Lincoln City needs new leadership. During the most recent local events, there have been issues of irresponsibility of current elected officials and Social Media clips of city officials that either don’t represent our city or take inappropriate decisions based on equity, service and fairness for all. We need change and an ethical approach to solving these financial, growth and family values back to benefit us all.
In the last election Carolyn Nguyen was within a hand full of votes of winning the election and over 600 voters that had her trust. We believed in her to represent our Ward #2 and bring diversity and inclusion to the City Council. The current City Council voted to bring in a third party to better suit their views and agenda. We call foul that a special election was not deployed and only brought on more distrust of the people.
Carolyn will bring fair and well researched solutions in our most important future. Do we really need representatives that side with Oregon’s progressive elitist bureaucrats that have decimated the whole state already? No. Just more of the same. Lets protect what we have with no special agenda, only value, pride and integrity that Carolyn can bring to Lincoln City!
The inaugural Lincoln City Homepage Candidate Forum was deemed a timely success by candidates and the audience Wednesday night.
Homepage’s Cary Moore injected humor into his moderation duties, keeping candidates and the crowd entertained. The green, yellow, and red timing system, run by former Lincoln City Mayor Don Williams, kept the forum flowing. A Facebook live stream of the event started at 7 p.m., which drew a couple hundred viewers within the first half hour.
Candidates answered questions about crime, homelessness, affordable housing and were presented with what is arguably John F. Kennedy’s most famous quote; made into the form of a question:
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
(John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” What would you ask the people of Lincoln County or Lincoln City to do for their hometown?)
Answers to that question drew a variety of answers with many asking for the community to get involved with government. Watch our video for full details.
The political hopefuls made their closing statements shortly after 8 p.m.
“So, check this out,” Moore said after the last candidate spoke. “Eight o’ one.” The candidates erupted at Moore’s nod to the predicted one hour time frame for the event he told them at the beginning.
A special appearance from Representative David Gomberg surprised Homepage staff and the incumbent sat down for an interview after the forum.
“Oh my goodness good questions — great people — interesting answers,” he said. “I think there’s tough choices ahead for Lincoln City.”
Gomberg went over the candidate questions and pointed out how he voted against his party’s wishes and “had the scars to show for it.” He also went into great detail about what could be done for affordable housing. Gomberg said it was his job to bring state money to Lincoln City, where the City Council can use it to address problems.
Members of the audience said Lincoln County Commissioner candidate Casey Miller “did a good job of answering city-based questions in a county-wide way.”
Below is the email Homepage sent out to the candidates before the forum, because as always, we are giving you transparency:
Hello candidates,
After much deliberation we have finalized our agenda. The evening will go as follows:
Greetings from moderator
Pledge of allegiance
Moderator will inform everyone that candidate order has been determined by random drawing
Introduction of candidates by name and position running for
Candidates each receive 30 seconds to say hello and give a brief biography
Questions begin
Each candidate will answer the same question (read by moderator). Each candidate will be provided with the questions ahead of time as we felt it would help you craft your thoughts and help with the time constraints, but please do not read your answers from notes.
Candidates will have two minutes to answer.
At the end of questioning, candidates will have up to one minute to summarize their candidacy.
End of forum.
Special note: We are including a list of all questions that we have created or received from the public. We will present them to you and the audience.
We will have an area at the entrance for your signs, brochures or flyers.
As of today we have confirmation from the following candidates:
Casey Miller – County Commissioner
Sydney Kasner – Ward 2
Carolyn Nguyen-Ward 2
Rick Mark – Ward 3
Susan Wahlke – Mayor
Mellissa Sumner – Ward 3
Riley Hoagland – Mayor
We will have seating for approx. 30 audience members. Parking is available out front and on the street. Parking is allowed on the back gravel lot but it is not well lit and should be used with caution.
Questions from the moderator
A comedian on Netflix told his Denver audience that they were one bad Mayor away from being Portland. We all know what he meant; it means homeless tent camps, abandoned campers, violence, open drug use and kid’s whose bus shelters contain needles and crack pipes. All that is here and is getting worse.
What policies would you advocate to effect change?
According to a Homepage Facebook poll when asked “What topics would you like the candidates to address?” out of 107 votes
44% said “Housing”
13% said “Kids activities”
9% said “Taxes”
8% said “Traffic”
7% said “Business Health”
Please choose one of these items and give your opinion as to what role local government should have in these.
