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August 2, 2022
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Sheriff reduces patrol deputy responses JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net
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he Lincoln County Sheriff Office has reduced patrol deputy response to non-criminal calls for service and certain lower-level criminal complaints. Deputies began the reduction July 31, focusing primarily on responding to emergency and in-progress calls for service. Examples of non-criminal calls that will no longer receive Lincoln County deputy response include: • Noise complaints (including barking dogs) when there are no animal services deputies on duty • Camping complaints • Civil disputes • Home or business alarms • General welfare checks • Drug complaints that are based on personal use amounts • Non-criminal traffic crashes will generally not receive deputy response Criminal complaints involving minor property crimes with no suspects will be referred to the online reporting system. Citizens can expect delays from deputies contacting them to provide a case number. Deputies will be reprioritizing their available time for emergency response, including life and property threatening situations, according to Sheriff Curtis Landers. The reduction in service is due to what Landers classified as an extraordinarily low number of certified/sworn deputies available to handle emergency calls “We have been evaluating this situation for over a year and it doesn’t seem to be improving,” Landers said. “We have multiple contracts and a taxing district for law enforcement services that we need to uphold.”
Agency responsibilities In addition to the county’s regular service area, which includes all areas outside the cities of Lincoln City, Newport, and Toledo, the sheriff’s office also provides contractual enhanced law enforcement services for: • Two deputies for the City of Waldport. • One deputy funded by a voterapproved tax district and one paid by the Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians for the Siletz Law Enforcement District. • A forest deputy. • Two marine deputies primarily funded by the Oregon Marine Board. • A school resource deputy covering Toledo, and Waldport schools, half funded by the Lincoln County School District. “We are very fortunate to have these contracts and we want to make sure we are fulfilling them,” Landers said. “Even if we have every position filled and trained, twelve patrol deputies are not enough to fulfill our mission to enhance public safety, reduce the fear and impact of crime, and improve quality of life.” The number of patrol deputies funded by the Lincoln County general fund has relatively stayed the same over the last 30 years even as the county population and calls for service continued to grow, according to Landers. “If not for the multiple contracts, our patrol staffing would not have increased over the years,” he said, adding that the limited deputies available and resources needed throughout the county creates pressure for deputies to be promptly available for the most urgent needs. “We were spreading our resources too thin and were unable to adequately and consistently uphold our commitments,” Landers said. “Deputies assigned to contract areas will no longer be able to assist outside of their contract areas except for emergency situations.” Hiring challenges
Lincoln County Sheriff Curtis Landers. Courtesy photo. Landers said the cause of the sheriff’s office depleted staffing can be attributed to multiple factors. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has 12 patrol deputy positions funded by the county’s general fund for nearly 1,000 square miles of patrol area in Lincoln County. Due to staffing turnover, which include retirements, normal attrition, deputies transferring to other areas, or leaving the law enforcement profession, combined with past hiring restrictions caused by county budget constraints, the sheriff’s office is not able to maintain staffing at adequate levels. Currently the sheriff’s patrol division has five patrol deputies in training and three vacant positions. It takes approximately one year for a deputy to complete training and begin patrolling on solo status. “We want our deputies to be proactive again which will help reduce crime,” Landers said “Responding to every call we receive spreads our resources very thin and makes us unable to be proactive and able to respond to in-progress emergency situations. We hope this will improve service to those most threatening situations.” Final solutions distant Landers said while he has repeatedly
Lincoln County to consider donating property for Habitat for Humanity HILARY DORSEY Editor
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incoln County will vote Wednesday, Aug. 3, whether to approve transfer/donation of property to Habitat for Humanity for the creation of affordable housing. The board of commissioners discussed the project during a meeting Wednesday, July 27. Brian Gardner, assistant county counsel, said the foreclosed property can either be put up for foreclosure sale or be donated for low-income housing, social services or child care services. “The subject property that we’re looking at was taken through foreclosure,” Gardner said. The property is located in the 4400 block of Salmon River Hwy. The assessed value is $54,950. Gardner was approached to look at a transfer of property to Habitat for Humanity for low-income housing. “For Lincoln County, it doesn’t do us any good to have foreclosed properties,” Gardner said. “We can’t do anything with them. If they’re foreclosed on, we basically have the option of selling them, keeping them but not doing anything with them which can create a liability issue, [or] getting back in the tax walls.” With this proposal, the county has some assurance of something to be developed in a speedy process. The state will work with Habitat to build housing for a wildfire survivor. “I’ve been engaged by Oregon Housing Community Services to help them create housing in the wildfire-
impacted counties, including Jackson, Lincoln, Lane and Marion counties,” said Tom Kemper, a housing consultant on the project. “We pursued manufactured home parts, tiny home villages and other housing alternatives.” Kemper said the state entered into a contract to make 140 modular homes. They committed to fund the development cost for two modular homes in Lincoln County. They will donate the modular unit to a local nonprofit – in this case, Habitat for Humanity. This home will be dedicated to a wildfire survivor. The development has to be done quickly. The Habitat for Humanity Board of
Directors has approved of the project pending the property donation. Once they have a contract from the state, they can approve that contract. “I’m excited to see this hopefully move forward,” Commissioner Kaety Jacobson said. The commissioners will make a decision on whether to transfer the property Wednesday, Aug. 3. Send comments to: newsguardeditor@countrymedia.net
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what type of financial steps we would need to take,” he said. “What we need to do first is get to the staffing levels that we are funded for, and then reevaluate where we are at.” With salary and benefits, a deputy position cost an estimated $80,000 annually, according to Landers. “We know we still will need more people even if we are fully staffed,” he said. “The main challenges will be funding as well hiring. We really need to give the service reduction plan a chance and let the dust settle. It is important to ensure to the public that we are still available to respond to their emergency calls. That’s why we are doing this.” The sheriff’s office operates with 29 deputies and contracted staff, the sheriff, a lieutenant, patrol commanders, and three sergeants. Follow this developing story at thenewsguard.com and in the printed version of The News Guard.
