2 weeks Ago By MID-VALLEY MEDIA
Two ballot measures and a competitive race for a City Council seat are on the Nov. 5 ballot in Lebanon, and this is the spot to find out election results. Lebanon voters are poised to decided whether the city should continue fluoridating its drinking water .
Elected city leaders voted in May to put the question to their constituents after right-wing politicos stoked more than a year of periodic debate . Another ballot measure would ban permanently businesses related to psilocybin, or psychedelic mushrooms. Two years ago, the city's voters approved a two-year ban , which expires at the end of this year.
Also in the spotlight is a three-way contest for City Council Ward 2 in northwestern Lebanon. Incumbent and retired business owner KJ Ullfers is being challenged by business owner and Lebanon Planning Commission member David McClain and Linn County mental health coordinator Cordero Reid . A veteran of the military and law enforcement organizations, Ullfers owned businesses and sat on the city’s budget committee.
Now, he is seeking election after serving three years on the Lebanon City Council — elevated to the position by appointment in 2021. KJ Ullfers. His tenure coincided with the city’s first budgetary deficit in 2023, a shortage of qualified police officers to patrol city streets , and sometimes heated conversations at City Hall about fees proposed to plug holes in Lebanon’s general fund.
Ullfers' nonprofit Crossroads Communities houses nearly 200 people across several sites, one-third of whom would have no shelter without the nonprofit. But he opposes Lebanon spending any of its tax revenue on sheltering or addiction and mental health services. McClain declined to participate in a candidate profile interview, saying he did not have time.
Dave McClain. He aligns himself with conservative causes. In 2022 he made $1,560 in cash contributions to a political organizer representing anti-LGBTQ+ views, the Candidate Identification & Support Committee.
The organization lobbied against the city making an official proclamation that June is Pride month, calling the resolution “based on sexual and lifestyle preferences.” The Support Committee was behind Lebanon’s effort to remove fluoridating compounds from the city’s drinking water supply and a disinformation campaign in the run-up to the May 21 primary election, criticizing a failed nearly $11 million bid for new tax revenue for the Lebanon Fire District . Reid said he wants to address a few essentials for the city’s burgeoning population, things like cracked roads, dimly-lit streets — and more diverse politics at the dais.
He believes uncontested races stifle political engagement. When everyone on the City Council looks the same or writes similar credentials on their election filings, there is less room at the local government’s table for more experiences, he said. Cordero Reid.
Reid said the council's efforts in October to talk with constituents about proposed service fees was a good start, as was the city's ad-hoc committee on illegal camping — empaneled in 2021 as Lebanon responded to new state laws governing the right to sleep in public . Professionally, he coordinates mental health care at the Linn County Department of Health Services in Albany. City Councilor Dave Workman spoke from the dais against the city’s use of tooth decay-preventing chemicals soon after taking office in January 2023.
He later told the council that Lebanon voters should decide , so the council put it on the ballot. Dentists went to work opposing the opposition , and people handed over hundreds of pages of documents they hoped would demonstrate fluoride’s health benefits or health detractors. Most people in the mid-Willamette Valley receive fluoridated water.
The largest water utilities, including Lebanon, account for more than 140,000 users across Benton and Linn counties. This story will be updated. More Lebanon news More mid-valley election coverage Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
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