Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Bob McIntire has been involved in many improvements in Sweet Home since he joined the Sweet Home City Council.
“One thing you’re going to get (if elected) is honesty, perseverance,” McIntire, 75, said.”I am progressive. This is why we’ve gotten what we have in the past. You have to have a serious councilman because you have serious problems.”
This is McIntire’s third election since being appointed by the council to succeed former Mayor Bob Whitfield.
“Since I’ve been in, we’ve built the Boys and Girls Club. We’ve built the new Police Department,” he said. “Also, I’ve backed the Weddle Bridge project (a current repair project).”
“One reason I want to stay on the council, (is) within the next two years, we should have the new water plant come online. I think that’s very important for all the citizens in Sweet Home. It’s something we need. The other is 70 years old. We have a lot of work to do yet. I just want to continue what I’ve been doing.
“All of our infrastructure, we’ve got to keep working on, especially our storm drainage. We don’t have a utility for storm drainage. I can see that coming.”
With other infrastructure, such as the new water plant and new sewer lines, needed by the city, “rates are going to go up,” McIntire said. “We can’t get around it. We don’t have the monies to replace them. Like I said, I’m honest.”
The new plant will cost $5 million to $6 million, and the city has already spent more than $4 million on sewer line repairs, he said. Each million dollars translates to about $1 per month in increased water and sewer rates on residents’ bills.
This is an expense that cannot be avoided, McIntire said. “We’re growing. We need water. We need a lot of sewer work. We probably need another $25 million to fix the sewers.”
Outside of Public Works issues, “I want to see more police,” he said. Speeding is a problem with Sweet Home traffic, and the city could really use a couple more police officers.
“One thing I’d like to see is a couple of motorcycle officers,” he said. “But we get back to where do we get the money.”
He is not sure how to fund new officers, he said.
The city has had problems with police being on a temporary operating levy, he said, and the city needs to find a way around the levies. The library is in the same fix.
McIntire moved to Sweet Home from the Long Beach, Calif., area in 1978. Before coming to Oregon, he and his wife of 51 years, Celeste, owned four laundry facilities.
“We came here to spend the night, but we never left,” McIntire said. They found out the motel they were staying in was for sale and purchased it.
“I was retired then,” he said. “But I don’t stay that way.”
In Sweet Home, they owned and operated the Porta Via motel, now Sweet Home Inn.
They moved to Salem for a couple of years before returning to Sweet Home in 1994.
McIntire is retired, but he still does occasional work and odd jobs. He has worked in construction as a subcontractor.