Friday, June 6, 2025 | Vol. 49, Issue 6
www.cannonbeachgazette.com
Voter debt approval requirement ahead at polls WILL CHAPPELL Gazette Editor
A new piece awaiting unveiling in the Bronze Coast Gallery.
Spring Unveiling Art Festival draws crowds STAFF REPORT
Visitors thronged to Cannon Beach in the first weekend of May for the annual Spring Unveiling Arts Festival, hosted at galleries across the city. Ten galleries hosted events during the festival, and attendees were treated to live music, artist receptions and demonstrations, and, of course, unveilings of new pieces throughout the three-day event.
A three-piece band playing for gallery goers at Jeffrey Hull Gallery.
Sandcastle Contest taking place June 20-22 Cannon Beach’s 61st annual Sandcastle Contest will be taking over the beach in front of the Presidential Streets from June 20-22. The long running event will see professional and amateur sculptors putting their talents on display, with the main contest taking place on Saturday. Things kick off on Friday with a live demonstration from master sandcastle builder Bob Rose in the street off Second Street from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The contest itself gets underway on June 21, at 12:15 p.m., with final judging occurring at 5:15 p.m. before a beach party from 7-10 p.m. Weekend festivities wrap up on the 22nd with the Singing Sands 5K Fun Run & walk at 9 a.m. Food, drink and merchandise vendors will be available on the
beach, as will port-a-pottys and attendees should check can-
nonbeach.org for more details, including good locations to park.
Cannon Beach voters voted to require voter approval for large incurrences of debt by the city in May 20 elections by a slim margin. The margins on the competing ballot measures advanced by Cannon Beach Together to require approval and the city council to formalize the existing approach were tight, with 15 and 11 votes separating the responses on the respective measures. Ballot measure 04-235, put forward by Cannon Beach Together, proposed changing the city charter to require voter approval for the city to incur debt above 50% of government activity revenues for the most recent year, or around $5.9 million currently. The measure was put forward in response to concerns over the financing approach taken last year with the new city hall and police station, as well as the proposal for the rejuvenation of the Cannon Beach Elementary School. Supporters of the measure argued that given the city’s abundance of transient lodging tax dollars, the measure was the only way to ensure voter input on major projects that would saddle the city with debt. As of June 2, measure 04235 had received 323 yes votes against 308 no votes. Measure 04-236 was put on the ballot by the city council last November to formalize the current debt-issuance policy, allowing the city to borrow without charter amendment and only requiring voter approval for bonds or levies. Councilors argued that the Cannon Beach Together amendment would hamstring the city’s ability to meet matching requirements for grants and argued it would make the city one of the most financially regressive in the state. As of June 2, measure 04236 had 314 votes in favor with 325 against.
COWS up and running WILL CHAPPELL Gazette Editor
Cannon Beach’s Coastal Outside Warning System for tsunamis is once again functional after nearly a year of downtime. Installation took place in late April and early May, before live testing was conducted in the second week of May, confirming the systems operability. Cannon Beach’s Coastal Outside Warning System (COWS) consists of seven sets of horns— five in Cannon Beach and two in Arch Cape—that warn residents of distant tsunamis that require evacuation from low-lying areas. The system is tested with the sound of mooing cows monthly. The previous system was installed by the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District in the 1980s, according to City Manager Bruce St. Denis, and had reached the end of its useful life by last year. Several residents expressed concern over its absence at city council meetings in late 2024 and early 2025 Cannon Beach’s Rural Fire Protection District had maintained
the system after its installation but in 2022, found that the costs of maintenance were too high for their budget and turned responsibility over to the city. St. Denis told councilors in January that after assuming responsibility for the system, city staff had done what they could to maintain and repair it but that it had broken completely last summer and needed to be replaced. City staff first communicated about the outage in December 2024, with a release on the city website, drawing concern from members of the public who had been unaware of the system’s outage and were worried about the lack of ability for the city to notify residents and visitors of an emergency. At council’s regular meeting on February 4, St. Denis brought three bids to replace the system to the council for review. Bids from ATI Systems and CTC Mass Notification were within $300 of each other, with the ATI bid coming in lower at $212, 613.67, while Alerius Technologies submitted a bid for $225,427.75.