Leadership Nuevo

Episode Highlights: 

New leadership has arrived in Lincoln City, marking a fresh chapter for local governance. Samaritan Health Services is taking a major step forward with the launch of a new inpatient substance abuse treatment program aimed at supporting recovery and community health. Meanwhile, the Siletz Tribe is demonstrating powerful leadership of its own—donating $80,000 to help local families just as SNAP benefits face new restrictions.

• Daniel Hunter, City Manager Pro Tem
• Dr. Lesley Ogden, Samaritan Residential Treatment & Recovery Services
• Mike Holden, Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund

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Transcript

Jana 0:06

Welcome to the Double R Show, the podcast that features everything about North Lincoln County. The Double R Show, directed and produced by Paul Robertson and hosted by the voice of Lincoln City, Roger Robertson.

RR 0:30

Welcome to the Double R Show. Double R here, and today we're gonna have an opportunity to talk with new leadership, new leadership at City Hall, the leadership at Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital, and of course, what's happening with the Confederated Tribes and Silence Indians Charitable Trust Fund. All on leadership, right, Paul?

Son Paul 0:48

Yeah, right after these messages.

Zantello 1:59

Call our office and set up a free consultation. With our field of experts, you're never alone.

RR 2:16

The interim city manager for the city of Lincoln City is Daniel Hunter. We want to welcome you to the Fair City. Thank you very much. It's nice to be here.

Daniel Hunter 2:25

Who is Daniel Hunter? Well, Daniel Hunter is a native of Oregon. I have lived in several other states, but uh something continues to keep me coming back to Oregon. Uh I I lived in Montana for about a quarter of my life. Uh other than that, I've lived in Spokane, Washington, while I was in the Air Force for four years, and uh I tried Florida for six months until July rolled around and then uh decided 100 degrees in 100% humidity was not for me. Just was not what you were comfortable with. Yeah, no, I'm more of a temperate climate person, so uh came back to Oregon. That was after the Air Force, so uh after that I went to Linfield College, got my bachelor's in political science. Uh following that, moved back to Montana for a while. I have two children in Montana, they're both adults now. Move back there to be closer to them, and while I was there working for Montana Department of Transportation, got my master's degree in public administration, and then uh after looking for a local government job in Montana and not getting anywhere, uh I decided to throw my hat in the ring for a position in Oregon. I actually got hired by the city of the Dallas that brought me back to Oregon, and uh I had been there for uh 10 years prior to uh coming to Lincoln City and worked in various roles are economic development. I was the administrative fellow, did work on projects for the city manager, uh then got hired as the uh human resources director who did that for eight years. And about six months after taking that position, I was also handed risk management for uh the city of Adell, so I uh wore multiple hats, which is common in smaller communities.

RR 4:03

So you've had an opportunity to chase down most all career paths within the city government.

Daniel Hunter 4:09

I have worked with professionals in every aspect of the local government. I've I've done several of them myself. Uh unless I have a profound knowledge uh in that particular uh career field, I always defer to the professionals who have the most experience. So I will be leaning on department heads here for their breadth of knowledge rather than relying on my uh minuscule amount.

RR 4:35

Uh you've all only been here a short period of time, but uh you've uh probably had enough time to begin to judge the staff that you have working for and with you.

Daniel Hunter 4:45

Yes, I have, and I would say uh every one of them, at least the department heads uh that I've interacted with, are absolutely exceptional. This community should be very proud of uh city operations and the department heads that are in charge of various departments within city government here. They're professionals that do an outstanding job, and they're all very bright and capable of doing their jobs exceptionally well.

RR 5:08

As you look around, look at uh what needs to be done or what has been done, what's what's going to be on the main plate for Daniel Hunter?

Daniel Hunter 5:17

Well, I think that the big one that sticks out is uh council priority, and that is uh workforce housing and attainable housing, not only for uh city staff that they can afford to live in the place where they work, but that also goes for the people in this community who by and large support uh the tourist industry uh in Lincoln City, and uh them being able to afford to live in the same community. And but that I believe is on the top of city council's uh desire to address.

RR 5:47

And uh bringing to the table your background, how do you address that?

