A6 • Friday, May 27, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Flory is named planning director Park District: New
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Jeff Flory was named
planning director May 20,
effective immediately. Flory
has served as interim director
since March after the retire-
ment of Kevin Cupples.
As Seaside’s first code
compliance officer, Flory
processed complaints, con-
ducted safety inspections
and enforcement designed to
cut down on quality-of-life
issues related to vacation
rental dwellings.
Flory joined the commu-
nity development department
in 2020 after spending more
than 12 years with the Bea-
City of Seaside
Seaside’s code compliance
officer Jeff Flory.
verton Police Department
and three years with both the
Hood River County Sher-
iff’s Office and Mount Hood
Meadows Ski Resort, where
his work focused on patrol,
enforcement, safety, guest
service and security.
In Seaside, Flory has
ramped up vacation rental
dwelling inspections and
enabled an upgraded online
complaint process.
Assistant City Manager
Jon Rahl said the hiring pro-
cess invited both internal and
external candidates.
“Jeff has shown himself to
be incredibly capable,” Rahl
said.
He singled out Flory’s
organization skills and abil-
ity to adapt quickly. “You’re
talking about an individ-
ual that came into a brand
new position that came with
a bit of controversy,” Rahl
said. “If you go back and
you look through vacation
rentals and how that posi-
tion was created, his ability
to come in and create a pro-
gram that really works has
been well-praised.”
“Jeff joined us two years
ago and took on a brand-new
position as the code compli-
ance official,” City Manager
Mark Winstanley said in a
statement. “He’s flourished
since Day One, showing
himself to be an extremely
resourceful and capable
employee. We have great
faith in his ability to continue
to grow and serve the citizens
and community of Seaside.”
R.J. Marx
City manager candidates Spencer Kyle, Matthew Selby and Esther Moberg at the gathering to meet the candidates and provide feedback.
City manager: ‘We look forward to welcoming
the Kyle family into our Seaside community’
Continued from Page A1
“That was a great experi-
ence for me,” Kyle said at last
week’s community recep-
tion. “I got to be hands-on in
almost every different depart-
ment and service the city
offers.”
Kyle has a master’s in
public administration from
Brigham Young University
Marriott School of Business
and is a credentialed city
manager from the Interna-
tional City/County Manage-
ment Association.
In describing his philoso-
phy as a city manager, he said
he appreciated that “no two
days are the same.”
‘THERE ISN’T GOING TO BE ONE ANSWER
THAT FIXES EVERYTHING, BUT THERE ARE
LITTLE INCREMENTAL THINGS THAT WE CAN
DO THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.’
Spencer Kyle
Kyle suggested a collabo-
rative approach to issues.
“For me, it’s about com-
mitment to finding out what
is working out there,” Kyle
said. “What are the best prac-
tices and what are the ideas?
Give us all the options. There
isn’t going to be one answer
that fixes everything, but
there are little incremental
things that we can do that will
make a difference.”
At Monday’s meeting,
Kyle was back in Utah as Bar-
ber and city councilors unan-
imously voted to approve the
hiring.
“Our retiring City Man-
ager Mark Winstanley has
served for over 20 years
in this role, and is in fact
Seaside’s
longest-serving
employee with 37 years of
service,” Barber said. “On
behalf of the City Council,
I would like to thank every-
one who participated in the
process of selecting our new
city manager and we look
forward to welcoming the
Kyle family into our Seaside
community.”
hires are proposed
Continued from Page A1
The school is now up
and running for preschool,
sports and office lease,
pandemic restrictions are
for the most part lifted and
the five board members
have served harmoniously.
“I believe we’re in a
strong financial shape,”
Archibald said. “I think
that’s due thankfully to
increased tax revenue,
strong grants and grant
efforts, and good fiscal
responsibility by the dis-
trict staff and board work-
ing together. I feel confi-
dent in the position we’re
in right now. We’re trying
to be optimistic, hoping
we’re going to have a nor-
mal year.”
Budget
preparations
began in mid-January
this year and have been
reviewed by department
heads.
“The budget represents
our best efforts to fis-
cally prepare and account
for the district’s program-
matic and maintenance
needs over the next 12
months,” Archibald wrote
in the budget message. “It
is anticipated that we will
continue to regain the trac-
tion lost during the pan-
demic and even increase
our fitness offerings as
we make our way into the
2022-2023 fiscal year.”
The largest portion of
the department expense is
administration, budgeted
at about $685,000. This
covers the executive direc-
tor and director of finance,
among other full-time per-
sonnel, for a total just over
$500,000.
Overall, the district has
65 employees, up about
18% from last year.
With a new finance
manager, human resources
coordinator, lifeguard staff,
patron relations specialists,
youth program leaders and
maintenance leaders, more
hiring is on the horizon at
the district.