John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” What would you ask the people of Lincoln County or Lincoln City to do for their hometown?
Thank you so much for your participation and your willingness to serve. We hope that tonight’s activity was beneficial to your campaigns.
A MEETING of the Emergency Preparedness Committee takes place in a near-empty Depoe Bay City Hall. (Photos by Rick Beasley)
DEPOE BAY — A self-appointed committee of city councilors that was supposed to prepare vulnerable Depoe Bay for The Big One instead brazenly defied state law, produced nothing but chaos and left City Hall in shambles.
In the committee’s wake was the unexplained exodus of half the city’s professional staff, a development which disrupted finances, budget planning and regular tasks. Left on the desks of overworked municipal employees was an imposing pile of unfinished projects ordered-up by a busybody group called the “Emergency Preparedness Committee.”
Created in Oct. 2021 to get the town ready for the June, 2022, “Cascadia Rising” statewide tsunami drill, the “ad-hoc” board instead met secretly for months to discuss anything but emergency drills, as it turned out.
The cozy committee was made up of Mayor Kathy Short and fellow councilors Lindsy Bedingfield and Joyce King.
DOOMSDAY COMMITTEE MEMBERS (left to right) Kathy Short, Joyce King and Lindsy Bedingfield
After a public records request in Feb., 2022, exposed the trio’s surreptitious meeting style, former City Recorder Barbara Chester directed the maverick committee to announce future meetings and publish minutes “so that we adhere to the Public Meetings Laws.”
Mayor Short responded to the unusual admonishment at the March 1 council session, blaming COVID and excusing the committee because they “had only been gathering information.” Councilor Bedingfield dismissed the flap, claiming against the advice of experts that three councilors doing city business didn’t comprise a quorum, anyway.
So what was the committee actually doing? Was it soberly updating emergency plans, or partnering with first-providers to gird Depoe Bay for a natural catastrophe? Did it make residents safer from The Big One?
Hardly, according to Chestler, who claimed she was badgered and threatened with an executive session for trying to reign-in the defiant committee. In a whistleblower complaint later sent to Mayor Short and the city attorney, Chestler reported the following:
“The Committee…has continually met on a weekly basis in City Hall without notice, an agenda, minutes and without the allowance of public participation. There has only been one brief report to the council of this committee’s activities. These are three council members conducting city business. There have been grant applications prepared and not on record with the city’s council, or filed in the recorder’s office, MOU’s (Memorandums of Understanding) requested and negotiated without notice to the council or the recorder’s office.”
Chestler added, “On February 11, 2022, it was found this committee was conducting ‘other’ city business, soliciting to spend city funds and giving direction and projects to staff to complete. This was being done outside of a full quorum or knowledge of the council.”
Chestler, with an unblemished 40-year career in public service, informed Short and the attorney she was filing the complaint “for my protection as the city’s recorder and for the protection of the city.”
Then the recorder who had been largely responsible for restoring order to the town’s desperate finances quit, claiming the committee was looking for a way to fire her. Left on Chestler’s desk was a March 31 memo from Mayor Short claiming the emergency committee had other things to do and ordering the besieged recorder to arrange “a huge public push to get the (Cascadia Rising) exercise coming up in June promoted and organized.”
To divert attention from its self-inflicted wound, the city council at Councilor Fran Recht’s urging launched an “investigation” into the city recorder’s final paycheck, which had swelled about $11,000 with two years of unclaimed vacations and comp time. When the city’s chief financial clerk subsequently quit in disgust, Mayor Short ordered city hall public hours cut by half. In an ironic twist, the town’s tsunami warning sirens were declared inoperable.
How did the city council react to this upheaval? Apparently duped or callous to the damage it caused, the city council voted 6-1 to reward the committee with fulltime status in August, 2022, allowing it a staff secretary and other costly trimmings.
Only Councilor Jerome Grant voted against the shocking motion, stating the obvious: “The city doesn’t need another committee to manage.” Short was silent during the one-sided debate, having just resigned from the committee to distance herself from the open-meetings fiasco.
MAYOR HOPEFUL JEROME GRANT said he was running for mayor against Short on Nov. 8 in part to get busybody city councilors out of City Hall, where they have no business.
Grant said he was running for mayor against Short on Nov. 8 in part to get meddling city councilors out of City Hall, where they have no business.