Daniel Hunter 5:54

So my experience from the city of the Dalles, uh both the administrative fellow position and the project coordinator position, I held uh separate roles within urban renewal. And uh in that capacity, uh a lot of that was on property development for uh in in that case, it was on property development for commercial activities, but here those can be leveraged for uh residential units. I know that uh staff is already working on and has projects in and works uh within urban renewal to facilitate development of residential units. And then there's also some work going on with Habitat for Humanity for low-income housing. So, you know, we want to provide the breadth of housing needs. Uh, I think that the primary focus for us is really going to be on workforce housing. So that's generally going to be uh housing that uh the rent is affordable for those at 80% of the county median income and up, and that's really the the target that we'll be shooting for.

RR 6:52

What are you gonna do to help make the city not a stumbling block, but a a partner with uh housing developments?

Daniel Hunter 7:01

Yeah, so I think in that piece, that's really where urban renewal agencies can show their worth. And I know this is the case no matter where you go, but a lot of developers will say that SDC fees or the cost of entry into the development for a new primarily a uh multifamily development, the SDCs are going to be high. And urban renewal can pay those or pay portion of those to then offset the cost for the developer. That then incentivizes the development of the housing units. Uh, and once those are done, uh the the city and whoever the contractor is to manage that uh housing development, then agree on what the final rents are going to be, whether or not they're all going to be affordable or attainable or workforce housing, and if not all of them, then what percentage? And that's how we come to an agreement when uh a public agency, whether that's urban rill or city or a county, is involved in it. If there's funds going in from the public side into the private development, then uh the public gets a voice in determining what the outcome of that's going to be, and you have the leverage to say, you know, we'll pay this part of the cost of the development. But when the project's completely done, the development is going to provide housing for this group of people that are in need of housing in this community.

RR 8:21

Finally, you've gone through now your first city council meeting. Anything that uh happened at that first city council meeting that surprised you or uh made you a little intimidated?

Daniel Hunter 8:34

I I wouldn't say intimidated, and I I think there was uh you know spirited debate uh by some counselors, and that's not unusual. Uh that happens from one community to another. Uh I think the the difficulty is coming into Lincoln City when there's been turnover at the city manager position. Uh staff has felt kind of a lack of direction from the top. It just adds to a discordant feeling amongst staff on what direction uh the organization's going. Uh and so it's my job coming in to explain to them look, it's these things happen uh everywhere. It's not gonna affect my approach to working with you. We've got our jobs to do. Let's go out and be productive for the people in this community and let the city council and the mayor deal with what they need to deal with. Uh that's not our focus.

Lehto 9:30

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RR 9:47

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Zellers 10:02

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RR 10:14

Dr. Leslie Ogden, Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital, Pacific Communities Hospital joins us again this week. Uh last week had the opportunity to talk about multi-care, the joining of hands, if you will, uh, with this organization for the benefit of Samaritan, and it will be a big benefit, correct?

Dr Ogden 10:32

Correct. Absolutely. Um it's we feel like it will benefit both organizations because uh they have so much expertise in in things like population health and uh things like uh they have a line of urgent cares that are just exquisite. But we have expertise that they too want to uh understand, things like how to run critical access hospitals, and we certainly have expertise there, as well as health plans, and they do not have a health plan. So this is really a really nice partnership between the two organizations, and we are all very excited about growing, about bringing better resources, about being better for our communities. And both organizations are very much community-oriented, and that's the way we want to stay.

RR 11:24

Talking about being better for your community, one of the other uh things we wanted to talk about today is something that happened last week, and that's the STARS program.

Dr Ogden 11:34

Right.

RR 11:35

Which is what?

Dr Ogden 11:36

It is Samaritan Treatment and Recovery Services, and that is a 16-bed inpatient as well as outpatient substance use disorder treatment center, and it's the first of its kind on the Oregon coast, and most definitely the first in Lincoln County, right? Because uh before that we were going to Corvallis or to one of the urban areas or way far away in some cases. We've had some of our uh local folks seeking care as far away as Hermiston. Uh so we are super excited that we now have that continuum of care, right? That inpatient treatment. If someone needs it, we've got it now for them.

RR 12:23

So will there also be support for the family uh backing up that individual that's in the program?

