By editorial board • 

Close call for mayorship; here's our take on the race

We are torn two directions on this year’s hotly contested mayor’s race in McMinnville.

A strong case can be made for incumbent Remy Drabkin, who spent many years moving up the chairs as a planning commissioner, city councilor and city council president before being appointed mayor.

She replaced Scott Hill, another veteran insider at city hall, as has been the norm in McMinnville over the years.

That kind of continuity has a lot to recommend it. It ensures those reaching the top of the elective hierarchy arrive well versed in the city’s finances, challenges and heritage, not to mention its hired, appointed and elected leaders.

Drabkin, a heralded local winemaker, has proven particularly adept at networking with state and local leaders to secure grant funding for bold, forward-looking housing and homelessness initiatives. And she’d like to stick around to complete the job.

But a strong case can also be made for challenger Kim Morris, whose local public service, in both the business community and larger community, rivals that of Drabkin’s in the halls of city government. She’s earned honors as Junior First Citizen and McMinnville Downtown Association volunteer of the year, while founding the McMinnville Community Task Force and leading the With Courage nonprofit.

Sometimes it’s time for a fresh perspective and new approach. Sometimes it’s time to hand the keys to somebody determined to chart a different course.

Ironically, the two actually share a lot in common. They are both deeply rooted locals who laid the foundations for their educational and career achievements in the local public schools, capped with graduation from McMinnville High.

Drabkin went on to earn a degree at Linfield.

Morris was admitted to Linfield, and initially planned to pursue a degree there. But she instead opted to marry classmate Mike, with whom she started a family and business. Later in life, she earned an interior design degree at Portland Community College and launched another successful family business in that field.

But they are on diametrically opposing tracks. In its simplest expression, perhaps, Morris is harking back to a golden age of past stability and prudence, Drabkin brushing aside risks to conjure visions of a bolder, brighter future.

Morris, whose background encompasses small business entrepreneurship, banking management, real estate investing and interior design, is laying out a three-count indictment of the current administration, as embodied in Drabkin and the city’s top hired management: failure to fully and adequately address the city’s long-festering homelessness issue, lack of adequate fiscal restraint and accountability, and lack of sufficient accountability, transparency and responsiveness with grass-roots citizens.

We think Morris has tapped into some community grievances of considerable foundation through her Community Task Force and the mayoral campaign now rising out of it.

We are not nearly as critical of the overall performance of either Drabkin or the city on homelessness, but do join Morris in decrying what seems sometimes like a glacially slow, cautious and bureaucratic pace. A case can certainly be made for her mantra of more action and fewer studies.

We are in particular agreement with her on Drabkin’s months-long resistance to a rather simple action championed by the McMinnville School District and its governing board: creation of transient-free safety zones around local schools. Standing in the way on the move, largely symbolic but resonating strongly with a substantial cross section of the community, generated a lot of unnecessary ill will.

We also tend to agree with Morris that the council and mayor have perhaps displayed undue deference to an ambitious and aggressive city management team; that they have pushed the envelope on taxes, fees and spending, particularly spending on costly consultants; and that they have sometimes been guilty of lecturing or ignoring citizens when they should have been listening and responding.

However, none of those are beyond fixing. And with so much council change already underway, or potentially in the works, we think it’s fair to entertain hope the course of the local ship of state can be sufficiently altered without resort to kicking out the captain.

We have a long, deeply held reluctance to replacing an incumbent without good and sufficient cause. We may be facing a close call on that here, but are mindful that the credit for some the city’s more notable successes clearly goes to Drabkin, while the blame for some of its more notable failures must be shared with its hired managers and elected councilors.

Comments

Bigfootlives

Sadly, your reluctance to replace incumbents without good cause only applies to city hall. I would also like your list of notable successes; I seem to have misplaced mine. I would also think that those hired managers would be shown the door with new leadership, not so with staying the course.

Don Dix

From the article --We may be facing a close call on that here (the mayor race), but are mindful that the credit for some the city’s more notable successes clearly goes to Drabkin, while the blame for some of its more notable failures must be shared with its hired managers and elected councilors.

So give 'clear credit for notable successes', yet spread the blame around for 'notable failures'. How politically convenient it must be to control the operation (mayor), but not be responsible for anything that went sideways.

BC

In listening to the debate live, the thing I'm left with regarding Mayor Drabkin's remarks is that she clearly thinks she is the sole reason anything good happened. She gave zero credit to anyone else on her "team". Every success story started with "I".

