By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The four members of the Yachats City Council are taking three more weeks to find someone willing to join them.
The council has a vacancy because Leslie Vaaler, who was two years into her four-year council term, was elected mayor in November and took office this month.
It began seeking people two weeks ago to fill the remaining two years of Vaaler’s term, giving residents a 1 p.m. Friday deadline to fill out an application and answer some questions about why they were applying and their concerns. It hoped to appoint someone by this Friday, when it is holding a goal-setting session.
It got two applications – Fran Morse, a retired clinical psychologist and director of disability programs in Utah who has strongly defended the move to the council/city manager form of government, and Jennifer Fredricksen, manager of Yachats Brewing + Farmstore.
Council members decided Friday that two applicants weren’t enough, extending the application deadline until Feb. 12, scheduling a special meeting Feb. 16 to conduct interviews, and hoping to appoint someone during its regular meeting the next day.
Vaaler and two councilors felt the city didn’t do a good enough job getting the word out about the vacancy, even though it was advertised on the city website, had a notice on the Post Office bulletin board, and mentioned in news stories.
“… in our haste to get someone on board by the end of January, we might have been our own worst enemy,” said Councilor Ann Stott. “It has nothing to do with the quality of the candidates, just the number. I’d like to see more candidates.”
The last vacancy was a year ago, when the City Council appointed Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey from a field of three candidates, including Greg Scott, who was not appointed but was then elected to the council in November.
City staff said they would include a note about the vacancy in upcoming utility bills and send out an email blast as well.
Although O’Shaughnessey said there were “two excellent candidates,” she urged council members to also talk to people who might be interested and encourage them to apply. “Each of us should come up with good candidates,” she said.
Vaaler said a larger pool of applicants would “add legitimacy” to the appointment.
Tough road ahead
It’s unclear whether any arm-twisting will help, even in a city known for its volunteerism.
With O’Shaughnessey as an appointed holdover, a new mayor and two new members, the City Council is taking a nearly 180-degree turn in direction. Members have been critical of City Manager Shannon Beaucaire, who will be taking a job with the city of Carlton within two months, so must go through a typically long and arduous process of finding a replacement. It also wants to end outside contracts for planning and finance and hire its own staff, once again.
And that’s all while being deeply involved in almost every city decision, which is unusual in the city manager/council form of government voters approved five years ago.
It has four commissions, which are considered ways to get residents familiar with city operations and then potentially move onto the council. But most commissions have been struggling with direction, information, communication, and their relationships with city staff, contractors and councils. Two commissions have new chairs and three have vacancies.
One experienced, one not
In her application, Morse said she had served two years each on the Planning Commission and Parks & Commons Commission, and had been president of the now-defunct Friends of the Commons. She said her professional background in Utah reporting to state and county boards made her a strong supporter of Yachats’ form of government.
“I have a history of facilitating groups in resolving issues, and more importantly, then rebuilding the damaged relationships and group dynamics afterwards,” she wrote in her application. “It seems to me that this approach is needed at this time. I would like to be an active force in the community again, helping us to enlarge our focus on priorities, and regain the sense of being a trusting and collaborative village.”
Morse is married to Max Glenn, who served six years on the City Council before his defeat in the November election.
Fredericksen has not been involved in city activities until she joined Beaucaire’s informal “Plan Ahead” committee to help advise her on how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Her employer, Yachats Brewing + Farmstore, has been embroiled in six years of disputes with the city and Lincoln County over building permits and construction of its buildings.
In her application, Frederiksen said she wants to represent workers and businesses on the council, help find ways for businesses to safely emerge from pandemic restrictions, and find solutions to workforce housing issues. Fredericksen said she is concerned by the city “wanting to add staff when it appears we are heavily staffed in the city departments.”
“To be honest, my only experience comes from having lived in Yachats nearly eight years while listening to our local community voices in saying what their concerns and wants are for Yachats,” she said. “I am open-minded and dedicated to learning and this should not be ignored in lieu of experience.”
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To apply for the vacancy on the Yachats City Council go here.
Two good candidates came forward during the recruitment process and should have been considered on schedule. The council needs a full house to deal with all the things coming up on their plate and now it will be March before that will happen.