Dr Ogden 12:29

Right, right. It's a it's a lot of wraparound services when you think about it. So a patient may come to us in a variety of ways. They might be referred out of an emergency department, they might come out of the powerhouse detox facility that's out on Highway 18. They may work through their primary care provider and come to us directly from their home, even. So all of these things can happen, but especially if there's no bed available initially, there's only 16 of these beds, we might have a waiting period. So we might support them through outpatient programs until we can get them to an inpatient program. And likewise, once they're done with the inpatient program, we might have to continue to support them in an outpatient program. We also wrap around services like mental health and behavioral health support because all of this goes hand in hand. And then we'll want to work with their families and everything else to make sure that they're in the right setting for success when they complete treatment. So an awful lot has to go into it. Uh we have different clinics that we'll start that are separate from this for medication-assisted treatment. So many different things that we're doing at the exact same time. And everything from peer support to counseling to uh all kinds of things. And yeah, it all has to work together in order to make sure that the patients have everything they need to succeed.

RR 14:06

Now, Senator uh Anderson was uh speaking in front of the Chamber of Commerce, and he did make mention that uh the state kicked in, what, four million dollars towards the building of this program?

Dr Ogden 14:17

Right, right. I believe 4.2 or 4.3 million in total, absolutely, in two separate tranches from two different places within the state. But both Senator Anderson and Representative Gomberg were key in making sure that we had the money as the cost kept rising as we were building, they made sure that we had the money and the support from the state to continue what we were doing.

RR 14:45

Substance abuse is really a problem in the county, is it not?

Dr Ogden 14:50

It absolutely is bigger than anyone knows.

RR 14:53

Bigger than what you anticipated.

Dr Ogden 14:56

Yeah, I think so. Because if you if you think about it as an individual, think about in your life how many people you know or are close to who at one time in their life or another have struggled with substance abuse. And I bet you that every single person listening can name a person who could probably at one time or another benefit from some of this type of treatment. So it is pervasive in our lives. It is just really here. And as different drugs of abuse come out, one of the latest is fentanyl that's you know easy to get in tablet form, hugely addictive and and frankly very scary as far as its ability to kill somebody, even with a single tablet. So when you have things like that that are so easily available, our young people just don't understand how deadly these things can be. And even if they don't kill you, how addictive they can be. And so we we do, we have a big problem in our in our county, in our area, and uh this will help us with those types of drugs, with alcohol, with any drugs of abuse, have a a way to deal with them no matter what is necessary for a patient on their uh road to recovery.

RR 16:20

To me, it appears that the weight of the world has been lifted from your shoulders, Dr. Ogden. Am I mistaken?

Dr Ogden 16:29

I certainly love to know that we have resources right here, because that's the catch, right? It's one thing to send somebody away and and be unsure about what kind of treatment they get, but to know that we have treatment pathways and treatment plans and ways to guarantee that people will get the treatment they need now and for a long, long time, that is a beautiful feeling.

RR 16:57

Now it's one thing to have the facility, the building, but the manning to that facility, uh all of the employees that that you had to obviously go out and hire, correct?

Dr Ogden 17:08

Absolutely. Everybody from peer support services to counselors to actually people working in the kitchen and people to clean the place. Absolutely all kinds.

RR 17:19

Now everybody needs to go through a referral by a physician.

Dr Ogden 17:25

No, typically we have a variety of ways that that people can even call and find out about the services right there. The important thing is uh we have an intake process and people do have to meet criteria, meaning we have to make sure that the services they need we can provide and that that level of care, that they're not gonna need something a lot more intensive, like an ICU setting, or a lot less intensive, because some people may not need that level of service. So we we have a very distinct intake process, but people can come from a variety of ways to actually get to us.

RR 18:05

Dr. Ogden, again, congratulations. I mean, it's been a couple of monumental weeks for the Samaritan Northling Hospital and Pacific Humanities Hospital.

Dr Ogden 18:16

You got it, you got it. We have a fantastic affiliation with multicare, and then we have the STARS program opening up, and uh many, many more great things to come, we hope.

Jana 18:28

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RR 18:32

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RR 18:55

Serving Lincoln, Tillamook, and Yam Hill Counties, Northwest Septic Service. With us next is Mike Holden. Mike is uh involved with the Confederated Tribes Siletz Indians, the charitable trust fund. And you guys have really moved the dial, if you will, in trying to provide food for families.

