Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hello, Oregonians, and welcome to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If you've ever wanted to get to know your politicians personally or understand what it is they are actually doing, then you're in the right place. I'm your podcast host, Jessica Campbell.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: I'm your state representative for House District 24, Lucetta Elmer.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: This podcast is a place for you to get to know Representative Elmer both personally and professionally.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: We want Oregonians to feel connected with and educated politics. So we're so glad you've joined us on a fresh new podcast adventure as we cover all things about life and legislation.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Hi, Oregonians, and welcome to this episode of Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If this is your first time joining us, welcome. We're so glad you found this podcast. This is a place where you get to meet your local political leaders and get to know them personally and also to learn about how our local government works. Now, usually we have Rep. Elmer here to and share, but we're going to do a special series of Meet the Mayors. And I am so excited that I get to have conversations with all of the local mayors in House District 24. We get to know who they are personally, understand their towns and their cities, and just hear a little bit about what's going on in the life of a mayor, which is exciting because one of the goals of this podcast is just to make everything real so that people can feel connected with their local government and understand it better, because so many of us have a very limited knowledge. It might be voting season and we drive around and we see a bunch of signs and then we get this really thick voter pamphlet, and it's a bunch of names and a bunch of photos and a lot of words. And for many of us, it goes over our head. We don't really know these people and we don't understand all of the details maybe of what's on this ballot. And that is the hope of this podcast, is to make everything clear and understandable, relatable and personal. So my guest for this episode is Mayor King of Amity, and I'm so excited. Thank you so much for joining us.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Thank you for having me.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And I know that this is a first for you, and I'm so glad you were willing to jump on a podcast with us.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: It is. I love pushing myself out of my comfort zone, so a podcast is a great leap.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: Well, we'll have to find out soon if becoming mayor was out of your comfort zone. But let's just start with who you are. Would you introduce yourself to everybody? Maybe tell where you're from, anything about your family or just your personality or interest? Just who are you?
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Yeah. So my name is Rachel King. I have served as amity's mayor since 2020.
I am a fifth generation Yamhill county family.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Grew up in Carleton. We've lived in amnes since 2017.
And I've had the privilege of being a stay at home mom and homemaker since my son was born in 2007. So quite a while. And for the 2020 election, I saw that no one was running to fill one of the council seats. And I've always had civic interest and done volunteering in the community and I just thought, you know, if no one is going for this position, I can, I can be better than no one.
And then I like to say that it escalated very quickly from there.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Wow. And so when you were running for that position, what did that entail for you at that time?
[00:03:23] Speaker B: So it was a write in for a council person position to fill one of six council seats. And that is just one of the voting body of the city.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: And so you would go to meetings and hear what the concerns were or what was maybe coming as a change and vote on it.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: Yes. So I was elected as a write in candidate and sworn in at the beginning of 2021. And so you get a packet a week ahead of the meeting, you read your packet, it has recommended motions, all the background information, and then you make policy decisions or help the city staff, you know, answer questions or make plans for what's coming up.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: And clearly that launched you into a little bit of a civic career, right?
[00:04:06] Speaker B: Yes. So actually during that we elected a new mayor. We had had Mayor Michael Cape for 15 years in Amity prior to that. And we elected Joshua Clark.
So at his third meeting, he said he needed to resign for personal reasons.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Oh, that's really quick.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Yeah. So it was a pretty quick turnaround. And as a new counselor, I didn't know what was normal. I didn't know what to expect, but it was what it was. And so we had a council president that was appointed to step up into that position.
That worked out really well.
He had actually run as a write in against the mayor that was elected. So he was ready for the position, he was hoping for the position and he served until the August meeting. So August of 2021, he walked in and said, I need to resign for personal reasons and walked out. By that time I had been elected council president unanimously because I came prepared and I was passionate. I said, oh, this is exciting. I like It. So at that August 2021 meeting, after nine months, a council person. I presided over that meeting and was pro tem mayor.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: That is quite the journey to becoming mayor.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: So, yes, it was not an aspiration or something I was working towards. It was just being in the right place at the right time, clearly.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: And a nine month period, I mean, you know, women go through that. It's like, hey, nine months and you get a baby. Nine months and you became mayor.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Yes, yes. And so then I had to make the decision whether I wanted to apply for the position. Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: And so then you ended up becoming the mayor at that time, then did you have to run specifically at some point after that?
