Charity Drive Feb. 10th ~ 20th See full schedule
of events on page 8
Headlight Herald
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2023
City Council looking at code updates T
Will Chappell Headlight Reporter
illamook’s City Council addressed a light agenda at their regular meeting on February 6, discussing an update of the code and hearing a lengthy report from the city manager. The code refresh will be addressed again at the council’s first meeting in March, with public comment and a final vote. City Manager Nathan George said that the work on the code is not instituting any new ordinances, only updating it to reflect all ordinances that have been passed by the council. The last such comprehensive update took place in 2013. In addition to compiling passed ordinances, the code update will also remove city employee rules from the code. George said that this was best practice according to the city’s counsel and the rules will be included in the city’s employee handbook going forward. George also noted that rules for the council were not included in the current draft as the council had agreed they needed updating and he had omitted them to allow that to happen. Councilmember Rebekah Hopkins noted that an email from the city attorney addressing the employee rule issue had been included but not regarding the city council rules. George said that he had discussed removing the city council rules with city counsel verbally. Hopkins said that she would like to see the existing council rules added back into the code and to see typos in the document fixed. Other councilmembers agreed and decided to schedule public comment on the proposed update and the vote for March 6. George delivered his monthly report on city operations following the discussion, with the biggest news being an update to city hall’s hours. Starting February 13, city hall will be open from Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The change will allow residents to pay their bills in-person after work and allow contractors to come in earlier for permits, according to George, who also noted city hall saw light traffic on Fridays. Brian Reynolds was named council president and Councilor Doug Henson announced that he was working to bring a veteran’s memorial to the triangle of state land between First Street and Main and Pacific Avenues. Please send any comments to headlightreporter@countrymedia. net.
TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM
Charity Drive through ...
Alyssa Lester
THS student preparing for study Tillamook County’s recycling in Japan programs getting major overhaul
Charity Drive kicked off last Friday with events that raise money all over town. Pictured are Tillamook High School Sophomore team members washing cars at Main Street Pizza in Tillamook Saturday morning. See a complete list of events and other information about Charity Drive on page A8. Headlight photo by Joe Warren
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Will Chappell Headlight Reporter
illamook County’s recycling program is in the process of receiving a complete overhaul thanks to an Oregon Bill that is revamping the way recycling is handled across the state. Tillamook’s Solid Waste Program Director David McCall told county commissioners that the bill offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity and that his department will be gathering public input at a meeting on February 14. “It’s an incredible opportunity but we need to take advantage of that opportunity in the right way,” McCall told commissioners. Oregon’s 2021 Recycling Modernization Act was passed in response to tight import restrictions on recyclable materials imposed by the Chinese government in 2019. Prior to the implementation of the so called “Chinese Green Fence,” American recyclers had relied on exporting materials to the Chinese market for processing. The clamp down led to a free fall in the market for recyclable materials, according to McCall, drastically affecting the cost structure of Tillamook’s program, though not its scope. The recycling modernization act will standardize the recycling program across the entire state of Oregon and shift costs for recycling to the producers of waste products. By 2025, Oregonians will be able to recycle the same materials in any locality in the state and the
cost of recycling will be borne by producer responsibility organizations, or PROs. PROs are non-profits formed by the producers of recyclable and disposable waste, as well as some advertisers. Those companies fund the PRO, which in turn works with local governments to fund the costs of collection and recycling. This model aims to remove the cost to the public and governments, shifting it instead to the producers, according to McCall, who noted that the city currently loses money when recycling glass. The updated program will also reclassify many items as recyclable that have been excluded in recent years. It will go into effect in July 2025. The February 14 meeting will be held at 2:30 p.m. at the Tillamook Bay Community College in the building at 4506 3rd Street. Attendees will be updated on the program’s development to date and be offered a chance to offer input for state officials working on it. County commissioners approved $15,000 to permanently turn the Old Wheeler-Mohler Road
into a fire lane at the same meeting. The funds will pay for installation of a permanent fence with lock at the Highway 101 turnoff for the road and maintenance work to clear the right of wy of brush. The road, which connects Highway 101 to Highway 56, has been close to its intersection with 101 since a 2016 mudslide, though residents maintained access from 56. FEMA paid for repairs to the road that were completed in December 2022. Commissioners also approved a survey by Gallup to gauge county employee attitudes about workplace dynamics that will take place in mid-March. Finally, they signed a letter of support for the Tillamook Bay Watershed Council in its application for funding from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB). The council has not received funding from OWEB in several years after issues with the council’s management and had become fallow. It has since reformed its board and hopes that its new structure and leadership will allow it to secure funding this year. All three commissioners were enthusiastic in praising the work of Hawken Smith (?) who is chairing the new board and appeared at the meeting, and enthusiastically endorsed his work. Please send any comments to headlightreporter@countrymedia. net.
ODOT hosting open house to discuss Wilson River Hwy issues Will Chappell Headlight Reporter
Oregon Department of Transportation is EXCLUSIVE Thehosting an open house to discuss the ongoing Wilson River Highway
ORIGINAL
VOL. 135, NO. 7 • $1.50
study at the Port of Tillamook Bay on February 16. The event will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and ODOT will be gathering further feedback through an online survey from February 9 through March 2. ODOT has been conducting a study of Highway 6 since receiving funding in House Bill 4053 last year.
Senator Suzanne Weber sponsored the bill when she was a state representative. Highway 6 has long presented safety concerns and the study aims to identify the largest of those for a report for the state legislature, which will be completed by September. The report will contain a comprehensive list of the problems on the road and prioritize them to streamline future repairs. Both Weber and State Representative Cyrus Javadi, who won election to Weber’s old seat in November, told the Herald that they plan to propose legislation to remediate the issues following the study’s completion.
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Will Chappell Headlight Reporter
illamook High School Sophomore Alyssa Lester is preparing for a study abroad trip in Japan that will start in March. She’s wanted to visit the land of the rising sun since she was a kid and was inspired to finally apply for the program after meeting exchange students visiting Tillamook. “Seeing the exchange students and seeing the way they bring light into my life, I want to be that light for somebody else,” Lester said. “I want to inspire others the way they’ve all inspired me.” Lester will be leaving for Japan on March 21 for a ten-month study abroad program with AFS, but still has some fundraising to do to pay for the trip. Lester moved to Tillamook in 2019 to live with her aunt, Shelly Becker, after her parents lost their home in California and she was out of school for two years. Becker says that Lester began working hard in Tillamook to catch up on her missed education and build a sterling grade point average, which now sits at 4.5. Japan had been alluring to Lester since she was a little girl, when anime caught her imagination, and that interest blossomed into a passion for all aspects of Japanese culture as she grew older. When she came home enthused about meeting exchange students, Becker did some quick research and encouraged Lester to start thinking about the possibility of studying abroad. Lester realized that she would need to fund any potential trip, and quickly found a job at Flamingo Jim’s in Rockaway Beach while she began exploring the various programs. By last summer, she had decided to apply with AFS, which she said attracted her because of its focus on cross-cultural connections. “The AFS program especially works on bringing people together by their differences instead of segregating them by them,” Lester said, “I think that’s really beautiful.” After choosing the program, Lester applied last summer and was accepted. She is still waiting to hear where she will be going specifically and to be connected with her host family. Her stay will last for ten months, during which she will attend a Japanese-language school. Lester says her Japanese isn’t great but that she’s excited for the opportunity to learn by immersion and ready for the challenge. “I’m definitely really excited for challenges, that’s like the driving force of my whole being is being
n See THS, Page A3