Garret Jaros
Garret Jaros
By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
WALDPORT – The common thread woven into the campaign cloth of candidates running for mayor and city council seats in Waldport is community.
Whether in the voter pamphlet statements of the four candidates running for three council seats or in statements and interviews with the two mayoral candidates – community is the reoccurring stitch – listening to the community, collaborating with the community, responsiveness to community and community cohesion.
The Lincoln County clerk mailed ballots to 1,919 registered voters in the city. Voters can either mail their ballot – postage is pre-paid – by 5 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 5 or put them in the special ballot collection box at Waldport city hall — or any other city hall in the county — or the county courthouse in Newport by 8 p.m. Nov. 5.
Vying for four-year council seats in the general election are incumbents Jayme Morris and Greg Dunn. Morris is seeking a second term and Dunn a third. Challenging them in a race that will leave one candidate without a chair is former construction contractor Thomas Ebling and retired journalism professor and former council member Jerry Townsend.
Mayoral candidates Melaia Kilduff and Heide Lambert are facing off for an open seat left vacant by two-term mayor Greg Holland, who announced he would not seek re-election in July and then resigned in September. Kilduff is a current council member elected in 2022 to fill a seat left open after the resignation of Lambert who left to take the job of Yachats city manager.
Lambert’s work history includes leading a Depoe Bay children’s nonprofit and the Seashore Family Literacy in Waldport before becoming executive director of CASA of Lincoln and Tillamook counties. She had been on the Waldport planning commission and budget committee before being elected to the city council in 2020. She left the council in February 2022 to become Yachats city manager, but resigned after 15 months when there was a change in the mayor and council and turmoil with staff. She now works with Trauma informed Oregon.
Kilduff worked for the Lincoln County School District through AmeriCorps from 2006-2015 and then as a teacher at Crestview Heights School from 2016-2023. She is currently the executive director for Lincoln County Partnership Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
Questions & Answers
Both Kilduff and Lambert participated in a question and answer forum hosted by the Lincoln County Democratic Party on Oct. 7, where they were asked six pre-provided questions. More recently YachatsNews asked each candidate six off-the-cuff questions.
Following are a combination of eight of those questions and answers, some of which have been edited for brevity only.
YachatsNews: Why are you running for mayor?
Heide Lambert: I have kids and they have friends and all of them weren’t excited about the (national) elections. And this was their first time voting and I thought they should get more involved and so I thought the best way was to run and let them see firsthand. But I’m really passionate about civil volunteering and being involved in your local government. And they’ve been raised with that. And so I just wanted to celebrate it more, celebrate the process that they get to be a part of by voting.
Melaia Kilduff: I grew up in Waldport and left for school and came back. And I just feel like I’ve been around long enough to know the dynamic of our community and I feel like I could lead us in a direction that’s going to keep us going instead of keep us running around in circles doing the same thing.
YN: What are your goals if elected mayor?
Kilduff: We have an amazing group of highschoolers moving through our schools … and they are learning things like broadcasting and journalism. They are creating things that we could be tapping into to create that transparency and to communicate out what’s going on within our city. And why wouldn’t we engage them in that? Both to help them learn what happens in our city government, learn about civics, but also help us to see through their perspective what we need in our community. And also to have community spaces available for families and kids.
Lambert: Definitely transparency. And also I want to include more diverse thoughts and ideas from different folks, lived experiences of those that have either lived here their whole lives or have moved here and are bringing experiences from where they come from. And by transparency, I mean use the Waldport community Facebook page to invite people to meetings, share what is on the city’s agenda and minutes. And do it more on city’s website where it’s been hard to find meeting minutes. Even Zooming the meetings would be really great.
YN: What has Waldport done well?
Lambert: Waldport does a really great job trying to make this a wonderful, sustainable place for people to live. I think that in the last 10 years with my work with the government we’re really trying to look at all the different stages families go through, from being a working teen and trying to get out in the world on your own to being a family, raising children here with limited childcare, to being retirees and looking into healthcare, and then aging and all of the supports our community could have in place to help folks who don’t have transportation. And just all of the things we need to be healthy.
