North Coast
Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
Thursday, December 12, 2024 | Vol. 31, Issue 22
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Election results certified Radio bond passes, Javadi reelected WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
award potentially being unequitable to other projects in the county, owing to the lack of process entailed by the district’s ad hoc request for a donation. Olson suggested that the county award $1 million to the project, in the form of a $500,000 lump sum and five $100,000 annual payments, while Skaar mentioned a $1.5-million grant with the same format. Bell concurred with the formatting of the donation but said she would support funding the project’s balance, citing past instances of the county making large TLT awards without a formal process, such as the $2.5-million purchase of the Jentzen property in Pacific City. Commissioners asked Howes and McCann to get specifics about a loan to cover the project’s third phase and return with those for a final decision.
Tillamook County Clerk Christy Nyseth certified the county’s election results on December 2, confirming the success of the county’s emergency radio system bond question. While Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade is not due to certify statewide results until December 12, Republican State Representative Cyrus Javadi also still appeared on track to win reelection against Democrat challenger Andy Davis. Certified returns from Nyseth showed that 16,405 of Tillamook County’s 21,673 registered voters cast ballots in the November 5 election, representing a 75.7% turnout. The bond question seeking $24 million in taxpayer funding to support an upgrade to the county’s aging emergency radio system received 7,926 yes votes of 15,232 cast in the race, or 52.0%. Javadi received 54.9% of the votes counted in Tillamook County in the race against Davis and 52.1% across the entire district. United States Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici remaind on pace for an easy win over Republican challenger Bob Todd, having received 68.6% of the almost 352,000 votes across the district. Bonamici also won Tillamook County, but received just 49.1% of votes tallied, with Todd accounting for 47.8% of the total, and Libertarian Joe Christman 3.0%. At the top of the ticket, Tillamook County supported President-elect Donald Trump with 49.0% of voters casting their ballot for Trump and running mate J.D. Vance. Vice President Kamala Harris received 47.7% of the vote in the county, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. garnered 1.5% and Jill Stein accounted for .7%. In races for the Tillamook County Peoples’ Utility District Board of Directors, Tamra Perman received 55.3% of the vote against 43.7% for Maile Rosa Samek in the race for subdivision one, while Lonnie Jenck won 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 retained their seats, with Garrett Noffsinger,
See NCRD, Page A3
See ELECTION, Page A3
County commissioners award $1.7 million to NCRD for pool project WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Tillamook’s Board of County Commissioners voted to award $1.7 million of transient lodging tax funding to the North County Recreation District on December 4, to aid in the completion of the district’s new pool facility. After multiple discussions with the district’s leadership in recent months, Commissioners Mary Faith Bell and Erin Skaar voted in favor of the grant, citing the project’s community support, large existing financial support and in-process status. Commissioner Doug Olson voted nay saying that while he would support a smaller award, the lack of decision-making process made him uncomfortable with the number approved. North County Recreation District (NCRD) Board Chair Michael Howes and interim Executive Director Barbara McCann
first reached out to commissioners in October and attended several work sessions with the commissioners in October and November to discuss the possibility of county funding for the pool project. The project, which will replace the North County Recreation District’s (NCRD) nearly century old pool in Nehalem, has received more than $16 million in support from numerous donors in the community as well as through a bond approved by district voters in 2020. However, cost escalations due to inflation have driven the project’s budget well over its initial estimate, leaving the district facing a $2.5 million gap to complete the pool facility with the installation of equipment, commission the new facility and decommission the old facility. Construction crews are expected to complete the second phase of the project by January 15, at which point the facility’s interior
will be finished. The next phase of the project, which will see the installation of pool equipment, will cost an estimated $1.7 million, is planned to begin in February and be complete by April, putting the facility on track for a June opening. However, the district has exhausted its previously secured funding and faced the prospect of demobilizing construction, which would have led to further cost escalations, if they could not show proof of funds to pay for the next phase by mid-December. With the county sitting on a $3 million surplus in funds from the tourist-supported transient lodging tax (TLT), Howes and McCann reached out to the board to request the county’s support, kicking off a series of meetings. In the last meeting between the board and NCRD leadership on November 6, Skaar and Olson both voiced concerns about the
Tillamook Kidney Center prepares OPRD steps up Salmonberry for opening in the coming weeks Trail involvement WILL CHAPPELL
WILL CHAPPELL
Since the February closure of the U.S. Renal Care Dialysis clinic in Tillamook, patients with end stage renal disease have been forced to travel more than an hour for thrice-weekly, life-sustaining care. But that is all set to change in the coming weeks when the clinic reopens under the management of Dialysis Clinics Incorporated (DCI), a Nashville-based nonprofit, as the Tillamook Kidney Center. Dr. Doug Johnson, the Vice Chairman of DCI’s Board, said that he was enthusiastic about the opportunity to help bring dialysis back to Tillamook and stressed that it would not have been possible without the strong partnership of Adventist Health, and especially Adventist President Eric Swanson. “Eric and the Adventist
morning to be there at 4:30, and for an old lady, that’s a long way,” said Sharon Gallino, a patient who was forced to seek care in Lincoln City. Fortunately, the early start time that forced the pre-dawn departures has since shifted, but Gallino is still spending a minimum of six hours on travel and treatment on
Last month, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department took the first steps towards becoming the governmental home for the Salmonberry Project, announcing that they were exploring the establishment of a committee to govern it. That process is being led by Mike Cafferata, Forest Grove District Forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), and the transition would see the committee replace the Salmonberry Trail Intergovernmental Agency (STIA), which is set to cease operations at the end of this year. Cafferata has committed to spending the next six months leading the exploratory phase of the move and said that staff at the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) had decided to step in after seeing that the current organizational structure was not performing optimally. The Salmonberry Trail Intergovernmental Agency was formed in 2014 and consists of the governments of Tillamook and Washington County, ODF, as much of the proposed trail’s 82 miles run through state forest lands, and OPRD. When it was founded, STIA was given a decade-long mandate, and as the end of that period drew near in recent months, members began contemplating the best way forward with OPRD staff deciding to offer their department as a potential home. Cafferata said that STIA had always been constrained by a lack of staff as well as a lack of expertise in trail building among the partner agencies and that the transition of responsibilities to OPRD will help to address both of those concerns. While planning is still ongoing, Cafferata said that OPRD does not plan to take an increased leadership role in the trail process, but rather to provide an appropriate home and technical assistance for
See KIDNEY CENTER, Page A5
See OPRD, Page A3
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Citizen Editor
PHOTO BY JOHN HAY
(Left to right) Dialysis Clinic Inc. Nurse Manager Molly Lust, Tillamook Adventist President Eric Swanson and Tillamook Adventist Patient Care Executive Heather Thompson outside the once and future dialysis clinic.
team have been such incredible partners, and it was so inspiring to be able to visit the community, be able to spend time in the community,” Johnson said. “We’re so excited to be able to help provide this service.” The situation began unfolding in late January of this year, when patients at the U.S. Renal Care (USRC) dialysis clinic in Tillamook received
a letter from the company’s management informing them that the center would be closing as of February 23, due to economic factors. That forced the clinic’s 11 patients to either transition to in-home treatments or travel to Lincoln City, Astoria or Forest Grove three times weekly to dialyze. “IT’s been rough, there for a month or two I had to be on the road by 3:30 in the