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. I'm your state representative for House District 24, Lucetta Elmer. This podcast is a place for you to get to know Representative Elmer both personally and professionally. 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.
Hi, Oregonians, and welcome back to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If this is your first time finding us, welcome. We're so glad you're here. We love getting to do these little episodes and hope that our community is getting to know Representative Elmer better and understanding what's going on in Oregon better also.
Now, normally I'm here having a conversation with Representative El, but we are taking a little break and actually going on kind of a Meet the Mayor's tour, and I get to sit down and have conversations with our local mayors.
So my guest for this episode is Mayor Watkins. Thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Oh, thank you for having us.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: That's great. We get to know you personally and we'll get to hear a little bit about Carlton, how you became mayor, and anything going on in the community.
So I would love to just start with who are you outside of being the mayor of Carleton? Where are you from? Maybe tell us anything about your. Your life or interests, hobbies, personality, family, any of that.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Yeah, right now I'm kind of in between projects. I moved to Carleton because many, many years ago, my ex husband and I were vacationing and we came through Carlton because he was a wine taster and he liked wine, and I did, too. And so we kind of were traveling through and I absolutely, even at that time, fell in love with Carleton. And that was like 30 years.
And it was always my kind of, in the back of my mind, always a goal to come back. And then he and I went our separate ways. I remarried and we were living in Boise, actually, and we decided that we wanted a little bit of a change of pace.
And so we had some friends that were already over here in McMinnville and came over and we were looking around for a place to go. And I told Randy, I think I know where we want to go. You know, we checked everything and Carleton was just. That's where we were going to be. And we were able to Find a house right away. And I don't think we ever regretted the move.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: That's amazing. So what year did you land in Carleton?
[00:02:49] Speaker B: 2004, I think, was when we actually moved over here.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: Yeah. So you've been here quite a while and really made Carlton your home.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Yeah. From the beginning, that was where we wanted to be.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: You know, it's been good.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: And now my understanding is that carleton has changed a lot over the decades. So when you first moved there, compared to what it's like now, what are some of the big changes?
[00:03:12] Speaker B: I think the biggest change is still growth.
We're looking at a lot of stuff going on. And right now, particularly in the last year and a half.
Well, actually, the last four years, we've seen three new subdivisions, large subdivisions come in on one side of town. I right now am looking out my window, my living room window, that used to look directly down onto winterberg park, the big park that was down there. And instead I'm seeing a development going in right below me, which has been actually really difficult for me to deal with. But so growth is one of the things. And growth is also one of the issues that we are really grappling with because we want to keep that feel of a small community.
I mean, we definitely want to make that happen and stay that way. And yet, you know, growth is inevitable and it's not going to go away.
So how do you balance that growth with still keeping that small community feel?
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Yeah, and I imagine that's one of your main topics, main issues. As the leader of the city, it.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Really is a challenge. I think all of us on the council are having that challenge and trying to figure out ways to balance the two, you know, and it's just a very difficult thing to do because you need new streets, you need new businesses, you need all of those things that make a community a community and also make it a viable community, Something that people can make a happy living in and live in.
A lot of us, I think a lot of the folks in town are really struggling with that because, you know, gee, we'd really like to have a new grocery store, which we don't have. We have a small market there that is actually a really good little market. Folks want some of these other things, a larger grocery store or they want movie theater or something like that. But in order to get that, you need the people that are going to come to it.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: And so many people that have an end goal that they want, but they don't really want the path that it takes to get there.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Exactly. Thank you for.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I want to actually circle back to that, but first, I would love to hear how it is you became mayor, how long you've been mayor, if this was a long term goal of yours or something that you stumbled into and hear a little bit about that process.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: It was more of a stumble into. I mean, I've always been like, talking politics and I worked in political offices, so that made it. You know, that was always interesting, too.
But I started because a friend of mine was kind of suggesting that we were at a place where we were going to have some counselors leave and there were some vacancies on the council and, Linda, please, you know, do this. Okay. You know, this is a good time. As they need to do it. We'll go ahead and give it a try.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: And how long ago was this?
[00:06:13] Speaker B: So it was about between five and ten years ago.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Yeah. And they wanted you to join the council?
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So I went ahead and did that and ran for council and there was another gal that ran with me and we both were elected.
And then there were some issues in the city as far as our water system and some things like that. We needed some new water systems and things along that line, and they weren't getting done. It wasn't happening.
And I kind of looked at where we were and decided that if it was going to get done, somebody else was going to have to do it. So I ran for mayor and worked at it. You know, I spent a whole lot of time knocking on doors. I basically mapped out. Fortunately, the city is small enough I could do this at a time. I mapped out where everybody lived and I mapped out the neighborhoods and I just started going door to door.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: And at that time, were you doing any other career work or were you just ready to dive full force into life of a mare?