Kilduff: Waldport has done really well being that self-sustaining community. We look out for our own. We haven’t always needed to go out to the outside agencies to come in and help us with like our homeless advocacy. The homeless study that was done didn’t represent us very well as a community and our needs very well as a community. So our volunteer agencies came together and came up with a plan for how we could help each other and sustain ourselves and the unhoused in our community in a way that speaks to us and for us better than the county-wide plan. We live in a very generous community and people give when they can.
YN: What could Waldport improve?
Kilduff: We are in a pretty big debacle with Beachcomber Days partly because of the transparency issues. We’ve always kind of run on the honor system, which is great until something goes wrong. So just tightening up the system so that we are all transparent. The city is transparent to the people. And when we give funds, we find out where those are going. And I think that’s the situation we’re in right now. And finding that balance between a knee-jerk reaction and actual working within the community is that adaptation that’s happening right now. And it’s hard. I don’t think it was handled quite as well as it could have been, on either side. I just hope it gets cleared up because Beachcomber Days is a huge part of our community’s traditions. And we also need the accountability within all the organizations that ask for public funds.
Lambert: The same thing. I don’t think our work is done. We constantly have families moving. We constantly have families aging. Peoples’ needs and the community’s needs change. So we need to keep doing what we do well to support the community as it ages and grows.
YN: What separates you from the other candidate for mayor?
Lambert: I think the thing I see with the current council and my opponent is many of them are very tightknit, grew up together since elementary school. And I moved here with my young family and didn’t have those same supports and buffers of the generations who were here before me. So I think both of us have the community in our hearts but we just have different experiences and ways that we needed our community. And I really want to represent the folks who don’t have the same buffers and supports as those who were raised here and who grew up here.
Kilduff: I feel like either one of us being elected, the other one’s not going anywhere. We both want what’s best for our community. We both want what’s best for our future leaders. The families in our town need more. And I think we both agree on that. I think Heide is well-connected county and state legislator-wise. But within agencies, I work closely with Lincoln County Public Health through my paid job, and we are doing a lot of work with substance abuse prevention, kids on leadership skills. I think we both just want, really at the core of everything, we just want what’s best for our community. And a sustainable community with education and services that they need.
Democratic Forum: Do you think the Main Street downtown area is healthy and successful? If yes, why? If no, what would you do to change it?
Kilduff: I think Waldport really has two corridors that we could call Main Street downtown. The 101 corridor we’ve been battling with ODOT for two years to get better signage, better crosswalks and get people to slow down, which is what we really need to do both for safety and for economy. Also, we have this Highway 34 corridor which is really where the heart of our community is. … (The new park) will draw traffic from 101 so need to be prepared. And to be ready for that we need to increase our curb appeal. We need to make it a place where people want to stop, slow down, enjoy the view, have a picnic at the park. And we need to encourage our local businesses to be taking advantage of the Small Business’s Development Center at Oregon Coast Community College to help them thrive through the winter months so we are not seeing businesses slow way down just relying on that tourist income. I’ve proposed an adopt-a-planter program to get some flowers and some color along the 101 corridor. And that process is working through council. (Also thinks town needs more signage) but from the sea wall to bridge it is battling with ODOT. Our Main Street and downtown areas are going to change dramatically when the park opens. And we just need to be ready.
Lambert: (Begins by acknowledging downtown has improved tremendously last 10 years). Signage is important, ODOT should at least give us a blue sign to tell where to access the port. And then also the park. In addition to the adopt-a-planter program, I would want to expand it to have benches (for people to gather) as well. And I think the city could afford to also help by giving each person who adopts a planter, some funding for plants. Because we’ve had several community groups who have volunteered to water and plant and it is a big job. And so the community effort saves the city money.
DF: If you could change one thing in our zoning code, what would it be and why?
Lambert: If I could change any code it would be to explore a county sheriff safety district levy because I think that would free up a lot of Waldport’s budget and then we could afford a code enforcer who could do more groundwork with community to educate to let them know the changes the planning commission makes and different ways they can adopt those changes for their properties and make it a little less confrontational and more of a learning experience. That also helps beautify the community and helps neighbors not fight with neighbors over things.
