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Serving North Tillamook County since 1996

Thursday, November 14, 2024 | Vol. 31, Issue 20

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Tillamook County election results WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor

Once the slab is poured, workers will start to work on framing the building out, with McMurry saying that he expects to go vertical with a wooden structure by around late December. McMurry said that inclement weather will not generally hold up the work, unless conditions become exces-

Tillamook County voters returned or mailed their ballots by November 5 and the county clerk and secretary of state’s offices released results on election night and November 7. As of Thursday, just over 16,000 ballots had been accepted in Tillamook County, accounting for 74.4% of eligible voters in the county, and support for a bond for a new emergency radio system led opposition while Republican State Representative Cyrus Javadi was in a close race against Democratic challenger Andy Davis. The bond question seeking $24 million in taxpayer funding to support an upgrade to the county’s aging emergency radio system had received 7,780 of 14,988, or 51.9%, of the votes counted in the race. Javadi had received 55.0% of the votes counted in Tillamook County, good for a 1,572-vote advantage, and 52.1% across the district, with Davis enjoying a 358-vote advantage in Clatsop County and Javadi a 358vote advantage in the portion of the district in Columbia County. United States Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici was on track for an easy win over Republican challenger Bob Todd, having received 68.0% of the almost 290,000 votes across the district in the first round of results. Bonamici also led the vote counting in Tillamook County, but had received just 49.0% of votes tallied, with Todd accounting for 47.9% of the total, and Libertarian Joe Christman 2.9%. In races for the Tillamook County Peoples’ Utility District Board of Directors, Tamra Perman had received 55.5% of the vote against 43.4% for Maile Rosa Samek in the race for subdivision one, while Lonnie Jenck led in the three-way race for subdivision three, with 49.5% of the vote against 25.5% for Harry Hewitt and 24.1% for Justin Aufdermauer. Tillamook city council’s incumbents were all on track to retain their seats, with Garrett Noffsinger, Nicholas Torres and Sylvia Schriber running unopposed and Brian Reynolds having received 68.4% of the vote counted against 28.5% for challenger Richard Reidt. Bay City Mayor Liane Welch was unopposed in her race and Colin Jones, Tim Josi and Justin Howard were elected to three open seats on the council. Katie Findling was also unopposed in her bid to maintain the mayoralty of Garibaldi, while in a three-way contest for two open council seats, Cheryl Gierga and Sandra Tyrer had received 264 and 244 votes, respectively, against 233 tallied for Terry Kandle. Rockaway Beach’s hotly contested elections looked on track to return incumbents to their seats across the board. Mayor Charles McNeilly had received 65.7% of votes cast in his race, with Rodney Breazile having garnered 24.1% and Dane Winchester 9.9%. In city council races, Mary McGinnis was unopposed in the race for position one, Tom Martine led Kristine Hayes with 63.4% of the vote for position two, Kiley Konruff was ahead of Stephanie Winchester with 68.5% of votes counted in the race for position three, Alesia Franken led Justin McMahan with 63.8% of the vote for position four and Penny Cheek led Debra Reeves with 61.6% of position five votes tallied. Wheeler’s mayoral race looked to be on track for a win by Denise Donohue, who had 75.5% of votes tallied against William Goulardt’s 23.3%. Heidi Stacks, Mary Leverette and Gordon Taylor were the leading vote getters in the race for three open council positions, with 190, 175 and 141 votes, respectively, while Garry Gitzen had received 82. Nehalem Mayor Phil Chick was unopposed in his bid for reelection and Kristina Quintana led in the race for position two on the council, with 70 votes against 38 for Angela Hanke and 37 for Lydia O’Connor. In the race for position three on the council, Dave Cram led Vern Scovell having received 61.5% of votes counted. Manzanita Mayor Kathryn Stock ran unopposed and Councilors Jerry Spegman and Thomas Campbell received 320 and 319 votes respectively in the race for two open seats on the city council. Manzanita voters also appeared on track to support remaining on a monthly billing cycle, with 55.6% of votes counted in favor of that frequency over quarterly. In statewide races, Democrats looked to be on track for a sweep of elected offices, while two of five proposed ballot measures, those regarding impeachment of statewide elected officials and unionization at cannabis businesses, were on pace to succeed. Democrat Tobias Reed had received 53.9% of the votes counted in the race for

See NBHD CLINIC, Page A5

See ELECTION, Page A6

The shotcrete shell of both the main pool and therapy pool have been completed and they will be finished with tiling in the coming weeks.

NCRD seeks funding for final phases of pool project Will Chappell Headlight Editor As the second phase of construction on a new pool facility nears completion, North County Recreation District board members and supporters are working to determine funding sources to complete the project. Members of the project team have met several times in recent months with the Tillamook County Board of Commissioners to discuss the county supporting the project with transient lodging tax (TLT) dollars, most recently on November 6. Commissioners voiced support for the project but also concerns about the process of making the award and raised the possibility of granting funds to help repay See NCRD, Page A5

Work on adding a ramp for ADA accessibility is underway outside the building’s entrance.

Workers prepare to lay concrete pad at new NBHD clinic WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor

With a little more than three months of work under their belt, crews building the new Nehalem Bay Health District clinic building in Wheeler are preparing to lay the building’s concrete pad in the coming month. Kevin McMurry, a senior superintendent with Bremik Construction overseeing the job, said that so far, the project is on schedule and budget, and he has been impressed by the level of community engagement. “The community has been so supportive and so involved, and they all want to know what’s going on,” McMurry said. “Man, oh man, these people know about it, and they care about it.” Work on the new, 16,000-square-foot building began with a groundbreaking ceremony in late July and has

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Workers making progress at the property on Hospital Road in Wheeler that will house the Nehalem Bay Health District’s new clinic.

proceeded apace since. Workers have already completed the placement of electrical, water and sewer utilities and are making progress on stormwater management infrastructure, though that process will continue even after the pad is poured. McMurry said that some unexpected utility locations in the ground had slowed the stormwater management system’s installation but that the construction team

had included contingencies for that eventuality. McMurry said that he was excited to get the slab laid in the coming weeks and to get out of the groundwork stage of the project. “We’re anxious to get that slab poured because once that slab’s poured you basically get out of the ground,” McMurry said, “and that’s a huge part of construction is just getting out of the ground.”