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Lawsuit against North Bend dismissed AMY MOSS STRONG The World

NORTH BEND — A lawsuit filed against the City of North Bend challenging the legality of the city’s Public Safety Fee has been dismissed by a Coos County Circuit Court judge. Judge Andrew Combs issued his letter of opinion on July 31 in the case of McPherson et al vs. Coos Bay-North Bend Water Board et al dismissing all claims filed by Douglas and Debra Bankler and Lois McPherson.

The crux of the opinion is that the City of North Bend has the authority under its city charter to create the Public Safety Fee and have the Water Board collect it from ratepayers on North Bend’s behalf, according to a case summary prepared by Stebbins & Coffey, Attorneys at Law practicing in North Bend. The lawsuit cost the City more than $60,000 in outside attorney’s fees, according to the City. The original complaint was filed on Oct. 7, 2019 by Douglas

Bankler, Debra Bankler and Lois McPherson and their attorneys from the Oregon Legal Center, the summary states. The complaint sought certification as a class action on behalf of all current and former residents paying the fee and who were low income as defined by the federal government. The City of North Bend opposed the class action certification and Coos County Circuit Court Judge Megan Jaquot issued an opinion and order on April 22, 2020 denying class

certification. That decision was followed by McPherson and the Banklers filing an Amended Complaint on May 5, 2020 in which they sought a declaration that the imposition and collection of the Public Safety Fee was illegal. The Amended Complaint also asked that the City of North Bend and the Water Board: • Provide an accounting of all money paid for the Public Safety Fee from April 1, 2017 to the present. • Appoint an independent

Amy Moss Strong, The World

North Bend Swimming Pool.

NB closes swimming pool AMY MOSS STRONG The World

NORTH BEND — The City of North Bend has decided to close the North Bend Aquatic Center for fiscal year 2020-21 and will use the savings to offset the loss of public safety funds brought on by the May vote. “Our motto at the pool is ‘Your safety is our priority,’” said KayLee Kocher Marone in a email to The World. Marone is the North Bend Aquatic Center manager and works for the City of North Bend. “Between that driving force in the current pandemic, and having a fiscal responsibility to the citizens of North Bend, the decision has been made to not operate the pool for fiscal year 2020-2021,” Marone wrote. “The savings will be used to offset the loss of funds for public safety due to Measure 6-177 and the inability to increase fees without a vote of the people brought on by Measure 6-176 to cover the increased

costs of operating the pool under COVID-19 precautions.” The increased operating costs coupled with lower revenue due to the restrictions placed by Phase 2 of the state’s re-opening guidelines led the city to the decision to shutter the pool for the year. The city hopes to take the year to figure out a plan moving forward on how to fund the pool outside of the General Fund, Marone said. Citizens can email pool@northbendcity.org to be involved in the process. “It has not been an easy, nor quick decision,” Marone said. “I learned to swim at this pool and came back after 20 years away, so it is near and dear to my heart. This has been rough. I was planning its 75th anniversary and working on major energy trust projects and now this.” Public safety shortfall In May, voters passed Ballot Measure 6-177, which reduced the Public Safety Fee from $30 to $15 and cut the Public Safety

budget by $785,000. To make up for the shortfall, the city had to cut five officers and dissolve two officer positions from the Police Department, leaving 12 officers on staff. O’Connor said the city is trying to resolve the funding issues, but in the meantime has reached into its contingency funds for round-the-clock police coverage, something O’Connor said the city was not sure it could provide after the loss of revenue. That and an uncertain financial future has led the city to look at alternate ways of funding the programs that exist in the General Fund that compete with fire and police funding, including the swimming pool, parks and the community center. At the July 14 meeting, the City Council requested additional information regarding costs for mothballing the swimming pool. “With the citizens of North Bend deciding they no longer wished to support the provision of public safety to the tune of

