Mayor casts shadow over Shady Cove council race

Oct. 11—Whether to embrace the incumbent mayor is an issue that takes center stage in the race between Tanda Murders and Kathryn Nuckles, who are jockeying for a seat on Shady Cove City Council.

Nuckles, a computer software engineer, and Murders, operations and payment manager at Rogue Credit Union, can't agree over whether Mayor Shari Tarvin deserves another term. While Murders, the incumbent, said she believes Tarvin has given the community things it wants, Nuckles argues the mayor has taken them away and let major issues fall by the wayside.

Murders and Nuckles are running for a council seat that carries a two-year term. The council has four seats, with two, two-year term positions and two four-year seats.

Murders and Nuckles are facing off Nov. 8, in the city's only contested council race this year.

Councilman Jay Taylor had declared his candidacy for mayor, but he later dropped out of that race.

Incumbent Paige Winfrey is unopposed for her four-year council seat, and Jim Hubbard has no competition for the other four-year seat on council, currently held by Taylor.

Murders and Nuckles spoke in separate conversations with the Mail Tribune about why they are running for office and what they see as the top issues facing the city.

Kathryn Nuckles

Nuckles was elected to City Council two years ago, believing Tarvin would live up to her expectations. But as time passed, Nuckles lost trust in her and decided to step down from her council post.

"Here we are, another year later, and Shady Cove is suffering under the leadership of our current mayor — plain and simple," Nuckles said.

Now, Nuckles is running again, hoping the "brilliant businessman," Jon Ball, will be elected mayor.

"He is going to need a strong council with him to help him right this ship, and I would be honored to be part of his team," Nuckles said.

The notion of turning the page on leadership is one reason why "restoring structure" will be one of Nuckles' top priorities if elected.

"The idea of flying by the seat of our pants, like we've done for the last two years, that's got to stop," Nuckles said. "We need to establish short- and long-term goals and then work with our committees and commissions to get those done."

Nuckles cites the city's reliance on wells for access to water as one of the issues Tarvin let slip.

"A lot of those wells are going dry ... others are having arsenic problems," she said. "We can't wait until we're completely dry — we have to start looking at solutions now."

Nuckles' solution would be to first establish main trunk lines, enabling fire hydrants.

"It would give neighborhoods easy hook-in access to reliable water if and when their wells are no longer usable," she said. "Even this solution will take years — hence why we need to act now."

Noting the city's numerous empty storefronts, Nuckles said she hopes the city will foster new relationships, as it once did, with outside organizations to attract tourism to Shady Cove.

"The population of Shady Cove is not enough on its own to sustain many of these businesses," Nuckles said. "They need people from outside the city to stop in Shady Cove and have lunch or shop at their establishment."

She said partnerships that were once built with entities such as Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., and Business Oregon should be revisited to attract more tourism and economic development for the city.

Aside from that, Nuckles — who dealt with parks and recreation issues in her previous stint on council — would like to repair the city's boat ramp, owned by Jackson County.

"We rely on that boat ramp. All of the rafting companies here, they take out their rafts at that park, so we get revenue," Nuckles said. "We need that boat ramp fixed. I would like to do what I can to expedite that."

Nuckles, owner of her own company, Communications and Power Engineering (Compower), has been a resident of Shady Cove for five years. .

"We both are doing what we feel is right for the community, but our priorities are very different," Nuckles said of her race with Murders. "It's really a matter of selling these priorities and (letting) the people of Shady Cove decide: Which way do they want to go?"

Tanda Murders

Murders, a resident of Shady Cove for six years, took Tarvin's council seat when she was mayor, believing relations had soured between the community and city government officials.

"I do believe that we had some unfortunate conflicts that pulled the council's attention away from the priorities we should be focused on, and I would hope that we could continue moving forward," Murders said.

She said the current council is working well together compared with previous city governments.

"I am not one that steps down in face of challenges," Murders said. "I believe we put aside our personal feelings to ensure that we, as a city government council, are really staying focused on what our community needs."

"The council is achieving things; it's not the things that are being discussed the most right now," Murders said. "Those things take many years to be achieved. A municipal water system is not going to be achieved overnight."

Murders said the biggest issues facing the city are internet connectivity, lack of child care and the need for wildfire suppression.

"We have about more down time than we have up time," she said, referring to internet connectivity. "Being able to bring in a high-speed, reliable internet for our community would be a huge benefit."

To that end, Murders suggested a "municipal broadband system."

As for child care, Murders, a working mother, said the lack of options extends to the Rogue Valley, not just her city. In her view, government has a limited role in helping to solve the issue.

"One of the things I think of when I think of child care and how it connects to Shady Cove and our government is, we have a lot of empty business fronts," Murders said, "and we have a high system development charge for establishing businesses, and that's something that the City Council has acknowledged recently and is hoping to evaluate as we move forward."

When it comes to wildfire suppression, Murders mentioned the city's water system.

"I actually believe that educating and providing the resources that are available to our citizens to help provide defensible spaces is what's going to be a greater benefit to our community than a municipal water system in itself," Murders said. "I'm not against a municipal water system, but I don't believe a water system alone is what we need to focus on for wildfire prevention."

Murders is a native Oregonian but she grew up an "Army brat," one of the reasons she was drawn to a small community like Shady Cove.

"I moved to Shady Cove to raise a family because I like the small town environment where neighbors help each other," Murders said. "I'm an advocate of helping people, and that is what I wanted to see come back to our community."

Reach reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or kopsahl@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.