VOTE411 Voter Guide

After growing up in Pendleton and bachelor's degree from EOU I was blessed to spend 28 years creating and managing very complex financial organizations in Portland and Seattle. My love of Pendleton and business development experience of over $3B in public projects will help me to plan and administer this leadership with the City of Pendleton as Mayor. Since returning home in 2017 I have served on City Planning Commission and several as President. I have also served for 2.5 years as President of Round-Up City Development Corporation working with Senator Hansell to gain $3M for the Pendleton Regional Sports Complex. As VP of Business Development of McCormack Construction, we've grown x4. We can envision and plan healthy growth for Pendleton.

Pendleton's main challenges are Homelessness, drug use and the crimes that come with that issue. We are also dealing with an aging infrastructure and severe housing shortage. I have worked as President of the Planning Commission to create more meaningful design standards, support reimbursement districts and housing incentives. I have also used my past contacts to bring developers to Pendleton to promote strategic growth. The work that I have done with Senator Hansell to fund phase 1 of the Regional Youth Sports Complex will pay huge dividends in filling our hotels and restaurants. Our aging infrastructure needs to be replaced while new services are designed and installed to support new homes with reimbursement district and incentives.

As Mayor I cannot wait to embrace this challenging issue. Pendleton can't solve it alone but can be the "tip of the spear" in rallying Umatilla County, regional cities and present to the State our proposed solutions. As President of RCDC we are working on creating 100's of trades jobs in Pendleton through an Incubator/Accelerator program to incentivize new small businesses. This will help, through shared services, to create sub-contractor businesses and offer many high paying jobs. Paired with a large increase in affordable housing and public mandated treatment programs will give homeless folks a life changing opportunity to rejoin a productive community. This program will also offer an opportunity for businesses to expand to Pendleton.

I am a born and raised Pendletonian who has served in City Government for the past decade doing the work on various boards and commissions. I bring a distinct perspective shaped by multiple roles – being a woman, a full-time working professional, a mother to a lively toddler, a property owner in the downtown core with my husband, and currently one of four generations of my family living in this city. With a profound understanding of the value of time, I am driven to invest it purposefully in actions that contribute to the betterment of Pendleton. This perspective underscores my commitment to initiatives that not only make an immediate difference but to also lay the groundwork for a stable and vibrant future for our community.

The City of Pendleton currently has four goals set to address some of our largest needs: Goal 1: Increase Availability of Housing for all levels of income Goal 2: Develop sustainable infrastructure funding for the construction, operation, and maintenance of public buildings, roads, and utilities Goal 3: Increase Economic Development activities Goal 4: Improve communication between the Community and the City Council/Mayor's Office/City of Pendleton

As Mayor, I would review the current goals to ensure that they meet the needs of the community and focus on moving forward policy to address the goals. I would also look for ways to respond to quality of life concerns raised by citizens around safety, homelessness, and mental health needs.

Historically, this issue has been a state and county level issue until more recently when cities have become more involved. I think it is the responsibility of the city to look for opportunities to work towards addressing the needs and concerns of our citizens in the following ways: 1. Continue partnerships with the county, state, and community organizations that have been working in our city to advocate for our needs and pool resources when possible 2. The Pendleton Police Department recently approved the addition of a downtown/river parkway beat that will increase police presence while partnering with CCS, PDA, & Umatilla County to proactively share resources available 3. Enforce our ordinances & laws within our legal ability to do so