In November 2008, voters approved the formation of a consolidated Nehalem Bay Fire and Rescue District (NBFRD) to serve the residents of Neahkahnie, Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler and the former Nehalem Rural Fire District. Included in the ballot measure was a new tax rate to fund the district and allow the hiring of three staff members, replacement of aging fire fighting equipment and construction of two new fire stations.

Perry Sherbaugh, Manzanita’s former Chief of Public Safety, was hired in July 2009 as Fire Chief. The other two positions were filled by Scott Mullen as Division Chief/Training Officer and Jan Fisher as Administrative Assistant. NBFRD offices are temporarily located in the former Manzanita Fire Department building at 165 South 5th St. in Manzanita.

In 2010, the District purchased a multipurpose rescue vehicle to replace an old limited use pickup rescue and in 2011 there are plans to replace two pieces of apparatus, a tender (tanker) and a pumper, with a single combination tender/pumper.

The NBFRD currently houses its equipment in the old stations owned by Manzanita, Nehalem and Wheeler. These facilities are leased temporarily from the respective cities and each of the cities has indicated they would like to have the properties returned for their own use as soon as possible. Accordingly, the NBFRD Board of Directors and staff moved ahead with their master plan to construct two new fire stations. Property was located and purchased for a main station on Highway 101 at Bayside Gardens road and for a satellite station on Highway 53 near Camp Four road. An architect was hired to design the stations and necessary approvals and variances for construction were obtained. Actual construction work on these facilities is expected to begin in the spring of 2011. General design plans for the new fire stations are available for viewing at the Manzanita, Nehalem and Wheeler city halls and the Manzanita library.

The NBFRD Board President, John Steele reported that all costs related to financing the new construction will be included in the NBFRDs existing tax rate. Another Neahkahnie resident, Walt Covert, also serves on the NBFRD Board of Directors.

Submitted by John Steele

The annual Holiday Party on Saturday night was a big success. We had a good turn out of members in spite of the fact that it was the day of the Civil War football game. The catered dinner from Marcie at the Big Wave Cafe seemed to be very popular, and the holiday decorations at Pine Grove and the table decorations provided by the Club really added to the festive atmosphere.

Members enjoying the catered dinner

Monica Isbell presenting Phyllis Brownlee with gift certificate

The Club presented Phyills Brownlee with a gift certificate as a thank you for all of the work she did on the recent path upgrade project.

There are more photos available for viewing in the Photo Album link on the right, under the “pages” heading.

On November 22, 2010 we learned that our web page had been hijacked, and some people trying to view the web page were being re-directed to a fraudulent web site.  This behavior was not affecting all users, and was specifically targeted toward computers running Internet Explorer on the Windows XP operating system. The scam was targeting computers that might not have up to date software, and therefore would be more vulnerable to malware. This underscores the importance of keeping your computer’s software up to date, and always running anti-virus and anti-malware software on a regular basis.

This problem has been fixed, and we hope that it will not come back again. If you have recently tried to connect to the NCC web site and been redirected to another site, we recommend that you run a full virus and malware scan on your computer to make sure your computer was not infected by the fraudulent site. There are many free products available online that can perform this type of scan if you don’t already have one.

In the future if any visitor to the NCC web site experiences odd or suspicious behavior, please alert us immediately by sending an Email to our contact Email address: info@neahkahnieclub.org.

We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience that this issue may have caused.

Thanks to the hard work of our Beach Path Committee Chairperson Phyllis Brownlee, the beach path between 1st Street and Reed Road has been repaired and upgraded.  There were major issues with the drainage and stairs at the top of the path that could not be addressed within the resources we had available, but Phyllis was able to work out a plan with our contractor, Robert Vermilyea, that significantly improved the condition of the path using the remaining money in our special beach path fund.

After the completion of work this year on both beach paths, we have no money left in the special fund that originally came from member donations many years ago.  So, in the future the Club will no longer be involved with any maintenance activities related to the beach paths unless some other source of funding is identified.  There is no money in the Club’s regular operating budget for this type of work, but both paths are in much better shape than they have been in for many years.

Some before and after photos of the 1st. Street – Reed Road path are below. More photos are available in the Photo Album link to the right.

1st St. Stairs - after

1st St. Stairs - before

Reed Road - before

Reed Road - after

The work on the beach path on Reed Road has been completed. The contractor’s original proposal was modified slightly to include a mix of sand and gravel on the path to make it a little easier on bare feet. Below are a couple of photos of the new bridge railings and the newly widened and graveled path. There is also a new album in the Photo Album page link on the right with more pictures of the paths both before and after the upgrades.