[00:05:47] Speaker B: Yes. So I was appointed by the council to fill the rest of that term. And then in the last election cycle, I was elected as mayor. And so I'll serve from the beginning of this year. I was sworn into the position and I will serve till the end of 2020.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Okay. I was just going to ask how long the terms are.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Four years.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a four year term and jumping ahead a little bit. But do you plan to continue as mayor for as long as you're elected?
[00:06:14] Speaker B: I've put some thought into it and really the reason I've stepped up and said, yes, I'm capable and willing is because there was a void there. There was a need there. I think that after you've put so much time and energy into, you know, building a momentum and learning and advocating for your community, it might be hard to decide, I'm done with this.
But if there are other people that want that opportunity, I very well may run again. But I don't see it as a lifelong volunteer position.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Yeah, and now you said volunteer position. So I am curious. Often we get this idea that those who are in political leadership are these pretty prestigious roles, maybe really high paying. And then you come to realize that a lot of them are public service, almost volunteer positions.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: We are 100% volunteer positions, Mayor and council.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: This is not a paid job for you?
[00:07:09] Speaker B: No, it is not. You know, what people might call the perks is paid training, paid conferences, that kind of thing. But really there's no monetary benefit. I volunteer probably between 10 and 20 hours a week, depending on what's going on during that week. And yeah, I just do that as service, which is something. It's very fulfilling for me. That's always been close to my heart is, you know, that productivity through lifting others up and just being of service. And so I don't Think many people realize it, but it is just something that I want to do. Yeah.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: That was a surprise to me when I was learning all of this because Lucetta was just a dear personal friend for so many years. And then when she stepped into the political world, you know, we'd be having dinner and I'm learning all of these interesting things, which was part of the spark to start this podcast because I thought there's probably a lot of other people that don't know this stuff and it's interesting and we want to be a little more connected and not just stare at this voter pamphlet with no information or watch two or three commercials and feel like that's all the information we have in order to make any sort of decision. Right.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: I would like to bring up that, as I mentioned, having the privilege of being a stay at home parent and a homemaker, I feel like it's a real advantage for me and the people of my community because if I had to work outside the home 20 to 40 hours a week, there's no way I could be as dedicated as I am. I'm able to accept invitations like the one here today. I'm able to go to meetings throughout the day and I do that all around. You know, my children's needs and my husband's needs and our family needs. But really it is a big advantage to have a volunteer that is not doing it above and beyond. Right. A full time job.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Oh, completely.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Because in my mind, this is my job.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And you mentioned that, you know, it's part time in terms of the hours you put in per week. So I'm curious, what does that actually look like, like a day in the life of a mayor? What are the things that you're. I mean, obviously you're making decisions. I think everyone knows that part, but maybe what do people not know that you do as a mayor?
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So interestingly, I have less decision making power than you might think. Per our charter and in our city, I don't vote. So my main job is to preside over the council meetings and facilitate the conversation and then council has the vote. Any given day is different.
Schedule is a lot of times flexible in what I'm able to do. But for example, yesterday morning we have made a monthly meetup of local mayors. And so for a couple hours in the morning, I did that. I came home, did the things I needed to do around home, and then I dedicated about an hour and a half to prepping for last night's meeting. And then we had a special council meeting that Ended up lasting about three hours. And so I was prepared for that and facilitated that meeting. Today I have, you know, the opportunity to meet with you and do this, and then I'll stop by city Hall. There's some paperwork I need to sign and I'll check in. And I would say our city administrator is the head of the city. He does in the administrative role, but I work closely with him. So a lot of times it's one on one time, checking up on projects, helping with grant writing work, just a variety of things. And on Saturday, we will have a tour of our wastewater facility. So, you know, a couple hours on a Saturday, there's a wide variety.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: Yeah. It's interesting to hear it all explained because I think some people assume that if they want something changed, they can just go to a particular leader and say, okay, change this.
Which is clearly not the case, as we learn. You can't just go to one person who is theoretically in charge of it all, and they can just wave a magic wand and make a change in 24 hours. But if there was something that a community member was concerned about, do they go directly to you? Do they go to a meeting?
