Category: General Interest

Submitted By: cava02@centurylink.net – Click to email about this post

Tillamook County Retired Educators and Teachers PAC, TREAT, has endorsed five candidates for re-election to the Tillamook Bay Community College Board of Education.

Mary Jones, Position 1
Andrea Goss, Position 2 (unopposed)
Shannon Hoff, Position 4 (unopposed)
Betsy McMahon, Position 5
Mary Faith Bell, Position 7

All five candidates deserve and need your vote. These current board members have helped guide the college in its development of strong academic and vocational training that is accessible to everyone in our community.

Go to the TREAT website at www.tillamookretiredteachers.org for more information about each of these candidates. TREAT is also on Facebook at tillamookretiredteachers.

Below are the three TBCC Board candidates who are running opposed. Your vote for them will be a vote for public education and the success of ALL students.

Submitted By: elaskey86@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

First, I’d like to thank the Tillamook County Pioneer and MooVoter for putting on the event Friday night. I enjoyed participating!
There were a couple of topics we discussed in the forum that I would like to revisit and clarify.

One topic that really concerns me is some residents not feeling welcome at the NCRD. I have used the NCRD my entire life, and now almost daily for over 6 years, and not once did I ever have any feeling of un-welcomeness. Perhaps that’s just my experience. However, I’m aware that a few private groups did practice some exclusions during Covid and that this did leave some people with bad feelings. I would like to take a look at policy regarding the use of the NCRD space, keeping in mind that we want all people to feel comfortable, safe and welcome.

Another topic I want to touch on addresses the inclusivity of the NCRD due to scholarships based on financial need. It was mentioned in Friday night’s forum that there are no programs to ensure people with lower incomes can afford to participate at the NCRD. I thought this was odd because I was quite sure there were scholarships available to anyone who asks, but I don’t like speaking about topics unless I have the facts in front of me. I’ve now confirmed that indeed there are scholarships available, based on financial need, for participants in all three NCRD departments (Youth & Sports, Fitness and Aquatics.). In fact, in just the past six months, Friends of NCRD funded $2,737.30 for scholarships in Quarter 1 (Jan-Mar 2023) – and for Quarter 4 (Oct-Dec 2022) Friends funded $2,843.80 in scholarships. Those are sizable quarterly amounts and should not be forgotten or misrepresented. We should take great care in relaying correct information to the community. It’s important for people to know the NCRD is available to ALL residents of North County.

We can’t please everyone, and there’s always room for improvement. However, we can compromise and do our best. I spend a lot of time finding middle ground for my clients, and I know it is difficult at times.

If I’m elected as board member know that I will listen and problem solve for you. I will meet any obstacle head on and work to find the best solution. I think the NCRD is a great place and we’re so lucky to have it! Its success is only a refection of our community! So let’s continue to build on it!

Please vote for me, Erin Laskey-Wilson for NCRD board position #2!

Submitted By: rkinor@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

I admit to getting a bit nostalgic for those days not so long ago when the City proclaimed the Year of Kindness whereby “The City of Manzanita encourages community members to participate in spreading kindness and practicing respect, generosity, patience, and considerations of others at all times”.

Remember the recent admonitions made by some of the very same participants in Wednesday’s Council meeting to honor our citizen volunteers for their service to the community. Little did we know that that respect only applied to those volunteers that they deemed worthy of respect.

The last rites of civility were ably performed with a sermon on the ongoing dangers that I and others pose to the community. The lead officiant at the meeting and author of that day’s BBQ post unveiled a treasure trove of private emails between myself and Council members and public emails with the City going back to 2018 to prove her point. The choir chimed in on cue offering their testimonials with the fervor of a charismatic tent revival meeting.

The BBQ author would have you believe that my sharing informed opinions of how City government operates with our elected officials is a greater community concern than City staff who chose to not answer citizen questions and a City Manager who recommends ignoring and isolating citizens who she determines are making personal attacks on her by even asking questions.

My transgression was pointing out that the latest examples given by the City Manager of City Hall staff efforts to justify Water Fund transfers to the General Fund had failed a simple fact check. This was not worthy of a rebuttal or correction at Wednesday’s meeting because it must be too embarrassing to admit. Equal silence on ignoring and isolating citizens who ask questions must be interpreted that this is now acceptable City policy.

