Q&A with Ashland City Council candidates Jeff Dahle and Kelly Marcotulli

Marcotulli is running against appointed incumbent Dahle for council Position 2

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news

For the upcoming Ashland City Council election, all candidates were contacted by Ashland.news for interviews. All who responded were asked the same six questions.

Answers from candidates competing for the same position have been paired together. This is the first of three articles on the contested council seats. Some answers have been edited for clarity or length.

Kelly Marcotulli is running against sitting Councilor Jeff Dahle for council Position 2. Dahle was appointed to the council seat March 15, 2023, with previous professional experience as a flight instructor with additional government experience volunteering on Ashland’s budget committee, according to a story on his appointment on Ashland.news.

Kelly Marcotulli is Pilates instructor, as well as a founding member and executive director of Oregonians for Safer Technology, a nonprofit group dedicated to “education and awareness around using tech in a safer manner; getting the benefits while reducing the harm,” according to the organization’s website. Marcotulli has been active in working to shape policy surrounding radiation and technology on the local and state level , as previously reported by Ashland.news.

Question 1: Being a city councilor is barely paid, it’s verging on volunteer work. Can you talk about why you want to serve?

Dahle: The way I look at it, it is community service. I feel like I owe it to the town. You can either talk about issues or you can lean in, jump in and help by committing your time, your energy, your skillset to affect real change in a community you love.

Marcotulli: The council needs volunteers, as does the city, and the city has a plethora of really fantastic volunteers who help the city get the work done. What I see as needed is a different voice in the council. I’m not concerned about the pay rate because I just see it as part of my civic duty, if you will. I feel it’s important that people step up, learn government, learn local government, and I’m eager to help Ashland thrive better than the situation is currently.

Question 2: How do you see the role of a councilor as that role relates to the rest of city government or the public?

Dahle: Council is interesting. Unlike a board of directors and a private organization, we can’t discuss issues outside of a public forum and rightfully so. So, unlike being able to truly dig into issues throughout the process, we’re charged with setting priorities and vision and expectations for city staff, and they go and do the really hard work and come back to us with policy options. Our job is to do our own homework while that is going on to ensure we’ve explored all available alternatives and any potential adverse effects for a given policy.

Marcotulli: I feel that a councilor’s job is to be the liaison, to be the representative of what the people need and want. Sometimes those two things will not be synonymous between what the council can do for people versus what the people want.

I remember about a year ago — I haven’t watched a recent city council meeting — but we were asking the council to come out and sign a, what is it, a stop the bombing — basically in Palestine. There was another word for it and anyway I understand that what the people were asking for was validation of their concerns and their beliefs that we were in an unnecessary war. But Ashland City Council  —  running a government of 20,000 people  —  signing a peace agreement — that’s not the role of Ashland City Council. I think that issue of feeling heard and validated by the community was very important to them and I do applaud the council for having the space and time to speak to their concerns.

I think the council needs to be that liaison point and what I will do as a councilor is to represent the people.

Question 3: In your conversations with voters, has anyone raised issues that surprised you?

Dahle: Not necessarily a surprise, but it has definitely encouraged me to ensure that we communicate effectively and on a regular basis. What has surprised me most is how many residents are unaware of various issues. And there is some confusion as to where to find information that does exist.

The city just needs to do a better job of routinely informing citizens where they can go find it. Part of this is because there is a wide range of Ashland residents as it relates to how long they’ve been here. There are people that have recently been here and there are people that have lived here their whole lives. How do you get that information out to everyone?

Marcotulli: No, not really. I think what everybody who lives in Ashland is looking at is all the things I’m looking at. The residents here are very well informed, the ones I speak to. And I go to the farmers market, I was there earlier this morning. And you do talk to people that don’t have really any interest or they’re just too busy in their lives to really understand government — but issues of affordable housing, and the water treatment plant, the 2200 Ashland St. facility that sits vacant that the city spent $2 million on — these are all issues that I find people worried about.

A concern that came up for me today was the issue of the farmers market and how the vendors are doing very poorly. This is something I’m inquiring on because I don’t have all the answers. The ScienceWorks Museum was providing parking and so that was a great solution. Now there are fewer patrons going in because there is no parking. … A lot of the vendors at the farmers market are very unhappy. … They’re 30% down in revenue and we need that farmers market, it’s a wonderful source for community.

Question 4: The city of Ashland is coming to an interesting position. The desire to preserve its unique character and traditions alongside the necessity of adapting to the demands of various social issues. How do you envision Ashland approaching these competing priorities?

Dahle: I think we need to revisit some aspects of our organizational structure as a municipality. We have an incredibly dedicated staff that is doing great work. However, there are novel problems that we’re facing today that we just don’t have the most adapted tools with which to work on these problems. So, without breaking what’s working, we do need some sort of thoughtful realignment of resources.

For instance, how do we lean into new economic development ideas for local businesses now that Ashland truly must be a four-season community for our businesses to flourish? Given that policies at the state and national level have a significant effect on housing options that’s mostly out of local control, what levers can we pull as a city to ensure best possible outcomes?

Marcotulli: Trends come and go. I think that the issue of climate change is not a trend that’s going to come and go. We see it happening daily. I think we need to hold fast to our values of honoring the nature of Ashland being a health and wellness community.

How to preserve the nature of Ashland will be to encourage more community driven solutions. Just as an example, the 5G technology that has been pushed upon us by corporations and supported by our current City Council, that is a trend and that is going to go away. That is a marketing tool for the telecom companies to make money off of us. … We have to develop technologically, we have to develop and address current needs and try to keep Ashland’s wonderful, beautiful natural nature.

Question 5: The city has these various issues to address and a wishlist of things to achieve. How do you believe the city should best answer to these things with its frankly limited resources?

Dahle: You have to set deliberate priorities and then stick to them. I think the answer lies within your question, which is, what are our immediate priorities and what is on the wishlist? Part of council policy is reshuffling if needed, but not without significant forethought as to the potential adverse effects.

Marcotulli: I think we really have to trim the fat. I believe that we are giving money away to the Chamber of Commerce and I know this is a very controversial issue and I will lose votes over this but this is what I have witnessed. I was a small business owner and I once heard a peep from the Chamber of Commerce.

We need to analyze our budget and figure out where the money is going and stop the waste. I could go back to the 2200 Ashland St. property. … That’s a glaring example and other issues that I feel that could be trimmed and money saved. I don’t know who paid for the green bike lane paint. … I agree we do need bike safety, we need cyclists to be safe but they didn’t need to slather that paint the way that they did, paint costs money and it was a toxic paint. And when that paint decays my question is where will that paint go — it will go into the water table, that’s unsafe and not sustainable. There are questions as to where the money is going and why it’s going there. … There needs to be better conversation between the council and residents.

Question 6: Is there anything you hoped I would ask about, anything you’re particularly passionate or concerned about that you would want voters to know?

Dahle: You didn’t ask me about my personal priorities. And I appreciate that, because I’m not a single issue candidate. It goes back to your first question which is why I chose to serve, it’s about leadership, it’s about a thoughtful analysis of the issues, it’s about considering opportunity costs and limited resources and balancing the needs of all Ashlanders. It’s when we focus on only one issue at the expense of all others when we break our community.

Marcotulli: I want voters to know that this current council for whatever reason is not being fully honest and transparent with the voters. This is an issue that has come up again and again, and when I tell people that I’m running and why I’m running they slap me on the back and say, ‘You go girl, good for you.’ There is just a huge lack of why, how did this happen. The transparency issue has got to be solved and resolved and I plan to be more available for the residents to understand what’s going on.

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news .

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