If thoughts of serving on City Council have ever bubbled atop your conscience, this may be your time – incumbents have declined to run in four wards.
Neither Ward 3 Councilor Hyatt Lytle, Ward 4 Councilor Gabe Shepherd, Ward 6 Councilor Laurie Chaplen or Ward 8 Councilor Tracey Yee have filed for new terms, and the scuttlebutt is they won’t be. Some have quite publicly declined to, and in Shepherd’s instance, he’s won a Democratic party nomination for higher office.
Beyond the expediency of running for an open seat, our fair burgh finds itself in a moment that calls for fresh, or even adventurous thinking at the leadership level. The question is, could that mean you.
City at a crossroads
On the one hand, our town is gentrifying, and on the other it seeks to care about equity and the less fortunate. However, there does not seem to be a clear vision concerning affordable and middle-class housing, homelessness, or access to local parks and forests and other amenities.
Officilas seem to have looked at a looming local healthcare availability crisis, and figuratively shrugged, mostly saying it’s someone else’s job. Their largest infrastructure ambitions are focused downtown, and quite centrally on their own office space and a new Civic Campus they’d like to build. And, as folks living in the eastern reaches of our community well know, not all neighborhoods have been treated equally.
There have also been some straight-up missteps, like the Ellis matter, and the new City Attorney contract.
Like we said, the City’s decision-making processes could use some new blood.
Knowledge please
While there are four seats opening, know that if you run, you will have an opponent, which means it’s essential that you can articulate about your run.
You don’t need to be a professional level speaker or debater – but being knowledgeable and knowing what’s motivating you to run are essential. For instance, if you support tighter or looser rent controls, you should know what you’re advocating for and why – and you also need to know how you would seek to change state law, which currently precludes cities from enacting their own rent controls.
If rent control is an issue for you, would you directly lobby other city councilors for a resolution seeking action from our state legislative delegation in Salem – or maybe work through Oregon’s League of Cities.
If you have a real-world grasp of the facts and the courage of your convictions, you can carry a debate – even if you’re an introvert. It’s something we’ve seen countless times, after all, this is a City Council election, not a presidential campaign.
If you are elected
Councilors are unpaid volunteers, and most of them tell us the gig sometimes means ten, twenty and even thirty hours of their time each week. Some weeks will be busier than others. Terms are two years, but plan to serve for at least two terms.
Also, experience counts, but it’s not everything. We’ve sometimes endorsed against a first-time candidate, seen them get elected anyhow, and then go on to be become an excellent councilor that we’ve later endorsed when they seek reelection.
Which goes to another point. An opponent on one issue, or even your candidacy, can become a supporter later. Being real, nobody likes negative press, or all the comments of an opponent – and those negatives and the time commitment are all part of being an elected official.
However, when we ask folks that have served, they have always told us it was one of the best things they’d ever done, and that it was worth it.
Your first steps
Click here for a ward map – you need to live in the ward you seek to represent.
Click here to learn about filing for candidacy – The deadline to file everything is August 27, 2024, and we suggest you aim for earlier. It’s not as hard as you may think.
Finally, remember to send your friendly, or even unfriendly, local news outlets a press release announcing your candidacy. Pro tip, include a good photo or two of yourself. Also, please send us your phone number, which we’re not going to publish, but it may help if we have questions.
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com