Please do read as much of the 478 pages of documents painstakingly reviewed to produce half a dozen snippets of out of context quotes to make the case that my “clandestine and destructive interference in our city’s affairs” must be stopped.

The warning signs that a cult like mindset is becoming a dominant feature of our local political culture should not be dismissed. The telltale characteristics include: Opposition to critical thinking. Isolating nonconforming community members and punishing them. Loyalty to those in position of authority.

May 3rd should be a wake up call for those that value civil liberties and the right to fully participate as a citizen in our local community decisions. I suspect that the sermons will continue and the choir will continue to rehearse until enough of the silent majority say enough.

Randy Kugler

Submitted By: sharlaksmith@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

Update

gofund.me/8381fabb

There is also an account at First Security Bank in Manzanita where donations can be made.
Thank you so very much for your support!!

Submitted By: allanmadeline@aol.com – Click to email about this post

I am writing to urge your support for the re-election of Marc C. Johnson to the Nehalem Bay Health District Board. He has provided strong and collaborative leadership since being appointed to the Board by the Tillamook County Commissioners in 2017 and being elected to a full term in I 2019.
During this period the Health District Board has done extensive community outreach and completed a five-year strategic plan. Under Marc’s leadership the District Board has strengthened collaboration with community partners.
With Marc’s strong and visionary leadership, the Health District has gained the support of Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and obtained $3 million in federal funding to be the foundation of the funding package necessary to build a new larger health center and to renovate and modernize the Nehalem Valley Care Center in Wheeler, the region’s only skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility.
I’ve worked with Marc Johnson on the North Tillamook Library Board both in my position as President and when he was President. He has continued strengthening the Library’s community presence in north Tillamook County and continued the financial planning for the future.
Marc lends his leadership skills and wisdom in communication strategies to the nonprofits in the community that have been fortunate to have him involved as a volunteer. In addition to the North Tillamook Library Friends, these include the Hoffman Center for the Arts, the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay and the Neahkahnie Water District.
Our community is fortunate to have Marc C. Johnson’s leadership at the Nehalem Bay Health District as this crucial time. I will vote for Marc and for the Nehalem Bay Health District’s general obligation bond measure on May 16, 2023.

Madeline Olson

Submitted By: andynorris21@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

The neo-con war-mongers now running the Democratic Party sent their FBI goons to arrest anti-war blacks.
Sad, sad, the Dems now the War Party.
www.democracynow.org/2022/8/10/black_socialist_chairman_fbi_raid_response

Submitted By: andynorris21@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

When the neo-con war-mongers of the Bush/Cheney/Clinton crowd decided to commit mass-murder in the Middle East, (with their sick war friends/campaign contributors making billions off the death and destruction, just like Russia/Ukraine today) I went to downtown Portland and handed out a hundred copies of Mark Twain’s ‘The War Prayer’.

I am now ‘handing it out’ to the war-mongers in the new, neo-con-run Democrat Party:

americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/the-war-prayer

Submitted By: andynorris21@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

This is the woman most-responsible for destroying the lives of millions of children while extorting them: she told children to shoot Big Tech’s new junk (that they never needed) so they could go back to school again. (link below)
How utterly shameful.
And she’s a teacher’s union president??? How did a child-abuser end up in that position?
Children barely get symptoms from SARS-CoV-2. I (and many many others) knew this from Day One. And history has already proven me/us correct. The mild, flu-like infection wasn’t the problem for the children.
What was devastating to the children, however, were the shutdowns and the sad-as-hell ‘remote learning’.
In fact, the school shutdowns did NOTHING to stop the spread of SARS or reduce hospitalizations, and likely made the children SICKER and more apt to contract a SARS infection.
“Shoot the vax kiddos, then we’ll let you go back to school.”
Extorting children is evil and shameful.
That the school closures would help children was always a hysterical lie from the ‘vax’ pushing criminals at Mode RNA, Pfizer, WHO, the CDC.
We have several such hysterical minds in our midst, and let’s keep them away from our children, shall we?
Here is one of the biggest child-abusers in American history, Randi Wiengarten. She is currently going around the talk show circuit claiming the horrendous and torturous school shutdowns, and the resultant suicides, drug abuse, and at-home child abuse were NOT her fault!!!!!
You wish honey. But we know what you did, we remember you!
Yes Randi, you are responsible for the massive suffering of millions of children and here is the proof you shameless liar:
https://twitter.com/michaelpsenger/status/1653804555895988224

