YACHATS – Some very last-minute filings – and some apparent arm twisting – means there will be choices in the November general election for the Yachats city council.
While two candidates filed to seek the mayor’s position being given up by Leslie Vaaler, only one person filed for two open council seats before the initial filing deadline of Aug. 23. But the deadline was extended twice and by end of the day Wednesday two more people submitted signatures to run for the council.
Councilor Ann Stott and Parks & Commons Commission chair Craig Berdie filed to run for mayor.
Stott has been on the council for two years and ran unsuccessfully for mayor against John Moore in 2018. Berdie filled a four-month council appointment in 2018, but has since served on the Parks & Commons Commission.
Councilor Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey, who was appointed in 2020 to fill the remaining three years of an unexpired council term, was the only person to file by the initial deadline of Aug. 23. With the deadline extended twice and word getting out that there was only one candidate for two positions, Anthony Muirhead and Catherine Carey submitted applications and signatures to the city this week.
Muirhead, general manager of the Adobe Motel, was appointed in February 2021 to fill a vacant council seat. Until this week, he said he had not planned to run for election.
Carey, a retired teacher and school principal, is a member of the city’s Parks & Commons Commission.
Five people sought two council seats in 2020, four in 2018 and just two in 2016.
