Historical archives can be found in the basement of the Astoria Library.

Local ballot measures in November will ask voters to help finance library improvements in Astoria and Warrenton, temporarily ban psilocybin in unincorporated Clatsop County and Seaside, help pay for equipment for Seaside firefighters and transfer a Head Start property in Warrenton.

Statewide, voters will weigh in on gun control, legislative walkouts, health care and slavery.

• Measure 4-220/ Astoria Library bond

The Astoria Library needs renovation.

The 55-year-old Brutalist-style building off 10th Street has failing infrastructure and is inaccessible in places for people with mobility issues.

A $10.6 million project would upgrade the building, bring in more natural light, remove the mezzanine to make the space more accessible and open up the basement for public use.

The bond measure would provide $8 million in financing for the project. The tax rate is estimated at 57 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The life of the bond would be up to 21 years.

The renovation is sensible and long overdue.

We believe the City Council missed an opportunity to use a new library as a catalyst for a mixed-use project with housing at Heritage Square. We also saw potential for expanding the library’s existing footprint into the parking lot along Exchange Street, but the City Council shot that down, too.

Those decisions in July 2016 put the city on course to do nothing at Heritage Square or the library in six years.

In our view, the library renovation is a compromise of a compromise. But fixing the infrastructure and improving the space is preferable to several more years of inaction.

We recommend a “yes” vote.

• Measure 4-215/Warrenton Community Library tax levy

A five-year local option tax would generate nearly $1.5 million for improvements to the Warrenton Community Library.

The tax rate would increase to 38 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, up from 33 cents.

The 5-cent boost would help pay for operations and community programs, library staff and extended hours at the Main Avenue space.

Moving the library from Hammond to downtown was a wise step by the city in 2017, but it came with a cost. Voters agreed to raise the tax rate from 9 cents to 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

We think the new tax rate is reasonable, but the city should be mindful going forward about the investment voters are making.

Vote “yes.”

• Measure 4-219/ Clatsop County temporary ban on psilocybin

A temporary, two-year ban on psilocybin manufacturers and service centers in unincorporated Clatsop County is intended to give county commissioners time to weigh the impact of state regulations and potentially craft local restrictions that go further than the state.

The state is in the process of drafting regulations to license psilocybin for therapeutic use after voters statewide approved Measure 109 in 2020. The hope is to use psilocybin — also known as “magic mushrooms” — to treat mental health challenges for people 21 and older at licensed service centers.

We opposed Measure 109, not because we do not see the potential for psilocybin therapy, but because we do not believe voters should have made the call. We thought mental health experts and the Legislature should have vetted the idea.

Unlike marijuana, psilocybin was legalized for therapy, not recreation. Many of the counties that have put temporary bans on the ballot this fall have done so for ideological reasons, not regulatory ones. Cannon Beach, for example, adopted time, place and manner regulations for psilocybin without asking voters for a ban.

Our county commissioners have no special knowledge in this arena and should wait to see what the state does.

We recommend a “no” vote.

• Measure 4-218/ Seaside temporary ban on psilocybin

For the same reasons we oppose the county ban, we oppose the Seaside ban.

Vote “no.”

• Measure 4-216/ Seaside tax levy for fire equipment

A five-year local option tax to help finance Seaside firefighters would renew an existing levy that expires at the end of June.

The new tax rate would be 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, down from 34 cents, and would generate $2.3 million.

Some of the money would be used to purchase a new training tower to replace one that dates back to the early 1990s.

Vote “yes.”

• Measure 4-217/Warrenton deed transfer of Head Start property

Warrenton wants to transfer the deed of a Head Start building on S.W. Third Street.

Community Action Team, an agency that works to reduce poverty in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties, would take over. The transfer requires voter approval because the building’s real market value exceeds $100,000.

While this process might appear like paper shuffling, it is meant as a safeguard to prevent the city from shedding valuable public property without voter consent.

Vote “yes.”

• Measure 114/Gun control

The ballot measure would require a permit from law enforcement, safety training and a background check before a gun purchase. It would also ban ammunition magazines more than 10 rounds.

The measure would close a loophole in the law that gives Oregon State Police just three days to complete a background check before a firearm is transferred. The ban on high-capacity magazines is meant to discourage the type of guns used in mass shootings.

People have a Second Amendment right to own firearms. Oregon has a long tradition of gun ownership for hunting, shooting sports and self-defense.

But it does not violate the Constitution or tradition to place reasonable restrictions on guns. With the increase in gun violence in our cities and the stain of mass shootings across the United States, what freedom is preserved by resisting commonsense reform?

We recommend a “yes” vote.

• Measure 113/ Legislative absenteeism

The state constitutional amendment would disqualify state legislators for reelection if they have 10 or more unexcused absences from floor sessions.

The amendment is in response to Republican walkouts over cap and trade in Salem in recent years. Two decades ago, Democrats walked out over redistricting.

We thought these walkouts were shameful. Denying a quorum, though, is a tactic that can function as a check on majority power. We do not have to search too far to find out what unchecked power looks like in other states.

In our minds, cap and trade and redistricting did not meet the threshold. But what about abortion rights? Civil rights? Overturning an election?

Voters, at election time, can decide whether a state legislator lived up to their responsibilities.

We recommend a “no” vote.

• Measure 111/Health care

The state constitutional amendment would establish health care as a fundamental right.

The state would have to balance access to health care against funding for public schools and other essential services.

We tend to agree with critics of the amendment that this is lazy policymaking that could create more conflicts than it solves. Our state constitution, however, is a declaration of our values as well as the law.

We believe health care is a fundamental right.

Vote “yes.”

• Measure 112/Slavery

The state constitutional amendment would remove language allowing slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime.

Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and Vermont have similar ballot measures in November, which are aimed at ending the exception in the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery.

Vote “yes.”