While I think Drabkin did, in fact, do some good for the homeless and disadvantaged, I think the harm she did to the rest of the city's residents far outweighs any success stories she claims full credit for.

The damage control was taken up by private citizens (led by Kim Morris) and was successful despite running into roadblocks at the Mayoral level for months. Again, zero credit given to those private citizens who are still actively working to clean up the mess this city has been in for years now.

The NR is known for it's very decisive decisions on who to give the nod to. That the NR brought this down to such a weak nod (because....the incumbent), makes a very strong argument in favor of Morris.

CubFan

Part 1:
At the mayoral candidate forum this week, I agree with BC, that nearly every statement by Drabkin about successes in the city was prefaced with the word “I”. It’s very clear that she sees herself as the sole reason the city has made progress. Kim, however, is very much a “team” player. Case in point, the McMinnville Community Task Force. As she posts progress made on city issues on that site, she has been very quick to acknowledge credit for those successes to the hard work of all the members of her team. She is not a lone ranger. It’s that kind of “team player” we need in the mayor’s seat. A person who can collaborate and not dictate. A person who can “rally the troops”. This defines Kim’s approach to leadership.

At that forum this week, Drabkin talked about how she started her job as mayor with “transparency” as one of her cornerstones. I take issue with that. When the city decided to address the $1.8 million shortfall, they implemented the $13 monthly fee on our utility bills. The city has now collected enough to pay the debt back TWICE, yet they still collect the fee. Not only that, but they are planning on raising the fee next year. Why hasn’t the city been transparent with citizens by telling us where the excess funds are going?

CubFan

Part 2:
At that forum, Drabkin emphatically stated that the city made good on its promise to ask citizens if they wanted the city to keep the $1.50, originally earmarked for the fire department. To quote fellow commenter “BC”, who eloquently stated what happened…

"Regarding the fiasco with new fire district tax language and the old fire district tax money…this has been a particular piece of brilliant word play by those who wrote the surveys, and (most of) the city who knew full well the implications but didn't make them clear. To come back later and say, ‘We told all of you this was happening. It's not our fault that you didn't comprehend it’ is abuse of power.”

So yes, technically, the city surreptitiously did ask citizens about the $1.50, but it was NOT clear to people what they were voting for. The city can make this right by letting citizens vote on that issue alone. But that will never happen because it will not pass.

Drabkin is no doubt passionate about the homeless and disadvantaged. But she is out of touch with the reality of how taxes and fees are burdening other citizens. Kim promises to take a more holistic approach to city government, being mindful of how decisions affect all citizens.

To quote what the NR said at the beginning of this editorial… “Sometimes it’s time for a fresh perspective and new approach”.

sbagwell

Bigfoot:

We endorsed state Reps. Anna Scharf and Lucetta Elmer on the same basis — no good cause to consider an alternative. We felt both seemed to be doing a good job of representing local people and needs in Salem.
In our estimation, that most certainly does not apply to County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer. We think her performance has been a travesty virtually from day one.
I don't recall us opposing any other challenged incumbents this year, so don't know how you could have come to your stated conclusion. It seems to us that we have been a model of consistency in that regard.

Steve

Bill B

So, if the mayor has no influence or authority over "city management". who does? Have you all received your real estate tax bill?

Don Dix

Doesn't the mayor 'set the agenda' for council meetings? And if it's not on the agenda, the issue is generally not considered - so, yeah, the mayor has some amount of influence and authority over anything that might fall inside the council purview/responsibilities.

Lulu

McMinnville needs a change.

Otis

Remy went into hostile territory for the candidate forum and knocked it out of the park. We are incredibly lucky to have her working for us.

Moe

Has the ($13 & $1.50) issue been put to Kim Morris?
Remy Drabkin's position is already clear.
I propose using this issue ($13 & $1.50 together) as the test to decide the election - it's all we really need to know for that purpose. Those two taxes should be ended, and the ill-gotten gains returned to the people.

B

Otis - She didn't even get it out of the infield

Lulu

Maybe she knocked it all the way to Switzerland.

fiddler

Remy is the ‘civilized’ choice.

But she needs to refund us our money from the two bonds that were passed and are no longer relevant. For instance, we’re paying for a non-existent fire department.

tagup

And end a paid off budget deficit “service charge” on our utility bills.

Moe

Problem:

The ($13 & $1.50) issue is taxation without representation.
Nothing but gaslighting from Mayor Drabkin.

Solution:

Elect audit-friendly, thoughtful, down to earth Kim Morris.


Curious to find out where the ($13 & $1.50) is going?
Who knows where that might lead ...

Web Design and Web Development by Buildable