Candidates campaign for District 2 on Board of Commissioners

After four years representing Clatsop County’s District 2, John Toyooka is not seeking reelection to the county Board of Commissioners. In May, voters will choose a new candidate to take his place.

Two candidates from District 2 — which covers Gearhart, Clatsop Plains and portions of Seaside and Warrenton — are vying for the position: Tessa Scheller and Anthony Huacuja.

Election 2024

Scheller, a retired certified registered nurse anesthetist who has lived in Clatsop County for more than 40 years, said friends and neighbors encouraged her to file after learning the incumbent would not be running.

Scheller served as a board member and chair of the Skipanon Water Control District for 30 years before its dissolution in 2022. She has also served on the Clatsop Soil and Water Conservation District and the Clatsop Community College Board and sits on the board of the North Coast Watershed Association. She believes her previous work, especially with the water control district, has given her valuable experience with aspects of local government, like keeping a balanced budget.

“It was wonderful learning for me, and it helped me understand about the role of government and staff,” she said.

Experience

Scheller said one of her biggest strengths is her connections. In addition to her government experience, she’s been active in the community as an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, from work in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Clatsop Community College to local visits with student gender and sexuality alliances in the county. She has also worked with people from a variety of other community organizations, including the North Coast Land Conservancy, the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, The Harbor and Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare.

Tessa Scheller

Tessa Scheller

“One of my strengths is I know people who will write grants,” Scheller said. “I know people who will be on these little boards. I know people who want to work in the weeds.”

Huacuja, who works in Tillamook as a registered nurse, moved to Clatsop County with his fiancee nine years ago. He said they immediately fell in love with the area and started looking for ways to get involved.

Anthony Huacuja

Anthony Huacuja

Last year, Huacuja joined the Warrenton-Hammond School District’s budget committee, where he’s worked to address funding gaps coming out of the pandemic. He said the experience has deepened his understanding of navigating budget restrictions. He also serves as a volunteer on the county sheriff’s underwater recovery team.

Since moving to the county, Huacuja said he’s observed changes in the community that have sparked concern for him, like the rising cost of living, rates of homelessness and challenges for friends trying to make a living in the fishing and timber industries.

“When I saw this opening, I saw it as an opportunity to be an advocate, not only for our community and voice what’s most important to us, but to also, I think, have a better understanding of the changes that we are seeing,” he said.

If elected, Huacuja said he’d like to focus on issues like increasing access to rural broadband and supporting local schools and law enforcement. One of his biggest concerns is addressing the financial impacts of the state’s habitat conservation plan. He said he anticipates the plan to have far-reaching consequences for local jobs and services that have traditionally relied on timber revenue, like education and public safety.

“I’d be honored to be able to fight for this federal funding for those agencies, while also fighting to not lose the current funding sources that I think the HCP will inevitably do,” he said of local law enforcement.

Huacuja added that he thinks the plan has done a good job of looking at environmental impacts, but it falls short when it comes to social and economic concerns for families. Ultimately, he’d like less outside influence on the county and more local control.

Scheller is a proponent of the habitat conservation plan. She said she sees a path forward through job diversification and increased education, and she believes school funding should be decoupled from sources of income like logging so it can be more equitably distributed.

To Scheller, water is the wealth of the community. While protecting natural resources is a focus, she said she recognizes that the Board of Commissioners already has an agenda, including goals given to it by the state. If elected, those would be her priority.

“My agenda goes quietly in my back pocket,” Scheller said, “Where I can make efforts that include my personal agenda, great. And my personal agenda is my neighbor’s agenda. I don’t do this alone.”

Collaboration

The Board of Commissioners is made up of five commissioners who represent separate geographic districts and vote collectively on agenda items. Both candidates expressed a desire to work collaboratively with other commissioners if elected.

“Being an advocate for the people that are around you is a big thing,” Huacuja said. “As a nurse, I’m an advocate — that’s what my main job is, is to advocate for my patients. And, you know, you have to be nonpartisan when it comes to that, you have to be able to listen to both sides and understand where people are coming from.”

Scheller felt similarly.

“Politics is just a formal relationship, but it’s about relationships,” she said. “I can tell you as an old nurse that the basis of successful relationships is trust.”