Author: North Coast BBQ

I emailed the City Manager and asked if she could confirm that the above insurance premiums that she claimed to have negotiated for the water system property were for the property and liability coverage with City County Insurance (CIS). No response.

I asked if she could provide the year and month that these negotiations took place and who at CIS she had conducted these negotiation with. No response.

Since the City Manager indicated that the Accounting Manager had been involved in these negotiations, I emailed the Accounting Manager and asked if she could briefly describe her role in these negotiations including who at CIS was involved and when this took place. No response.

Failing to get any answers, I contacted the Property/Causality Trust Director for CIS and asked if a city can negotiate with CIS over costs for insurance coverage. The answer was “ We do not negotiate the cost of coverage”.

The City Manager also stated “we process significantly more invoices to the tune of about 50% of all of the financial transactions that occur in the City are for the water department and that is clearly indicated in the analysis that shows in the Materials and Services.”

A simple fact check of water department invoices processed by City Hall staff are nowhere near 50% of the annual Material and Services transactions claimed by the City Manager and is yet another exaggeration of City Hall support services to justify transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars of Water Fund revenue to the General Fund.

The City Manager claimed “other cities that I have worked in all have used an indirect cost method.” Since the City Manager’s resume only indicates previous city employment with one city, I emailed the City Manager and asked what other cities she has worked in and also in what capacity that would have allowed her to be this knowledgeable about their overhead allocation and budget policies to make this statement? No response.

This is not the first time that I had pointed out factual misstatements made in a public meeting by the City Manager and asked that she simply correct the public record so that citizens were not being mislead. In a response to this request, she emailed the Mayor and Council stating that I or apparently other citizens who point out her public misstatements are making “personal attacks” on her and she advises “we must discourage or even ignore them if necessary”.

The above instances of non responses to simple questions seeking clarification of her public statements on important community topics seems to confirm the City Manager’s determination to discourage and ignore those citizens that are asking questions that she does not have answers for. This is a clear instance of blacklisting. Citizens who are considered by a particular authority or group to a problem because of their insistence that public officials communicate truthfully should be relegated to second class status in their community. This policy would seem to extend to instructing other City staff to also follow her lead.

The routine misstatements and exaggerations are in themselves troubling. The boldness of any public official however, that suggests that they are entitled to recommend ignoring or discouraging any citizen in our community who seeks to hold them accountable for their statements is stunning.

Randy Kugler

Tillamook County ballots arrived are arriving in mailboxes this week and we have until May 16 to complete and turn them in.

Here is a list of candidates on our north county ballots that we three support. All have shown dedication to community service and support the mission of the organization they seek to serve.
Many are incumbents.

Tillamook Bay Community College—these are all incumbents.
Mary Jones
Andrea Goss
Shannon Hoff
Betsy McMahon
Mary Faith Bell

Transpiration District
Position 1: Jim Hefferman

Neahkahnie School District #56:
Zone 6: Michele Aeder
Zone 7: Joseph Carr (Although Tim Borman’s name appears on our ballots for Zone 7, he has suspended his campaign, and gives his endorsement to Joseph Carr.)

North County Recreation District:
Mary Gallagher

Nehalem Bay Health District:
Marc Johnson

Nehalem Bay Health District Bond Measure:
Yes

Bottom line: PLEASE VOTE!

Barbara McLaughlin
Lane deMoll
Vivi Tallman

I am a retired nurse and clinical nursing specialist. Because I am concerned about our community’s health care, I have been attending the Nehalem Bay Health District (NBHD) Board meetings for the past 12 years. The changes that have occurred due to the hard work of the Nehalem Bay Health District Board under the leadership of Marc Johnson are awesome and inspiring.

The Health District has gone from being a land lord managing rentals, to being a driving force advocating for better health care for our community. We recently lost two local skilled care facilities for seniors. I never thought I would see the day that the quality of care at the Nehalem Valley Care Center would improve. But it has! A needs assessment was performed, a new management company found, staff hired, and strong is oversight provided by NBHD. I never thought anyone would have the foresight or be bold enough to try to renovate the Nehalem Valley Care Center, let alone help the Nehalem Bay Health Center and Pharmacy (formerly Rinehart Clinic and Pharmacy) get a new building. (Vote YES for local Health Care!) All of this extradorinaiy planning and foresight has occurred due to strong performance of the NBHD Board under the formidable leadership and drive of Marc Johnson. I strongly encourage you to vote for Marc Johnson for the NBHD Board in this upcoming election. His track record is outstanding and we could not do better.

Dianne Bloom BSN, MSN, CNM

These are important positions that benefit the Community over all. I only ask you to keep in mind that these Board seats are about the ‘“US’s” of the community not the “ ME’s”. It is about supporting an institution that started as a scrappy startup and over the years has grown into an extraordinary strong and vital institution to our Community – NCRD. We received International Financial recognition when Standard and Poor’s evaluated NCRD as a A+ Investment Grade Bond issuer and that must be preserved. NCRD is a living testament to the “US’s” of our community.

NCRD has been able to grow and prosper because of the Community’s willingness to devote their Time, Energy and Money to this extraordinary institution not for the sake of any individual ego’s but for the good of the Community over all.

In that spirit, we invite the entire Community to: 1). VOTE! 2). join “US” at the Pool Ground Breaking on May 9, 2023 at 4PM. Please bring your own trowel or shovel. There will be no “Officials” there to take credit but instead NCRD gives credit where it belongs, to the Community as a whole…..the Community did it without help from any officials. We, the Community, did it ourselves! Please come celebrate!

Jack Bloom
Board President