Submitted By: cava02@centurylink.net – Click to email about this post

Tillamook County Retired Educators and Teachers PAC, TREAT, endorses the candidates below for Neah-Kah-Nie School District Board. To learn more about TREAT and why each candidate is endorsed, go to www.tillamookretiredteachers.org/.

TREAT is also on Facebook at tillamookretiredteachers.

Vote by May 16. Your vote matters!

Submitted By: BarefeetinthePNW@outlook.com – Click to email about this post

The developer of the Manzanita Lofts project went to LUBA February 27th, 2023 (Land Use Board of Appeals) which was created to simplify the appeal process, speed resolution of land use disputes, and provide consistent interpretation of state and local land use laws. The Planning Commission of Manzanita denied his application for a development of a a 34-unit complex between Classic Street and Dorcas Lane. The future hotel is planned to be adjacent to the north-east end of the Manzanita Links golf course. This hotel would face the green of the golf course’s Signature Hole #5.

Below is information from ORCA(Oregon Coast Alliance) concerning the Manzanita Lofts Development. ORCA’s mission is to protect the Oregon coast by working with coastal residents for sustainable communities; protection and restoration of coastal and marine natural resources; providing education and advocacy on land use development; and adaptation to climate change.

“Manzanita is not obligated to approve this project on remand; it is free to strengthen its legal rationale and deny it again for failure to meet city standards. ORCA suggests this is a course of action the city can, and should, take. The developers have not changed anything about the project this second time, except having convinced the city to design the remand hearing around their interpretation of the LUBA opinion. That, of course, biases the remand structure from the outset, and ORCA does not commend the city for allowing it.
 
“ Manzanita needs to do further work to determine whether, how, and to what extent the current proposal meets the city’s density standards for residences, and traffic and transportation standards. As the applicant does not appear to have changed anything substantial in the application to deal with the city’s concerns, ORCA hopes and trusts Council will continue its far-sighted protection of a vibrant residential area of town, and deny the project again, this time with a more watertight legal rationale to support its findings.”

For anyone who has been engaged in this process please attend in person or by zoom the May 15th 4:00 PM meeting of the Planning Commission.

A group of concerned citizens of Manzanita.

Submitted By: barbaraandchuck@nehalemtel.net – Click to email about this post

Constance is very diligent about acknowledging and expressing her gratitude to others for their work and efforts and cheers the team on!

Please vote for Constance Shimek for NCRD
Thanks,
Barbara McLaughlin

Submitted By: dwieb1@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

May 5th at 3am there was a black bear trying to get to our bird feeder (small seeds and sunflower in the shell). The bear was maybe 300 lbs, probably a female, and roaming the golf course area near the 3rd tee. Looks similar to one near the 8th green in a picture I saw back in the fall. Last year was terrible for berries the bears depend on so this one may have adjusted to living in the area to take advantage of garbage cans and bird feeders (and maybe the occasional pic-a-nic basket

Submitted By: andynorris21@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

One of the saddest moments of my life was pulling into Neahkahnie Middle School to pick-up my daughter and seeing dozens and dozens of sad, masked children, outside, standing six-feet apart, not talking, staring at their phones and feet.

The school shutdowns and mask mandates handed down from the CDC to the OHA to then Governor Brown to the boards of education traumatized a generation of children, drove up suicide rates, drove up drug abuse rates, increased domestic violence (specifically at-home child abuse), and set all of our children back emotionally and academically.

All of this was done ostensibly to prevent children from getting SARS-CoV-2, a disease from which the vast majority of children barely express symptoms.

Candidate Bayouth-Real has a history of social media posts containing hysterical views associated with the pandemic. Many of those posts suggest that the anti-scientific, unhealthy, and devastating restrictions placed on our children were not Draconian enough. She clearly lacks the balance and emotional stability needed to properly care for our children when difficult situations present themselves.