[00:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty much. Just I was able to do that. I had more or less was retired from what I had been doing before. So I could, you know, go into that, not have it conflicting with anything else. And I think my husband was happy that I was doing something and leaving him alone.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: You had a different project.
Oh, good.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: There's some. Some couples out there that will absolutely relate with that statement.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Now, as I've learned, and I think a lot of people maybe don't realize that some of these leadership positions, they're not paid positions. It's not like, you know, this is a public service of true volunteer work.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Yeah. If I go to a council or something like that. Yeah, I get paid. If you're going to a gathering of other mayors or mayors conference. I've been going to those about every year because they're very interesting. And you get to meet the mayors from all over the state, which is really fun.
It's also reassuring because what you learn is that yours is not the only city that has problem A, B, C or D. Every city in the state is struggling with financing. They're struggling with growth.
They're struggling with making sure that they can provide the services for their citizens that the citizens expect to have provided.
It's one of those that actually, as I sit there during some of those conferences and listen to others talk about what they're struggling with, I keep thinking, now if we could just get everybody in town to sit down and listen to this conversation, you know, they would understand more about what they do. And I've tried to do semi regular Mayor's Corners columns that give some idea of what the city is doing and why they're doing it and where they're going with it, with the situation. But it's hard to get that through to people sometimes.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Sure. And so often we see that a community doesn't learn about maybe an issue or a change until it's already 90% through its process, and then they find out towards the end, and then all of the sudden have a lot of questions or opinions or concerns or excitement.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Maybe, but all heck breaks loose.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Right? Exactly. So that's actually a great point. So hopefully, you know, you'll. You get to share this with all of the people in Carleton and they'll take 20 minutes to listen to this episode. So what is it that they can be doing? How can they get connected or learn more what's going on in the city?
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Go to the city council meetings and listen to what's going on there. And if you go on a regular basis, you'll start because the first couple of times you feel like, well, it's just a bunch of gibberish and I'm not real sure what's happening. But if you keep going and listening, you start learning and, you know, it becomes. Some of those things become familiar, that, number one. And number two, don't assume that your counselors are doing something just because somebody offered up some money to do it or they just felt like, yeah, this would be a good idea. So I think I'll try doing it. The counselors work really hard, and our city staff, it works really hard. And that's the other thing is just respect your city staff. Be kind to them.
You know, people come in And I know you just found out that the water rates are increasing or something like that, and people get frustrated about that. I understand. I mean, I'm not real excited when we have to make the decision to raise water rates, but trust me, it's going to one place, and that is to make sure that the city is running properly and that you're getting your water and that it's clean and it's safe and it's well taken care of. And that's something I found generally within communities, and listening to other mayors, too, talk about this, that most folks really do understand that we're not out there just to take the money and run.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: You're doing the best you can with the circumstances you have and the funding that we have. Exactly.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: You know, Representative Aylmer has been fabulous with, in fact, that trying to help us get the funding that we need for so many things. We're working on some major improvements in some of our streets that we wouldn't have without, you know, our legislature, state or federal.
I mean, those people work hard for us. Yeah.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: I imagine when you're looking at the state as a whole, I mean, you've got the huge cities, but then you have the cities like Carleton. And you know, just for context right now about what's the population of Carleton?
[00:12:12] Speaker B: It's about 2200, I think.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: So a small town, you know, and how do you not get lost? How does. How do small towns not get lost in what's going on with the bigger state and the bigger cities? Because something that a big city needs might be very different from what a.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: Small city needs, and it usually is. Yeah. Yeah. And we're. We're just very fortunate to have a congressional delegation that appreciates that and especially a local, you know, our state delegates.
Representative Elmer has been amazing. She's really been great about helping us with so many of these things and very supportive.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: And now you had talked about some of the issues that are. That all cities deal with. And at the beginning of this conversation, you talked about growth and how do you. How do you balance that? How do you keep the local, small town charm of Carleton while still allowing it to grow and maybe having some improvements? You know, I would love to give you a minute to even try and share what are you and the council doing? I know you're trying to balance, but maybe what are some of the actual ways or some of the conversations that are happening right now to strike that balance?
[00:13:24] Speaker B: One of the main things actually, that has a lot of control over what's Going on in a city is the planning commission, because if a development comes to the council, the planning commission are the folks who make the decision to yay or nay on that.
They also live with a very. A lot of restrictions and requirements, but they're the ones who start out talking about what they want their city to look like. We're in the middle right now of a. Well, part of it is transportation safety, but also just the general building evaluation. So we're doing some upgrades on, you know, bringing in some new ideas and stuff on that.
So these are the ones that you go into a town and you see that they've got all bike lanes and where the bike lanes are or whatever. These are the people that would have said, we want these in our city and this is how we want them to look. Somebody comes in and wants to build, you know, a Taj Mahal in the middle of town, they're the ones that are going to say, yeah, no, I don't think that's going to fly. If there's a complaint about that, then it gets maybe sent over to the city council.
