Two candidates are vying for the top seat to lead the Coos Bay City Council. Here is a look at the candidates and their take on the issues. This information was provided by the candidates.

Jeff McKeown

Age: 58

How long here: 58 years

Occupation: Financial advisor

Experience: 10 years on Coos Bay City Council, two years as mayor



• What in your background would help you as an elected official?

My decade of experience serving the city of Coos Bay has provided me with an important depth of knowledge about the city and its challenges. My 26 years as a financial manager also have provided me with experience that is valuable — especially in the current climate. Finally, I served on the board and as president of the board of the Boys & Girls Club, which provided me with more experience in working with others for the common good.

• What do you see as the key issues in the race?

Jobs, jobs and more jobs. Improving the economic conditions of the community is vital if the city is to grow and prosper. Only with jobs will our children be able to return to Coos Bay to work and raise their families here, and that must be the focus of our economic development activities.

• What would you like to see happen at the Hollering Place?

The area would be best served by us moving ahead with a public-private partnership to develop the property. The council should pass this forward aggressively.

• What do you thing is the solution to the situation involving Southwestern Oregon Community College refusing to pay for police services?

The best and most workable solution would be a partnership between the college and the city to ensure safety service.

• What do you think about the proposal to construct an LNG terminal on the North Spit?

I think it’s unfortunate and just totally wrong that the state has no say in this activity. If, indeed, the facility gets federal approval, then it will be incumbent on local government and citizens to push and insist that local jobs are made available and that all safety standards are met.

• If the Presbyterian church site falls through, where do you think the fire station should be built?

I do not believe the church site will fall through, but in the remote possibility that it does, I believe the fire station must be built in the city’s core area.

• What ideas do you have for improving the city’s urban renewal districts?

First and foremost, the city should use its funding and energy to retain, support and enhance existing businesses. Then, we should continue to move forward enthusiastically with a new business incubator and expand the city’s facade grant program.

• How would you rate the performance of the current city council?

Just excellent. We have accomplished a great deal. Ours is a diverse council with members who have distinct and many times differing opinions. I value that and have made it a point, as mayor, to embrace others’ ideas and work with the council to reach consensus on issues to benefit the city and its residents.

• What do you think about the city annexing Bunker Hill or any other county land?

Well, the truth is that there certainly isn’t a great deal of room for the city to expand. In fact, the city is conducting a buildable lands inventory right now. As for Bunker Hill, face it: It already is the first face of our city for many visitors. Having it included as part of Coos Bay would be a benefit for the city and, especially with the county’s current funding problems, for Bunker Hill residents concerned about emergency service.

• How should the city pay for the $42 million in repairs to the wastewater treatment and sewer system?

By spreading out who pays and how. Long-term bonding is a way to spread the burden out 20 to 30 years, to make sure future residents pay, too. That way, this necessary expense won’t fall just on current ratepayers.

John Muenchrath

• Age: 44

• How long here: 38 years

• Occupation: Urologist

• Experience: Four years on Coos Bay City Council



• What in your background would help you as an elected official?

I have served on a number of boards here in town including the DOCS board, North Bend Medical Centers board and the Medical Executive Committee at Bay Area Hospital and am currently chief of staff at BAH.

Being a surgeon, I’m trained to make decisions, analyze data, constantly consider alternate scenarios and reconsider my impressions when they don’t fit the facts.  This is very helpful in city government Not uncommonly, what we initially think is the case turns out to be wrong, there are questions that we must ask (even if they make others “uncomfortable”), information that must be gathered and assessed and of course, there are hard decisions. Medicine demands that one exercise all these “muscles” on a daily basis.

Perhaps most important, however, is that I work with the public day in and day out in my practice and I think this gives me a good understanding of my community and the people within it. I hear their concerns and hopes, as well as what they feel is important. I could never hope to satisfy all those disparate perspectives but I can be aware of them in every decision I make.

• Why are you running?

I am running out of a sense of duty as I feel I would do the best job. If I didn’t believe this, I wouldn’t be a candidate, period. I’m not afraid to speak my mind or take a position contrary to that of the rest of the council if I feel that is the right thing to do. While we have a “weak mayor” system, the position is an important one in which the mayor, in addition to performing ceremonial tasks, sets the tone for the council and is looked upon to lead, not merely run meetings. I believe that I can lead in a constructive manner that encourages debate with an appreciation for facts and accountability. It’s through this process of clash and dialectic that our system works and transparency is maintained.

Furthermore, I feel that the voters of Coos Bay deserve a choice and an opportunity to express decisively what kind of local government they want to have. In order to have a truly democratic process, positions must be challenged and a variety of viewpoints and candidates must be on the ballot. There is a marked contrast between myself and Mayor McKeown and anyone that has observed my tenure on the council will probably appreciate this.

• What do you see as the key issues in the race?

Honesty, transparency, accountability and promoting the council as an arena of ideas. Now, I realize these things sound vague, rather general and perhaps not to be cited as issues per se. But these are the things that frame virtually every decision and issue the council faces. I have championed these principles throughout my service on the council.

 But anyone can make claims and provide lip service to this or that position or opinion. It’s actions and the voting record that truly demonstrates best what a candidate is about and what they stand for.

For example, I think it’s our duty as elected officials to honor not merely the letter but the spirit of the law. When Mayor McKeown assumed his present position in 2006, he pushed for the council to appoint his replacement to finish out his remaining council term, rather than take the next highest vote-getter from the 2006 council race. I argued and voted against this. To my mind, this violates the spirit of the city charter, which clearly makes every effort to see that the people choose their representatives. The application process was carried out when people filed for the election, not after the fact when council members could solicit their personal choices for the newly-vacant office.