After receiving feedback from other members, the Board has also requested a bid from the same contractor to do some work on the other path between 1st Street and Reed Road.  This path is badly eroded, and the steps at the top need work and a handrail. If this path can also be upgraded within the funds available in our special beach path fund the Board will proceed with that work, as well.

The ad hoc committee chairman, Phyllis Brownlee, has submitted her findings on the repair and refurbishing of the Neahkahnie beach path. After interviewing contractors, she submitted a proposal to the Neahkahnie Community Club Board from Terry Fullan as follows:

Widen lower trail to 30”.
Remove encroaching dirt and sod. Remove old timbers.
Re-install pressure treated 4 x 4 wood materials level with the trail grade next to fencing.
Haul old dry rot railroad ties to Trails End Recovery.
Install crushed rock to approaches to the bridge, with some minor rock work at the edges.
We have also proposed layering sand onto the crushed rock for better footing.

Bridge repairs are to include rebuilding the posts, side rails, using new wood and some recovered wood. The goal is to strengthen the bridge and keep the old character intact.
The final touch would be a fresh pressure washing of the bridge to clean surface of grime.

Unless there is a need for a special meeting, which must be scheduled as soon as possible, the Board will concur with the committee appointed at our Annual Meeting and will proceed with the necessary improvements. The Board was given the authority to proceed with the committee’s recommendation by a motion that was unanimously passed at the Annual Business Meeting, May 8, 2010.

Our beach path fund CD is presently $3473.17. Mr. Fullan’s estimate for labor, materials and administration for this project is $1125.00. This amount does not include the additional sand required to cover the gravel. We would be using the beach path CD money for the repair work as a donation to the community, since this money was donated by our membership especially for maintaining the public beach paths.

If you have any concerns regarding this project, please notify President, Monica Isbell (monica@starboardalliance.com) before June 8th.

Respectfully submitted, Karen Harshbarger, Secretary (harshbarger@nehalemtel.net)

Additional Notes:
1.Club Vice President, Mike Lincicum, continues to post new content regularly to the Club’s website. We encourage you to take a look. The website address is www.neahkahnieclub.org.

2.We are still seeking more volunteers for the following Club events. Please contact Monica Isbell at (503) 368-3389 or monica@starboardalliance.com if you are interested in lending a hand.

Annual Picnic August 14, 2010 from noon to 3:00. Pam Greene graciously offered her lovely home again for this event.

Annual Holiday Party December 4, 2010 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Pine Grove.

3. If you are interested in participating in the Manzanita July 4th parade along with other member of the Neahkahnie Community Club, please send a message with your contact information to the Club contact Email address.

Approximately 30 members turned out for the annual meeting on May 8th.  The main order of business was the election of officers for the next year. The slate of officers nominated by the nominating committee were elected by unanimous vote.

The officers for the next year are:

Monica Isbell – President

Mike Lincicum – Vice President / Webmaster

Karen Harshbarger – Secretary

Bill Pritchard – Treasurer

The other item of new business at the meeting was a discussion of the the Club using some of our special beach walk fund to do maintenance of the path and bridge beside the creek on Reed Road.  Phyllis Brownlee was appointed to chair an ad hoc committee to explore hiring a contractor to do some repairs on the bridge and organizing a work party to do some leveling and improvement of the path between the bridge and concrete section of the path leading down to the sand. Phyllis will talk to the owners of the properties adjoining the path before any work is done.

A motion was passed authorizing this committee to present a proposal to the Executive Committee.  The officers will poll the members by mail and Email to determine if a special meeting is needed to act on the proposal. If no members request a special meeting, the Executive Committee would be authorized to act on the proposal.

There was also a request for volunteers to help with upcoming Club activities.

Lyn Eisenhaur and Lynn Messenger have volunteered to coordinate a Neahkahnie Community Club entry in the Manzanita July 4th parade again this year. If you or your family members are interested in marching in the parade, please leave a comment below.

John and Monica Isbell volunteered to help with the Picnic on August 14th and the Holiday Party on December 4th. Bill and Carol Pritchard, Bill and Karen Harshbarger, and Kathleen Ryan also offered to help with the picnic and table and chair transport. Larry Kiser volunteered to be the bartender for the Holiday Party, as usual. Howard Harris and Phyllis Brownlee also offered to help with the Holiday Party. More volunteers are needed, so please contact Monica Isbell, send an Email to the Club contact address, or leave a comment below if you are willing to help out with these events.

Howard Harris made a brief announcement regarding Tillamook County’s ordinance regulating short-term rentals and indicated that he had copies of a packet regarding this ordinance available if members are interested. A link to the Tillamook County web site with information on this program is also included under “links” on the right side-bar.

A copy of the official meeting minutes from this meeting is available in PDF format below.

Meeting Minutes