Though charged with maintaining a “high level of readiness” for a wide array of emergencies, the committee announced on Oct. 4 it would take the month off, disregarding another statewide drill, “The Great Oregon Shakeout” slated for Oct. 20.
“While tremors are often reported off the Oregon coast, it was no earthquake that shook Depoe Bay City Hall. Instead, it was a tidal wave of arrogant and inexperienced elected officials that left the town’s fragile government in needless disarray.”
Lincoln County is seeking new members to serve on the Lincoln County Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission plays a key role in the administration of land use planning within the unincorporated areas of Lincoln County. The primary duties of the Commission are to conduct public hearings and help make decisions on local land use applications and permits. The Commission also reviews and makes recommendations on amendments to the comprehensive plan and land use regulations.
The Planning Commission receives staff support from the Lincoln County Department of Planning and Development which is responsible for the administration of land use planning, building inspection, on-site sewage disposal and related land development regulatory programs in the unincorporated areas of the County.
There are two north coast vacancies (north of Cape Foulweather). Regular members serve four-year terms. Members typically meet twice per month from 7-9pm and usually spend an additional 1-3 hours per month studying materials often in preparation for meetings.
Onno Husing, Lincoln County Director of Planning and Development, said, “Being on the Lincoln County Planning Commission is a great way to serve Lincoln County. The issues that come before the Planning Commission have a big impact on people and on our environment.” Husing added, “I urge people to contact us if they are interested. We’ll walk them through how the process works and field questions.”
County residents interested in serving on the Planning Commission may download an application on Lincoln County’s web site or pick up an application in the Board of Commissioners Office in Room #110 in the Lincoln County Courthouse, Newport.
For more information contact:DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT – (541) 265-4192
Completed applications may be delivered in person/mailed to, Lincoln County Courthouse, 225 W. Olive Street, Room #110, Newport, OR 97365 or emailed to [email protected]
Minutes from a 2017 Depoe Bay city council meeting provide context and facts for hotly debated issues today. Mayor Kathy Short promised but never delivered nearly six months of missing records.
DEPOE BAY — The City of Depoe Bay has failed to provide written accounts of dozens of city council meetings since the resignation of whistle-blowing city recorder Barbara Chestler in April, and Mayor Kathy Short seems to say, “Who cares?”
“I do!” declared City Councilman Jerome Grant, the only city councilor willing to speak out on the issue. “Why is the mayor handing out bonuses and raises to staff for a job ‘well done’ when the job’s not done, yet?”
Written or audio records of all public meetings are required to be kept by state law. Only written minutes, however, are practical to citizens, journalists, auditors and city staff to study and oversee seven influential committees plus the city council with scores of regular and special sessions. According to Roberts Rules of Order, the reading and approval of minutes is so important it occupies a meeting’s first order of business.
“This is wreaking havoc with transparency and trust,” charged Grant, a businessman who is challenging the enigmatic Short in the Nov. 8 mayor’s race. “We can’t keep track of our own decisions without minutes, and the public has no idea what we’re up to.”
“We can’t keep track of our own decisions without minutes, and the public has no idea what we’re up to.”
— Jerome Grant, Depoe Bay city councilor
Both the city charter and council rules mandate written meeting records, including how each councilor votes. But months after a walkout by key City Hall staff, including the recorder and a chief financial clerk, questions arose from the public and press about the so-called “missing minutes” during a recent council meeting.
After an inconclusive discussion with a city secretary assigned to take notes, Mayor Short promised but never delivered nearly six months of missing records.
The oft-ignored Roberts Rules, authorized by a 2003 city council resolution as the benchmark for conduct of Depoe Bay meetings, cites the importance of writing down and reporting the exact wording of motions that often become laws.
A company hired by the city last year to “codify” and streamline 50 years of forgotten resolutions and sometimes-conflicting ordinances relied on the city’s written council minutes, dating back to 1972, to complete the massive study. But it has been stymied in further work since the written record of meetings died out last spring.
Meanwhile, Short unilaterally announced the city would be awarding the remaining city hall staff $5,000 in bonuses, new titles and raises. But as Short might say with a nonchalant shrug, “Who cares?”
I first met Sydney through a mutual friend. My first impression of Sydney was that it was easy to tell that she cared. I see “care” often used as a buzzword, used only to push an agenda forward. Not Sydney.
Sydney is someone who truly cares about people and creates change by doing instead of just talking about it. She leads with empathy and backs her empathy with action.
