The vision test: Four mayoral candidates vie to lead Silverton

By Don Murtha

The challenges facing Silverton are many: downtown development and urban renewal, business recruitment, park planning, sewer and water issues, and setting budget priorities in a fiscally challenging environment.

The mayoral candidates are known: incumbent mayor and businessman Stu Rasmussen; city councilor and veterinary technician Kyle Palmer; city councilor and retired budget analyst Scott Walter; and small business owner James Squires.

The question facing voters Nov. 6 is this: who has the right vision for Silverton?

For the undecided, the answer for may become clear Oct. 9 at the 7 p.m. Silverton Candidate Forum at Silverton High School. In the meantime,  here is what the candidates are talking about.

Stu Rasmussen

Incumbent Mayor Stu Rasmussen’s drew national headlines as the nation’s first elected transgender person when first elected four years ago.

“You could say I am a transgender but certainly not a transsexual. Not that,” he said. “I am what I am.”

“The fact that I am elected has done a lot for the eminence of Silverton.

“Silverton drew nationwide and world wide publicity when I was first elected mayor. We had publicity you couldn’t buy,” he said.

Among the accomplishments he counts during his tenure are: creating awareness of  the need for safety at the Silverton dam; opening communications between the community and the council and hiring a new city manager.

“I also blocked that downtown redevelopment boondoggle, which might not be seen as an accomplishment, but it saved the city some money,” he said.

Rasmussen owns several businesses in the city, including the Palace Theater, which was recently reopened after being heavily damaged by a fire.

“I am the one person on the council who is a businessman. I think like I am an owner, not an employee,” he said.

Asked why he should be reelected, Rasmussen said he has been elected to many offices, including mayor, library board and city council.

“It has become a habit with me and I hate to break a habit,” he said.

He said there is unfinished business to do and “sometimes it’s fun and sometimes it’s not fun” being an elected official.

Kyle Palmer

A member of the city council for eight years, Kyle Palmer said he is running for mayor “because our city needs leadership that is willing to rise above politics when needed and restore respect and decorum to the process of governing.”

He said the diversity of opinions is a critical component in decision-making.

“It ensures that multiple sides of an issue have been considered, but simply voting no and complaining later that the council is not supportive is not leadership,” Palmer said.

He said urban renewal is a source for redevelopment of the city that should not be overlooked.

“I think we need to use urban renewal sources for redevelopment of the downtown area. We can revitalize the city with sources outside the city general fund,” he said

In response to a proposal to restore two-way traffic to the city one-way streets, Palmer said the city is not in a position to take on the changes and that such changes would create new traffic problems for the city.

“We simply can’t afford the changes that are being proposed to downtown traffic,” he said.

Palmer said some of the city’s sewer and water systems are in need of repair and replacement but the funds are not available.

“Sewer and water lines are old but we can’t pay for replacing or repairing them on the resources we have now,” he said.

He said that since the means are available for development of a state park, the city should waste no time in taken advantage of that resource.

Palmer’s priorities for city parks are Pioneer Park, Pettit Park and a regional state park.

“We need to do something with the Pettit property before it is taken over by a developer and it is lost to the city,” he said.

Palmer said a major concern of his is the city’s finances.

“We are not out of the financial woods,” he said. “Prudent fiscal policy will be required to move us forward. That said, we can’t lose sight of the progress we’ve made in helping our community grow.”

“It’s time to refocus our efforts on meeting with local and regional partners both in business and government and help our city move into the future,” he said.

In addition to serving on the council, Palmer has been president of the Silverton Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Rotary Club, and is active with the Homer Davenport festival.

James Squires

James Squires has a full plate of tasks that he would tackle if he were elected mayor of Silverton.

Squires wants tp recruit new businesses, overhaul the city water system, improve the city reservoir, build a new state park, and put the city’s financing on a solid footing.

“Success breeds success and we are doing a lot of positive things,” he said, in a forceful Marine Corps voice.

Squires is a retired small business owner and telecom contractor among other occupations. He said recruiting new businesses to town would be a priority for him as mayor.

In the Silverton Industrial Park, he said, there needs to be more recruiting.

“We have the right to ask for eco-friendly businesses,” he said. “We have to have full and active recruiting.”

Squires said the city should also pursue cooperation with local businesses, schools and other community entities.

“I would establish a task force to create harmony with the city and business and others,” he said.

Another concern he raised was cooperation with other from communities in the area outside Silverton.

“We are not meeting with other communities and we could gain from such meetings,” he said. “We need to do more here.”

Squires said the city’s water system is old and deteriorating and the problem needs to be addressed.

He also said the city reservoir is another concern he would resolve.

“I would focus on the reservoir. It can be a crown jewel of the city,” he said.

Squires said the city has the means to establish a state park.

“We have been overlooking that project,” said. “We have the funding and the other means to do the job. It is long over due.”

Squires said he is particularly concerned about the state of the city’s finances. “If you look at the general fund,” he said, “ we are basically broke.

“We have to get back to spending only what we have,” he said.

Scott Walker

Scott Walker, a retired state employee from the state of Michigan and a Silverton resident for 14 years, is a member of the Silverton City Council.

Among his priorities are: revision of the planning code; underground storage of ground water; parks improvements; creating a dog park and more action by the city staff.

Walker said the city’s current planning stifles business and development. He said some basic changes to the planning code would hasten the approval of new building applications.

“As it is now a person submits his plans with everything in order and then he has to wait around to get someone behind a desk to make a decision,” he said. “The planning code has to be straightened out.”

“I am going to center on business and improve the code,” he said.

Walker said Silverton’s new City Manager Bob Willoughby has experience in municipal water systems particularly underground water storage. He said Silverton should have an underground water storage system to take up spring runoff.

On the subject of water systems, Walker said the Olson Ditch on Oak Street is a problem for the mobile home park and other properties in that area.

He said the current payment system for water and sewer, ties the two together and sewer and water should be separate issues.

“People should pay for water based on usage,” he said.

Walker said Coolidge McClaine Park needs improvements to make it more user friendly and he stressed that a dog park should be included in the city’s park system.

“As it is you have to go to Keizer to take your dog to a dog park. That takes an hour to go to Keizer and come back. We should have a dog park in Silverton,” he said.

Walker said he could bring his experience in business and government to the job of mayor in Silverton.

“With 25 years experience I feel like I can address the problems of the city,” he said.