Mike Holden 19:13

Well, you know, a week ago, this last Saturday, was looking at some of the numbers. If SNAP goes away, that's over 750,000 Oregonians are impacted. And we got 23,000 federal workers fertile, terminated. I probably don't know their status either. And one food bank that I talked to, they were already at 40% over 2025, over 24. Wow. So the need just there. So we had some excess revenue that we had not spent this calendar year. And we met and decided that to better use of the money is to get some more money to the food banks so they can fill their needs. So we went four thousand for each of the uh twenty-five food banks, but five declined or didn't didn't respond. So twenty will be getting four thousand each. So we just uh in a matter of few minutes spend eighty thousand dollars.

RR 20:17

Now this is money that uh is gonna be given away from the tribe comes from where?

Mike Holden 20:24

It comes from a percentage of gaming uh by the tribal state gaming compact, the government-to-government agreement between the state of Oregon and Confederated of Siletz Indians, it dictates basically everything about gaming. But the one thing is that a certain percentage must go into a charitable contribution fund. And then that must be distributed. In this case, uh there's eleven counties, and only eleven counties, unless you're uh American Indian somewhere else in the United States, then it's also you can get the funds. But otherwise it's just within those eleven counties.

RR 20:58

So And the money is distributed when, Mike?

Mike Holden 21:01

Uh next distribution is uh Friday, actually. And we'll have uh so there'll be some of those people that are getting the extra 4,000 be there Friday. So they will get handed the checks, the rest will be mailed.

RR 21:15

They must have been just blown away when they get a phone call. How would you like another $4,000 to buy food for families?

Mike Holden 21:22

Yeah, I th I think they probably were. Uh we uh I think well, I don't know. I wasn't sure after we met how exciting the uh tribe was gonna be, or the council is gonna be about uh spending the money. And I was I went through tribal council with no problem at all. I was gonna if I can find it, I was gonna take a couple of excerpts out of the uh oh, there it is, right in front of me where it says today. Looking stuff up with a phone. The letter that Jasmine sent out outlines the reason why we're doing it. And uh next to the last paragraph is to help ease the sudden burden the STCCF Advisory Board and a Celeste Tribal Council have approved a one-time emergency charitable distribution of 4,000 to your organization. We hope this assistance helps you maintain your vital operations and continue providing food security for those who are most affected during this difficult time. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering commitment to serving your communities with dignity and care. Your work exemplifies the spirit and compassion generosity that we value deeply within the tribe. Very good. And she sent that to me for a draft for my review and make any corrections. Oh, I agree. You're going to. I read it and I've literally read thousands of reports and thousands of requests for funds. And almost always I can send some something back. Not this one.

RR 22:51

Okay, now the the money that uh is going to be given out uh again it comes from the tribe, but it is a percentage of the gaming revenues not from the current year.

Mike Holden 23:03

Each year it continues, but uh by the time the books are counted, the money we will spend in 2026 will be 2024. Because that's is there's quite a lag time because what you can imagine with the enterprise, it's just you've got to separate gaming out from all the other venues there. And by the time you get through with everything good and uh coordinated there and all the money shift around, it takes about two years.

RR 23:31

Okay, so how does one or an organization, or I assume it's uh all nonprofits?

Mike Holden 23:36

Not necessarily.

RR 23:37

Not necessarily. How does one apply?

Mike Holden 23:40

Well, you go online and fill out the application. Oh, that's simple. You can go to ctsi.nsn.us and forward slash stcf, and that should get you the application. Okay. And how often do you do this? Four times a year. Wow. We the next uh the deadline for the next distribution is December 1st.

RR 24:03

So if I apply and if I wanted you to deny it. But am I done then? Can I come back at another time for certainly. Okay.

Mike Holden 24:14

Well, just say no again, but that's okay. No, you can come back. It's we have uh a lot of them that are repeats, but if you look at our annual report, you'll see where the bulk of the money goes, and it's charted out. You see the percentages. Food? Uh actually uh education is very high. Education is uh uh the the fund does support the Siletz school for one thing. Would it would make a huge difference? Yeah, otherwise it wouldn't exist.

RR 24:44

Okay. So again, Friday night uh opportunity, and uh that that'll take place up at Shunakwin's?

Mike Holden 24:50

No, it'll take place at the hotel. At the hotel, Chinook Winds Casino Resort Hotel. Yep, there's a conflict with the casino itself.