Kilduff: First thing I would do is make it user friendly … We don’t need residential 1,2,3,4. What we need is high-density and low-density housing so that when a builder comes in it is clear and will save developers a lot of time. Our community needs housing. Our economy relies on people being able to come here, live here, afford to stay. So we need to work on our affordable housing and in order to do that we are going to have to go into high-density housing, getting apartments and duplexes and fourplexes into our community in places that make sense. Do I want to block out everybody’s view, absolutely not, and that’s where our zoning codes would prevent that from happening because we do live in a beautiful place and our zoning codes need to protect that.
DF: How do you plan to involve residents in the decision-making process of the city?
Kilduff: (Begins by saying she is going to tweak the question). Watching a city council meeting or writing a letter, voting it’s one and done. Engagement is active participation, which is what I would want our community to do. So bringing a proposal to a city council meeting, meeting with a city councilor to discuss an idea, working together to create a positive change for our community. And my plan to engage residents is to be in the community. Meeting with people at Café Chill, city hall, school events, booster meetings and dialogue with high school students to hear their needs. If we don’t actively engage in what’s happening in our town, we’re just watching council make decisions for us. And that’s not what I hope for Waldport to be.
Lambert: I think there could be improvement for publishing the public meetings on the website and on our readerboard. And then also on our Facebook page, the Waldport community Facebook page. I think it’s important to notify when the public meetings are, that’s law. But I think more importantly it’s important to invite certain groups to come and speak to council about what they are doing (successes and troubles.) And listen to individual’s thoughts, input, opinions and struggles with city. It all plays a vital role in city government and it’s welcome. So as a mayor my job would be to help make that agenda and so we would be able to place people on that agenda so they could come and have their time to speak to council.
Both candidates agreed they would like to limit the number of vacation rentals allowed in the city. Waldport currently has no cap.
Council candidates
Following are statements posted by the city council candidates in the voter’s pamphlet. Some of have been edited for brevity. To see their full statements and bio go here.
Greg Dunn: The city of Waldport faces many challenges in the future, working together I feel we will meet these challenges. I have tried to be an independent voice working on behalf of all citizens of Waldport. Our economy is heavily dependent upon our visitor industry and our local business owners who work so hard to support their families and this community. To assure a sound economy we need to develop action plans to improve our visitor industry and diversify our economy. It is important that we have a partnership to help complete these goals, making Waldport a vibrant and safe place are two of the most vital functions of the city government. My interests include economic development and public safety … I am committed to making Waldport an energetic year-round community. Affordable housing is a big issue today and needs to be addressed by all government bodies. This is not an easy project, but I believe everyone has a right to have protection from the elements. I believe in working to improve our neighborhoods, and building community spirit.
Thomas Ebling: With a strong background in construction and public service, I am confident I can effectively represent our community. As a retired licensed general contractor with 25 years of experience, I possess a deep understanding of the importance of infrastructure, development and maintenance. Additionally, my 14 years as an investigator for the California Board of Contractors have given me a keen eye for detail and a strong sense of justice. As your City Council member, I promise to work tirelessly on behalf of the citizens of Waldport. I will draw upon my blend of experience and skills to ensure that our city is a great place to live, work, and visit. I am committed to transparency and responsiveness to the needs of our community.
Jayme Morris: Over the past four years, I have dedicated myself to advocating for the well-being of our entire community and asking the hard questions rather than just agreeing with the rest of the group. It has been a privilege to initiate projects such as advancing the sidewalk construction process and the development of Southworth Park. I have remained dedicated to Waldport through various volunteer activities, particularly in youth sports coaching. These experiences have reinforced my belief in the importance of community engagement and fostering a supportive environment for all residents. These efforts have been driven by my commitment to improving our infrastructure and enhancing our recreational spaces. I understand the importance of these initiatives in fostering community cohesion and improving the quality of life for all residents. If re-elected, my priority will be to listen attentively to the concerns and ideas of our community members. I am committed to ensuring open communication and transparency in the decision-making processes. I believe in considering all perspectives before making informed decisions that serve the best interests of Waldport.
Jerry Townsend: Working for the common good is the highest purpose of any government. I commit to help make Waldport an even more prosperous, safe, and fun community. I pledge to work creatively with kindness, honesty, empathy and accountability to do that. I will listen, respect and consider ideas and concerns from all citizens in my work as a city councilor.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com