhances
See Salary, Page A6
Flory to step
into interim
planning
director role
Katherine Lacaze
Jeff Corliss (center), who has been the woods/construction teacher at Seaside High School for nearly 30 years, is preparing to retire at the
end of the school year. The school is looking for a new instructor to take over the program.
Seaside seeks industrial arts teacher
Teaching position
demands job experience
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
Seaside High School is on the hunt for a
new teacher to lead the industrial arts pro-
gram after longtime instructor Jeff Corliss
retires at the end of the school year.
Because industrial arts — which includes
both woods and construction classes — is
a career and technical education program,
the school has latitude in hiring someone
with industry experience in lieu of having
followed the traditional teacher education
path, principal Jeff Roberts said.
That means applicants don’t need to
have a teaching degree or be fully licensed
to start. The school has options to hire an
individual who can bring industry knowl-
edge and real-world experience to the stu-
dents, such as a current or former con-
tractor, construction worker or carpenter.
The school’s program also encompasses
a computer-aided design and drafting lab,
laser cutters, computer numerical control
machines and other modern technology.
Students respond well when a teacher
can take real-world examples and present
them in their instruction in a way that’s rel-
evant, Roberts said.
Industry experts can explain to students
why they need to know what they’re learn-
ing and when it might be used in the future,
he added.
Katherine Lacaze
See Industrial arts, Page A5
Seaside High School is searching for a new teacher to run woods/construction program
after Jeff Corliss retires at the end of this school year.
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Jeff Flory, Seaside’s code
enforcement officer, will serve
as acting planning director. The
position became open after Kevin
Cupples retired on Feb. 15. Cup-
ples was a Seaside employee since
1998.
Assistant City Manager Jon
Rahl made the announcement at
last Tuesday’s Planning Commis-
sion meeting.
The city has
received one inter-
nal applicant for
the planning direc-
tor position, Rahl
said, although the
search
outside
Jeff Flory
the city “has been
slow, to be quite
frank.”
He said he plans Zoom inter-
views with applicants. In the
meantime Flory will take the role.
“We decided to name Jeff Flory
as the acting planning director for
the time being,” Rahl said. “That’s
effective immediately today, as
we continue to work through and
evaluate this process.”
Flory joined the community
development department in 2020
after spending more than 12 years
with the Beaverton Police Depart-
ment and three years with both
the Hood River County Sheriff’s
Office and Mount Hood Meadows
Ski Resort where his work focused
on patrol, enforcement, safety,
See Planner, Page A6
Seaside School District to drop mask mandates
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
The Seaside School District
will lift its mask mandate on
Monday.
After Susan Penrod, super-
intendent of the district, recom-
mended that the district make
masks optional, the board of direc-
tors joined her in unanimously
supporting the lifting of the indoor
mask requirement at a special
meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
SURVEYS
March surveys showed an
increase in those seeking to
remove the mandate, among
parents, students and staff
alike.
“We have thoroughly engaged
with our school community,” Pen-
rod said. “As superintendent, I am
recommending the Seaside School
District become optional begin-
ning on Monday, March 14, which
is our first day back after the mask
mandate is issued.”
Beginning Friday, Oregon will
end COVID-19 contact tracing
and quarantine for schools.
New procedures for schools
are outlined in an updated resil-
iency framework released last
week by the Oregon Department
of Education.
With the recent announcement
handing decision-making author-
ity over masks to local school
leaders, the state’s guidance pro-
vides information on new quar-
antine, contact tracing and test-
ing protocols for schools. The
new guidance is set to be in effect
through the end of the school year.
The education department and
Oregon Health Authority have
made various updates to virus pre-
cautions for schools throughout
the pandemic.
In early February, the state
announced it would lift the mask
requirement at schools on March
31 to give school districts time to
See Masks, Page A6
Top Shelf opens in Gearhart, and it carries ‘Belushi’
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Gearhart’s second retail canna-
bis dispensary Top Shelf Canna-
bis, celebrated a soft opening this
month and plans an official debut
March 17.
While new to the North Coast,
Top Shelf Cannabis has retail dis-
pensaries in McMinnville, Salem
and Brookings. The company has
a unique place in cannabis history:
Top Shelf Cannabis in Belling-
ham, Washington, conducted the
first legal recreational cannabis
transaction in the United States on
July 8, 2014, with special guests
Snoop Dogg and Tommy Chong.
The new store, on U.S. High-
way 101 north of Pacific Way, will
feature the couch that Snoop Dogg
sat on that day, co-owner Stefan
Mihailak said.
Mihailak, originally from West
Virginia, served eight years in the
military, earning the rank of ser-
geant while serving tours in Iraq
and western Africa.
On his return to the United
States, where as a rehab tech
working with veterans, he expe-
rienced the positive benefits of
cannabis.
Mihaliak relocated to Southern
R.J. Marx
See Top Shelf, Page A6 Stefan Mihaliak is co-owner of Top Shelf Cannabis in Gearhart.