North Coast
Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
Thursday, January 9, 2025 | Vol. 32, Issue 1
$2.00
www.northcoastcitizen.com
Mary Faith Bell
Vehicle fire closes Highway 6
A vehicle fire forced a temporary closure of around an hour Oregon Highway 6 on December 31, 2024, as the Tillamook
Fire District responded and extinguished the blaze at milepost 31.
Bell talks parks, environmental policy, central services WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Following a busy year in which she served an extended stint as interim parks director, Commissioner Mary Faith Bell sat down with the Headlight Herald to discuss successes in that role and look forward to 2025. Bell said that she was proud of the changes made to the entrance at Barview Jetty during her tenure and looks forward to more to come, extolled the creation of a central services department for the county and opined on the shortcomings of federal environmental policy. “It was an unexpected, cool opportunity to come in with totally fresh eyes and no attachment to how things have always been done and that almost never happens,” Bell said of her time as parks director. Bell assumed the role of parks director in October 2023 and continued in the position until Dan Keyes was hired to fill the role this May. Bell’s first order of business on taking over the position was to evaluate the department’s staffing, which led her to decide to hire some of the seasonal employees who had worked for the county over the course of many years as fulltime employees. “It became clear to me that if we’re hiring those people repeatedly for years, they should just be our employees,” Bell said. After completing the employee evaluation, See BELL, Page A3
Fournier focused on boosting county revenues WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Since his victory in the May primary election, Tillamook County Commissioner-elect Paul Fournier has been preparing for the position and honing his vision for the county’s future.
After running on a platform of boosting the county government’s revenues to counteract perennial budget crunches, Fournier has a host of ideas he hopes to implement to achieve that goal by leveraging the large number of tourists already visiting Tillamook. “It’s not about bringing more down here; it’s about capturing the money that we’re not capturing, and we do that through better facilities we can charge for,” Fournier said. Fournier, a long-time sheriff’s deputy, won election to the board in the May primary, defeating Darcy Jones with 71% of the vote. See FOURNIER, Page A3
Paul Fournier
Doug Olson
Olson reflects on Skaar discusses administrative commissionership reorganization, TLT increase WILL CHAPPELL
WILL CHAPPELL
Tillamook County Commissioner Erin Skaar sat down with the Headlight Herald in December to discuss accomplishments in 2024 and plans for 2025. Skaar said that she thought the decision by commissioners to form a central services department and appoint Rachel Hagerty Chief Administrative Officer would be the most impactful changes of the year and laid out plans to ask voters to approve a 5% increase in the county’s transient lodging tax (TLT) in May.
Doug Olson capped his multidecade career of public service in Tillamook County with a one-year stint as interim Tillamook County Commissioner in 2024, during which he helped to promote the successful emergency system radio bond and lead budgetary discussions. Olson sat down with the Headlight Herald in December to discuss his year with the county and said that he had enjoyed the experience and hoped his efforts had helped move the organization forward. “My experience at the county, I think, was very, very positive,” Olson said, “you know, I met a lot of good people, and we got a few things done and made some decisions or helped make
See SKAAR, Page A3
See OLSON, Page A2
Citizen Editor
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Erin Skaar
Citizen Editor