Wheeler welcomes new city manager
EVCNB hosts tsunami lecture Page A3
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Headlight Herald
Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | Vol. 136, Issue 28
Troxel hired as Tillamook Police Chief
Nick Troxel
Hwy 6 cable install nearly done
ROCKAWAY CELEBRATES
Independence Day
WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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COURTESY PHOTO
WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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illamook City Manager Nathan George announced at a city council meeting on July 1 that he had selected Nick Troxel to serve as the city’s new police chief. Troxel has been with the Tillamook Police Department since 2003, working his way up through the ranks from patrol officer and most recently filling the position of acting chief of police. “I was pleased to offer the position of police chief to Nick Troxel,” George wrote in a statement. “Not only has he worked hard to serve our city and community for over two decades, but he was the top candidate in a very robust application and interview process.” Troxel was selected from among three finalists who participated in an interview with stakeholders and George the week prior to the meeting. Troxel takes over after serving as the acting chief of police for the department since May 2023, when his predecessor, Raymond Rau, was placed on leave following an admission that he had tampered and removed evidence from the department’s property room. Rau eventually pled no contest to two counts of official misconduct related to the incident in April of this year and was terminated from the department. After beginning his career with the Corvallis Police Department and a brief stint with the Oregon State Police, Troxel moved to Tillamook in 2002, working first as a patrol officer, before spending time as a school resource officer and detective. Troxel became a sergeant in 2021 and lieutenant in 2022. “I have enjoyed working with Chief Troxel and have been impressed by all the hard work that he has done over the past several years to prepare himself to serve in such an important role,” George wrote. “I know that with his leadership our police department will continue to serve as a high performing and excellent law enforcement agency.” Troxel said that he wanted to reassure the community that the department was in a strong position and had a good team on board. He said that he hoped to foster a calm, safe and inclusive environment as chief. “I encourage our team at the Police Department, and our community to approach our roles with a renewed commitment to transparency, professionalism and community engagement,” Troxel wrote in a statement. “ I am truly humbled to have been provided with this opportunity to serve in the role of Chief of Police.”
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Flamingo Jim’s colorful crew spread smiles during the parade. STAFF REPORT Country Media, Inc.
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hrongs of visitors descended on Rockaway Beach for its annual Fourth of July celebrations last week, enjoying the parade, dachshund races and fireworks display at night. The day kicked off shortly
before 11 a.m. with a flyover from the Air National Guard before the annual parade down Highway 101 through downtown. Local businesses, charitable organizations and other groups delighted gathered crowds with their costumes and floats, while passing out candy and beads. After the parade, many made
their way to Phyllis Baker City Park for the Annual Firecracker Wiener Nationals, where dachshunds and a wide variety of other breeds raced. Finally, after the sun set, the crowd was treated to a spectacular fireworks display over the beach See more photos on page A10.
County purchases BLM building for $3 million WILL CHAPPELL Headlight Editor
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s part of a plan to replace the county’s aging courthouse, Tillamook’s board of county commissioners approved the purchase of the Bureau of Land Management building on Third Street in Tillamook for $3 million on July 3. Following an extensive remodel, the building will serve as the new home of the Tillamook County circuit court and district attorney’s office. Attempts to replace the current courthouse, built in 1932, have been ongoing since at least 2008, when a statewide study found that it was the fourth worst facility in the state. The county, which is responsible for providing and maintaining a facility for the circuit court and district attorney, came close to constructing a purposebuilt facility near the jail on Long Prairie Road, only for a $1 million funding gap to derail the project in 2016. Another effort began in 2021, when a three-phase plan envisioning a remodel and expansion of the current courthouse with an annex to house the board of commissioners and other county staff was proposed. The first phase of the project, entailing remodeling and reassignment of courtrooms and the board of commissioners’ meeting room, was completed in 2022, but forward momentum towards the annex stalled thereafter. Early this year when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced plans to build a new