But those planning commissions are really important for how a city is going to grow and what that atmosphere is going to look like.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: And now, are the people on the planning commission also volunteers?
[00:14:53] Speaker B: They are all volunteers. Yeah, they're volunteers.
They're citizens from the city who just have come in and said, yeah, we'll help it. We do have professionals that are kind of planning more planning gurus, and so they can help commissioners kind of decide, well, maybe this isn't a good idea. Maybe that is, or maybe this will work.
They're also there to say, yeah, no, probably the state isn't going to let you do that.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so often people maybe have an idea or a concern, but don't really know who's in charge of those decisions and how that all works. You know, they might think, well, I just. I will go give my idea to the mayor or I'll go complain to the mayor, and it'll be yes or no. But there are really all these other people involved, Whether it's just starting at the federal level and then the state level and then your local level and then even within that, all of these different subgroups and committees and things that probably a lot of people don't even know exist.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: They don't. Until you're in the middle of it, you just don't know.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Right. It's a whole other language, It's a whole other system that those who aren't involved don't know very much about.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: And you almost need there to be junior high and high school field trips to the council meetings.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: I would love to see more students making regular visits to the council meetings and to, you know, the planning commission also.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Right.
So as we start to wrap up here, are there any big updates that you would want to share with all the community members in Carleton? Anything that's going on that you'd want them to know about right now?
[00:16:29] Speaker B: And we just started this two days ago.
We have one street in town that also has our main sewer line that runs all the way down and takes the stuff out and puts it where it needs to go. And that line has been for years and years and years needing repair. It's a 100-year-old line.
We're talking some really major upgrades on that. And they just have started getting that taken care of. And it runs right by my house. I'm just looking at this going, oh.
Because they're having to shut. Close off the whole street in order to get it done. But it's something that has been there for a long time that needed to be done.
So we hope people will be very patient and very forgiving as these guys try to get their works done, because it's something that has been a problem for a long time, and it's a problem in a lot of ways.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Well, it's interesting listening to you talk because on the one hand, you are a community member who has the inconveniences of, you know, construction or work going around your home, and you're also the leader of the town and having to make these decisions and know what's needed, and we do need these repairs. And growth can be a good thing. And as we've said, where do you find that balance? So it's, you know, you're living it and you're leading it.
And Carlton is such an incredible city. We love getting to spend time there. And there's so much about it that's just really unique and so sweet when people come in and visit. They love getting to go explore the wine industry. I mean, it always amazes me how many tasting rooms and wineries are in this city with a rel. With a small population.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Even. You know, the first time I came to Carleton, which was about 10, 15 years before I actually moved there. My ex husband and I drove through there, and I just thought, I want to be here. It's a unique place. I mean, I grew up in California. I grew up in Northern California. So, you know, the Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta area. So, I mean, I grew up in heaven, frankly, but Carleton was just.
When I saw it the first time, I thought, I want to live here. There's something there that's just different from anywhere else.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: And it's worth. For those of us who live outside of Carleton, driving in, I'm going to leave this podcast and go get my little boys and take them to soccer in Carleton because it is such an incredible program and an incredible city. We're so grateful for that.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: And Karen Wright has done an amazing job on that.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Yeah, she really, really has.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: And that's part of it is we've got some really wonderful people that live there that have really put a lot of effort into Carleton.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Just into being citizens.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: Well, I'm so glad you took a little time this morning to come introduce yourself to everyone and tell about your city and what's going on. You know, I'm going to throw a curveball question at you. Just real quick. If you didn't have any financial restrictions at all, what would your main goal be for the city of Carleton? What vision do you have for it?
[00:19:35] Speaker B: You know, if all things being equal, if you could wave a magic wand. And that's just to do. To do everything we can to encourage people, whether it's businesses or residents, to help keep Carlton a charming small town, to keep it friendly, to keep people smiling. We just had, you know, we just had the Carlton crush this weekend. This last weekend. I don't know. Have you ever been over to the.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Oh, yes.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Yeah. So we just got finished with that, and it's just so nice to see and to keep. To encourage the community to participate and keep these activities going and to just keep being a small town.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: Well, thank you for leading the small town.
I know that the community appreciates what you do. Hopefully they make really understand how much of how much work it is and all the volunteer hours that these leaders put in. And we wouldn't have these towns and cities without those who volunteer their time to be the mayor and to be on the committees and things. So thank you, and thanks for taking time just to come talk with us on this podcast. We appreciate it. And Oregonians listening. I hope you got to meet one of our mayors a little bit better and get to know her and hear about the sweet, beautiful little town of Carlton and come back next time for. For our next episode, we'll meet another mayor in our local area on life and legislation with Lucetta.
