A6 • Friday, March 11, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Top Shelf: Cannabis dispensary opens in Gearhart
Continued from Page A1
R.J. Marx
Sign posted outside the high school.
Masks: ‘Some people will be
really ready for that transition’
Continued from Page A1
transition, also an opportu-
nity for families to get their
students vaccinated.
The indoor mask man-
dates have been in place
since August. From Sep-
tember through January,
updates from the Oregon
Health Authority and Ore-
gon Department of Educa-
tion monitored changes in
cases and hospitalizations.
The
state
recently
announced changes to mask
rules with school changes
occurring after Friday.
February surveys of the
community, staff and par-
ents showed about 51% of
staff members responded
they wanted masks to be
required beyond March 31;
49% responded “no.” About
65% of family members
responded “no” to masks
beyond March 31; about
35% responded “yes.”
About 55% of students
responded “no” and 45%
responded “yes.”
March surveys showed
an increase in those seek-
ing to remove the mandate,
among parents, students
and staff alike.
More than 70% of stu-
dents, with 255 responses,
said they would favor lift-
ing of mask mandates after
Friday.
Of staff members, 56%
said they would like to see
masks no longer required.
Almost three-quarters of
families responding favored
lifting the mandate after
Friday, with 428 responses.
“Our school leaders and
local public health offi cials
expressed a strong need to
keep alignment between
dates for lifting the state-
wide face covering expec-
tations in the K-12 settings
with the lifting of the gen-
eral indoor public spaces
masking requirement,” Pen-
rod said. “School and dis-
trict leaders told us they can
thoughtfully prepare and
plan for this transition ear-
lier than March 31.”
In making her recom-
mendation, Penrod said
quarantining and contact
tracing has been paused and
is no longer a requirement.
“Even since we met
(in February), the county
went from high risk level
to medium,” Penrod said.
“The latest data shows we
have moved to the lowest
level.”
Face coverings in K-12
schools and on district buses
have now been aligned, she
said, and testing kits are
now off ered both on-site
and in take-home kits, to be
used with our students and
staff who are symptomatic
or who are high-risk.
Parents said their chil-
dren suff ered from the mask
policy, making it diffi cult
to breathe, communicate,
understand lessons or hear
teachers and staff .
A parent commented the
masks made her daughter
feel uncomfortable, caus-
ing mood changes and
headaches.
Kelsey Betts, a regis-
tered nurse, said continuing
with masks in the schools
was “absolutely pointless.”
“We’re seeing huge
increases in the amount of
speech therapy needed,”
Betts said. “For children
because they can’t see lips
or faces to watch somebody
speak to them. So as a mom
and as a health care profes-
sional, I urge you to get rid
of the masks. They’re not
working.”
Other parents spoke at
the meeting about the neg-
ative impacts masks have
on social interaction and
the ability to focus in the
classroom.
The board of direc-
tors unanimously voted to
approve the superinten-
dent’s recommendation to
lift the mask mandate on
Monday.
The isolation period
for people who test pos-
itive will continue to be
fi ve days, and they must be
fever-free for 24 hours with
reduced symptoms to return
to class.
“Some people will be
really ready for that transi-
tion and some people will
and they’ll all need to come
to it in their own time,”
Penrod said. “Our princi-
pals will be meeting with
our staff to share informa-
tion based on the decision
we make today. And we as
a leadership team are pre-
paring resources that will be
available for our staff and
for our students to make sure
that we as a community are
accepting of everybody.”
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Oregon, where he entered
the cannabis industry as a
grower. He attended Oak-
sterdam University in Oak-
land, California — the
world’s fi rst cannabis col-
lege — where he broad-
ened his contacts and
teamed with Top Shelf
founder Thomas Beckley
and co-owner David Grove.
Top Shelf Cannabis’s
Gearhart location will off er
deals on outdoor cannabis
grown in Southern Oregon,
with prices starting at $3 a
gram. Medical cannabis is
available as well.
“We have a good con-
nection with all the South-
ern Oregon farms, because
that’s where I originally
started working,” he said.
“With this shop, the main
thing I want to do is give
anyone involved in canna-
bis what they’d want with
a great price on stuff , espe-
R.J. Marx
Co-owner Stefan Mihaliak and budtender Jordan Fedance
of Top Shelf Cannabis in Gearhart.
cially with the times getting
hard.”
Among an array of
fl ower, oils, edibles and
more, the Gearhart dispen-
sary carries products from
Belushi Farm, actor Jim
Belushi’s commercial can-
nabis farm in Eagle River.
