by Christy Solo – Editor
The June 18, 2026 Shady Cove City Council Meeting started off with a couple of paperwork snafus.
Hank Hohenstein spoke during public comment on agenda items. Despite his opposition to delaying appointments to council seats, as outlined in the official mayoral recall statement, Hohenstein requested that council postpone the appointment of a new councilor to fill vacant the fifth seat for two weeks because the paperwork for “an applicant” was not “included in the packet distributed to [Council] for your consideration.”
Hohenstein added he was “certain that you would like to be able to look at all qualified candidates before you make your decision.”
Mayor Lena Richardson explained that the individual whose application was not in the packet had not signed their application.
The signature on the application gives council permission to “publicly review and discuss the information provided herein” so an unsigned application cannot be publicly disclosed or discussed.
The second paperwork glitch was also during public comment on agenda items. Richardson noted that a form for requesting to speak turned in by a second speaker was incomplete. There was no address and the individual did not make note of which agenda item they wanted to discuss so they were not allowed to speak.
If you plan to apply for a city appointment (there are still open seats on the Planning Commission) or wish to speak during public comment in a council, planning or other public meeting, be sure to cross your Ts and dot your Is.
Next up was Interim City Administrator John Edward’s staff report. As of June 18 the well between City Hall and the library still wasn’t repaired. Edwards had water trucked in and anticipates the repairs will be done the week of June 22. In the meantime, he asked staff and visitors to City Hall to be mindful of water use.
With fire season heating up, Edwards also gave another reminder that the city has two weed eaters which can be borrowed at no cost from City Hall to get those weeds and grasses down to compliance level before all power tools are disallowed by fire regulations.
Under old business Richardson gave an update on the hiring of a new city administrator. They are “fine-tuning” the employment agreement and hope to have the new admin on board by July 13.
Under new business was the aforementioned appointment of a new councilor to fill former councilor Jeff Vanier’s seat. Two applications were filled out correctly and signed and were in the agenda packet: Terry Rasmussen and Planning Commissioner Cheryl Singleton.
Rasmussen was not in attendance at the June 18 meeting.
Council asked Singleton if she had anything to add to what she wrote on her application. Singleton said “no.” Richardson asked if anyone on council had any questions for Singleton. There were no questions, but Councilor Steve Mitchell said Singleton, “does a great job, is a quick learner and participates in the process very well.”
Mitchell based those comments on seeing Singleton in action as a member of planning (Mitchell is the council liaison) and as a member of the budget committee.
Mitchell then nominated Singleton for the seat. The motion to appoint Singleton carried with four yes votes and one abstention (Councilor Paige Winfrey who attended via Zoom).
Singleton was sworn in by a notary and took her seat on the dais.
While Singleton and the notary were filling out paperwork, Councilor Kathy Nuckles filled the time by reminding everyone that Pacific Power may very well cut power on red flag days as the summer goes on. She cautioned everyone to “make sure your electronics are protected” from the surges when the power comes back on.
Mitchell advised they sell a “whole house” surge protector, but it’s about $1,000.
Note: The Upper Rogue Independent has had one brand new printer – which was on a surge protector – blown out and ruined by a Pac Power planned outage. One of our laptops was damaged as well (also on a surge protector) but was able to be repaired. Best advice (if you’re able) is to unplug any items you can until the power comes back on.
During public comment on non-agenda items, Steve Vincent from Avista Utilities spoke. Vincent advised that Avista’s franchise agreement with the city has not been renewed in 10 years.
He said normally he “would not come directly to council like this” but both former administrators – Tom Corrigan and Michele Parry – had failed to connect with him regarding the renewal. He said normally he gives a new administrator a “couple of months” to settle in before “bugging” them about renewals, but because this has now gone on so long, he opted for public comment.
Vincent added that he is aware the city is working on a rights of way agreement, but asked that for now they just renew the franchise agreement. He then handed out a proposed draft for a resolution doing just that.
Nuckles said the rights of way agreement is on hold for now and agreed council should approve the renewal. A motion to do so should be on the agenda for the July 2, 2026 meeting.
During council comments Nuckles discussed the staff restructure plan in the 26/27 budget.
She said the, “restructure will result in more streamlined City Hall operations which will free up money to ensure continued police protection, and it will finally give our residents tangible street services that have been neglected for years.”
Nuckles continued saying due to a lack of “checks and balances” in the budget over “the past six years” that “services were paid with whatever money we had; without regard to how that money was supposed to be spent.”
She then gave some examples, ”money from the state that was restricted for streets use, was instead being used to fund the sheriff contract as well as other non-streets related services. The same goes for the water grant contract. As I reported many times, this grant was being misused to fund city hall salaries. If this practice were to continue, our streets money, which amounts to nearly $250K, would be jeopardized; and likewise, our $1.5M water grant could have been withdrawn.”
She concluded saying that the restructure plan ensures city administrative costs will not cause the city to lose state funds and tax money.
Singleton said, though new to council, she was on the budget committee and she is on board with the restructuring, “it goes along with what the whole U.S. is doing right now. Everybody’s restructuring.” She closed saying the city must “figure out what we can do with the amount of money” they have and live “within their” means.
During her comments, Winfrey said she is having phone/Wi-Fi problems while on the road and asked that hard copies of the Avista document and any other documents from the meeting, be put in her box at City Hall so she can review them when she is back in town.
