Sean C. Morgan
James Goble has been away from City Council issues for awhile, and he’ll be spending the next few months getting up to speed after taking his new seat on the council on April 8.
Goble was chosen to complete Marybeth Angulo’s term, which expires on Dec. 31. The council appointed him to the seat during its regular meeting on March 22, recognizing that he and Councilor Bruce Hobbs had tied in the November 2014 election. The council decided the election with a series of coin tosses.
Goble was present in the audience at the council meeting when the council appointed him, but he said he wasn’t expecting it to take that action. He had intended to be there because he had recently been elected chair of the Planning Commission and wanted to keep tabs on what was going on at the next level, he said.
“I think it was good to be there (as chairman of the Planning Commission), and I wanted to see what they were going to do with the empty seat, see what their process was for that,” he said. He said he was interested in seeking the seat, and he plans to run for re-election in November.
“I think it’s an honor that they would make a motion and action last night to put me on the council,” Goble told a reporter the next day.
He plans to follow the same platform he used when he was running for election, he said, and he would like to encourage more community involvement and improving the visual aesthetics of Sweet Home.
He would like the community to capitalize on recreational opportunities, he said, keeping the “small-town feel” while bringing in new business.
Goble would like to encourage Samaritan Health Services to bring more to Sweet Home, he said. “We have things that we can potentially capitalize on here that we haven’t even tapped.”
He would also like to create historical monuments in and around the community.
Goble grew up in Sweet home, and has lived here for a total of about 33 years. He left Sweet Home in the eighth grade and moved to Redmond, where he earned his GED in 1996.
He earned certification in welding from Central Oregon Community College and attended Linn-Benton Community College. He has nearly completed an associate’s degree in criminal justice. A math class and work experience requirements remain.
In Sweet Home, he owned and operated G6, a security surplus store, for a year and a half. He closed the store to work for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency on the east coast following Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Goble returned to Sweet Home and went to work at Ti-Squared, where he is now production manager.
He has six children, including Eli, 8, and Ayden, 7. Daughter Kiesha is a senior at Sweet Home High School. Adult son Tanner is serving in the U.S. Navy. Goble has two other adult sons, Nick, who lives in Sweet Home, and Thomas, who lives in Salem.
Serving on the Planning Commission was a way for him to give back to the community, Goble said, something that started with his volunteer work in the parks – activity that has taken off, especially with the involvement of Planning Services Manager Laura LaRoque and the city manager’s administrative assistant, Julie Fisher. In particular, he has been active in and continues to be interested in beefing up the BMX facility at Sankey Park.
On current and recent issues facing the council, Goble remains opposed to marijuana, a big issue for the council in the last two years. At this point, no new dispensaries, medical or recreational, are allowed in Sweet Home by ordinance.
Per state law, local voters will decide in November whether to keep those ordinances or to get rid of them and allow the sale of marijuana in Sweet Home.
“I’m still not for it in our community,” Goble said. “It’s the community’s (choice) if they want it. If not, they’ll vote against it.”
A council subcommittee, the Public Safety Committee, is looking at a “livability code” that would allow the city to regulate against substandard housing. The committee is using an ordinance passed by Corvallis last year as a starting point for discussion.
“I’ve only heard bits and pieces what it’s about,” Goble said. “I think it’ll help in the long run to bring up the visual aesthetics.”
But he’s not sure it doesn’t interfere with personal property too much, he said. He would like to know more about it before commenting further.