Re-elect Scott Hill, Mayor of McMinnville
I love McMinnville. My first introduction to McMinnville was as a student from a rival high school. Only 25 miles apart, back then the cities of Dallas and McMinnville were close to the same size and it was not uncommon to find people across each community that were friends. Fast forward a few decades, and I fell in love with the community I was sworn to protect and serve. People had different opinions and ideas but respected one another and worked together to create Oregon’s most livable city.
Today, I am deeply saddened to see the division and vitriol surrounding the local, non-partisan races for city leadership. Single issue partisan politics and social media bullying has cast a dark cloud over our city. This is especially troubling as this division does nothing to help move McMinnville forward, and only exacerbates the issues we will face in the next few years. These issues are not unique to McMinnville, but are being faced by cities throughout Oregon. Issues like homelessness, our lack of affordable housing, economic recovery from COVID, growing living wage jobs, ensuring public safety and maintaining adequate city infrastructure.
And it will take all of us working together to successfully address our issues and hopefully bring back a sense of community to our town.
I am writing this not to take part in the divisive politics of our current elections, but to offer my perspective on one of the candidates for mayor, Scott Hill. I have known Scott for 14 years, first meeting him when I was hired as McMinnville's police chief and he was a member of the city council. I found Scott to be a listener and thoughtful independent thinker. He is willing to make tough and sometimes unpopular decisions (and yes, some decisions I didn’t agree with), and he is a compassionate man of character. He has always put the interest of our community and its citizens first. Scott’s many years of financial and business experience have positively influenced the management and operational budget of the city. He was one of several people responsible for McMinnville’s solid financial position during the 2008 recession.
During the last 4 years, I have had the opportunity to observe and work with Scott Hill as he has advocated on McMinnville’s behalf at the State Legislature. Scott has represented McMinnville and testified on issues of homelessness, affordable housing, transportation, and economic development. He is a highly respected leader who represents the city very well throughout the state.
Scott is a strong, balanced, professional and experienced leader. McMinnville would do well to re-elect Scott Hill as mayor.
