Molalla mayor announces he'll seek a second term

If you’re enjoying what you’re doing, why not try to keep doing it? Molalla Mayor Scott Keyser is hoping to do just that.

Keyser made it official on Friday, he will seek a second term in the mayor’s chair come November and said that he’s excited about where he’s come, where Molalla’s going, and all that it encompasses.

In addition to simply enjoying the role, Keyser said he’s got some business he wants to see finished.

“One of the biggest reasons (for re-election) is that we passed a bond measure last November for the police station and I made a commitment to the people that every penny would be spent on that station,” Keyser explained. “It would be really easy to make that statement, then choose to walk away and not be accountable. I want to make sure that what I promised will happen.”

Keyser noted a couple other large infrastructure projects that are getting ramped up – water treatment and sewage facility upgrades.

“Last year I went to the capital and helped us get awarded $5 million for that and I want to see those projects get finished,” he said. “There’s a lot going on and I want to see it get done.

“I like what I’m doing, I’m still a kid in a candy store with this,” he added. “I do believe in term limits, so this will be my last time I run for mayor. I’m only able to do it twice, so let’s make it fun.”

While the city has plenty of infrastructure projects coming online soon, Keyser said he has a vision for the city that includes more events. He pointed to the food pod event at Molalla Nazarene Church as one such event he helped get rolling and noted that he wants to help create more to heighten people’s awareness of what Molalla has to offer.

Those events take people working out front and behind the scenes and Keyser said he’s been blessed with good people to work with.

“A lot of people that are running, they are pointing to themselves, saying ‘I did this, I did this.’ If I didn’t have the City Council that I have, the city staff that is here, none of what we’ve accomplished in the last four years would have happened,” Keyser said. “Molalla has great city councilors and incredible city staff. It’s not just me, it’s teamwork between us all. People need to recognize that political figures can’t do anything without those voted in with them and the staff to implement it. I am so fortunate to work with all of them.”

Keyer said that he’s enjoyed the learning curve of being mayor and running a city council, he’s also enjoyed the interactions with the community and has noticed bigger awareness of the small town throughout the halls of power.

“One of the things I wanted to do was put Molalla on the map,” he said. “The state, county and even federal are seeing Molalla is a pretty incredible city that doesn’t ask for a lot. We work hard to find ways to get things done on our own.”

Keyser said that, if reelected, over the next four years he hopes to create some more events for Molalla, such as concerts and food-related events. He said he enjoys the process of trying to think of new projects to enhance Molalla’s standing statewide.

“A lot of the ideas I’ve had are just sitting home at night thinking ‘What if we did this?’” he said. “After the election, the thinking cap will go on and we’ll see what the next big thing will be. I also want to have a big focus on Fourth of July week. We have the Buckeroo, but there’s not a lot that goes on besides that. I want more events going on around July 4. We have such an influx of visitors to our city, I want them to think ‘Hey, that sounds fun. I think I’ll come back tomorrow for that.’ I guarantee it will have something to do with music and food.”