Leapfrogs and bookends mark local issues at the turn of the year

Resolution and reverberation offer different ways to define 2025 in Yamhill County.

As we look at Yamhill County’s year past and year ahead, local issues often either bookended or leapfrogged: many matters arose and concluded within 2025 while others remain unresolved approaching 2026.

The Dec. 31 edition of the News-Register will review the prevailing stories and topics of 2025. In today’s Viewpoints, meanwhile, publisher Jeb Bladine comments on reasons for hope, near and far.

City leadership saw major change with new mayor Kim Morris taking office in January after defeating Remy Drabkin in the November 2024 election.

Jeff Towery departed mid-year after eight years as city manager, and former city councilor assuming the interim manager job. As of press time, a search for a permanent manager remains in a kind of limbo. Meanwhile, Garvin provides a steady hand as lead administrator.

It was not the only significant local leadership change: rumblings started in early 2025 over the tenure of then-superintendent Debbie Brockett, and in the spring the McMinnville School Board opted not to renew her contract. It appointed Kourtney Ferrua as interim and announced plans for a search, but in early December opted to remove the interim from Ferrua’s title and name her superintendent, after a groundswell of support praising her local background and inclusive leadership. Thus a protracted process was set aside and the transition remained contained in 2025.

As 2025 ended, overlay plans were coming into place for the long-awaited Innovation Center along Highway 18, also reported in this issue. A clearer purpose for the area was helped earlier this year by the selection of its name, McMinnville Landing. Neighboring the development area is the newly-competed Stratus Village project, providing needed affordable housing for the community. With more housing projects in the section of town and impending expansion and improvements of the McMinnville Airport to the east, 2026 will certainly be a year of focus on the southeast section of McMinnville. You could say agencies and developers will have many spinning plates. It’s a multi-faceted process — and it certainly won’t please everyone. Therefore, considerable clarity is expected as the Landing takes off.

Activity and complexity will be no less the case in the southwest sector of McMinnville. The questions are, how will the west side of town develop holistically?

How well will proposed area plans ensure that roads, commercial areas and other essential services and amenities keep pace with the rapid growth? Bordering ag lands with a buffer of parks and open spaces feels like a strong starting point. As noted in Scott Unger’s report in this edition, the public will have the opportunity on Jan. 24 to weigh in. It’s just the start of an ongoing means to stay connected to this planning process.

Back to bookends: December saw the resolution of a year-long dispute between the city and Yamhill Community Action Partnership over the troubled AnyDoor Place construction project. That bit of clarity can serve as a positive stepping stone to the continuing challenge of meeting the needs of the unhoused.

However, in greater downtown there remains major uncertainty over the scope, shape, and timing of two major projects: the Third Street Redevelopment and the city-owned former rubber plant property in the Alpine District. All this will be entwined with updates, recently approved by city council, to the Transportation System and Downtown Development plans.

Delays and setbacks to the Third Street and Alpine projects, affecting their pace and impact, will remain a priority for city officials to define for the community, let along wrangle into reality — unlikely in neither case to happen before 2027.

Water and sanitation concerns challenged local cities throughout 2025, and serious area flooding at the close of 2025 suggests potential financial inundation for some localities.

Case in point is the article in this edition on Lafayette’s wastewater treatment facility problems. A practical take-away might be that article’s reminder of a timeless caution applicable to toilet systems everywhere: “flushable does not mean safe.”

Finally, it was encouraging in late 2025 to see efforts by local law enforcement agencies to calm community concerns over its interaction — or lack thereof — with federal ICE employees. The fear was heightened by ICE’s detention in November of a 17-year-old McMinnville High School student, who is an American citizen. The spotlight on local badge-wearers will, and should, continue into 2026, in a time when freedom of speech, due process and the rights of individuals are rising in prominence.