Six candidates for Lincoln County commissioner means the chance of single winner in May primary election is slim

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com

Because six people are running for Position 2 on the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners the chance of a clear-cut winner emerging from the May 19 primary race is slim.

If no one gets more than 50 percent of the May primary vote the county’s election rules require a November race between the top two finishers. Mail ballots have been delivered to registered voters. They are due back in the county elections office by 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 19.

Claire Hall is seeking her fifth four-year term, has received the most contributions and run the most visible campaign. But the likelihood of her getting 50 percent of the total vote is low when there are four others on the ballot and one write-in candidate.

So the primary race is to see who will challenge Hall in November.

Two of the five other candidates have run before. Betty Kamikawa of Toledo finished third in a four-person race in May 2018 and Joe Hitselberger of Seal Rock finished third in a four-way race in May 2014.

And, in an unusual move, Newport businesswoman Celeste McEntee is running an active write-in campaign.

Others on the ballot are David Davis and Edward Johnston, both of Toledo.

Lincoln County has three commissioners, who oversee departments ranging from roads to health to parks and manage a yearly budget of $109 million. Commission pay ranges from $83,000 to $88,00 a year and includes health, dental and life insurance, a health savings account and a 401(k) retirement plan.

Until eight years ago commissioners were elected in partisan – Republican or Democrat – primaries and then faced off in the November general election. In 2013 Lincoln County voters overwhelmingly changed the position to nonpartisan. That meant the May primary could be a crowded free-for-all with a winner avoiding a November race only if they won more than 50 percent of the vote.

YachatsNews sent six questions to commission candidates. Kamikawa did not respond; Johnston’s were unintelligible. Here are the responses of Davis, Hall, Hitselberger and McEntee.

What is your education, occupation and civic/community service background?

DAVID DAVIS: I have a high school diploma and training for several occupations that I have held over the years. I have been a volunteer firefighter, a reserve deputy and I am currently part of the county’s Auxiliary Communication Service. I have worked as a deputy sheriff, a police dispatcher, a technology manager and I am currently employed as the law librarian for Lincoln County. I bring a lifetime of experience surviving, paying my bills, raising kids and living a married life.

CLAIRE HALL: Bachelor’s degree from Pacific University, master’s degree at Northwestern University. I have worked as a newspaper reporter and editor and radio news director. I have been a board member and chair for numerous community non-profits including Samaritan House, Lincoln County Food Share, and My Sisters’ Place.

JOE HITSELBERGER: I received two bachelor’s degrees from Oregon State University and I attended graduate school at Cal Poly Pomona. I have worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as a habitat biologist and the Oregon Department of Forestry as a stewardship forester. For the last seven years, I have owned and operated Wolf Tree Brewing, a small brewery near Seal Rock.

CELESTE McENTEE: Small businesses are the engine of our local economy and need an advocate with my background. I have the skills and a fresh perspective that our county needs. Working under pressure and finding creative solutions to complex problems is a skill I have learned through the experiences of owning and operating a small business. Most recently stepping in and helping our family’s 75-year-old business (Mo’s Seafood & Chowder) navigate this business environment while implementing new products and revenue centers. I am no stranger to working under pressure.

For the last 20 years, I have spearheaded and contributed to many projects to help our community, not for recognition or praise but simply because it is the right thing to do. My qualifications include: problem solving, networking with organizations, enhancing existing networks, committed to Lincoln County, small business owner, embracing all members of our community and their contributions, a long history of helping the most vulnerable members of our community, and staying with a project until the last stone is turned.

Why do you want this job?

DAVIS: I filed for the job because I wanted to give back to the county that has been my home for the past 27 years.  We are in hard times and we will pull through it. I would like to help.

HALL: I love having the opportunity to serve my community and having the platform to get things done. I have the knowledge of issues and the relationships (locally, at the state level and nationally) that has allowed me to bring millions of new dollars into the county for housing, health care, behavioral health services, and other community needs.

HITSELBERGER: I want this job because I feel strongly that the role of county commissioner should not be a career position.  When there is no change in leadership, the same agenda gets pushed and it is more difficult to enact change. Small businesses employee over 50 percent of Lincoln County residents, yet they have no representation on the board of commissioners. My education and work experiences give me a unique perspective and I can bring a common sense approach to working on issues that our county faces.

McENTEE: I believe that local government has the most immediate impact on the lives of the citizens within our community. I have spent hundreds of hours volunteering and helping children with food insecurities and struggling people and I feel like this is a natural next step to helping the most people. I believe that my success in business and community volunteerism will translate to success within our government structure. With the diverse responsibilities of a county commissioner and considering this current COVID-19 pandemic, I believe a fresh perspective with a creative mind of someone who crosses barriers is what we need right now.

Select and explain one thing that Lincoln County government could do much better.

DAVIS: The county could understand the limits of their knowledge and the consequences of their actions.  They should strive to have an up to date understanding of an incident or problem and the solutions they propose.

HALL: Communication. We usually have our meetings uploaded to our website later the same day or the next day, but I want to see us doing live streaming. The pandemic is also underscoring something I already realized — that online and social media are increasingly supplanting traditional media as a way people get their local news. We have had good success with our messaging around the pandemic.

HITSELBERGER: Our county can do a better job increasing the affordable housing inventory. Housing is a huge issue in the county that impedes our growth and is the root of a number of problems. Lincoln county needs to streamline the permitting process, attract development and adjust zoning restrictions that limit our growth.  The county has all the tools to fix this problem, yet it is not a priority with the current commissioners.