Landon Meyers is steadfast, firm, educated and a proven public servant. Our children need stability right now, they need a rock, they need someone who will fight for them, someone who will let them go to school, someone who will let them be children. Landon Myers is that someone.

Our children deserve a break from the hysterical covid tyrants. Let the kids learn, let the kids be kids.

Landon Meyers for School Board, Zone 2.

Andy Norris

Neahkahnie School District

Submitted By: andynorris21@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

The WHO says, today, that the ‘pandemic’ is over!

But let’s take a look at Fauci, the undeserved ‘hero’ of the last several years.

Fauci’s been accused of mass-murder for decades.

First AIDS, now ‘covid’.

Remember AIDS and AZT? I do.

rumble.com/v2m2pq2-nih-protests-1980s-against-fauci-suppressing-effective-treatments-pushing-d.html

Submitted By: tinnindeb@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

This is the story of one man’s relentless “war” with Manzanita’s City Council and City Manager as disclosed in a review of public records. We, the undersigned Manzanita voters, describe this story below in the interest of full transparency and in the hope that Mayor Deb Simmons will step up and stop this clandestine and destructive interference in our city’s affairs.
For the past five years, Randy Kugler, who was a city manager here 30 years ago, has persistently pushed his personal agenda on the Council and city administration because of what he calls “inept” public officials and a “complacent citizenry.” In 2018 and 2019, he pestered city staff to advance his budget and city hall proposals. Though unappointed and unelected, he pressured the Hoffman Center for the Arts Board to sell its property as part of an unauthorized city hall scheme. He issued imperious demands to the city manager if his requests were not answered quickly enough. Even now he continues a campaign of harassment of the current city manager. Mr. Kugler’s contempt for our entire community is best illustrated by his dismissal of “80-year-old EVC volunteers” as participants in a scheme to promote Manzanita as a “disaster destination.”
When he came in dead last in his 2020 bid for election to the Council, Mr. Kugler settled the next year on a new tactic—what he termed the “Simmons project.” As part of that project, Mr. Kugler joined forces with Bill Simmons, a similarly disgruntled resident. They chose Deb Simmons, Bill’s wife, as someone with the necessary “star power” to be the spokesperson for their positions on local issues. Mayor Mike Scott’s unexpected withdrawal from the 2022 mayoral race on June 2 presented the opportunity to put Deb forward as a candidate for mayor, which she announced three days after Scott withdrew.
After her uncontested election, Mr. Kugler began coaching Mayor Simmons for the role of mayor and dispensed advice to her and Councilors Brad Mayerle and Jerry Spegman as a self-appointed “trusted advisor.” He also prepped Mayor Simmons before Council meetings. Describing their campaign of disruption as a “war” in a March 9 email to Ms. Simmons, Mr. Kugler congratulated her on getting “Lelia [sic] to say some dumb things that I will further investigate.” He urged Mayor Simmons to be content with winning some “skirmishes” before moving on to “a battle here and there.” He encouraged her by saying, “You are getting better with each meeting. We’ll do some practice for next month.”
Did Manzanita voters elect Mr. Kugler as Mayor? Or did we elect Ms. Simmons? It appears from these public records that Mr. Kugler is pulling the strings behind the curtain. We do not object to the Mayor seeking advice from a trusted advisor, but Mr. Kugler has been an obsessive faultfinder for many years. He has consistently shown disdain for any opinions other than his own—on a new city hall, allocation of overhead costs, and short-term rentals. We urge Mayor Simmons to sever her relationship with a man who has harassed our city managers and sought to tear this city apart rather than to bring people together as the Mayor has said she wants to do. We also urge the City Council to support the City’s employees and protect them from harassment.
Deb Tinnin Judy Sugg Doug Sparks Kim Rosenberg Ben Rosenberg Connie Burton Bruce Burton Linda Kuestner Mark Kuestner Cindy Kenne Jack Kenne Paula Peek William Peek Brad Hart Christopher Mullins Lee Hamilton Laura Bailey Jenny Greenleaf Mary Marken Toni Greening Richard Neuman Thomas Aschenbrener Trevor Eastman
Public records request link This link provides access to 478 pages of records dating back to 2018 provided by the City of Manzanita in response to a public records request.
Here’s the full link: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zynKMPsX09z5Q6sTIg9DWRuMdHUW8JTR
Sources for this document Paragraph 2: February 13, 2018, Kugler email to Alamillo and Scott; August 26, 2019, Kugler email to Alamillo; August 2, 2021, Kugler email to Aman; February 16, 2023, Kugler email to Simmons, Spegman, and Mayerle; April 29, 2023, Tillamook County Pioneer op-ed Paragraph 3: August 28, 2021, Spegman email to Kugler; November 11, 2021, Kugler email to Spegman; June 6, 2022, BBQ post Paragraph 4: Kugler emails dated January 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 22, 23, 25, 2023; February 16, 19, 2023; March 6, 9, 14, 21, 2023; February 26 and March 9, 2023, Simmons emails to Kugler)

