Five-way race for county commission seat

Five candidates are seeking election to Position 2 on the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners in the May 21 Primary Election.

Appearing on the ballot are incumbent Claire Hall and challengers Don Gomez, Ryan Parker, Rick Beasley, and Tyrone (Ty) Halbrook. Hall was first elected to this position in 2004 and was re-elected in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020.

If one of these candidates receives more than 50 percent of the total vote on the May ballot, that person will be declared the winner. However, if no one receives more than 50 percent, then the top two finishers will face each other in a run-off election in November.

The Lincoln County Leader reached out to each of the candidates and asked for statements regarding their qualifications for this position, why they are seeking election, and what they see as some of the top issues facing Lincoln County. Their responses are being published in the order they were received by the newspaper.

Don Gomez

Over the last several years, our quality of life has been decreasing while our cost of living in Lincoln County is only increasing. If you were confronted with declining quality and rising prices at any business you frequented, you would correctly pin the problem on poor management. County government is no different.

I’m running to represent you as your next county commissioner so we can get things back on track and restore the affordability and quality of life we are used to. I intend to do so in a number of ways, including addressing our severe housing shortage, which is the principal driver of the increase in the cost of goods and services.

Our lack of housing stock is a burden on working families who struggle to keep up with rising rents. Local businesses are struggling to keep up with the necessary wage increases. It’s also having an outsized impact on seniors on fixed incomes, especially those who rent.

I’m the founder of Sterncastle Publishing, a Newport-based independent press focusing on fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography. Sterncastle’s mission is to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion in the literary landscape, and to preserve the rich literary legacy of the Oregon coast.

However, the most relevant experience I bring to the role of commissioner is my years of service in the United States Marine Corps as a financial analyst. My job in the Marines was to assure mission readiness by preventing fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer funds. I’m skilled and knowledgeable in governmental accounting, including budget preparation and auditing.

During this time, I singlehandedly managed a budget of over $363 million, almost double Lincoln County’s 2024 budget, and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for innovating actionable solutions. This experience will help me make the most of our county’s limited resources while maintaining a focus on providing quality services.

I have five issues that I hope to address as your next commissioner:

1) Increasing access to affordable housing options;

2) Improving access to specialist medical care;

3) Enhancing our infrastructure including roads, bridges, sewers, and water treatment;

4) Protecting our natural resources, and adopting a climate action plan;

5) Increasing collaboration with residents in unincorporated communities.

You can learn more about me and my solutions to these issues via my website, votedongomez.com. I’m happy to answer any questions. I’d be honored to earn your vote.

Ryan Parker

I’m running for your commissioner because I’m a working parent, and we are facing a big opportunity to pivot towards success in Lincoln County. Our forests, fisheries and farms need a voice that is humble, attentive and wants to get work accomplished and improve everyone’s quality of life. I’ve gained much natural resource experience at my job over the past 16 years stewarding public lands — scraped knuckle experience in making our region more resilient, more enjoyable and more successful.

We have many challenges here in this beautiful place we get to call home, but more needs to happen, and a new vision requires a change in leadership. The county has an opportunity to create higher paying markets for its logs. Yamhill County has several examples we can do here. Rivers and estuaries can be better protected, thus adding value and meaning, and prime opportunity for more eco-tourism firms to partner with the county.

Bolstering our natural environment now means future economic activity by the fishing fleet can continue unabated. I’m already working on this as the city representative for the Yaquina Bay Estuary Management Plan. We can work for a return to the indoor winter market. The fairgrounds/county commons can and should be developed not by hosing the taxpayers, but by sensible development that gets results and has a housing component.

The affordability and housing crises have spilled over into public safety concerns. Property and petty crime must be dealt with in an empathy forward way, but the policy of consequence-free criminality has caused untold damage. I support law enforcement in its effort to boost neighborhood quality of life. The good news is by working collaboratively we can surmount all these challenges and come out the other side better than ever. Imagine a farming network to stamp down food insecurity for our kids and seniors. Better vocational education opportunities for our kids to stay here, thrive and give back to our communities. It is possible and I’ll start working on this all on day one.

I humbly ask that you vote Ryan for Commissioner on May 21. Thank you.

Claire Hall

I often say being a county commissioner is not for the faint of heart. Time and time again, I have been tested, but no more than from 2020 until now. Even so, I am compelled to run for re-election because I’m deeply involved in Lincoln County’s recovery, and believe I must continue the momentum of healing by using my skills, expertise, and statewide connections to help the people and the land.

Lincoln County experienced a double-whammy in 2020, the worst global pandemic in a century, and just a few months into that, more than 300 homes were swept away in a matter of hours by the Echo Mountain Wildfire (EMWF). That was just 4-plus years ago, and though we’ve made a lot of progress in our recovery, the challenges still remain. Yet, Lincoln County had one of the lowest death rates from COVID, and no fatalities directly related to EMWF. The people, here showed their strength and willingness to come together during this critical time, and I, along with my fellow commissioners and community partners, pitched in and persevered in our leadership roles.

