By Don Murtha
City council, chamber of commerce, YMCA, Ford Family Leadership Program, Silverton Together, economic advisory board…
The list goes on.
Who can do so much and be so involved?
Ask Bill Cummins, who has been honored with the Silverton Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Distinguished Service award.
By the way, Cummins also has a full-time job as plant engineer for a Silverton food processing plant, Givaudan.
Cummins tends not to take his prize too seriously.
“It’s a combination of everyone working together on these things for the betterment of the community,” Cummins said. “This time I was voted team captain or most valuable player. Next year, it will be someone else.”
The most valuable player admits he has a “full plate.” But then he seems always to have had plenty on his plate.
Cummins moved to Silverton from Milton-Freewater, a town he says is about too boom.
“There are possibilities and opportunities there just ready to go,” he said.
In Milton-Freewater, Cummins was a member of the city council, among other activities.
“When I came to Silverton in 1999, I wanted to immerse myself in the community. One reason was to make use of my time and experience in Milton-Freewater and to get to know people in the community,” he said.
He started by attending land use workshops put on by the city for the public. Then a spot came open on the planning commission.
“I applied and with my background and experience from Milton-Freewater, I figured it was a given. But I was not chosen,” he lamented. “I went up to Mayor Ken Hector and I told him about my experience. He said keep trying.”
When another position came open, Cummins was appointed. He served more than five years on the Silverton Planning Commission, including two years as chairman. In June 2006, he was named to the Silverton City Council.
“In November 2006, I ran for election to the council. There were three people running for three positions. It kind of took the luster off being elected, but I was elected,” Cummins said.
In 2010, there were nine people running for three positions and Cummins was elected “on my own merit.”
Besides his current role as president of the city council, Cummins has been president of the Silverton Chamber of Commerce and served on the Silver Falls Family YMCA board, the Marion County Economic Advisory Board, and participated in the Ford Family Leadership Program. He is also active with Silverton Together.
His role on the economic advisory board is to help Silverton business acquire grants.
Another of the fish Cummins fries is the Ford Family Leadership Program, a function of the Ford Foundation.
The Ford program selects three or four communities in Oregon each year for leadership training.
The program has two functions. First the program identifies leaders in each community for training. During the current round out of 45 applicants in Silverton 26 were accepted.
The program is of five-year duration. Members are encouraged to stay involved for five years, training future leaders in the community. In the second phase of the program, each community is awarded a grant of up to $5,000 for a project in the community.
“We have chosen an information and directory kiosk to be placed in Town Square Park,” Cummins said. “But the kiosk will cost $12,000 and we must raise the remaining $7,000.”
In the solicitation, already the Kiwanis Club of Silverton has pledged its support.
One of Cummins’ priorities, “my passion” he said, is to bring living wage and family-wage jobs to Silverton.
“It really hit me when my daughter said to me ‘Dad, I don’t want to stay in Silverton. There are no jobs here,’” Cummins said.
“I believe a small rural community like Silverton can recruit the kinds of jobs we need and want here,” he said.
“With a contingent of people who will not give up trying to bring an industry or an enterprise that will provide the jobs, we can do it.”
“We have a great deal to offer with quality schools, a productive work force and a pleasant, attractive place to live,” he added. “I am sure we will have a winner in three years.”
Asked why he gives so much of his time, Cummins said, “I don’t do these things for any award or honor, but for the challenge and the sense of accomplishment and to meet people.”
When not in the public light, Bill has his family, his wife, Kelly and two daughters.
And when time allows he is on the golf course or takes a few days off to go fishing in Eastern Oregon.
Born in Corvallis, “I’m a native Oregonian,”
He graduated from high school in Walla Walla and earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology at Washington State University.