Submitted By: dixiegainer@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

This from Suzanne Weber:

Today I am announcing that I am suing Senate President Rob Wagner and legislative leadership.
It has become clear that some members of the legislature don’t even know what is in some of their most extreme legislation. There is no greater example of this than the audible gasp that was heard from one sponsor of HB 2002 when they found out in a public hearing that their bill would allow a 10 year old girl to get an abortion without her parents even knowing about it.
It made me wonder; how could someone not know how extreme legislation they put their name to really is? How could they not understand what is in their own legislation.
The reality is that legislation and summaries of legislation are regularly written at a comprehension level of college graduate or higher.
The Senate has a rule against this. It’s a rule that we’ve been violating for a very long time and now, because of some of the most extremist legislation the Oregon Legislature has ever considered, we are reaping the results.
I brought this up on the floor to President Wagner. He ignored me. I objected. He overruled me. He will not ignore me now.
I cannot stand for such disregard of the rules, the law and the constitution.

Dixie Gainer says –
Dear Tillamook County resident, The Democrats, including Governor Kotek, are behind this atrocious rule making abortion and gender change available to ten year olds without parental knowledge. Do you really want a ten year old person getting an abortion or gender changes without parental notification? Really! Our Oregon legislature is totally corrupt as I have been pointing out from time to time – caused by a practically 14 year Democrat majority.
Even though the Oregon constitution says that Oregon voters get to vote for their supreme court justices – every supreme court judge in Oregon has been placed there by Kate Brown. The Democrats, including Governor Kotek, are behind this atrocious rule, making abortion and gender change available to ten year olds. This means that more than likely if the supreme court rules on this – they will rule in favor of the violator of the rules. You can make a lot of money on the side if you are a legislator in Oregon! Recently Shemia Fagan, our Secretary of State tried to do that but was caught!

Submitted By: tevisdiii@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

POLITICAL/ SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Here’s a challenge for for anyone who appreciates proper, civil English diction, theater, and seamless editing, presenting very important information at rapid fire speed,( keeping up with him being one aspect of the challenge and the other is to consider the ideas).

If you accept the challenge, bear in mind that the first few minutes are Mr. Brands standard introduction, then the show begins.

Enjoy,
Tevis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkgncTyfxTo

Submitted By: danielccarroll@comcast.net – Click to email about this post

Today I stopped in at the Handy Creek Bakery in Wheeler to pick up some tasty treats and meet Erin Laskey. Erin impressed me as a kind, enthusiastic young mother with some wonderful ideas regarding the future of NCRD. After chatting for about 20 minutes, I felt like she would make an excellent representative reflecting the family values that I and most of my friends hold with high regard. My friends tend to be people that work in the construction trades, Dairy Farmers, work at the bank, deliver your rock or concrete, our first responders or work at the lumber yard – you know, the folks that work hard and get things done around here. Erin struck me as someone who would do a great job representing those of us that don’t have a lot of time to get involved but appreciate what NCRD offers them and their families. I offered to put one of her yard signs up for her. In the past, I have put up yard signs for candidates in my friends pasture at the corner of Hwy. 53 and Northfork rd., only to have them stolen within 24 hours. During the 23 years I have been part of this community, I believe this is only the second post I have ever sent to the BBQ. So my ask is, if you are planning on voting for the person that is running against Erin, don’t steal Erin’s sign. Don’t try to silence the opposition. Our community is too great to lower to such intolerant tactics.
-Dan Carroll

Submitted By: elaskey86@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

I’m posting this on Linda’s behalf, Thank you Linda!

