by Christy Solo – Editor
The highlights of the June 4, 2026 Shady Cove City Council meeting were a definitive ending and a possible beginning.
In a letter dated May 20, 2026 former Councilor Jeff Vanier tendered his resignation from council with no explanation. He wrote, “To Mr. John Edwards City Administrator Protem (sic), Please accept this letter, Dated May 20, 2026, at 8:00 a.m., as my formal resignation from the City of Shady Cove City Council. Effective immediately, I will no longer participate in City Council functions. Councilor Jeffrey W Vanier.”
The motion for council to accept his resignation carried 4/0.
During the new business portion of the meeting council directed staff to open applications for the vacant seat from June 5 – June 15 with the hope of appointing a new councilor to Vanier’s seat during the June 18 council meeting.
If you’d like to apply for the seat (expires Dec. 31, 2026) applications are available on the city’s website and at City Hall.
That’s one potential “beginning;” the second is the possibility of a new city administrator being in attendance at the June 18 meeting.
During old business council made a motion to extend an employment off to “Candidate 1A” from the latest round of administrator candidate interviews. The offer comes with a June 15 start date and is subject to final background checks.
Per Mayor Lena Richardson “Candidate 1A” fits the requirements of the job and has a “strong background in finance and audits.”
Backing up to the start of the meeting. During his report, Edwards said the well pump for City Hall and the library died, one week after the warrantee expired. He said the new pump would be installed in two weeks. There should be enough water in the cistern to bridge the gap, but he asked everyone to be careful with water use in City Hall until the pump is replaced.
Edwards also announced that he’d received a letter from Southern Oregon Sanitation stating they have been purchased by local company Waste Connections but no major changes are expected as they will keep the same equipment and staff.
Starting off old business, Councilor Kathy Nuckles gave an update on the water system project. Highlights included verification that $15,418 was held back from the latest draw down request to cover funds misused by former Admin Michele Parry.
All future draw down requests must be approved by council and cannot be made solely by the city administrator.
RH2, the engineering company performing the feasibility study, reports the field survey of the water intake location is complete and they anticipate the entire report will be done by October.
The application for the city’s water rights is still with the Army Corps of Engineers, but they are streamlining their review process because they know the city is using grant monies for the project and must meet strict deadlines.
During public comment – referring to a Nov. 19, 2026 Upper Rogue Independent article on the Nov. 13, 2025 Planning Commission meeting – Diana Anderson spoke about a draft memorandum regarding options for Shady Cove’s Local Street Network Plan. She also asked that the city put the plan online.
Note: As stated in the Nov. 19 URI article, the draft plan is online as part of the Nov. 13 meeting packet – starting on Pg. 7 of the packet.
Anderson seemed to be opposed to the plan which was penned by Parametrix. Anderson said she believed “the idea” for the plan “originated a bit further than 1950s Soviet Union” and that “Rogue Valley Council of Governments” wants to create “the ideal communist city” and that RVCOG is “a self-described metro planning organization” who “is going to overtake county government.”
Note: First – the description Anderson gave of “the ideal communist city” was “everyone is in walking or tramway distance from school, community centers, residential areas and transit nodes” without “any dependency on cars.” The entire City of Shady Cove already is walking distance from one end to the other (~2.5 miles end-to-end, ~1.5 miles across). Making things “walking distance” is not the goal of the plan.
Second, the draft plan was not initiated by RVCOG. It is an Oregon Department of Transportation project and was prepared at no cost to the city. The goal of the local street network plan (as stated in the introduction of the draft) is to “address transportation needs and opportunities” in the city.
Bottom line, ODOT is looking for ways to keep Hwy. 62 running smoothly, the proposal explores ways to enhance connectivity within the city so – for example – a citizen living on Mallory doesn’t have to go to Hwy 62 and make a left onto the highway to drive 600 ft. to make another left turn into the Library Parking lot.
Finally, the key takeaway is: this is a draft proposal. ODOT isn’t making the decision on what might go into a final plan. This is stated in the introduction to the proposal which reads in part, “The proposed alternatives in this report will be reviewed by the City, ODOT, the Project Advisory Committee and the Shady Cove community to identify the preferred alternatives for inclusion in the Local Street Network Plan.”
Nuckles confirmed the plan is truly a draft, saying that many of the ideas were “great” but “who is going to pay for them?”
During council comment Richardson thanked Councilor Steve Mitchell for his work on the now-working thermometer in the city’s new park (see the URI’s May 27 article).
Mitchell briefly told the story of his interest in the sign and how he repaired the sign – with help from Public Works’ Spencer McMahan. Mitchell also gave an update that Bob Neff, the current owner of Conger-Morris Funeral Home, had paid $1800 to have the sign pole repainted.
Councilor Paige Winfrey thanked interim admin Edwards for “always answering questions and digging into things” and said she knew his tenure had lasted longer than anticipated. She hoped that he would still enjoy some summer vacation if/when the city had a new administrator after June 15.
Nuckles thanked Richardson for putting in “more hours than a full-time job” working on the 26/27 budget. She added that this is “my fifth year on council” and she thought she knew all the ins and outs of budgeting but has been “shocked” at all she has learned from going through the process with Richardson.
She closed saying she’d spoken up because, “I work extremely hard for the city, but I’m a bit more vocal, so everybody knows what I do. The mayor, she doesn’t beat her own drum.”
