McMinnville Mayor Scott Hill announced his decision to resign effective May 24th and move out of state. He was elected City Councilor in 2005. He was appointed Mayor in early 2016 and elected to that office in November of 2016 and again in 2020.

It is likely Councilor Amy Drabkin will finish out Hill’s year. The position requires a mayor be elected in the November 2022 general election. Mayor Hill is the latest in a string of recent resignations among elected officials in Yamhill County.

Two Newberg City Council positions were vacated with the early departures of Critical Race Theory activist Bryce Coefield in January and Julia Martinez Plancarte in March. After the effort to Recall Newberg School Board members Brian Shannon and Dave Brown failed in 2021, Inez Perez resigned from the Newberg School Board. Hopefuls for City Council Districts 1 & 4 will be on the November ballot. Councilor Elise Yarnell Hollamon is running for HD 23 against Republican incumbent Anna Scharf. If she’s successful, more turnover on Newberg City Council would occur.

McMinnville City Councilor Sal Peralta announced his intention to run for County Clerk in two years. Peralta is active in politics beyond the McMinnville city limits, heading the Independent Party of Oregon, once a growing factor now in the shadow of the large block of Non-Affiliated Voters.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

All the real and potential resignations are from officials who have pursued a progressive agenda. They have championed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion while embracing Environmental, Social, Governance policies to fight climate change. They have championed vaccine and mask mandates and lockdowns. They have endorsed the Recall efforts against the conservative school board members and County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer. The last of the recall efforts failed three weeks ago. Of Yamhill County’s 23 precincts, only four voted in favor of the recall. All four were in McMinnville and are the voting demographic Mayor Hill most relied on.

Both Mayor Hill and Councilor Peralta were endorsed by former McMinnville police chief, now retiring State Representative Ron Noble (R-McMinnville). Noble is seeking the nomination of the Republican Party for Congressional District 6 in the May primary. Noble voted for issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants in 2018. According to some experts, with those drivers licenses came voter registration. While disqualified from voting in Federal elections, those new voters can and do vote in local elections. Many live in the four precincts that voted to recall Commissioner Berschauer. Many of those were first time voters.

McMinnville has experienced budget difficulties under Hill and five year City Manager Jeff Towery. Goals to address homelessness have not borne fruit. Police struggle to retain an adequate force. The McMinnville rural fire district will join in creating a new layer of administration that will increase the portion of property taxes for rural fire protection from $1.23 per thousand valuation to $2.00, a mere 62% increase in taxes. Jumps in the cost of water, sewer and electricity for citizens are being debated. A new mayor in McMinnville will have his or her work cut out for them.


--Tom Hammer

Post Date: 2022-04-14 21:55:03

Last Update: 2022-04-14 22:33:12