Scott Swanson
Four Sweet Home City Council members were elected Tuesday, Nov. 6, and local voters gave a big thumbs up to funding the community swimming pool for another five years.
In the race for four open Sweet Home City Council seats, incumbent Susan Coleman came out on top, garnering 18.50 percent of 8,634 votes. The top three vote recipients will receive four-year terms, with the fourth-place vote-getter elected to a two-year term.
Those receiving four-year seats, in addition to Coleman, were Greg Mahler, the current mayor, with 17.38 percent, and incumbent Diane Gerson (15.65 percent). Newcomer Courtney Nash was elected to the two-year seat with 14.69 percent. The remainder of the field were Larry Angland, who received 13.18 percent; Greg Korn (10.75 percent); and incumbent Bob Briana (8.28 percent).
Nash said getting elected was “humbling, because people actually voted for me.”
He said he was encouraged to run by Angland, but since he’s grown up in Sweet Home and lived in the community for 41 years, he has some things he’d like to work on as a council member.
“My biggest thing is our so-called ‘drug zombies’ running around late at night, borrowing things from people,” he said.
Also, he said, he’s concerned about rising taxes and fees, such as the recent increases in garbage collection rates.
Another concern is the new City Hall. “What I’ve been told so far is there’s not much clarification with what’s going to happen with the estimates that are coming out,” he said. “It would be really nice to see some breakdowns to see how much it’s actually going to cost the city to do this.”
He noted that he’s already heard from three individuals about that issue.
Another of his interests is finding ways to slow people who speed through town. As a log truck driver for Weyerhaeuser, he said he sees a lot of speeding going on in the early morning hours in Sweet Home.
“The other thing that baffles me is how fast people go through school zones,” Nash said. “I have a 10-year-old daughter. I wouldn’t be very happy if something happened.”
He said he’d like to look into the possibility of installing some traffic cameras to catch speeders.
Voters overwhelmingly approved the Sweet Home School District Swimming Pool five-year local option renewal, 73.02 to 26.98 percent.
Former Sweet Home resident Rachel Kittson-MaQatish, with 54.41 percent of the vote, defeated Teri L. Plagmann for the open Linn County Circuit Court Judge Position 3 seat, who drew 45.11 percent.
Challenger Michael Wynhausen was the winner in the race for Linn County Circuit Court Judge Position 1 with 58.10 percent, defeating incumbent Fay Stetz-Waters, appointed to the position last year by Gov. Kate Brown, who drew 41.47 percent of the votes.
It was the first foray into campaigning for MaQatish, who said she got a lot of help from knowledgeable acquaintances in the election.
“It was a lot of hard work,” she said. “I had a lot of good people supporting me. Running a campaign was something totally new to me and there was a lot to learn. It’s different than being a lawyer or a judge.”
She said she got a lot of support from her husband, Mo, and from her treasurer, local accountant Kim Cleveland of Rauch, McFetridge, Cleveland & Stein.
“She was very ethical and timely and diligent,” MaQatish said. “I didn’t have to worry about it.”
MaQatish, who is a partner at Morley Thomas law firm in Lebanon and Sweet Home, said she will have to leave the practice, “which is hard.”
“I’m excited to serve Linn County,” she said. “This is a big change. I’m excited about the bench. There’s a lot for new judges to learn, but Michael and I are hard workers. Two judges on the bench have reached out to me. I think we’ll all work together to make a good solid bench for citizens of Linn County.”
In the race for Linn County Commissioner Position 1, Republican incumbent John Lindsey, of Lebanon, won with 57.23 percent of the vote, to 34.23 percent for Democrat Stephanie Newton of Albany, and 8.35 percent for Independent Gary Sullivan of Sweet Home.
County incumbents not challenged in the election included County Assessor Andy Stevens, County Clerk Steve Druckenmiller and County Sheriff Jim Yon, all of whom received nearly unanimous votes.
The Linn County Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance, which grants the county sheriff authority to not enforce federal laws judged to violate the Second Amendment, passed 51.33 to 48.67 percent.
A proposed county ordinance that would have made the Linn County Surveyor an appointed position, in accordance with state law, failed by a significant margin – 70.20 percent in opposition, 29.80 percent supporting the measure.
Statewide, Gov. Kate Brown held off challenger Knute Buehler with 49.57 percent of the votes, Beuhler getting 44.22 percent. In Linn County, Buehler won 60.70 to 28.98 percent. Independent Patrick Starnes, of Brownsville, who officially dropped out of the race during the last week of October, drew 2,213 votes (4.17 percent) in Linn County.
Voter turnout as of the morning following the election, was 67.82 percent statewide, with 1,873,895 ballots received.
State House of Representatives 17th District Republican incumbent Sherrie Sprenger of Scio received 71.51 percent of the vote over challenger Renee Windsor-White, a Democrat, who got 28.25 percent.
In the 11th District House race for the seat being vacated by longtime Rep. Phil Barnhart, which includes Crawfordsville and other parts of southern Linn County, Democrat Marty Wilde defeated Republican Mark F. Herbert 56.80 to 43.10 percent. In Linn County, Herbert got 70.25 percent of 7,050 votes, to Wilde’s 29.62.
Measure 102, which amends the state constitution to allow local governments to float bonds to finance affordable housing in conjunction with nongovernmental entities, passed with 56.40 percent of the vote, to 43.50 percent in opposition. A majority of Linn County voters opposed it, 55.51 to 44.49 percent.
Measure 103, which would have amended the state constitution to prohibit taxes or fees on groceries, failed, drawing only 42.81 percent of the vote to 57.19 against the proposition. A majority of Linn County voters supported the measure, 54.89 to 45.11 percent.
Measure 104, which would have amended the state constitution to require a three-fifths legislative majority to pass revenue-raising bills, failed 61-15 to 34.85 percent. It also failed in Linn County, 55.53 to 44.47 percent.
Measure 105, which would have repealed Oregon’s “Sanctuary Law,” which bans the use of state or local law enforcement resources to enforce federal immigration laws, also failed, 62.93 to 37.07 percent. It passed in Linn County, 52.14 to 47.86 percent.
Measure 106, which would have amended the state constitution to prohibit the spending of “public funds” for abortions, failed, 65.16 to 35.84 percent. A majority of Linn County voters supported the measure, 52.28 to 47.72 percent.