People connect with whom they trust, like and know. Sydney is one of the few that fits into all three of those categories for me. For it’s not uncommon for me to trust someone but not like them. Or even like someone while I still don’t truly know them.
Sydney ensures all three can happen with anyone she works with. She creates an open atmosphere that allows her to know people on an individual level. It gives her the ability and time to uncover their needs, and what goals they have. It’s why Sdney is real and steadfast in her love and care for others: It’s sincere because she knows them.
Even with all that being true, I still haven’t explained one of my favorite attributes that Sydney has: her humility. I did not realize for over a year just how many amazing accomplishments she has. A person often will flaunt their titles, people they know, and goals achieved to push themselves further into whatever goal said person is looking to achieve.
What I love about Sydney is she does not flaunt the amazing things she is doing or has accomplished. Whether that’s through her incredible background in healthcare, or the one that she’s currently building in her government experiences.
These are the reasons Sydney has been exactly what Ward 2 needed. And not just because she’s empathetic or intelligent or hard working or humble. It’s because she uses them all to be an advocate. She provides a voice and a conduit for the people she serves. Be them individuals or families or, ones who come from many different social, economical, social and cultural backgrounds and statuses. Sydney is a vital component to those having a voice and creating necessary change.
This is one of the many reasons why I encourage you to vote for Sydney Kasner as Ward 2 City Council representative in November.
The sky was gray but orange and black filled Highway 101 in Lincoln City today for Taft 7-12 Homecoming Noise parade.
Escorted by police cruisers and fire engines with lights ablaze and sirens roaring, Taft students crammed into cars and truck beds to honk, wave and smile at a city that took a moment to cheer its kids.
This year’s homecoming football game will see the Tigers meeting the “Fightin’ Irish” of Waldport High. Tonight’s game begins at 7 p.m.
Newport — Newport Police responded to multiple reports of explosives washing up on the beach between Yaquina Bay State park and Agate Beach Tuesday.
The Oregon State Police Bomb Squad was called in and took three devices, described as white hand grenade simulators. An attached label reads: “Warning Explosive” and states “Simulator, Hand Grenade, M116A1.”
The M116A1 is a training tool used to simulate battle noises and effects during troop maneuvers and is used by the U.S. Army and other organizations.
Newport Police did not immediately respond to questions about the origin of the explosives.
If you encounter one of these devices, do not handle or attempt to move it. Call your local police department and alert them to its location.
In recent years, precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 also prevented the spread of influenza. Now that COVID-19 guidelines have relaxed in most public places and many people are leaving special measures like physical distancing and wearing face masks behind, the flu is expected to make a big comeback.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older receive a flu vaccination. It is especially important for people who are at higher risk of health complications, hospitalization or death from influenza. People at higher risk include those who work in health care, have a chronic health condition or are over age 65, but everyone is encouraged to get vaccinated.
To make getting flu shots quick and easy, a drive-through flu vaccination event will be offered for Samaritan patients from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8, at 3011 NE 28th St. in Lincoln City – across the parking lot from the hospital and near Samaritan Physical Rehabilitation – Lincoln City.
If you have had any visit with a Samaritan health care provider – whether in a clinic, hospital, laboratory or imaging test – and have a Samaritan Health Services medical record, you are eligible to get your flu vaccine at one of Samaritan’s drive-up vaccination events.
Regular and high-dose flu vaccines will be available for ages 6 months and older and no appointment is needed. Everyone age 2 years and older is asked to please wear a face mask.
If you are not a Samaritan patient or can’t make it to one of the drive-through events, check in with your primary care provider about flu vaccination. Additional flu vaccination opportunities in the community may be found by calling 211 or visiting vaccinefinder.org.
Lincoln County candidates Carter McEntee and Casey Miller have been invited along with Lincoln City candidates. At time of publication all candidates have agreed to attend except for Lincoln City Councilor Mitch Parsons and McEntee, who are not confirmed.
Candidates will be given time for a brief introduction, then each will be asked identical questions and given up to three minutes to respond. Questions will be prepared by Homepage staff and candidates will have time for a brief closing statement.
The moderator will be Lincoln City Homepage’s Cary Moore.
Light refreshments will be served and there will be time after the forum to visit.
Seating is limited so we are asking for those interested in attending to RSVP via email. If you have a question that you would like to ask you can email us or check out our Facebook poll.
Lincoln City Homepage is hosting its first candidate forum 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 