I also believe the record shows that I tend to be more careful with taxpayer dollars. I opposed allocating $25,000 to SCDC to “facilitate” negotiations between private parties. Surely private groups are capable of negotiating between themselves without government subsidy.

During the budget process last year, I insisted that if the members of the committee wanted to support nonprofits, we had to make cuts to fund them — not deficit spend.

And back in November 2006, I voted that we select an equally qualified firm to find a new city manager that was $19,000 cheaper than that selected by the council. Both groups offered nearly identical services, follow up and guarantees. All things being equal, we should strive to save the public money.

I feel strongly that the city has an obligation to keep the public in the loop whenever possible, and that accountability is of paramount importance. Specific examples would be my demanding that the council make public its intention to consider eminent domain to condemn private property in south town to make this available for another private entity; insisting that SCDC account for its use of public funds; and refusing to approve additional public expenditures for an expanded audit without a demonstrated need produced by the then-auditor.

• What would you like to see happen at the Hollering Place?

Overall I would say that this project is progressing nicely, if at a somewhat glacial pace. (Unfortunately this would seem to be the nature of these things.) Empire has a great core of citizens that have made this a priority for their area and have been very effective in keeping this on the URA’s radar.

Ultimately the hope is that a public seeding of urban renewal funds will translate into a sizable private investment in the area, giving rise to a vibrant center of activity and business. The preliminary plans look wonderful and if anything close to what I’ve seen come to pass, Empire will be a jewel here in the Bay Area.

 What do think is the solution to the situation involving Southwestern Oregon

• Community College refusing to pay for police services?

As with any situation the first step is to communicate and make clear each side’s position and perspective on the given issue. This allows the two sides to get a feel for how close or how far apart they are on a given issue. Once this is done, we can start working from each end to somewhere in the middle.

When the SOCC public safety officers were no longer deputized (largely due to liability issues), the situation regarding law enforcement on campus changed, placing a greater burden on the Coos Bay police. Given this, the city and the college will have to work together to find an acceptable solution to reinstate comparable coverage.

The city’s and the college’s goals in this matter are not mutually exclusive, it’s really just a question of how we get there. Both entities want the community and the college to be safe, and I’m confident that we can reach a resolution that will best serve both the students at SOCC and the community at large.

• What do you think about the proposal to construct an LNG terminal on the North Spit?

As I have stated previously, I am not in favor of locating a LNG terminal on the North Spit. For one thing, this sort of eyesore does not fit into the vision that I, and many others, have for the future of the Bay Area. This is not to say that I don’t welcome the discussion, I do. I appreciate that some people see this as a benefit to the area, but for 30 to 40 jobs it seems like an awfully long climb for an awfully short slide.

From what I can gather, the majority of the natural gas is targeted to be delivered to California — the very state that spent the previous 10 years fighting off one of these behemoths being located there. I am opposed to the use of eminent domain to force deprivation of lands from Oregon citizens to hand said lands to a corporation, particularly when the benefit to the area making the sacrifice is minimal.

LNG, as a fossil fuel, is what we should be moving away from. I would love to see this area become a leader in alternate energy sources — wind and wave for example. Instead, as has too often been the case, we take whatever comes along, rather than having a vision for the area and working to create it.

Having said that, the Coos Bay City Council actually has little, if any, say as to whether a LNG terminal is located here.

• If the Presbyterian Church site falls through, where do you think a fire station should be built?

Ideally, an alternative site would be located on bedrock, providing adequate space for the facility within a four-minute response radius for the majority of the city and have a prominent public presence for visibility and use during festivals, parades and other activities.

Now if there’s one thing that city councils have learned over the past 50 years, the ideal location doesn’t exist or the decision would be easy. So we have to work within the real (imperfect) world.

I think the old McCauley hospital site could be an acceptable alternative but there’s engineering to be done to clear this as a potential site. The old OSP site may be another possibility (the council came very close to approving this site) but the fact that it’s on fill makes it undesirable as it will bump up the cost considerably and of course, stability is a major concern. And of course there’s always the possibility of sites not yet considered.

Ultimately, however, I think it’s important that we make a decision. This is an issue that has been delayed for far too long and we simply have to face the fact that there will be no perfect site that pleases everyone, so we have to go with the best we have, whatever that proves to be.

• What ideas do you have for improving the city's urban renewal districts?

Expand public wifi, continue the facade improvement program, commission artists to produce trompe l’oiel murals (ala Portland) on some of our vast, blank canvasses, sponsor a contest for the design for the downtown pedway, implement a virtual incubator, conduct surveys to find out what sorts of businesses are desired in the downtown area and advertise this info to help promote investment in the downtown and give potential startups an idea of what would be successful.

• How would you rate the performance of the current city council?

7.5

• What do you think about the city annexing Bunker Hill or any other county land?

While I may think that it’s a good idea to have the Bunker Hill area within the city limits, what’s more important (and more to the point) is how the residents of Bunker Hill feel about that. Same goes for other areas.

That said, Bunker Hill is the de facto entrance to Coos Bay from the south and whether people know the area is outside the city or not, it is the first impression people get of Coos Bay. The area has improved recently with a number of new businesses opening, but if Bunker Hill was within the city limits, enforcement of the nuisance ordinance could be used to help clean up the few eyesores left, to the benefit of all.

Obviously we would have to do a pro forma analysis to assess the cost/benefit ratio of such an action.

• How should the city pay for the $42 million in repairs to the wastewater treatment and sewer system?

Uh ... bake sales?

No, seriously, we should make every effort to seek out alternate funding sources for a project as big as this. However, ultimately, we will need to raise rates and probably bond this project — not what anyone wants to hear (or say), but true. The only way to grease this pill is to amortize over time the rate increases, which will serve to minimize the impact upon the ratepayer.