ERIN HAS MY VOTE
There are two candidates for Director 2 position on the board of North County Recreation District. Both candidates express a passion and energy for making changes at NCRD. Here is why Erin Laskey-Wilson has my vote.
First, I’m voting for Erin because I support her goals to bring back the fully inclusive “learn to swim” program and to grow the youth sports and family activities at NCRD. As a young parent whose children use the facilities, she is aware of the need in this community for expanding inclusive children and family services.
Second, as a lifelong patron of NCRD for swim lessons, child care, children’s activities, adult fitness, she has a broader, deeper awareness of the programs, services, and needs of the organization.
Erin believes in the greatness of NCRD and has a passion for making it greater. I believe that Erin is the best candidate for Director #2 position on the NCRD board.
Linda Makohon

Submitted By: Moliver@nvcarecenter.org – Click to email about this post

Looking for entertainment of any kind (volunteers are always welcome) for our residents at Nehalem Valley Care Center. Please contact me if you’re interested! Wishingfortherain@gmail.com

Submitted By: bachase411@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

If you want to be an informed voter in our county, you must become a persistent detective. Thanks to our local media for publishing letters as one way to learn about candidates!

In this election, voters will determine leadership of the Nehalem Bay Health District (NBHD) Board. As a Wheeler resident, I first became aware of this Board when it was doing little to improve local health outcomes. More recently, the reconstituted Board is remarkable for what it is delivering: a strategic plan shaped by citizen involvement, a vision for the future of local health services, and a range of funding resources to make it real.

All of this and more has been accomplished during Marc Johnson’s Board tenure. Results have taken time, expertise, and persistence. I attribute Marc’s leadership as a major factor in how the NBHD Board is serving us all.

My personal experience with Marc has demonstrated his effectiveness. Marc was a member of the Education and Engagement Committee I chaired for the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay. Marc was thoughtful, collaborative and invaluable in applying his experience to create more effective messages to our community about emergency preparedness. While I served on the Tillamook County Library Board, Marc was president of the North Tillamook Library Friends, the non-profit that provides and maintains the library building while the County provides staff and materials. Marc was an excellent steward of this win-win partnership. Marc is a leader who builds relationships that produce results; just one example is $3 million in federal funding for the new Nehalem Bay Health Center with the support of Senators Wyden and Merkley. Marc Johnson is the right leader to bring the new Nehalem Bay Health Center to completion. He deserves your vote!

Betsy Chase
Wheeler

Submitted By: barbaraandchuck@nehalemtel.net – Click to email about this post

Please join me in voting for Constance Shimek for the NCRD board, position 2.

I have known Constance for almost 10 years as a friend and fellow Nehalem Bay Garden Club member and know her to be a very hard worker and conscientious. She is right there doing whatever needs doing for the Club: from planning meetings and outings and making connections to hauling dirt and plants and making signs for the annual sale.

She is always thinking, looking for ways to make a difference. She is not afraid to think out of the box or to speak her mind. We haven’t always agreed and we have always remained friends because she is also a collaborator wanting to include other voices and isn’t attached to getting her way. If she sees something that needs attention she doesn’t just complain, she speaks up and offers solutions. These qualities are a winning combination in my way of thinking.

She is very passionate about the North County Recreation District. She has been on the Friends of NCRD board and attends NCRD board meetings regularly. She is deeply committed to making sure the pool gets built–a pool that is so very much needed and supported by our community. And she actually enjoys and is good at fundraising!

She is also passionate about transparency and making NCRD more available to all residents of the district.

Her heart, energy, enthusiasm, positivity and many skills are a great asset to our community and to NCRD in particular.

