Scott Swanson
Newcomers Wendi Melcher and Rick Ely were elected to the Sweet Home Economic Development Group Wednesday, March 5, and incumbents Michelle Swett and Jo Ann McQueary were re-elected by SHEDG members at the organization’s annual membership meeting.
They joined the 11-member board, whose other members are John Wittwer, Cindy Glick, Michael Hall, Rachel Kittson-MaQatish, Kellie Kem and Rob Poirier.
Kevin Strong and Phyllis Osborn-Smith have opted not to run again.
Melcher, a longtime Sweet Home resident, has been active in a wide variety of volunteer activities, including serving on the Board of Directors and various committees for the Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Santiam, as president of the Sweet Home High School Booster Club, and president of the Santiam Board of Realtors. She is a real estate agent, who believes, according to her campaign statement, that “in order for this community to thrive and continue to grow, it takes a commitment to do more than just talk about it; supporting your community means you must get involved.”
Ely, who moved to Sweet Home from Woodland, Wash. in April of 2011, has worked in real estate sales, land development and various entrepreneurial business endeavors.
“I’m of the opinion that Sweet Home is one of the richest and most untapped areas in the region,” Ely said. “There is no doubt in my mind that it has the potential to become the recreational Mecca of this region.”
McQueary, who was appointed to a vacant board seat two years ago and was re-elected last year, is also a longtime local resident.
A retired teacher and coach, she has devoted herself to public service in recent years, serving on numerous boards throughout the region, including CASA of Linn County, ABC House, Visit Linn Coalition, Rural Development Initiatives Fund Development Board, Linn County Expo Advisory Board, Oregon Community Foundation and South Willamette Leadership Council. She has been a vocal advocate for tourism in the area, serving on various committees devoted to community improvements that will make the region more attractive to visitors.
McQueary is also a committed advocate for the Ford Foundation Leadership Foundation, which has held a number of seminars in East Linn County in recent years to train local leaders who can foster collaboration between organizations in a way that will aid rural communities.
Swett, who has served one four-year term, has been SHEDG treasurer for the last two years and is a life-long resident of Sweet Home. She is employed at the Sweet Home branch of Linn-Co Federal Credit Union, where she has been manager for 15 years and chief operations officer for six.
Vice President John Wittwer told the 20-some members at the meeting that SHEDG must stay true to its mission if it is going to be successful.
“Not counting the lucky flukes in life, success follows a pattern,” he said, listing seven values that he believes the organization should focus on: hope, progress, professionalism, integrity, service, stewardship and community. “I urge you to hold true to those values. Success will undoubtedly follow.”
Quoting the organization’s mission statement, “To effectively lead efforts to enhance and promote thriving, diverse economic development in the Sweet Home community,” Wittwer said SHEDG needs to find ways to attract outside dollars, to capitalize on the outdoor resources available around Sweet Home.
He acknowledged that residents’ interpretation of the mission statement will differ, but said agreement of purpose is crucial.
“I believe success is linked to how closely linked we are in our understanding of what those seven terms mean,” he said.
Mike Adams, steering chair of the Sweet Home Area Revitalization Effort, which is the feet-on-the-ground branch of SHEDG in terms of local economic development, reviewed SHARE’s progress over the last few years in reducing downtown blight and providing “functional infrastructure” for economic improvement. Those include the Commercial Exterior Improvement Program, which has handed out some $60,000 in grants over recent years, stimulating $200,000 in private investment to improve commercial buildings throughout downtown Sweet Home.
Though lacking an economic development director for most of the past year, SHARE has continued to move forward in encouraging downtown improvements and beautification, efforts to get viable businesses into vacant buildings and link purchasers with available commercial property, and developing themes that would make Sweet Home more visitor friendly.
Strong, the outgoing SHEDG board president, reviewed some of the history and accomplishments of SHEDG, which was founded in 1992 with the mission of revitalizing Sweet Home’s economy.
He started with a quotation from a University of Oregon professor who predicted, after the spotted owl restrictions shut down much of the local wood products industry, “Nothing will keep that place going if the timber industry collapses.”
Strong cited examples of local companies that have done well despite the economic doldrums that have plagued the community: White’s Electronics, which has produced world-renowned metal-detecting equipment, Strong said; Environmetal, which produces non-toxic shotgun pellets that are highly regarded in the shooting and hunting world; Ti-Squared, which started out making titanium golf clubs and, after losing that product line to the Chinese, now produces titanium-based parts for military, aeronautical, auto racing and other markets; and Weyerhaeuser’s Foster plant, which produces high-grade veneer for laminated lumber, a move that kept the facility open while 28 other plywood mills have shut down in Oregon since 1990, he said.
Strong noted that local job postings often mention the Oregon Jamboree as part of their description of the community.
“The Jamboree has become part of our identity,” he said. “That’s something you can’t assign a dollar value to.”