City council to consider parking, traffic control measures on NW Quay Drive HILARY DORSEY Editor
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incoln City Council will consider Monday, Aug. 8, a resolution that would establish parking and traffic control measures for a portion of NW Quay Drive, from Hwy 101 to NW 32nd Street. The resolution would prohibit on-street parking on both sides of the street of NW Quay Drive between Hwy 101 and NW 32nd Street. The council discussed the resolution Monday, July 25, and voted to consider it during the next meeting. This is a residential neighborhood near a commercial development, Oceanlake Veterinary Clinic, separated by NW Quay Drive. The right of way is 30 feet wide. The pavement is between 16-20 feet wide. The city standards require a minimum 20 foot travel lane. The city engineer determined there is inadequate street width to permit on-street parking on either side of the street. It was recommended that the council prohibit on-street parking on both sides of Quay Drive from Hwy 101 to NW 32nd Street. Several citizens voiced their concerns about the resolution during the public comment period. Concerns included not having enough room for emergency vehicles to pass through if the parking is allowed, the narrowness of the road and a lack of notice to the public. Oceanlake Veterinary Clinic would like to continue parking along the street. City Attorney Richard Appicello said the city has been conducting traffic control surveys over the last six years. “In the last couple of years especially, we had a bunch of traffic control resolutions in Olivia Beach,” Appicello said. “The council actually had a work session on parking in the fall of 2020, I believe.” After the work session, staff came back with recommended traffic control measures for certain segments. The code is clear that the council has the authority to regulate right of way, Appicello added. The city has not granted any uses for parking in the right of way for Oceanlake Veterinary Clinic. “We do traffic control based upon actual measurement of the right of way and safety and city engineer considerations,” Appicello said. “When these things get brought to our attention, we exercise traffic control authority.”
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Mayor Susan Wahlke said notice was not required but there was a verbal agreement to give neighbors and the veterinary clinic a week’s notice. The public works department sent a courtesy notice to neighbors of the city council meeting. The letter referenced the resolution. Appicello said there was a reference during public comment that public works told the clinic they could park along the street but the city has not granted any uses for parking for the clinic. “The way our code is written now, we need 20 feet of unobstructed right of way,” Public Works Director Stephanie Reid said. “Quay is currently paved between 18-20 feet wide only. The entire right of way is 30 feet wide.” Because of the way the right of way sits, there is no room for a car to park without impacting that 20 feet, Reid added. This is from the fire code. “The off-street parking requirement is specifically one space per 400 square feet of useful floor area, plus one space per employee,” Planning & Community Development Director Anne Marie Skinner said. “When the applicant submitted the development review application, they showed 16 off-street parking spaces. Their application provided the calculations showing that 16 off-street parking spaces were required.” The clinic had stated that they had 11 employees. Eleven of the 16 spaces met the requirement. Reid said the intent was that the clinic would not park along the street. Councilor Mitch Parsons said it has been a goal of the council to have more public input. He suggested continuing the discussion at the next meeting. The council voted and agreed to continue the discussion on Monday, Aug. 8. Send comments to: newsguardeditor@countrymedia.net
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INDEX Police Blotter ............... 2 Crossword .................... 4 Obituaries .................... 4
requested more funding from the county board of commissioners, he understands that the county budget has limited resources. Voters rejected a funding request in 2018 that would have given the sheriff’s office some financial relief and strengthened service levels. How service levels into the future should be addressed is still undecided, according to Landers. “This reduction in services is still new,” he said. “We still need to make some adjustments. It may turn out okay. We may be able to priorities our calls and meet demands.” But looking ahead, Landers said he hopeful his agency can hire the deputies that are funded under the current budget, which include three patrol deputies and fire jail deputies. Landers admits, that even when his agency is fully staffed, there won’t be the number of deputies needed to meet the service call demands. “We are going to have to consider
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