Incumbent faces three challengers in race for four-year term on Florence City Council

Four candidates, including incumbent Councilor Jo Beaudreau, are seeking a four-year term on the Florence City Council.

The November ballot is a busy one for Florence voters: In addition to this seat on the council, voters will select a new mayor for the town and also are electing a counselor to fill a two-year term.

Will Yurman of the West of the Tunnel online news site interviewed the four candidates for the four-year term. 

Here’s what the candidates told Yurman in the interviews. (These stories have been edited for space, but the full versions can be accessed here.)

Jo Beaudreau

Beaudreau calls herself a nerd — the kind of nerd who gets excited talking about the budget process, reading memos and discussing policy.

“I’m kind of weird,” she said in an interview, “and I’ll admit that. But also, I kind of like doing this work. It’s a lot. It’s beautiful, and it’s full of love, and I’m dedicated to it. I’m excited about it.”

Beaudreau grew up in Nevada City, California, a rural town, with similarities to Florence. It’s a town that once thrived on logging and mining and has become a tourism destination. When Beaudreau was growing up, the nearest mall was two hours away. “We were secluded, we were rural,” she said.

She would end up in Chicago for 10 years before deciding to return to a small town. This time it was Florence. “It was really exciting to come back to rural America. I grew up there. I know how small towns work,” she said.

It’s the relationships you can build in a small community that matter, Beaudreau said. It’s not about where you are on the political or religious spectrum. It’s about finding ways for everyone to succeed. “And if little differences, or big differences, are really going to drive a wedge between you and other people, then who are we?”

Beaudreau is running for her second four-year term as a city councilor. She has enjoyed the conversations and debates with other council members, even when the topics have been difficult or controversial.

The discussion over policing and security around the Flock Safety cameras also was difficult. And she ended up in the minority when the council voted in support of the cameras. “I do think that even though some of my fellow councilors did not vote in the same way, I do believe that they heard and they listened,” she said.

The new council will work on the next two-year budget cycle.

“It’s each other’s money that we are responsible for. And that is a huge responsibility. And it’s so meaningful to be able to be a part of that process,” Beaudreau said.

And she is excited that the council has moved forward with plans for a mobility hub, a central location that would connect public transportation to the community. Next come the hard questions. “Where would it go? How do we want it to work? And this is a really incredible opportunity for community members to participate.”

Emergency management is another area she is anxious to work on. “We live on the coast. We have tsunamis, we have earthquakes, fires, rising king tide levels,” she said. “Being isolated, we can totally be cut off. And what do we do? How do we respond to that?”

Wages are another concern. “We have incredible people here, and I don’t think that they’re getting paid what they should be paid.” Low wages make it difficult to keep and attract families to the area, she said. The city can work with private and governmental partners to open up areas to build housing and early learning centers, and can be used to help businesses and build parks. 

Beaudreau said she comes to meetings with an open mind. “I purposely don’t come to a decision until after the presentation that’s provided by either the city or the applicant or whoever is involved and also with public comment,” she said. 

Terry Duman

In a city built on logging, Terry Duman has deep roots. He is the third generation of his family to be born and raised in Florence, and his children and seven grandchildren all live in town. “I’m fortunate. My children all live within a mile or two of me, and we see them every night,” Duman said. 

The 68-year-old ran an ATV rental business, worked as a commercial fisherman for five years, not to mention a bike repair shop and running the gas station in Mapleton. Now, he is an excavating contractor and road builder.

For the past 10 years, Duman has served on the Siuslaw Port Board of Commissioners. And he believes his long history of private and public work qualifies him to serve on the Florence City Council. “It’s time that I maybe look for my children’s future,” Duman said, explaining why he’s running for the council seat.

He sees the city at a crossroads, a city that needs more housing and more jobs. A city that has evolved from a timber and fishing town to a tourism and retirement community and needs to evolve again to thrive.

The city needs to be more transparent and accessible, Duman said. “Right now, the city of Florence has an image problem, and you can read it on social media. We need to bring back the transparency and truth we need to make things more accessible.”

That means making council meetings easier to attend. Duman thinks 8 a.m. work sessions, for example, discourage parents with young children and people with full-time jobs. And the city’s permitting system creates barriers that are driving away businesses.

The area needs more housing and childcare, and then needs to entice businesses to move to Florence and hire local workers. 

The Florence Chamber of Commerce is doing a good job, Duman said, but could do more. It could research business properties for new businesses, and the city could ease the permit process. He shared a recent story of a coffee shop owner who was told she had to repaint a sign to match the city’s color code, and the owner said it wasn’t worth the effort.

The building codes and permit process need to change with the times, he said. Some of the property that is currently zoned light industrial should be converted to residential, especially lots with a river view, Duman said. “The only way we’re going to get affordable housing is to have a glut of housing.”

Part of his argument is that people want single-family homes, not duplexes or other attached housing, and the city isn’t doing enough to encourage that kind of construction. Smaller lot sizes and easing the permitting of alternative dwelling units, small standalone units that can be built alongside existing homes, could be part of the solution, Duman said.

Duman supports studying the idea of creating a special district for the city’s parks and recreation department. And the city should be helping organizations serve people who are unhoused in the community. The city, he said, “can be an advocate to various groups and help them procure grants and funding to help ease the problem.”

