WALDPORT – Voters will have some choices when it comes to deciding Nov. 8 who will be mayor and members of the Waldport city council for the next two and four years.
Waldport voters elect a mayor every two years and some of the six councilors every four years. Usually there are three council seats up for election – but this year there is an additional election because of an open position vacated by Heide Lambert in March after she became Yachats’ city manager.
Greg Holland, who was a councilor before being elected mayor in 2020, filed for re-election. He is being challenged by Mike Gatens, a U.S. Forest Service employee and owner of Shrimp Daddy’s bait and tackle shop in downtown Waldport. Gatens has not previously held elective office.
Melia McKinley Kilduff, daughter of Seashore Family Literacy founder Senitila McKinley and a Lincoln County School District teacher, was the only person to file for the remaining two years of Lambert’s term, which ends in December 2024.
Voters will have a choice of three council members from a field of five candidates whose four-year terms begin January 2023. Incumbents Sue Woodruff, Jerry Townsend and Rick Booth all filed for election. They are joined on the ballot by Michael Flaming, and Michelle Severson, a former head girls and boys basketball coach at Waldport High School.
Not up for election are councilors Greg Dunn and Jayme Morris, who have two years remaining on their terms.