“We want it to be an
interactive
dispensary,”
Mihailak said. “Not just
a crowded little area but
where they can get the full
experience of what a dis-
pensary is.”
With Sweet Relief down
the street and dispensaries
in Seaside and Astoria, he
is aware of the potential
competition.
“I’ve got people from
the other shops coming
in here, whether they’re
secret shoppers or not,”
Mihailak said. “I don’t
hold it against them. It’s
good. Because I don’t buy
all my stuff at Walmart
and I don’t get all my gas
at Chevron. It’s medicine.
They’ve got stuff I don’t
have, and I have stuff that
they don’t have.”
Planner: Flory to step into role as acting planner
Continued from Page A1
guest service and security.
In Seaside, Flory has
ramped up vacation rental
dwelling inspections and
enabled an upgraded online
complaint process. He pre-
sented details on rental den-
sity and statistics before
city councilors in January
as the council considered
a potential moratorium on
vacation rental dwellings in
Seaside.
At that meeting, City
Councilor Tita Montero
said Flory had gone “above
and beyond” in his work as
code compliance offi cer.
“Jeff reaches out and he
educates both the home-
owners who live in the
neighborhoods as well as
educating the VRD own-
ers,” Montero said at that
meeting, at which council-
ors rejected the moratorium.
The planning depart-
ment, part of the commu-
nity development team,
includes building and
planning
administrative
assistant Jordan Sprague,
emergency preparedness
coordinator Anne McBride
and building offi cial Bob
Mitchell.
“We have confi dence
in this team to handle the
things that are there,” Rahl
said.
As the department
reviews pending and new
applications, they will
work with external contrac-
tors where necessary. “We
don’t have the institutional
knowledge on so we’ll be
able to hopefully utilize
those external contractors,
along with the team, for the
time being.”
Planning
commis-
sioner Jon Wickersham
announced his resigna-
tion, leaving a vacancy to
be fi lled. The lineup of the
commission is chairperson
Robin Montero, vice chair-
person Kathy Kleczek, Lou
Neubecker, Chris Rose,
Seth Morrisey and Brandon
Kraft.
Salary: Competitive market complicates city’s search
Continued from Page A1
council’s ability to collabo-
rate, set goals and navigate
challenges.
“We heard this time and
again: You need a man-
ager with the skills to eff ec-
tively engage multiple city
audiences practicing acces-
sibility, transparency and
timeliness when doing so,”
Wallace said. “You’re look-
ing for a style that encour-
ages two-way dialogue,
able to communicate com-
plex civic issues, respond
to community concerns
and move toward building
consensus.”
A bachelor’s degree,
experience and history of
communication
engage-
ment are key candidate
traits. Knowledge of emer-
gency preparedness, pub-
lic infrastructure, a tour-
ism economy and housing
issues are also considered
essential.
The search, which
began internally at the end
of 2021, has expanded to
the Pacifi c Northwest and
Jensen Strategies
Salaries of city administrators in cities comparable to
Seaside.
nationally. The charter does
not require a candidate to
live within the city limits.
“We usually off er a
$30,000 range and below
we would recommend for
you as $124,000 the high
would be $154,000,” Jen-
sen said.
On the low end, a candi-
date may not have a lot of
experience but is trainable,
Jensen said, with the right
skills to step up to the place.
“If you fi nd somebody
who is a seasoned city man-
ager, who has worked in
communities like yours,
who understands what it is
like to be a destination city
and to have 60,000 people
coming in — that’s going to
be on the other end of the
spectrum,” Jensen said.
Winstanley receives an
annual salary of $130,620,
according to the 2021-22
budget.
They compared salaries
in comparable commu-
nities, including Cannon
Beach, Warrenton, Tilla-
mook which was at the low
end at $87,000. “That was
an outlier,” Jensen said.
Astoria ranked high-
est in comparable cities,
with a city manager’s sal-
ary of $151,000. Can-
non Beach pays $149,250
and Warrenton $125,000.
Newport and Lincoln City
each pay their city manag-
er’s $125,000; Hood River
pays $145,000.
If the city adopts the
policy document at Mon-
day’s City Council meeting,
councilors would consider
candidates based on the
results of the consultant’s
search in May. “At the end
of that, we also are prepared
to give you our salary rec-
ommendations in terms of
range of salary, and we’ll
talk about that at the very
end,” Jensen said.
MARKETPLACE
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