Duman describes himself as a conservative, “but a conservative with open ears.” Proud of his 10 years on the Siuslaw Port’s board, the last six as board chair, Duman said it has prepared him to serve on the council. 

In fact, he has no plans to step down from the port’s board if elected to the council. He sees no conflict in serving in both roles, and cited Mayor Rob Ward and former Councilor Bill Meyer as examples of others who have served in the dual roles. “I can utilize those leadership skills and maybe help guide the city of Florence through some, I think, difficult times coming up budget-wise.”

Ryan Eichelberger

Ryan Eichelberger’s father taught Eichelberger the value of hard work. And how to use a chain saw.

The family moved to Florence in 1985, when Eichelberger was in kindergarten. A few years later, his father, a veterinarian, bought the property that would become the home of Oceanside Veterinary Clinic.

 “So he bought some chain saws, and we cleared the land and we saved a few dollars,” Eichelberger said. “And I always appreciated that as hard work, because that’s what I did. Same thing I teach my four boys. We work hard. Nothing is ever deserved in life. But it can be earned.”

Eichelberger works with seniors and retirees in the healthcare sector. “So I understand the needs of our seniors because I hear about it daily,” he said. And at the other end, he has four children in Siuslaw schools, giving him an understanding of Florence that he said well prepares him to serve as a city councilor. 

Eichelberger would like the city to work harder to fill the vacant buildings on Highway 101 within the city limits, as an alternative to building new construction north of the city.

It all centers on housing, he said.

“The teacher that wanted to come here to teach at the high school is like, ‘Where am I going to live?’ The physician that was going to be the oncologist is like, ‘Well, where am I going to live?’” And while the City Council can’t change the costs of housing, it can lower the burden of permitting and change the zoning process to make it easier to build. 

Eichelberger believes the city could ease the red tape for home builders. He imagines a concierge service that would work with builders who are building homes in line with what has already been built in the area.

Lowering permitting fees, and deferring or reducing other costs, such as road construction, are other options the city could explore to encourage new housing, he said. 

The city needs to grow to support our schools, the hospital and first responders. But he is concerned that the city is, “doing the same old thing of building these low-income houses that are not necessarily bringing in the physicians, the young families that are going to fill the schools, the families that are going to be the teachers at the school, the people at the fire department, the police department, right? Working-class families is where the growth needs to be focused,” he said.

His 20-plus years of working with seniors, and his day-to-day personal experience of raising four boys differentiates him from the other candidates, Eichelberger said. “I just have an interesting perspective because of my current situation, my background and involvement in the community. And ultimately, I will challenge anyone to have more passion than I do when I commit to it.”

Justin Ludwig

Justin Ludwig discovered Florence in 2021 when his mom moved to town to work as a nurse at PeaceHealth. He visited for several summers, he said, before deciding to make the move a couple of years ago. 

He’s quickly become involved in the community, working with nonprofits and political groups. And he’s not shy about expressing his political views.

Flock cameras, climate change, keeping data centers and ICE out of Florence, and the homeless are at the center of his concerns.

These tie into the specifics he’s listed as his goals for Florence and his campaign: affordable housing, inclusive community values, a healthy environment, transparent government, remove the cameras, improve public transportation, pass a data center moratorium and encourage local civic participation.

There are no plans for a data center or Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Florence, as far as he’s aware, but Ludwig wants people to know where he stands on the issues and how it reflects his broader set of values. 

Ludwig was born in California and raised by his mom, her girlfriend and his grandparents. His grandfather was a Navy veteran, a painter, and active in the local church, Ludwig said. His grandmother was a receptionist and office worker. “They were just really kind people. And so they helped me quite a lot, I think, to learn about just the way to treat people,” he said.

At 11, he moved to rural Missouri, and he spent 15 years or so in New York City before moving to Florence. “I’ve seen many different ways communities can be. I think I bring a lot of experience to Florence, having that very diverse background,” Ludwig said. 

A permanent shelter for people who are homeless and removing the Flock cameras are specific actions he supports for Florence. He volunteered at the cold weather shelter last year, he said, and the group struggles each year to find a location. He supports finding a permanent location for a year-round shelter. 

He believes the City Council has a responsibility to make sure everyone is heard, including “smaller groups like minorities or LGBTQ folks who maybe wouldn’t necessarily have the same volume to their voice as some of the other bigger groups,” he said.

Ludwig believes the city can increase the number of affordable rentals and homes in the city. Limiting the number of short-term rentals such as Airbnbs could increase the number of properties available for long-term rent or sale.

Adjusting the city codes to more easily allow for accessory dwelling units could allow people to build a second, smaller, unit, increasing the number of homes in the city.

He sees the Elm Park apartments as one model for how the city can build subsidized housing. “And also some HUD apartments because Elm Park, even though it’s affordable, it’s, you know, still not within reach for some people,” he said.

The city needs a climate action plan, Ludwig believes. Smoke from wildfires and rising sea levels are two specific concerns Ludwig feels the city should be prepared for. A plan could be modeled after existing action plans in other Oregon coastal towns, he said. 

Ludwig is soft-spoken.

“I’m a pretty reserved person. Maybe even shy,” he said. But he sees that as an asset for a council member. “I think it doesn’t hurt to be a kind of person who listens really well.”