The current challenges before Lincoln County are the challenges my fellow commissioners and I are meeting —regrouping and rebuilding after EMWF, developing housing, decreasing homelessness, enhancing quality of life, and preserving our natural habitat.

I will continue to be a key player in the development of affordable housing, beyond the nearly 400 affordable homes I’ve already overseen. I will see to it that the development of the warming shelter in Lincoln City is completed, and will support the one in Newport as I’ve done from the very beginning. I will be a resource for Nate’s Place, and Coastal Phoenix Rising — the two transitional housing programs we recently opened. Along with my fellow commissioners, I will work on implementing the climate change plans we developed with The Mid-Coast Watershed Council and Benton County. I will continue to work with 15Neighborhoods to find a reasonable way to manage the short-term rental industry’s worst impacts. In addition, I will continue to have an open-door policy, and meet with community members to discuss how to deal with the aerial spraying of herbicides and pesticides in our beloved community, as well as any issue that is important to the people. Finally, I will continue to be a careful steward of county resources.

Let’s keep the forward momentum. Vote Claire Hall.

Rick Beasley

My name is Rick Beasley. In my life I have been a soldier, logger and journalist, but now I am running for the Lincoln County Commission. Our safety and quality of life is at stake. Here’s why:

• Fewer benefits for your tax dollars — The three-member county commission ideally spans the divide between 46,000 rural and urban residents who share the costs of county government but are seeing fewer benefits for their tax dollars. With the cynical bluster of career politicians who seem to emerge only at election time, the current dynamic has resulted in dawdling and chaos on central fronts such as decent housing, rural sprawl, the decline of tourism, environmental threats, public safety and other self-inflicted wounds.

• We can do better — As a newspaper publisher for 30 years, I acquired a thorough understanding of the sobering trials facing local governments. I have used those insights during my growing record of public service. Elected to a cash-strapped road district, I led a winning war on potholes, then served on a city committee that saved my hometown thousands of dollars and identified overlooked sources of revenue. On the budget committee, I opposed sweetheart deals and pet projects. Voted to the Depoe Bay City Council, I oversee emergency planning, advocate for transparency and serve as envoy for watershed issues.

• Mishandling of government assets — The incumbent paints a pretty picture, but she must share the blame for mishandling key assets such as the tourism industry, left vilified and struggling in the wake of the county’s bungled oversight. I will work to restore this crucial, misunderstood sector.

• Decent housing for working people — The longtime incumbent parades the increase in government housing as an accomplishment, leaving behind workers who aspire to rise above crowded project living. I will argue for true workforce housing that makes the dream of home ownership a reality.

• I’ll be accountable to taxpayers — “Finances first” is my pledge to ease the burden on you, the taxpayer, by shoring-up neglected revenue streams and scrutinizing every dime in the county’s $50 million budget for its benefit to residents.

As county commissioner, I will support policies that create jobs and opportunity and oppose the culture of low expectations that moves us from one crisis to the next, from laughingstock COVID policies to tinderbox fire conditions to shocking job losses.

Vote for Rick Beasley, because we can do better.

Tyrone (Ty) Halbrook

My name is Ty Halbrook, and I am running for Lincoln County Commissioner. First, I want to say that the role of commissioner is a role of responsibility and not one of power. Many people do not understand the difference. I do. I am a native Oregonian and a local social worker who wants to improve the great county we call home.

I have been working closely with many people across the county over the years and hearing about many areas where the county could be improved. The top three seem to be housing for all, fiscal responsibility, and support for our first responders.

Listening to the people that I have been partnering with about the problems our county struggles with is why I decided to put myself forward as a candidate for commissioner. Since putting my hat in the ring, I have been overwhelmed by the positive support I have received across the county. I have enjoyed the conversations and making new friends/partners while we discuss our ideas for improvement.

I have a unique resume of personal and professional experience that I think makes me qualified to be the next commissioner. One of the most important qualities that I think I bring is my willingness to continually learn and grow. Being able to adapt and learn from our past and do better is a quality needed for any job, especially one as impactful as county commissioner. I have a degree in business management from Marlyhurst. I’m experienced as a landlord, large-scale finances (passed SEC Series 7 and 63 exams) working in both a brokerage firm and financial advisors office. I offer creative thinking and even have a patent pending. As a local social worker, I have responded at all hours to people in every part of the county. I have helped in some very sad situations to figure out the best possible outcomes that are the most trauma informed and least impactful while trying to ensure long term success.

I am open to hearing from everyone across the county on ideas. Please contact me at ty@tyforlincoln.com or my website tyforlincoln.com, contact me on Facebook, or call/text me at 541-272-0197. We all live in separate neighborhoods, but we’re all part of one community, and by working together, we can improve the great piece of Oregon that we all call home.