CLATSOP COMMISSIONERS HONOR COUNTY VOLUNTEERS

PHOTO: Clatsop County Board of Commissioners Chair Peter Huhtala presents Linda Dygert with the Volunteer of the Year Award at Wednesday’s board meeting.

The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday honored the many local citizens who donate their time to help make their community a better place to live.

The commissioners recognized the recipients of the 2011 Volunteer of the Year awards and approved a proclamation thanking all county volunteers.

In 2011, 537 volunteers donated a total of 21,653 hours of service to a county – work valued at almost a half-million dollars.

Award winners are:

· Individual Volunteer of the Year – Linda Dygert

· Outstanding Advisory Board Member – Bruce Francis

· Outstanding Individuals Within a Group – Tate Dellelo/Adopt-a-Road; Dave Rouse/Reserve Deputy Sheriff, Clatsop County Search and Rescue and High-Angle Rescue teams; Mark Seavey/CADY

· Outstanding Volunteer Group – Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES)

Linda Dygert won the Individual Volunteer of the Year Award for her work at the Clatsop County Animal Shelter. Dygert has volunteered at the facility for 10 years, up to six days a week, handling a wide variety of tasks from showing animals for adoption, transporting them to veterinary visits and assisting with office work. She is secretary of Clatsop Animal Assistance, the non-profit group that helps care for shelter animals, and also offers her own home as a foster caretaker for animals needing extra time away from the shelter.

Dygert was nominated for the award by Steven Hildreth, Animal Control Supervisor.

“With everything she has done and continues to do for the shelter, we can never say thank you enough for being one of the best people we have ever known,” he said.

Bruce Francis is chairman of the Clatsop County Planning Commission, in which role he facilitates the panel’s meetings and brings members’ viewpoints into a coherent discussion ending in legally supportable and appropriate decisions on a wide variety of land-use questions. The panel most recently completed a thorough review of the county’s newly adopted Strategic Plan.

Tate Dellelo is a volunteer in the county’s Adopt-A-Road program and picks up roadside litter along 19th Street and Ensign Lane in Warrenton. While most Adopt-A-Road participants are in groups, and are only required to clean their assigned roads twice a year, Dellelo cleans 19th and Ensign every day, rain or shine.

Dave Rouse is a reserve deputy with the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office and is a member of the department’s volunteer Search and Rescue Team and High-Angle Rescue Team. A dedicated participant in all three groups, he shares his expertise with other team members.

Mark Seavey is a member of CADY (Caring Adults Developing Youth) mentoring program and was nominated by one of his student mentees, Nicolas Morse, who praised Seavey for not only involving him in activities like hiking Saddle Mountain and a Trailblazers game, but also introducing him to the possibilities of a military career.

Members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Services group provide a critical communications link for local agencies during emergencies. The ARES group, nominated by Clatsop County Emergency Services Coordinator Tom Manning, regularly drills to test its procedures, and strives to ensure members keep up with the growing list of training requirements.

“They put in hundreds of hours to literally save lives,” Manning said.