Mac Mayorship: Kim Morris points to her political involvement, calls for accountability
Rising concerns over public safety in her hometown led an already busy Kim Morris into political involvement two years ago. Morris now seeks her first elected office, that of mayor of McMinnville.
The McMinnville native worked for years at savings and loans before she and her husband, Mike, started their own business and ran it for 35 years. The couple also owns several commercial properties, and it was the impact to one of those holdings that tipped her toward forming the McMinnville Community Task Force.
“I have found there is a need for change and for accountability,” Morris said. “I also get calls from people who just ask for me to listen to them and see if I can help them. And I love it.”
When her two children had grown she returned to school and earned a degree in interior design at Portland Community College, while still overseeing employees and handling the financial side of the family business, Morris Carpet Co. (The Morrises sold the business last year.) Kim continues interior design work with an active list of six current clients.
“I have a skill for multi-tasking. I like to be busy, I like to work,” Morris said.
Now, she seeks the mayor’s job.
“I love our town. We worked hard for what we have. No one gave us anything,” she said. Yet, as business owners, “in the last few years we were being more affected by crime,” including tagging of their buildings and theft of gasoline and equipment from their vehicles.
“The one that was the end of it was the fires,” she said, in November 2022. “We had three fires in our building at 11th and Irvine,” she said, a tenant frantically calling her as arbor vitae burned over her head, next to the structure. The blaze was apparently set by a transient.
“That was where I thought, ‘I have to do something. This is not affecting only me but it is affecting only me right now,’” Morris said. As she awaited arrival of the fire department, she called Chris Chenoweth, “a member of council whose number I had,” and told him she felt “stranded, hoping the fire doesn’t affect my building…
“After the fire department left, I thought, “I can’t do this anymore I see crime, I see issues, I need to do something.” Mike Morris suggested moving.
“I said ‘I am not moving, I certainly won’t do that without trying to change,’” Kim said.
“Like most people who are frustrated I posted on Facebook,” she said, adding that quickly she heard from 300 people with similar concerns. She was accompanied by seven others when she presented a letter to city council “to explain what I was frustrated about.”
Morris said, “I asked if something would be done, that I would step up and help. I would set up a task force.” Her request was approved in January 2023.
“I was looking for a nod from the city, just to be recognized, in hopes we would get some help from the city in hopes we could make some changes, changes to affect not just me but everybody else.”
Morris said that from the start the task force had a broad support base, including fellow business owners and political leaders. The task force is now comprised of a “core group of 25 people, … It’s a great group and I am proud of what we have done.” She credits the task force for initiating and helping enact two measures l in response to impacts of homelessness: creation of the school zones ordinance and revising the definition of an established encampment.
In the past two years, Morris has also attended nearly every meeting of city council, planning commission, and Water & Light Commission.
Many people bringing concerns to her have also spoken at city council. If not, “we suggest that. We tell them when meetings are, that ‘they need to hear your voice,” Morris said. “The council needs to know what’s going on.’”
In the interview with the News-Register, Morris avoided direct criticism of her opponent, but points to what she believes are needed changes in tone and in the process for connecting the citizenry to its government.
“The mayor sets the agenda, and nothing is talked about at a council meeting unless it’s on the agenda,” Morris noted. She feels council should have more say in the business the council addresses, and councilors “should have the ability to ask clarifying questions” of citizens.
“As a city, we vote for our council. So that’s who we vote for to hear us, and to vote on what they feel is right for our city. So all the information should be going to that council. … I can help them, but they have a voice, and their voice needs to be heard.”
She added, “Communication is really a difficult thing in the process we have now. And I think we need to have a better voice than that.”
Comments