Waldport resident gets OK to begin collecting signatures for potential recall of four Port of Alsea board members

WALDPORT – A Waldport resident can start circulating petitions to see if he can gather enough signatures to force a recall election of four Port of Alsea commissioners.

A recall of commissioners was first threatened during a meeting last July. Kurt Saindon asked the board to fire port manager Roxie Cuellar because she would not change locations for crabbers using the marina and claimed other marina restrictions were impeding commerce. He said he would file for a recall if the rules were not changed.

However, Saindon did not file the four recall petitions certified by the Oregon Secretary of State’s office and approved by the Lincoln County clerk Jan. 17. The chief petitioner is Jim Hill of Waldport.

It’s possible the petitions were influenced by Saindon’s complaints, as it names “unfair business practices” as a reason for demanding a recall, along with “Eckman Lake, false statements about toxic algae.” The port recently began a public process to develop a plan to combat cyanobacteria and other issues in the reservoir on the east end of Waldport.

The petitions might also involve the board’s 4-1 vote to end a lease with a commercial shrimp processor, as commissioner Chuck Pavlik, the lone dissenting vote in that matter, is not named.

The petitions seeks the recall of commissioners Joe Rohleder, Robin Bishop, Jan Power and Buster Pankey

Hill has 90 days to collect signatures from at least 15 percent of the number of people who voted for governor in the port district last November. Considering the size of the port’s public facilities, that district is surprisingly large and includes Tidewater, Waldport and Yachats and miles up the Alsea and Yachats rivers.

There are 7,115 registered voters in the port district, and Hill needs 767 signatures on each petition by March 20 to get recall questions on the ballot. If sufficient signatures are certified by the clerk, commissioners would have five days to resign or submit a written justification to appear on the ballot during an election to be held within 35 days.

It is the second recall effort in the Waldport area in the last nine months. Two members of the Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District – which has a decidedly smaller footprint than the Port — were recalled in a special election last June. The recall also led to the resignation of Pankey from that board, where he was chair.

— Kenneth Lipp/YachatsNews