What's the way that the community can get involved if they have. Whether it's a concern or just an idea of something to improve?
[00:11:07] Speaker B: So there are many ways. All of our meetings are public meetings.
Our regular council meetings and our work sessions all have public comment periods. So that's a time to bring any questions or concerns. But also, I always let people know. You can reach out to any of your council members or you could reach out to me. In particular, on our website, we have all our contact information.
There's been many instances where someone reaches out to me personally through Facebook and says, I have this city issue and I have a very canned response to say, please send your information to this, you know, my official email, but by email, I've helped connect people to the sheriff's office, to the city staff. I can meet with people just to problem solve and have conversations, bring together different groups and stakeholders that might need to have. I'm not a mediator, but I can be that person that has the connections in the community.
So really, a lot of times people think if I throw my complaint out into the world, it will get fixed, but really it's about using those channels and that process to be heard in the right place and in the right way. And that is that the direct reaching out or come to a public meeting?
[00:12:21] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. I think we live in a time where everyone just sort of feels like, well, if I just complain about it on social media, that is my way to have my voice heard and we really have some better options.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: I think part of the way I got into this position was I've always held that I cannot complain about something if I'm not willing to do something about it. And while I didn't have specific complaints, as I got more interested and learned more about this city that I had lived in for four years, I said if I want changes or if I want this to be a better place for my kids or anything, I need to get involved. So I've really put a lot of effort into welcoming people, being inclusive, letting people know, like your city council and your mayor literally work for you. We're representatives of you, but we only have our own perspective. So please come join, share those perspectives, share the concerns. We can then better work for you?
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. And for anybody who is maybe even a little bit unfamiliar with Amity, if you were to describe the town, describe the people, the numbers, demographic, lifestyle, just everything, Just give a little description of the town you represent.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Yeah, we're a small rural community. We're at the south line of Yamhill county where it abuts Polk County. One word that is used a lot is that it's a bedroom community. And that comes from the fact that around 90% of the workers in Amity are employed outside of the city. So a bedroom community is they're coming home, they're sleeping there at night, and during the day they're moving out. I don't like that representation because we have a lot of great community within the city. We have a strong school district that is great for our kids, very sports involved. We have a volunteer fire department with just a few paid positions. That really brings cohesiveness to the community and something we've tried to elevate is that sense of place.
It's unique.
It has that small town charm. As we elevate things like tourism and aesthetics and safety, we really want to keep in mind that it's a hometown.
And so I would say that I grew up in Carlton and so it really has that same feel. It hasn't had the proliferation of the wine industry quite as much in Amity, although we have have great wines and viticulture areas there as well. But I would just describe it as like a small hometown. Yeah.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: And how many people are in Amity?
[00:14:52] Speaker B: About just under 2,000. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: That's so sweet. Now, you mentioned the school district, so I am just curious. I'd love to Take a minute or two because I have heard such amazing things about the Amity School district and having a one year old and a four year old. I'm always curious and my background is teaching. I've taught elementary school for many years and I would love to hear a little bit about the school district because as I understand it, is it Monday through Thursday?
[00:15:18] Speaker B: It is. We have four day school weeks.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Yes, tell me about that. I think that's so interesting.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: It was a decision that was made before we moved into town. So that's what we've known. When we joined the Amity community, we started with a fifth grader and a preschooler. My son graduated from Amity High School last year. So we've had that experience. And my daughter just started at a brand new middle school. So the city, the voters passed a bond a couple years years ago and they have moved the middle school campus to share with the high school campus.
So a new facility there for middle school.
I would just say that in general people really support the school community.
There's a lot of support there at the district level, at the volunteer level, at the parent level, small classroom sizes, you know, I think under 20 kids is not unheard of.
So yeah, there's able to be and I think, you know, a graduate. The graduating classes are between 60 and 80 kids. So the individualized focus on students is a big bonus. And I feel like the sports especially. But it's one thing that brings the community together. Everyone wants to be investing in our youth and so I think that's a great place where we all come together.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: I know when we first moved to Oregon I felt like I landed in a Hallmark movie because we landed in McMinnville and then discovered all the little towns around. And it just was so refreshing. Okay, now I am just curious before moving on from the school topic, how do you do just four days a week? Are they longer days or do you have more days in the school year?
