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Oceanside parking fee draws local concern

Easter Church Services Page A4

Genoa Healthcare Pharmacy opens in Tillamook County Page A8

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Headlight Herald

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 | Vol. 138, Issue 13

$2.00

www.TillamookHeadlightHerald.com

Ribbon cut on new Coatsville playground equipment

Tillamook council set to consider substantial wastewater rate increases

Will Chappell Headlight Editor

C

ommunity members, city councilors and staff, representatives from the Tillamook Coast Visitors Association, Moda Health and the Trailblazers, and Blaze the Trail Cat gathered at Coatsville Park in Tillamook on March 21, to celebrate the addition of a new piece of all-ability playground equipment and resurfacing of the park’s playground. The major upgrades were made possible by grants totaling $75,000 from the Tillamook Coast Visitors Association (TCVA) and Moda Assist Program, and Tillamook City Manager Sean Lewis told the crowd that gathered to celebrate that the project reflected the community’s values. “This project is about creating a space where children, regardless of abilSee coatsville, Page A2

Will Chappell Headlight Editor

W

offering everything needed to prepare your home and garden for the warmer months. The show will kick off on Saturday the 25th, with a full day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and free admission, before a shorter day on Sunday, with doors open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

ith a new wastewater master plan and associated capital improvement plan nearly complete, Tillamook’s city council will discuss sewer rate increases of between 40% and 60% identified as necessary in the plans at their upcoming April meetings. Tillamook City Manager Sean Lewis and Public Works Director Shawn Burge recently sat down with the Headlight Herald to discuss the system’s state and reasons for the proposed increases. Lewis explained that the city remains saddled with considerable debt after a mid-2000s intervention by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) forced the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant and that debt, combined with a lack of rate increases, has left the city unable to adequately maintain and upgrade the system, risking another DEQ intervention. “What this capital improvement plan really is looking to do is get us to where we can have a good, quality sewer system so that we’re not in a situation where DEQ comes in and forces us, which, again, that has happened in the past, we are the poster children for that happening, and it’s threatening to happen again,” Lewis said. “If we don’t improve this, we will be forced to do another DEQ intervention, which then we don’t control the rates, and they can raise them triple what we’re proposing with no say from us.” Tillamook’s wastewater management system has long bedeviled city staff, with persistent environmental concerns eventually leading DEQ to step in in the mid-2000s, forcing the city to build a new sewage treatment plant on the city’s west side at a cost of around $18 million. Today, servicing that project’s debt consumes 45% of the revenues generated by the current $90 flat rate charged to customers monthly, according to Lewis, and thanks to a past refinancing, the debt will not be fully repaid until after 2040. Compounding that issue, rates have only been increased four times since 2010, each time by

See home & Garden, Page A2

See rate increase, Page B2

Blaze the Trail Cat and Tillamook Mayor Aaron Burris help a group of local youth cut the ribbon on the new all-ability playground equipment at Coatsville Park.

County commissioners finalize ex-BLM building purchase Will Chappell Headlight Editor

A

fter entering a purchase agreement for the former Bureau of Land Management Building on Third Street on Tillamook’s east side in September, Tillamook County commissioners finalized the purchase of the $2.475-million building on March 25. Commissioners also approved a package to finance the purchase, greenlighting a $2 million loan from Business Oregon that will be repaid in 18 years using existing revenue sources in the county’s budget and a downpayment from a long-untouched fund. The county has been looking for ways to upgrade, supplement See ex-blm building, Page B1

Get ready for the Home and Garden Show Will Chappell Headlight Editor

W

ith spring break in the rearview mirror and summer on the horizon, it’s time to mark your calendars for the Tillamook Headlight Herald’s 37th annual Home and Garden Show on April 25 and 26, at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds.

Headlight Herald

This year’s show, again cosponsored by Tillamook County Solid Waste, will feature the crowd favorite Bee Days from the Tillamook Beekeeper’s Association, presentations from representatives of the Tillamook Fire District and Bay City Fire Department on their entities’ proposed mergers and of course, the Kiwanis Scholarship raffle, and vendors

Tillamook Beekeepers Association

Annual Bee Days

Celebrating the 250th Birthday of the United States of America Raffle Prize: Commemorative 1776-2026 Beehive

& BEE DAYS 2026 Tillamook Beekeeper Assoc.

Cosponsored by Tillamook County Solid Waste

itizen Sat. & Sun. April 25-26,C2026 North Coast

Saturday, April 30

or d n e V ings Book -7535 842

503-

FREE ADMISSION FREE PARKING

FREE ADMISSION 9 am to 4 pm Saturday 9 am to 4 Sunday 11 am to 4 pm atpm Tillamook• County Sunday, May 1 Bee Day 2022 11 am to 4 pm at the TillamookFairgrounds County Fairgrounds Tillamook Beekeepers Association is Presenting

IN THIS ISSUE Send us a news tip at tillamookheadlightherald.com | Your message could be the first thing our readers see! News A2-3, 8, B1-3 Opinion A4-7 Obituaries A7 Classifieds B4-8

Weather Tuesday 3/31

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Monday 4/6

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