RR 24:58

Very good. I enjoy going to that, even though uh, you know, I uh don't have an organization that is going to be receiving a check. Hearing the different projects that people are involved in. It's amazing.

Mike Holden 25:12

To me, it's you think you know a little bit about what's going on, and you read the applications, you think you know a little more. You don't know squat until you go to these these uh distributions and hear these people and see how much volunteer time in Oregon is spent within these communities. It's absolutely amazing. And uh you've been there, you say listen to these stories, and there's a couple times you almost want to choke out. Some of those sayings.

LCCC 25:39

Woven Legacies is a special sale of killams, rugs, bags, shoes, jewelry, and home decor made by artesians in Turkey. The sale of these items at the Lincoln City Cultural Center will support the center and also the ongoing care of Julie Reynolds Oterman. All treasures of Woven Legacies were imported by Julie and her late husband, Senare Oterman. View the entire display today at the Lincoln City Cultural Center and own a treasure destined to become a family heirloom.

RR 26:11

Well, thanks again to the new interim city manager Daniel Hunter, to Mike Holden from the Charitable Trust Fund of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and Dr. Leslie Ogden from Samaritin, North Lincoln and Pacific Communities Hospital for being on the program. Uh, November 13th, it is a grand celebration day as we have an awards banquet. The Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce will have their awards banquet and be presenting awards to the new business of the year, the business of the year, excellence in customer service, beautification award, and community impact award. So that's going to be a fun dinner. And uh go to the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce for more information. And your side of the table, uh, you're done uh uh escorting kids up to Night Park?

Son Paul 27:01

Yeah, we've just finished that, wrapped that up. Uh Secret Life of Salmon. I think we had 11 classrooms with that program this year, and uh earlier in the year we had the first and second graders and uh fifth and sixth graders. So the first full implementation of our now three modules of educational uh content, which are videos which anybody can value and and and enjoy, all on our website, uh cascadehead.org on the education page, but then those field experiences too, which uh really culminate the uh the activities uh for them. So it's not just for the children. No, in fact, uh was speaking with a seventh and eighth grade teacher, uh, and I guess I I should say it's just not specifically young children, right? Uh, because he was using those same videos uh for you know his middle school students. Wonderful. Yeah, so that was uh pretty exciting to hear and uh some good feedback. And yeah, just wrap that up. Uh other schools can download that as well. Oh, anybody can, yeah. Anybody can use it. Uh there's curriculum online, uh, again, cascadehead.org slash education. And uh you can watch them all and enjoy that and and uh learn a lot about salmon that you probably didn't know about, a lot about watersheds and and other species.

RR 28:10

So especially with the number of children that are homeschooled, this is a uh grand program that is available. Absolutely, yeah. Lincoln County Public Health is hosting flu uh vaccination clinics, so no appointment necessary. Please call public health at 265-4112. Uh, meeting-wise for the city of Lincoln City, November 12th, uh day that we remember well.

Son Paul 28:35

We have that always on our calendar. Yes, thanks, mom.

RR 28:38

Happy birthday to Mrs. Robertson on November 12th. But it's also Public Arts uh Committee meeting day at 4 o'clock. On Thursday, the 13th, we have engaged Lincoln City Ad hoc committee. On Wednesday, November the 19th, the Parks and Recreation Board gets together. And if you'd like to uh be one of the many people that sponsor American Flags up and down Highway 101, it's only $40 a year, and all of that money goes to uh the Qatas Club to pay for scholarships uh for students up at Taft High School, also for youth sports, uh the Easter egg hunt, the spooky spectacular, the backpacks for kids. It just goes on and on and on. That's where the money stays in Lincoln City to do good things for people. Anything else your side of the table? We are clear from here. Thanks. And uh again, would uh remind you, Angels Anonymous Festival of the Trees, buy your tickets up at the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce office. That's coming up in December. That'll do it to the dunes on the Double R Show. Please remember to like, subscribe, and share so you, your family, and friends around the world and across the street can join us on the Double R Show for Son Paul. And Jana, I'm Double R. Have a happy day.

Jana 29:54

You've been listening to the Double R Show. Join Roger and Paul Robertson as they explore everything about North. North Lincoln County. The Double R Show produced by Always Productions and hosted by Roger Robertson. Have a story? Email contact at allwaysproductions.com or call four five eight two zero one three zero three nine. For the Double R Show, I'm Jana Gron.