McENTEE: I believe listening to constituents should be a priority, a transparent budget process, proactive long-term planning, and working to make sure we are using taxpayer dollars effectively are all areas that can be improved. Our county struggles with family wage jobs and many people who live paycheck to paycheck. The county has a desperate need to focus our services and resources in those areas. With home vacancy rates at or below 1 percent we have a huge issue with needing affordable and accessible housing. Our homeless family population has grown exponentially in the last few years. Homelessness accounts for 17 percent of our school districts population and that is heartbreaking and needs to be addressed.

What should the county’s role be in the personal and business recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic? How do you do that?

DAVIS: The county should be the conduit for the process. The commissioners and the appropriate departments should know the facts, not only of the state and federal level but also how their constituents are surviving. They should make informed decisions with their constituents in mind. It would be good if they had a list or source of things we can do, that they could pass on to us to help us survive. I know that some of this is available on various county web pages but a radio spot or page in the paper would ensure that Lincoln County residents got the information they need.

HALL: The county doesn’t have a lot of financial resources to help out, but we do have a platform to convene, coordinate and communicate.

HITSELBERGER: The county needs to follow guidance from the state during the recovery and not attempt to impose further restrictions that are not consistent with other neighboring counties. After the pandemic, the county itself will be struggling financially and we will need to be very careful how our tax dollars are spent. Helping small businesses recover should be a priority. The county can do that by deferring tax payments, waiving or reducing license fees, etc. These small acts will have a cumulative effect and could really help businesses that are struggling to recover.

McENTEE: The current most pressing issue in Lincoln County is dealing with the COVID-19 virus outbreak and then how we are going to get our county back to a full functioning economy. We should implement common sense social distancing guidelines and open some business back up. Allow open air activities that easily maintain physical distancing guidelines. For example, fishing. Honestly can anyone explain why boat launches are closed? Getting the healthy people back to work as soon as possible while keeping the most vulnerable and those with underlying health issues protected and safe. The longer we have our community closed the harder it will be to get people back to work. It can be a fine line between being a functioning member of the community and being homeless. While keeping people healthy and safe is crucial we may also see an increase of health issues from those families that are experiencing food insecurities and lack of consistent shelter. We will need community resource officers designated to do outreach to identify those families needing the most assistance and get them to the resources they need.

Rural areas of the county often have the feeling – real or imagined – that they are slighted when it comes to many county services. Do you agree or disagree? If you agree, explain how the county could do better? If you disagree, please explain why.

DAVIS: Like most things in life it is not a simple thing. The “squeaky wheel gets the oil” is a fact; as an example look at the roads.  Busy roads are paved, well drained, possibly lined and curbed.  Many people in the county live on gravel roads, some are one lane, the culverts are not cleaned on a regular basis but most are graded at least once a year.  It is not a case of slighting but a case of materials and money and demand.  We need to do a better job for our rural citizens in many ways.

HALL: I disagree. If you look at the presence of health services throughout the county (adult clinics in Newport and Lincoln City and student clinics at each high school), more than 300 miles of roads in every part of the county, if you look at the bus service that reaches every part of the county, if you look at the jail, juvenile and adult parole systems that serve every corner of the county, than I believe we are maintaining an effective presence throughout the county.

HITSELBERGER: I agree with that. I have lived and worked in a rural part of the county for most of my life and I can confirm that our county roads are not maintained to the degree that they should be. I realize the use of some of these roads may be limited, however the county does have an obligation to maintain them to a standard seen in other parts of the county.

McENTEE: Rural areas are almost always among the most neglected in almost every county. The population centers of counties make the most noise, so that is where the largest share of funds, resources and services are allocated. Just because a community is small does not mean that it’s not an integral part of the county’s economy and isn’t crucial to the social fabric of the other communities within the county. I think each area of the county should have a voice and I would like to see an elected representative from each community be able to share issues, frustrations and areas of concern with the county commissioners on a monthly or bimonthly basis. Every community in our county deserves to be heard.

For Davis, Hitselberger and McEntee: You are running against an incumbent who has been elected four times. Why should someone vote for you instead of her?

DAVIS: It is time for change. There are complex problems facing us and we need new vision, new ideas to address them. Commissioner Hall has held the office for four terms and although there are new issues that were not there during her first term, no solutions have come from the fourth term.

HITSELBERGER: I am running for Lincoln County commissioner because I have educational and work experiences which make me uniquely suited to the management of the rich resources of our county, and because we need a fresh perspective that I can bring to the table. I have spent much of my life living and working in Lincoln County. My wife, Taryn and I look forward to raising our family here. We are invested in the financial, educational, and environmental well-being of Lincoln County. I know our community can do better.

McENTEE: We are dealing with an unprecedented event in our country with the COVID-19 outbreak and with my small business background and volunteerism experience I think I have the skills required to lead our county through these uncertain times and back to prosperity and growth. I have spent time with the homeless children in our community and understand the struggles of food insecurities. We have serious homeless issues countywide, lack of affordable housing and bloated county budgets that need a new fresh out of the box mindset. I have the energy and fortitude to dig through these complicated issues and I am willing to make tough choices. I believe the commissioners are paid extremely well and as county members we should hold them to their commitments, attending their meetings and being a presence within our county. I believe that paid leaders in public office should be willing to hold themselves financially accountable in full transparency as well the departments they manage. We have had past annual budgets in the county that have cut county employees while commissioner pay increased; this is unacceptable. After holding a commission seat for 16 years I feel like we need a fresh perspective and an infusion of energy, ideas and grit to hammer out the tough issues of these unique times.

Claire Hall: You are seeking your fifth term. Why should someone vote for you again?

HALL: I was a good commissioner when I started, but I’m more effective now because of my deeper knowledge, experience and relationships. The job brings fresh challenges every day. It is the honor of my life to serve the people of Lincoln County, and I will be grateful for the opportunity to continue.