Please vote for Constance.
Thank you, Barbara McLaughlin

Submitted By: tinnindeb@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

This is the story of one man’s relentless “war” with Manzanita’s City Council and City Manager as disclosed in a review of public records. We, the undersigned Manzanita voters, describe this story below in the interest of full transparency and in the hope that Mayor Deb Simmons will step up and stop this clandestine and destructive interference in our city’s affairs.

For the past five years, Randy Kugler, who was a city manager here 30 years ago, has persistently pushed his personal agenda on the Council and city administration because of what he calls “inept” public officials and a “complacent citizenry.” In 2018 and 2019, he pestered city staff to advance his budget and city hall proposals. Though unappointed and unelected, he pressured the Hoffman Center for the Arts Board to sell its property as part of an unauthorized city hall scheme. He issued imperious demands to the city manager if his requests were not answered quickly enough. Even now he continues a campaign of harassment of the current city manager. Mr. Kugler’s contempt for our entire community is best illustrated by his dismissal of “80-year-old EVC volunteers” as participants in a scheme to promote Manzanita as a “disaster destination.”

When he came in dead last in his 2020 bid for election to the Council, Mr. Kugler settled the next year on a new tactic—what he termed the “Simmons project.” As part of that project, Mr. Kugler joined forces with Bill Simmons, a similarly disgruntled resident. They chose Deb Simmons, Bill’s wife, as someone with the necessary “star power” to be the spokesperson for their positions on local issues. Mayor Mike Scott’s unexpected withdrawal from the 2022 mayoral race on June 2 presented the opportunity to put Deb forward as a candidate for mayor, which she announced three days after Scott withdrew.

After her uncontested election, Mr. Kugler began coaching Mayor Simmons for the role of mayor and dispensed advice to her and Councilors Brad Mayerle and Jerry Spegman as a self-appointed “trusted advisor.” He also prepped Mayor Simmons before Council meetings. Describing their campaign of disruption as a “war” in a March 9 email to Ms. Simmons, Mr. Kugler congratulated her on getting “Lelia [sic] to say some dumb things that I will further investigate.” He urged Mayor Simmons to be content with winning some “skirmishes” before moving on to “a battle here and there.” He encouraged her by saying, “You are getting better with each meeting. We’ll do some practice for next month.”

Did Manzanita voters elect Mr. Kugler as Mayor? Or did we elect Ms. Simmons? It appears from these public records that Mr. Kugler is pulling the strings behind the curtain. We do not object to the Mayor seeking advice from a trusted advisor, but Mr. Kugler has been an obsessive faultfinder for many years. He has consistently shown disdain for any opinions other than his own—on a new city hall, allocation of overhead costs, and short-term rentals.

We urge Mayor Simmons to sever her relationship with a man who has harassed our city managers and sought to tear this city apart rather than to bring people together as the Mayor has said she wants to do. We also urge the City Council to support the City’s employees and protect them from harassment.

Deb Tinnin
Judy Sugg
Doug Sparks
Kim Rosenberg
Ben Rosenberg
Connie Burton
Bruce Burton
Linda Kuestner
Mark Kuestner
Cindy Kenne
Jack Kenne
Paula Peek
William Peek
Brad Hart
Christopher Mullins
Lee Hamilton
Laura Bailey
Jenny Greenleaf
Mary Marken
Toni Greening
Richard Neuman
Thomas Aschenbrener
Trevor Eastman

Public records request link
This link provides access to 478 pages of records dating back to 2018 provided by the City of Manzanita in response to a public records request.

Sources for this document
Paragraph 2: February 13, 2018, Kugler email to Alamillo and Scott; August 26, 2019, Kugler email to Alamillo; August 2, 2021, Kugler email to Aman; February 16, 2023, Kugler email to Simmons, Spegman, and Mayerle; April 29, 2023, Tillamook County Pioneer op-ed

Paragraph 3: August 28, 2021, Spegman email to Kugler; November 11, 2021, Kugler email to Spegman; June 6, 2022, BBQ post

Paragraph 4: Kugler emails dated January 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 22, 23, 25, 2023; February 16, 19, 2023; March 6, 9, 14, 21, 2023; February 26 and March 9, 2023, Simmons emails to Kugler)

Submitted By: genedieken@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

We are lucky to have four fine candidates for two open NCRD Director positions. I’ll be voting for Constance Shimek for Director Position #2.

