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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2023

Brookings, Oregon

Brookings Council rehires suspended city manager BY ROGER GITLIN For The Pilot

The City of Brookings rehired suspended City Manager Janelle Howard, with a new contract. The vote was 4-1, with Councilor Isaac Hodges dissenting. Howard recently pleaded no contest to a theft three violation which the Curry County District Attorney Joshua Spansail reduced from a misdemeanor. The convicted city manager was arrested for shoplifting from the Fred Meyer Store on July 4. While her case meandered through the court system, Howard was fully paid while the city hired two city manager pro tems. Three members in the audience addressed the councilors, expressing varying levels of opposition to re-hiring Howard. Former Councilor John McKinney, speaking on behalf of some anonymous city employees, called the action to rehire

Photo by Roger Gitlin

The Brookings City Council discusses whether to re-hire Janell Howard after she was suspended for stealing for Fred Meyer last year. The council voted 4-1 to bring Howard back as city manager effective February 1.

Please see MANAGER Page A3

Whaleshead Resort water again a concern Finalists for House District 1 position chosen BY DAVID RUPKALVIS For The World

Courtesy of David Knight

This cluster of large water tanks supply much of the upper portion of Whaleshead with water.

Residents have been without water for more than a week BY JULIE AKINS For The Pilot

When Whaleshead Resort resident David Knight needs water for his manufactured home he has to trek down the winding road to the ofﬁce with a ﬁve gallon bucket.

“It’s heavy and I’m able to do it, but I’ve got a neighbor who’s disabled. He could never make it,” says Knight. 29 homes in the resort have been without water for a week, others are on an eight day boil notice and still others have restricted use.

This isn’t the ﬁrst time the resort, located across from the Paciﬁc Ocean in Curry County, has encountered water issues. Since 2015 residents and vacation renters have complained about water line failures. This latest outage is reportedly

due to a water line breakage more than a week ago. Park residents claim owner, Andrew Cramer, told them he won’t ﬁx it until a crew from Medford can come out. Several attempts to reach man-

• Improving outcomes in early literacy and K-12 schools. “Every Oregonian, no matter their race or zip code, deserves to have the same chances,” Kotek said. “My mission as Oregon’s Governor will always be to deliver results and move the state forward to build the Oregon we all want to live in. This vision for Oregon’s future cannot be realized in one budget cycle. But this plan provides

a roadmap for how we are going to reach our state’s long-term goals.” Oregon is entering a challenging and complex budget environment with about $3.5 billion of one-time funding, spurred by resources from the federal government, about to expire, according to Kotek, adding that the recommended budget still includes a path to make targeted investments because of prudent budget management to build histor-

ic reserves in recent years. Kotek has recommended keeping the existing $2 billion of reserve funds in place, and redirect $765 million that would have been automatically added to these reserves into targeted investments aimed at better serving Oregonians in these three key areas. Highlights of the budget recom-

Please see WATER Page A4

Kotek unveils budget recommendations THE PILOT Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has unveiled her budget recommendations for the 2023-25 biennium, titled “Mission Focused.” The recommendations focus on three top priorities: • Building more housing and reducing homelessness • Improving access to mental health and addiction services

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Please see BUDGET Page A9

Curry County Commissioner Court Boice is among the finalists nominated to represent House District 1 in the Oregon Legislature. Boice was joined by Jeremy Dumire, Karl Popoff and Denesa Rains as finalists after Republican precinct committee members met and discussed the vacancy. The list of the candidates was sent to county commissioners in Coos, Curry and Douglas counties, who met Thursday to choose the next state representative. Look at currypilot.com to see who commissioners chose. The move to find a new state representative came after former Representative David Brock Smith was appointed in the same process to the state Senate. Brock Smith replaced Dallas Heard, who resigned at the end of the year. When Brock Smith was chosen to move to the Senate, it left the House seat vacant. House District 1 includes all of Curry County, the eastern portion of Coos County, including Bandon, Coquille and Myrtle Point, and a smaller portion of Douglas County. Boice, who is serving his second term as county commissioner in Curry County, is the most well known of the candidates. He won both of his elections to the county commission easily, but has been involved in controversy with other commissioners in recent years. Boice told The World he was happy to see Brock Smith get the Senate seat, saying it was great for Southern Oregon and the region. He said he was not campaigning for the open House seat, but he feels things have imPlease see HD1 Page A3

Phone Number: 541-813-1717 • Address: 519 Chetco Ave, Ste 7, Brookings, 97415 • Email: Circulation@CountryMedia.net A4

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