Rasmussen remains mayor: Newcomer joins Silverton council

By Brenna Wiegand

Stu Rasmussen retains the gavel as Silverton’s mayor for the next two years.

Rasmussen received 1,364 of 3,382 votes cast, 40 percent of the mayoral vote.

Judy Schmidt earned 31.6 percent with 1,068 votes. With 950 votes, Kyle Palmer received a 28 percent share of the vote.

Bill Cummins and Randall Thomas were re-elected to their seats on Silverton City Council, Cummins with 1,428 votes and Thomas with 1,382 votes. Scott Walker won the seat being vacated by Denny Stoll, receiving 1,227 votes. City councilor terms are four years.

Rasmussen spent eight years on the Silverton City Council and four years as mayor of Silverton during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2004, he ran for city council again. After serving a four-year term, Rasmussen won the mayoral seat in the 2008 election; this will be his fourth two-year term in the office.

This time around, Rasmussen said he plans to increase his already active community interaction and to “do a better job of communicating my interpretation of fiscal restraint and ‘buy local’ to the rest of the council.”

Mayoral candidates Schmidt and Palmer both expressed disappointment with the election outcome and took umbrage with Rasmussen’s frequent assaults on the spending habits of the city government and council during his campaign.

“My hope, if elected, was to begin the year in a positive way. I was discouraged with Mayor Rasmussen’s comments regarding a fiscally irresponsible council,” Schmidt said.

Stating she is only speaks for herself, Schmidt said she carefully reads the documentations she is provided by the city’s staff and researches topics when she needs additional information. She also asks questions of the city’s staff prior to the city council meetings.

She said she then makes decisions on “what I think is in the best interest of the city. It would be easy to vote ‘no’ on everything, but then where would our city be.”

Schmidt said she looks forward to being “a very involved councilor this next two years.” She said is delighted Cummins and Thomas were re-elected to council and welcomes Scott Walker.

Palmer is proud of the positive campaign he ran and will continue to do what he has done for the last six years: listen to residents, look at every issue with an open mind, “discuss and debate respectfully with my fellow councilors, and reach consensus.”

As a councilor, Palmer said he plans to focus on finding fairness and balance in sewer and water rates; pushing the business community toward economic recovery; and realizing his goal of creating a Silverton-based organization that will help manage the many recreation needs of the community.”

Like Schmidt, he was disappointed with the negative campaigning focused on spending.

“Each and every one of my fellow councilors are as opposed to ‘over spending’ as I am… however, I think we agree that we have to also balance the needs of our city and community,” Palmer said. “It’s easy to say ‘spend less’ but if that is accompanied by a compromised product or reduced service of an established community priority, then I’m not sure we’re acting in the best interests of our residents.”

Rasmussen feels most of the current council members are all too quick to rubber stamp city staff recommendations.

“I’m going to be more proactive in bringing information directly to the community rather than just the city council,” he said.

In addition to twice-monthly community forums, “Coffee with Stu,” and his regular presence downtown at sidewalk cafes and coffeehouses, Rasmussen is considering starting his own community newsletter distributed by e-mail or other means.

He urges citizens to keep an eye on city and city council activity.

“Show up at city council meetings or watch the video live on SCAN-TV,” he said.

Information is also available on the city Web site, though Rasmussen said he feels that the city “goes out of its way to make knowing what is happening relatively inaccessible” to the community-at-large.

An upgrade to the city of Silverton Web site is in the works. However, Rasmussen sees its handling as another example of “fiscal irresponsibility” and “giving only lip service to supporting the local economy.”

He said the city awarded the contract for the improvement to a firm in Kansas and that it comes with a $24,000 price tag.

“The city staff advertised out of town and brought us only one bidder; no one (locally) knew about it,” said Rasmussen. “The high school could have handled the job.”

“When they decided to get T-shirts in support of the skate park, neither one of our Silverton screen printers was offered a chance to bid. This kind of thing happens over and over again.”