[00:16:57] Speaker B: I don't know on the state mandates right. For classroom hours, but I know the days are a little longer and I think that is the main difference. So at least I know we're learning very quickly. The middle school schedule. So they need to be there by 7:50 in the morning and they're not released till about 3:30 in the afternoon.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: So yeah, that is a little bit longer.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Yeah. And it probably adds up to.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And so personally I have really appreciated that being that I love having time with my kids. But it also allows for things like appointments or special occasions or just the giving the kids a letdown day before your weekends start, because a lot of those are packed, you know, if you have sports or activities or family obligations.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Right. How many of us would love to have those three day weekends where you have one day to get stuff done, one day to rest and one day to have an adventure.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that.
So in our final couple of topics here, I'm curious to hear about any goals you have for Amity, maybe some things that are coming up or if there's anything that you want your community to know about, to say, hey, come vote on this or come share your opinion about this or come get involved in this way.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Sounds good. Yeah. In general, I would just like to encourage involvement in any sort. One exciting thing that we highlighted last night at our work session is for about a year and a half we've been working on a comprehensive plan update.
So for anyone that doesn't know, every city in Oregon has a comprehensive plan. And that's really the foundation and outlook for at least 20 years of the direction you see your city going. And so that is complemented, the next step up on that foundation would be your development code and your ordinance and policies that go along. But that's more specific. The comprehensive plan is just how are we going to address the statewide goals such as housing and air quality and urbanization. So as we've been working through the comprehensive plan update with dlcd, we've had a series of meetings about what we would like that to look like section by section.
And there hasn't been too much citizen involvement, but it's something that really will make a difference as the next couple decades go on. And so in October, we'll have a planning commission public hearing which will be a chance to look at that information and give input. After the public hearing, if it is adopted or approved by the planning commission, it will then go to city council. We'll also have a public hearing. Public hearing. It sounds official. There's an official way I have to go about the meeting. But really what it means, means is come and give your testimony, come and share your opinions, come and share what you like and don't like. It's not too late for that to be considered. But after those public hearings are done, it will be adopted as is. And so one thing that I have come against is people say, I didn't know this was happening or I wish you would have asked for more input or why did you do something this way? And so with this comprehensive plan, but any policy or ordinance or resolution, we Would love to hear from you.
When it happens at the meeting where we're making an adoption of a long term plan, sometimes that it's not going to change.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: It's a little too late.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: It's a little too late, and it's not for lack of trying. We have regulatory notices that we send out, but above and beyond that, we have a Facebook page, we have an Instagram. I write part of a monthly newsletter that comes out with all our utility bills. We have a reader board downtown. And so being that I have been the person that had the privilege to just be like oblivious to local government going ons in the past, really that was not a priority for me and I didn't know what was happening. And that's okay. But I want everyone to know that we do want to hear from you. And like I said, we only have our own perspectives and we only have the information in front of us. And so really, whether it's comprehensive plan or community events or street repairs or complaints of traffic, we want to hear about them. Yeah.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Well, I'm so glad to know the ways that the community can get connected and get involved in everything you've mentioned. We will put those links in the episode notes, so anybody listening, you don't have to try and memorize that. We can have that available for you and just show you ways that you can get connected with Mayor King and the community of Amity. And I'm so glad that you joined us for this. Thank you for being willing to come and share a little bit of who you are and what you're doing and what a mayor does.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: I appreciate the opportunity. I many times say at the end of that newsletter I referenced, it is my privilege to serve. It's been such a growing opportunity, pushing myself out of my comfort zone, even being here today on my very first podcast. But it's really growing those strengths and then using them to serve the people that I represent. So it's really great.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, we're so glad to have you. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your time and again for being willing to jump out of your comfort zone to come do a podcast for the first time. You did great.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Oh, thank you so much. Glad to be here.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: And Oregonians, thank you for tuning in to this episode of Life and Legislation. We hope you got to meet a mayor and get to know her better and that you join us next time for our next episode and we get to meet another mayor in our community. Thank you for tuning in to Life and Legislation with Lucetta.
