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Trauma Hound
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Posted: Sunday November 12th, 2006 05:42 pm |
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http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1163130922298390.xml&coll=7
Teen to tackle 'chaos' in Union -- as mayor
Write-in winner - The 18-year-old college student campaigned by talking to "everybody" in the small town
Friday, November 10, 2006
RICHARD COCKLE
UNION -- An 18-year-old college student is the new mayor of this northeastern Oregon mountain town after waging a write-in campaign and pledging to end a history of political upheaval among his elders.
"It was just chaos," said Mayor-elect Kyle Corbin, a freshman at Eastern Oregon University in nearby La Grande.
Corbin declared his intention to seek the mayor's job when he was 17 and still too young to get on the ballot. But he'd had enough of watching a progression of city councilors and mayors recalled amid firings and forced resignations of city administrators and police chiefs.
"There was even an incident where somebody threw a punch at a City Council meeting," Corbin said of a scuffle a couple of years ago that sent a 77-year-old woman to the hospital emergency room after she was knocked down.
When elections workers finished counting ballots Thursday, it was Corbin with 399 votes, handily defeating 59-year-old Scott Morrison with 271 votes and 64-year-old Dick Middleton with 200 votes.
"Two old guys getting beat by a young kid," Middleton said ruefully.
For his part, the new teenage mayor said he didn't expect to win so easily. But he worked hard on the stump: He talked to people in the city park and campaigned door to door.
"An advantage"
"In a small town you have an advantage; you can talk to everybody," he said. He told people he may be young but planned to bring the divided town back together.
He said he wasn't completely inexperienced: He'd been student body president at Union High School before graduating last spring and was a member of the high school's Parliamentary Procedure Team that took first place in the state and went on to national competition.
"I know the procedures and rules," said Corbin, who turned 18 on Sept. 29. "I've run a meeting with a bunch of high school kids."
Union -- population about 2,000 -- boasts a sleepy main street lined with picturesque Victorian-era homes and businesses. The town has no stoplights and no industry, and at least 40 buildings are within an 8-year-old historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The brick, two-story City Hall was built in 1891.
But the politics have been any thing but pretty.
Interim Mayor Willard Bertrand encouraged Corbin to run in August. Bertrand was appointed after the recall of Mayor Deborah Clark and her councilman husband, Roger Clark, nine months ago. The interim mayor didn't seek the permanent job.
Two years ago, voters recalled Councilmen Dick Alexander and Jack Zimmerman , both in their second four-year terms. More recently, the City Council fired City Administrator Joe Wrabek .
But the young mayor is ready to take on Union City Hall. It may be because he knows the territory: His mom, Sharon, worked there, his aunt was on the town's budget committee and his grandmother was a member of the planning commission.
His supporters say Corbin is up to the task.
"A detail person"
Dennis Falk , owner of Falk's Mini Mart where Corbin has worked part time since age 16, said the teenager is responsible, mature and "a detail person."
"The smallest things, he just worries about them," Falk said. "He wants every 'i' dotted and every 't' crossed. Hopefully, it will bring this town around again."
"He's got his work cut out for him," said Teresa Stratton , athletic director at Union High School. "If there's any 18-year-old kid that's up to it, it's him."
Corbin is a bit surprised by all the attention but said he's confident he can handle the six-member City Council, where he will wield the tie-breaker vote when he assumes office in January.
He intends to keep the monthly meetings moving briskly, not letting them drag on for six hours as sometimes has happened, he said.
"It's unfair to the citizens to have them sit there until 1 a.m." he said.
And he plans to open lines of communication between the townspeople and the council. He doesn't want anybody getting an idea that decisions are being made in a back room.
"Everybody here has the same vision for Union; they want what's best," Corbin said.
Richard Cockle: 541-963-8890; rcockle@oregonwireless.net
Last edited on Sunday November 12th, 2006 05:43 pm by Trauma Hound
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