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Headlight Herald
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 | Vol. 137, Issue 39
Big sets as CapeKiwanda Longboard Classic returns S
New library site goes live October 1
Staff REPORT
urfers from around the pacific northwest and farther descended on Pacific City on September 20 and 21, for the 26th annual Cape Kiwanda Longboard Classic. Hosted by Moment Surf Company, the contest saw 240 surfers take to the water over two days, with male and female champions crowned in eight divisions on Sunday. Bob and Michelle Ledbetter started the classic in 1998, and several other locals stewarded it in the years after they moved to Costa Rica before Jeff Mollencop opened Moment Surf Company in 2011 and assumed management of the competition. More than 30 volunteers made the competition possible, taking care of everything from registration to judging. Conditions were less than ideal for Saturday’s surfing, but on Sunday, larger sets gave competitors in the championship rounds a chance to showcase their skills.
WILL CHAPPELL
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Surfers competing in the championship rounds of the 2025 Cape Kiwanda Longboard Classic.
County agrees to purchase former BLM building for $2.475 million WILL CHAPPELL
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Headlight Editor
illamook’s board of county commissioners approved a purchase agreement for the building on Third Street in Tillamook that previously housed the Bureau of Land Management at their meeting on September 24. This marked the second time in as many years the county has entered into a purchase agreement for the building as they seek to address a shortage of space in the county courthouse building. Previously, the county had planned to move state circuit courts to the building after a remodel, while now, they will look to relocate county staff to free up space for the courts in their current home. At the meeting, commissioners also voted to support the transition of the Salmonberry Trail Intergovernmental Agency into an advisory committee at the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), which will take over the lease for the trail, as well as an agreement to contribute $25,000 to support the project. The county has been looking for ways to upgrade, supplement or replace the current courthouse, built in 1932, since at least 2008, when a statewide study found that it was the fourth worst facility of its type 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 dedicated justice facility near the jail on Long Prairie Road in the 2010s but the project fell apart amid funding questions. Another plan was developed in 2021, envisioning a three-phase remodeling of the courthouse along with the addition of an annex to house the board of commissioners and other staff. The first phase of the project remodeling and reas-
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Tillamook County Commissioners approved a purchase agreement for the building on Third Street in Tillamook that previously housed the Bureau of Land Management at their meeting on September 24.
signing courtrooms and moving the board of commissioners’ meeting room was completed in 2022, but forward momentum towards the annex stalled thereafter due to a funding gap. In early 2024, when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced plans to move to a new office at the Port of Tillamook Bay, the owner of the building on Third Street that had housed them, Sande Properties LLC of Redmond, listed the property for sale. Last July, county commissioners approved the purchase of the 13,000 square-foot building for $3 million, planning to use American Rescue Plan Act funds and a loan to cover the purchase price. Commissioners planned to access state funds to cover half of the budget for a remodel, projected to cost $12 million, while finding a way for the county to cover the balance. However, during the due diligence process, the county discovered that remodeling the building to meet court needs would be cost prohibitive and the sale fell through.
That led commissioners to contract with the DLR Group to complete a quantitative space needs assessment to help determine the best path forward. That assessment, completed in August, found that county departments needed an additional 13,000 square feet beyond the courthouse’s capacity to adequately meet their needs. The consultants also included five options for different combinations of departments that could be relocated to free up the necessary space. At the same time as that process was ending, Tillamook County Administrative Officer Rachel Hagerty told commissioners that another opportunity to purchase the building, at a lower price, had presented itself. Hagerty said that the tentative plan was for the board of commissioners’ office and board room, the treasurer’s office, and human resources and emergency management departments to move, as well as other departments that will be identified in the future. The purchase agreement in-
cludes a closing date of March 31, 2026, and Hagerty said that since while some due diligence had been performed last year, a survey and building inspection would still need to be completed and a financing method determined. Hagerty said that staff will now work to develop a financing package for the purchase, and that if the sale is consummated engineering and design for a renovation would be undertaken in 2026, allowing work to proceed in 2027 for a move-in late in that year. Commissioners Mary Faith Bell and Paul Fournier said that they were excited about the prospect of the sale and solving a longstanding issue that has bedeviled past boards and floated the possibility of staff into the building prior to a remodel. Commissioner Erin Skaar stressed that the sale agreement was not a final decision and that the sale would depend upon positive survey and inspection results and the idenSee COUNTY, Page A3
Headlight Editor
fter switching to a new catalogue management system this spring, the Tillamook County Library will be debuting a new website utilizing that software on October 1. Tillamook County Library Director Donald Allgeier and Systems Librarian Danielle Meininger said that the switch would retain all the current site’s features and give the library system greater input on updates to the web platform’s design. “This allows us to be in a position to be able to adapt, change things up,” said Allgeier. “That’s what we do in libraries anyway, on a day-to-day basis to try and make sure that libraries are able to meet people where they are.” Currently, the library uses the same web services provider as the rest of the county government, but when it was announced this summer that a forthcoming update would require a reworking of websites using the provider, the library started exploring its options. The library had just transitioned integrated library systems, used to manage collections and lending, from the Sierra system to the open-source Koha system paired with a discovery layer called Aspen in March, and were already using Aspen’s online platform for users to search its collection. Meininger found that Aspen had added website support to its offerings last year and recommended that the library use the service for its new site. The new site will be at the same address, tillabook.org, and contain all the same information and capabilities as the current site, though with a different organizational flow. Instead of drop-down menus, most library information will be located on an “About Us” page and there will be separate home pages for kids, teens and Spanish speakers. Presentation of events will be upgraded on the new site, with the new calendar color coding events based on which branch they occur at and allowing users to save events. One of the only changes with the switch is that patrons will now be required to be logged in to make materials requests. Allgeier said that because the website, like the integrated library system itself, is based on open source software that the library contracts with a third-party company to manage and update, he expects that their feedback will be integrated more quickly than it would with other providers. The library is also working to roll out a mobile app later this year, also using Aspen software, and Meininger said that patrons should call the library if they have any questions about the new site. “I would just stress that we haven’t gotten rid of anything, everything that was on the old site is there,” Meininger said, “so people should call us if they’re not finding what they’re looking for.”
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