I’ve known Constance for twenty years as a fellow learner, a client, a neighbor, and a friend. In our community, there are few people who bring so much energy and thoughtfulness as a volunteer to SO MANY efforts. I may not always agree with her but she has my confidence and respect.

Other supporters have written at length about her experience and efforts in the community and how they believe she’ll deal with NCRD’s challenges. In reading her own statements, here are a couple of items that really stood out for me:

1. About being a cancer survivor Constance wrote:

“I say welcome the diagnosis, we can only impact that which we are aware of.”

This kind of steely resolve can bring some dynamism to a board that’s had a few stumbles recently and will also be invaluable in hiring a new executive director who has the background, skill & courage to bring transformative change.

2. Constance made a specific point of talking about her hands-on participation in fundraising, not just for NCRD but for many other community causes. In fact, she seems to like doing it! This is reassuring to me when I think about the new pool project because we’re breaking ground without sufficient funds to finish. It will take a person like Constance, unafraid to make powerful requests, to succeed.

Please vote for Constance!

Submitted By: andynorris21@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

But what about all the lies?? And there were many, many, many of them:

And:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEl8NKSqThg

Submitted By: ben.killen.rosenberg@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Posting on behalf of Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

Transparency and Compensation

When I taught Writing as Critical Inquiry at PSU, I always told my students to go to the primary source material before writing that 5,000 word final paper on whatever subject they chose related to our text—a behemoth of a book titled American Earth. They could have any opinion they wanted, of course, but an opinion without source material cited in their bibliography wasn’t ever going to cut it for me. Oh, and 5,000 words means 5,000 words and they better be spellchecked, honey.

There’s been some talk about a raise or a bonus for the City Manager. It’s on the agenda for the next council meeting Wednesday May 3, at 6pm. I was recently with some folks and the subject of a raise for the City Manager came up. People chimed in with their opinions but it struck me that it would be a good idea to have more information—some kind of source material and not just beach gossip or coffee talk between friends, in order to form an opinion.

The City Manager’s performance review was completed a few weeks ago in an executive session. The public couldn’t attend the meeting or read the materials presented so there’s no information about why a raise is justified now or what kind of work she’s been doing.

Performance reviews are usually completed every year to identify the areas you excel in as an employee and the areas in which you don’t. You make career goals as an employee and have a discussion with your boss to help you reach those goals. If your job involves oversight of other staff, there’s input from that staff to see what kind of leader you are.

In a private company all that information goes into your personnel file where it hangs out in a drawer until the next year. Nobody sees it except you, your boss and HR until it’s hauled out again to see how you’re doing. Raises in compensation above the cost of living increases that I sincerely hope you always get or got are tied to your performance. If you do your job well, the company can reward you with a raise or a bonus or like at the mobile home factory where I worked for one sad year–a frozen turkey at Christmas.

As Council President, Kozlowski has traditionally taken the lead on performance reviews. She also has a long career and experience in human resources. She’s one of two councilors who have worked with the current city manager since she was hired. Plus, Kozlowski’s worked with a number of the previous city managers during her time on council. She put together the review form for staff and the council to submit. Three of the five on council are new and have only worked with the city manager for a few months.

Kozlowski summarized the performance review for the public at last month’s council meeting, but because the review itself took place behind closed doors justification for a raise isn’t clear to the public and neither is how well she does her job or what challenges and obstacles she’s faced in performing her job.

Performance reviews can be done in public sessions and review materials can be made public after the fact, if the employee agrees. The city manager gave permission to share the documents with the public.

You can read Aman’s performance review materials including staff and council’s input and community comments on the city’s website by clicking the City Manager Employment Agreement link. The review materials begin on page 7.

Four of five councilors feel Aman has exceeded her role as City Manager. Staff input shows Aman to be a “transformational manager.” These are the people who work with and for her every day—staff and council. I trust their opinions.

The only way to let the light in is to open the curtains. As they say in the 12 step groups, we are only as sick as our secrets.

Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

City Manager Contract and Performance Review (pages 7-15)
ci.manzanita.or.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Council-Packet-Additional-Materials-RS-Item-H-05032023.pdf