Yachats City Council gets one more applicant for vacant seat, will interview three people Tuesday

The Yachats City Council will interview three applicants for a 2-year council vacancy during a special meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

A two-week extension to try to recruit more applicants resulted in two additional people filing paperwork, but one of those was deemed to be living outside city limits.

The latest applicant is Anthony Muirhead, general manager of the Adobe Motel and Restaurant. Holly Brandwen also applied, but a city check of her address showed she apparently lived outside the city limits.

The two earlier applicants were retired clinical psychologist Fran Morse and Jennifer Fredrickson, manager of Yachats Brewing + Farmstore.

The council has a vacancy because Leslie Vaaler, who was two years into her four-year council term, was elected mayor in November and took office this month.

The council began seeking people in mid-January to fill the remaining two years of Vaaler’s term, giving residents a Jan. 22 deadline to apply, hoping to appoint someone by Jan. 29.

It got two applications, and council members decided that wasn’t enough, extending the application deadline until Friday, Feb. 12, scheduling a special meeting Tuesday, Feb. 16 to conduct interviews, and hoping to appoint someone during its regular meeting Wednesday, Feb. 17.

The additional three weeks drew one more applicant who qualified – Muirhead.

In his application, Muirhead said that Yachats faces issues over affordable housing, growth issues, and businesses struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. He urged support for the Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program and the city’s visitor and marketing programs.

“(The) Best case scenario we help protect what Yachats already is and provide a healthy path for future generations to enjoy our community as well,” he said.

As the Adobe’s general manager, Muirhead has been involved in the Planning Commission and council’s struggle to regulate – or ban – marine lighting. He told the council last November that the Adobe’s owners would be forced to fence off access to the 804 Trail if their four lights were shut off.

The Planning Commission on Thursday voted 4-1 to recommend to the council that the city institute night-time curfews on commercial and residential marine lighting and prohibit them after one year.

Because the council currently has four members, it will take a majority of three to appoint its fifth member.