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office at the Port of Tillamook Bay and the sale of its current building on Third Street. Tillamook County Chief of Staff Rachel Hagerty said that the 13,000-square-foot building is large enough to support all court and district attorney operations and presented the best option to resolve safety issues at the current courthouse. In January, the county submitted a proposal to the Association of Oregon Counties for the remodel project that estimated a total budget of $12 million. The state government will contribute half of the funding for the project, with the county responsible for the balance, according to Hagerty. Responsibility for the initial purchase falls to the county, which will be using funding remaining from the American Rescue Plan Act and a bank loan to cover the cost. Once the purchase is complete, the county will be eligible to receive $1 million from the state for planning in 2025, which would allow the county to apply for state funding for construction in 2026, for distribution in the 2027-2029 biennium. Tillamook County Commissioner Erin Skaar said that the decision to purchase the building and remodel rather than pushing ahead with the construction of an annex at the courthouse had been motivated by several factors. Remodeling an existing structure carries a significantly lower price tag, $700 per square foot versus $1,000, than new construction and by moving court operations to a completely new facility the project will be eligible for more state
funding than would one upgrading the current facility. Skaar said that in considering the approach she and other commissioners had weighed the failures of past attempts and prioritized finding the most cost-effective solution to ensure completion. Approval of the contract was unanimous and included a deposit of $100,000 in earnest money and a 75-day period to complete due diligence. Commissioners also heard a presentation from Tillamook County Clerk Christy Nyseth about House Bill 2004, which was passed this year and will ask Oregon voters whether they prefer to employ ranked-choice voting going forward in November. Ranked-choice voting allows voters to place each candidate in a given election in the order of their preference, with their vote going to their second choice if their first is the lowest vote getter in the first round of counting and no candidate wins a majority. Oregon’s proposal would apply to federal and statewide offices and allow for cities, counties and special districts to employ the methodology if they desired. Commissioners also approved a $35,000 contract for a replacement feasibility study for the health department’s HVAC system, which is currently overworked after repeated expansions to the facility have led to a five-heat-pump system which only serves half the building adequately and was seen smoking earlier this year.
fter delays caused by rocky soil conditions, contractors from Astound Broadband expect to finish laying a section of fiberoptic cable along the path of Highway 6 by the end of July. That will complete a terrestrial backhaul route between Pacific City and Hillsboro ahead of the scheduled fall arrival of a transpacific, submarine cable originating in Singapore. Contractors began working to install the cable along Highway 6 between last year, and found their way impeded by an overabundance of rocks, according to Matthew Updenkelder from Astound. “We’ll be humming along, the bore path will be perfect, we’re right in our desired depth and then all of a sudden the bore head starts to shoot up,” Updenkelder said. Some of the rocks are the size of cars and the cable either needed to go through or around them, with the former option requiring specialized boring equipment, which runs into more maintenance issues, racking up downtime. The equipment change and slower pace of drilling pushed the expected completion date for the project from quarter one of this year to the end of July. Early in the year, crews primarily laid the section of cable between South Fork Road and Hillsboro, which was scheduled for completion last week, according to Updenkelder. Focus shifted to the section between Tillamook and South Fork Road in the spring. Updenkelder said that he expected the cable to be laid by the end of July, at which point they will begin working on secondary projects, including the addition of gigabyte internet connections to five communities along Highway 6 in conjunction with Tillamook Peoples’ Utility District (TPUD). Plans to add cell phone towers along the route are also progressing, with tie points for two macro towers and five micro towers included along Highway 6. Verizon is currently working on lease agreements with landowners, including Tillamook County, for tower sites. The submarine portion of the cable is still being laid and Updenkelder said that he expects the ship placing it to arrive offshore at some point in the fall. The new cable will join at least four other transpacific cables that land in Pacific City, two of which are operated by Astound. Astound’s previous two cables, like the forthcoming one, stretch from the transpacific landing sites to the Portland area, with one traversing the Salmonberry Pass and another taking a southern route through Grand Ronde before turning north through Albany. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the primary customer for the new cable, although it will account for less than 10% of its capacity. In addition to adding gigabyte internet to the communities on Highway 6, Updenkelder said that the cable had connection points located every 1,000 feet in south Tillamook County and that Astound was working with TPUD to add additional connections.
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