North Coast
Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
Thursday, May 15, 2025 | Vol. 32, Issue 10
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www.northcoastcitizen.com
Javadi’s TLT reform push still alive in Salem WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Civil Air Patrol cadets and other community members in character as injured survivors at the drill event. Photo by Deborah Maynard
EVCNB hosts shelter drill and open house WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Around 75 volunteers from the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay assembled at the North County Recreation District in Nehalem on May 3, for an emergency drill and open house. Volunteers practiced responding to a major storm, with cadets from Tillamook’s Civil Air Patrol
playing injured civilians, while also offering members of the public a tour with stops highlighting the variety of programs undertaken by the group to be prepared for emergent events. The Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay (EVCNB) was founded in 2008, after a major storm in 2007 knocked out transportation and communication links between communities in the county, leading residents to
realize they needed to be better prepared, according to Linda Kozlowski, a longtime member. Citizens started a help your neighborhood program, a ham radio group and volunteering with Red Cross, at which point they decided to form an umbrella organization to coordinate the various efforts, giving birth to EVCNB. “We realized that we were all doing the same thing and the more we integrated, the better, and
that was the start of EVCNB,” Kozlowski said. From those humble beginnings, the group has significantly expanded its efforts to respond to different needs during emergencies and has around 300 community members who participate, though there is no formal membership. See EVCNB, Page A3
Community members win at Home and Garden Show
Ten community members won prizes in raffles hosted at the Tillamook Headlight Herald’s annul Home and Garden Show on April 26 and 27. Melissa Kelly won a custom beehive from the Tillamook Beekeeper’s Association, while Joe Warren won a $100 gift card to the Tillamook County Creamery Association Farm Store and Theresa Griffin won a $50 gift car to Jandy Nurseries. Judy Bodine was a double winner. She won the Steeple Cedar Planter filled with annuals prize donated to the Tillamook Kiwanis Club’s Tillamook County High school scholarships fundraiser raffle by the Weber family. Judy also won a beautiful hanging basket from the Tillamook Head-
light Herald’s free drawing. Paulette Rush, another double winner, won the Tillamook Kiwanis Club prize Flower Planter with Coleus and AnnualsTop Handle donated by the Weber family. She also won a delightful quilt made by Kathy Favret for the Marie Mills Foundation, Inc. fundraiser raffle. She is pictured
on the left with Kim Webb in the center and Desiree Brotherton on the left. Bruce Widener won the Lamiglas Classic Salmon Rod with Okuma Corvallus Reel that was donated to the Kiwanis raffle See HOME & GARDEN SHOW, Page A2
Following the death of his original bill seeking to amend the restrictions on the use of transient lodging tax revenues by cities and counties, Representative Cyrus Javadi’s quest to change the formula has been reborn in a new priority bill advanced by Representative Jules Walters. Javadi said that there is still work to be done deciding the bill’s final form but that he is bullish on its prospects given the level of engagement he has seen among fellow legislators this year. “I think there are a lot of stakeholders that are really hopeful that we get something across the finish line, I think there’s a lot of support for that still,” Javadi said. “I think people are trying to be careful here, they realize that this law has been in its current form for a long time and that if we’re going to change it, we want to make sure that we’re not too heavyhanded in how we do it. So, I think that’s a good sign for indicating that people are thinking about it seriously.” Passed in 2003, House Bill 2267 established the current regime for transient lodging tax (TLT) collection across the State of Oregon. The bill allowed city and county governments to institute a TLT in their jurisdiction and required that the revenues generated by the tax be split, with 70% dedicated to the construction of tourism-related facilities or tourism promotion, while the remaining 30% could be used for any purpose. Most jurisdictions across the state have availed themselves of the TLT, but as tourism has boomed in certain areas of See JAVADI, Page A3
Interim Wheeler manager discusses budget WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
Wheeler’s city council promoted Madison Chestnut to the position of interim city manager at their March meeting, following the resignation of Wesley Wootten. Chestnut, a Nehalem native who has been with the city for two years, is beginning a master’s program at Southern Oregon University this fall but will help guide the city through the budgeting and city manager recruitment processes before departing. Chestnut included two new fees and an increase as part of her initial budget proposal and said her focus is maintaining stability to allow ongoing projects happening in the city’s water system, especially one at Gervais Creek, to progress. “My primary goal is to, at least in the interim city manager position, is to keep all these projects that the city has moving forward,” Chestnut said, “I don’t want to see any lapse in that just because we’re in kind of dire straits right now with the budget.” Chestnut grew up in Nehalem 7
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One of the decorators of the Tillamook Beekeepers’ raffle prize hive selects the winning ticket on Sunday, April 27.
See WHEELER, Page A2