Sean C. Morgan
While he doesn’t have a specific agenda, Greg Korn would like to make sure taxpayer money is spent wisely while keeping up with the needs of the community in infrastructure and other areas.
Korn, 42, is one of seven candidates seeking four positions on the City Council in the Nov. 6 general election. Also running are Larry Angland and Cortney Nash along with incumbents Diane Gerson, Susan Coleman, Mayor Greg Mahler and Bob Briana.
Ballots were mailed Friday, and ballots are due by 8 p.m. on Nov. 6 at drop sites, including City Hall and the Sweet Home Police Department.
Korn is a millwright at Weyerhaeuser Santiam Lumber Mill. He is married to Jeanie Korn. They have two children, Riley, 13, and Jasper, 16. They have lived in Sweet Home for nearly 14 years.
Korn said his grandfather lived here, and his father was born and reared in Sweet Home. Korn attended high school in Waldport.
“I felt like, since we moved to Sweet Home 13 years ago, I wanted to be involved in the community,” Korn said. He has served on the city Budget Committee, the Board of Appeals and the Tree Commission. He was looking for a place where he could have an impact.
Korn said he found himself dissatisfied with the budget process, where it was more like citizen suggestions, and the Tree Commission wasn’t what he had expected. He found the Board of Appeals, which met once, interesting.
“I would like to feel like I’m doing more for the community,” he said.
He doesn’t know much about current issues, he said. “I don’t have a specific thing I’m pushing for.”
By and large, the community is well run, he said. “I would like to see the infrastructure in Sweet Home maintained at a high level.”
Korn said he doesn’t have a specific complaint about any particular part of the infrastructure.
Having a couple of children in the community, he would like to see them more involved in city activities, noting that other school districts require students to complete volunteer requirements in their communities, for the same reasons he and other residents serve their community.
Korn is an Oregon Jamboree site team volunteer, he said. “I’ve really enjoyed the Jamboree. I feel that makes a big impact in the community.”
He noted that the city has a Youth Advisory Council, which is advised by Councilor Lisa Gourley.
“I think we need to get a little bit more publicity for that,” Korn said, and he would be interested in helping out with that group, which is organizing the Zombie Run and Zoup for Nov. 27. Korn said his wife cooks soup for the event.
“I would really love to be able to work with Lisa Gourley in getting kids more involved,” he said. He keeps his children busy in sports because he believes keeping kids busy helps them avoid trouble.
“I think the biggest priority is to make sure we’re spending taxpayer money wisely,” Korn said. The city should be getting the biggest bang for the buck and using resources carefully.
“I can think of a million things at one time that can help someone,” he said, but the city needs to focus on the big picture, the whole, rather than smaller groups of people.
For example, the community has a program to feed children, he said. “That’s a very important thing that needs to happen,” and everyone needs to help keep programs like that going.
It may not be the best place to spend tax dollars, Korn said. Those need to be spent on infrastructure, for example, the city itself.
“The city should be maintaining a great place to live,” he said, with a solid, working system.
The city has been spending a lot over the years to reduce inflow and infiltration, storm and ground water that leaks into the sewer system through cross connections with the storm system or through deteriorating pipes, which overloads the Treatment Plant, he said. The city is preparing to upgrade the Treatment Plant, and it’s about to begin work on the new City Hall.
Things like that require oversight to ensure the city isn’t getting ripped off in the process, he said, noting with concern the variety of different numbers that have been suggested for the new City Hall project.
The schematic design estimate for the project is about $1 million.
Korn sees an area for improvement in the business districts, buildings that are unoccupied or not maintained.
“We need to encourage people to occupy it or tear it down,” he said, and the city needs to deter people from hanging out and sleeping in doorways on Main Street.
“I think that’s kind of a black eye as people drive through. We need to put our best foot forward.”
He doesn’t want to pass laws to address it, but he would like to find ways to encourage changes.
In the past year, many Sweet Home residents have seen their trash, sewer and water bills and property taxes increase substantially. In addition to an annual increase to cover inflation, trash rates increased another 8 percent based on China’s decision to stop accepting recycling. Sewer rates increased to cover a shortfall in funding and an upcoming improvement project at the Wastewater Treatment Plant; and property tax bills are increasing rapidly – the mayor’s taxes, for example, increased by 15 percent from last year – as compression decreases.
“The important thing to do is not to allow everything to hit at once,” Korn said. The council was helping keep increases down for awhile in water and sewer bills, for example, leading to larger increases. He believes that increases be staggered and spaced out to ensure it doesn’t happen all at once and can soften the blow.