The League of Women Voters of Lincoln County is hosting an online forum at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14 featuring the May primary candidates for positions 1 and 3 on the Lincoln County commission.
Information on how to join the webinar event can be found on the league’s website: www.lwvlincolncounty.org
The candidates vying for Position 1 will be featured from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Candidates for Position 3 will be featured from 7:30-8:30 p.m. After introductions, the candidates in each group will respond to a set of questions from moderator Jean Cowan. Questions will not be solicited from the online audience.
Because Lincoln County commission is non-partisan, if any candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in May, they will win outright; otherwise, the two top vote getters will face a November runoff.
After Thursday, the event will be posted on the Lincoln County League of Women Voter’s website and You Tube.
Position 1 does not have an incumbent because Doug Hunt is retiring at the end of 2022 after 10 years on the commission. Seeking that seat are:
- Greg Holland, the mayor of Waldport who served on the city council there for 12 years before his election in 2020;
- Casey Miller of Newport, the county’s longtime public information officer;
- Mitch Parsons, a member of the city council in Lincoln City and president of the Depoe Bay Chamber of Commerce;
- Carter McEntee of Newport, owner of a restaurant in Salishan and general manager of Mo’s Enterprises, which operates Mo’s Seafood and Chowder restaurants; and
- Walter Chuck of Newport, plant manager for Hiland Water Services in Otis and a longtime member of the Port of Newport Commission.
Seeking the Position 4 seat are:
- Kaety Jacobson, who was an OSU Sea Grant extension agent for 15 years before her election to the board in 2018;
- Mark Watkins of Newport, a food industry business consultant, volunteer with the sheriff’s search and rescue team, and member of the Newport airport advisory committee;
- Ryan Parker, an Oregon State Parks beach ranger and Newport city council member since 2019; and
- Randy Mallette of Otis, owner of Pipe Dreams marijuana dispensary in Lincoln City.
