Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council appointed Greg Mahler Monday night to fill a seat left vacant by the resignation of Bob McIntire in November.
Also applying for the position were Daniel Holman and Donald Austin. The term expires on Dec. 31, 2010. The council met in a special session to conduct interviews and appoint a councilor with plans to swear the new councilor in on Tuesday night.
During the interview, Mahler told the council that he has lived in Sweet Home for 47 years, working on and off at Hoy’s True Value hardware store. In the 1990s, he started a business opening stores for Ace Hardware, True Value Hardware, Home Depot and other companies around the nation and the world, including some 46 different nations.
In the past year, he has decided that traveling is getting old and started managing Hoy’s, he said. He is in transition to taking over the business from his father.
Mahler served on the council in the 1990s, and has spent 21 years volunteering with the fire department, he said. While traveling, he never really left Sweet Home. He has stayed involved, as a member of the Kiwanis, helping with the Community Center and his church.
“I watched three of my kids grow up in the community, one of the greatest communities in Oregon,” he said, and he would love to be involved in the community and its growth.
As a councilor, he is to be the eyes and ears of the citizens on issues that come before the council, he said, and the council should look at every issue in the best interests of the citizens.
“Same as being the manager of a business, it’s an open door,” he said. “I feel I can listen to their issues and bring them to the council.”
He is most interested in development and bringing business to Sweet Home, Mahler said. With his work, “I’ve gotten to see what it takes to bring a business to a city.”
He understands what they look for as well as what a community wants, he said.
“I believe Sweet Home is a beautiful city,” Mahler said. “Even with expected growth, I’m in hopes the community maintains the same beauty we have.
“I think that growth is one of the biggest challenges. Sometimes your tax base doesn’t meet the growth – You’ve got growing pains.”
If a city grows too fast, it may not have everything it needs to handle the growth in place, he said.
He thinks that Sweet Home could be a role model to other communities, he said. “I have to say I’m very proud of the community we’re in.”
Interviewed separately, each of the three candidates expressed an interest in growth.
“I’m very interested in developing new industry, new business, bringing more industry to the city of Sweet Home, Austin told the council.
Years ago, Austin said, he used to visit Sweet Home constantly, to hunt and to visit friends, he said. Sweet Home used to have a lot of business, and “I would like to see some of that come back.”
Since then, “Sweet Home has degenerated or degraded in overall appearance,” Austin said. Sweet Home sits in a beautiful valley, visible from his home. “I drive down, and I see real shacks. I’d like to see that cleaned up, an attractive rural community.”
“We’re kind of in a housing slump,” Holman told the council. That gives the city some time to catch its breath and pull together strategic plans and provide long-term funding for police and library services, for example.
He told the council he would like to see the city provide some incentives to get some industry here to produce some living-wage jobs. He also said the city should capitalize on the recreational opportunities in the area.
All three candidates are qualified, Councilor Rich Rowley said, making it difficult to choose.
But “Mahler has a couple of things,” Rowley said. “One he has an long investment in the community, with years of service in the community.”
He also has a world view outside of Sweet Home, Rowley said. Mahler’s involvement in opening new stores intrigued Rowley.
Keeping Sweet Home’s hometown atmosphere was important to Councilor Scott McKee Jr., he said. “That’s one thing that’s really important to me, keeping Sweet Home home.”
Mahler addressed that in his comments, McKee said.
“With Mr. Austin, the fact that he’s new to the area is a good thing too,” Councilor Eric Markell said. It gives him a fresh look at things.
Councilor Jim Bean said Mahler’s comment about watching his family grow up in Sweet Home stuck out to him along with Mahler staying involved in the community.
The council voted 6-0 to appoint Mahler. Voting were Bean, Rowley, McKee, Mayor Craig Fentiman, Jim Gourley and Markell.
At this point, Mahler said, his job is to “evaluate all the current issues the council’s already involved in and getting up to speed on that.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”