“We are budgeting for
a patron relations spe-
cialist to help provide the
high level of customer ser-
vice that our patrons have
come to expect,” Archibald
said. “We are also budget-
ing for two maintenance
department employees to
be added. Both will work
to maintain the cleanliness
and professional appear-
ance of the building.”
Current staff is bud-
geted for a 5% cost-of-liv-
ing adjustment. “You’ll see
a pretty significant increase
across the board in person-
nel expenses,” Archibald
said. “I think everybody in
our community knows that
it’s a competitive environ-
ment for employees. We
decided we really needed
to increase our wages.”
Maintenance and aquat-
ics each see about a 10%
rise in personnel costs.
Youth program per-
sonnel are budgeted at
$628,900, compared to last
year’s $475,000.
Park district revenue
is generated from prop-
erty taxes, timber taxes,
donations and grants, pro-
gram fees and facility rent-
als. The district’s perma-
nent tax rate is 0.9280 per
$1,000 of assessed value,
generating about $1.89
million in tax resources to
be collected.
This is the first full
year of the Sunset Recre-
ation Center, which will
begin the first year of its
cost recovery process.
The district purchased the
property from the Seaside
School District in January
2021 for $2.15 million.
The capital improve-
ment fund will have
$388,000 after this fis-
cal year, Archibald said.
“That’s a flexible amount
we can use down the road,
either at the SRC or other
locations in the district,”
he said.
The district financed
the building for $2.5 mil-
lion even though the cost
was $2.15 million. “We
knew that excess would
be needed for repairs,” he
said.
Heating is No. 1 on the
list, with the roof and exte-
rior likely to follow, he
said.
“In the SRC we are
budgeting for a capital
improvement to address
the inefficient operation of
the building HVAC sys-
tem,” he said.
Budget
committee
member Kyle Gorman
praised the staff efforts and
called the budget “awe-
some ... really easy to fol-
low. It’s all right here.”
With the committee’s
unanimous approval, the
budget will go before the
park district board next
month.
A
personnel
ser-
vices breakdown will be
included in the budget as
an addendum.
“It was a very nice bud-
get process thanks to the
great volunteerism and
expertise offered by the
budget committee mem-
bers and the preparation
of the budget by district
staff, particularly finance
manager Chris McCollis-
ter and director of oper-
ations Darren Gooch,”
Archibald said. “While
the budget is the largest
amount in SEPRD his-
tory, we are mindful of our
fiscal responsibility and
opportunities for growth in
the coming year with pro-
grams, improvements and
the exciting potential of the
Sunset Recreation Center.”
Camping sites: First RVs could apply for permits by the end of the week
Continued from Page A1
City Councilor Tom Horning proposed alternate sites for
overnight camping.
ANONYMOUS PURCHASE
The council may have additional property options, Mayor
Jay Barber added.
An anonymous donor has purchased land formerly owned
by the Oregon Department of Transportation along the east
side of North Roosevelt Drive near 21st Avenue which could
be used for overnight campers.
The site comes with concerns, including road access, ripar-
ian, flooding and firefighting concerns, but was seen as a
step in the right direction to meet future demands.
“This anonymous donor that’s coming forward is exactly the
kind of thing we need,” Council President Steve Wright said.
“If nothing else we could put tents there.”
The ordinance, passed in
April, goes into effect this
week and will enable enforce-
ment of no camping rules
coming into effect.
The Mill Ponds parking
lot plan comes with strings
attached, City Councilor
Tom Horning said. The city
accepted $250,000 from the
state Watershed Enhancement
Board in 1998 to buy the prop-
erty, which has environmental
importance as a freshwater
salt marsh and wildlife habitat.
“I don’t believe that the
homeless that will camp and
the tents that you’re propos-
ing for them to camp will nec-
essarily stay there,” Horning
said. “I think they’ll spread
out and they will come into
the conservancy’s property
and have to be removed from
them.”
Violations of the contract
could lead to the city forfeit-
ing the property or fines of
$250,000.
Horning presented an alter-
nate plan to use part of the
“North 40” at the former high
school near the ball fields for
tent campers.
Police Chief Dave Ham
R.J. Marx
A sign on the gate advises campers of the new city ordinance regulating overnight camping.
Between 16 and 19 RVs will be permitted for overnight camping beyond the fence to the right;
up to 30 tents will be located in the area to the left.
said that camping Alder Mill
site could benefit the nature
area by enabling enforcement
of illegal campers. A desig-
nated area would meet the
terms of the ordinance and
provide shelter on an over-
night basis.
The policy, which can be
changed at will by a majority
of councilors, was adopted by
the council.
“But there will be abun-
dant opportunity for citizens
to make comments, suggest
items to be added to the pol-
icy or any changes that you
think you need to make,” Bar-
ber said during the regular
meeting following the work-
shop. “We will also be revis-
iting the ordinance for some
amendments after it becomes
effective.”
Mowing will begin at the
RV site this week, Public
Works Director Dale McDow-
ell said Tuesday, and the first
RVs could apply for permits
by the end of the week.