50 cents per day, the city is left with the issue of how to provide public safety with $785,000 less,” O’Connor wrote in his city administrator’s report for the July 14 meeting. “The proponents of the initiative measure to reduce the public safety funds have proposed a one-year fix to the problem utilizing onetime monies. That clearly is a ‘kick the can down the road’ solution.” To place the minimum necessary numbers of police officers to retain a full 24-hour/365 presence requires adding three officers back, O’Connor wrote, which would bring the total to 16 officers. The cost of adding the three officers back would be $315,000 with the necessity of adding back one dispatcher at a cost of $80,574 to bring the number of dispatchers to six, for a total of $395,574. Citizens could fund pool “For the sake of beginning a discussion, I would seriously Please see Pool, Page A8

OLCC suspends alcohol license of speedway Aug. 14 monster truck event drew big crowd, but few face coverings, no social distancing The World PORTLAND — The Oregon Liquor Control Commission on Thursday, Aug. 20, issued an Order of Immediate License Suspension to the licensee of Coos Bay Speedway Enterprises in Coos County for allegedly violating public health social distancing and face covering requirements. The business, which holds a Limited On-Premises

sales license is not allowed to sell any alcoholic beverages. On Friday, Aug. 14, the operators of the Coos Bay Speedway staged an event with a crowd OLCC compliance staff estimated to be attended by 1,000 or more people, OLCC said in a press release. Under Oregon’s Phase 2 Reopening Guidance counties venue and event operators are required to limit outdoor gatherings to 250 people. Coos County currently is in Phase 2. OLCC inspectors also reportedly saw that there was an absence of social distancing between spectators, and that few of the race track staff or patrons were wearing face coverings, Please see Speedway, Page A8

John Gunther, The World

Racers compete Saturday in the Old Time Racers division at Coos Bay Speedway. The evening was held without alcohol sales after a ruling by OLCC that suspended the speedway’s license. See a story about the races Saturday on Page B4.

Photo gallery: Oregon National Guard soldiers return home Photo gallery: South Coast Hospice Thrift Store to reopen AT THEWORLDLINK.COM D  •  Serving Oregon’s South Coast since 1878  •  A Country Media Newspaper  •  Copyright 2020 Follow us online:

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auditor at the expense of the City and the Water Board to examine all expenditures from the Public Safety Fee funds. • Require that the City and the Water Board to pay all monies that were spent in violation of the North Bend City Charter into a constructive trust. • Require that the City and Water Board refund all amounts charged in violation of the North Bend City Charter in the amount of $192,500. • Award to the Banklers and Please see Lawsuit, Page A8

Republicans officially nominate Trump

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump turned a surprise opening-day appearance at his party’s scaled-down national political convention into an opportunity to cast doubt on the integrity of the fall election just moments after delegates nominated him for a second term. “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” Trump said as he made an unscheduled appearance at the party’s scaled-down convention. The convention kicked off with a day of “official business” in Charlotte before moving to Washington, D.C. for prime-time programming. Trump has sought to minimize the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, but its impact was plainly evident at the Charlotte Convention Center, where just 336 delegates gathered instead of the thousands once expected to converge on this city for a weeklong extravaganza. Attendees sat at well-spaced tables at first and masks were mandatory, though many were seen flouting the regulation. Attendees crowded close to the state when Trump spoke. The GOP convention is a crucial moment for Trump, who is trailing in national and battleground state polls and under intense pressure to turn the race around. Just 23% think the country is heading in the right direction, while 75% think it’s on the wrong path, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The fact that the Republicans gathered at all stood in sharp contrast to the Democrats, who held an all-virtual convention last week. The Democratic programming included a well-received roll call video montage featuring diverse officials from across the nation. The Republicans spoke from the ballroom and were overwhelmingly white. Trump said he had made the trip to contrast himself with his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, who never traveled to Wisconsin, the state where the Democratic convention was originally supposed to be held. And in a nearly hour-long speech, Trump once again sowed doubts about the integrity of November’s election as he laced into mail-in voting, which experts say has proven remarkably safe. “Be very very careful,” he told the crowd as he concluded. “This is the most important election in the history of the country. Don’t let them take it away from you.” Trump also panned the state’s Please see Trump, Page A8

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