Incumbents face challenges as Dunes City voters decide on 3 at-large council seats

Voters in Dunes City will decide next month whether two incumbents return to the City Council, as they and two challengers vie for three seats.

City Council President Susan Snow and City Councilor Richard W. Olson Jr. are running against Jeanne Jackson and Lisa Walter-Sedlacek in the Nov. 3 election. Councilor Melissa Stinson, whose current term expires in January, is not running for reelection.

Dunes City, a coastal community of about 1,400 residents south of Florence, elects its city councilors at large, and voters across the city can choose up to three candidates — including write-ins — on their ballots. The top three vote-getters will serve four-year terms without pay, filling half of the six council seats. 

The council helps set city policy and approves the city’s annual budget, while the city administrator manages daily operations. There are no term limits for councilors.

In the November 2022 general election, Olson received 537 votes, Snow 457 and Stinson 451. Duke Wells finished fourth with 428 votes, just 23 fewer than Stinson.

Dunes City voters will also consider Measure 20-386 in the Nov. 3 election, and at least two council candidates have expressed vastly different views on the ballot measure. If passed by voters, the measure would prohibit new short-term vacation rentals in the city and require existing rentals to have a host living on the property while guests are staying there, among other new rules. 

Here’s what Lookout Eugene-Springfield learned about the four candidates running for Dunes City Council.

Susan Snow

Snow said she is running for reelection to finish her work on old city ordinances that haven’t been updated in many years.

“We need to go through all the ordinances and fix them and take the ones that aren’t any good and get rid of them,” the 70-year-old said in an interview.

Snow has served on the council since 2017 when she was appointed to fill a vacancy. She moved to the Westlake in Dunes City in 2016 after a more than 30-year career as a civilian federal military employee, including management and inspection work with the Air Force and at the Pentagon.

Snow, who owns a vacation rental outside of Dunes City in rural Lane County, opposes the vacation rental ballot measure. 

Vacation rentals “need less regulation,” Snow said. The current city regulations are “too complex. … People need to be able to be people and do what they need to do.”

As a councilor, Snow said she got Dunes City out of paying for water-quality testing on Siltcoos Lake by telling state officials that it is state-owned and therefore should be tested by the state. Residents must test their own drinking water, she said, because they draw it from different sources, including private wells and the lakes themselves.

Snow also wants the city to find grant money for regular road maintenance rather than wait until roads deteriorate and then seek grants for repairs. The city doesn’t collect a local property tax like most Oregon cities and instead relies on lodging taxes, license and permit fees, among other types of funding.

“We just need to fix them continually so they don’t get bad,” Snow said.

Rich Olson 

Olson, who is the only other incumbent councilor seeking reelection this year, declined to speak with Lookout for this story. 

“I do not have the time or the interest in conducting an interview,” Olson said in a text message to a Lookout reporter.

Olson is the owner of Darlings Marina and RV Resort on Siltcoos Lake in Dunes City. In his candidate filing and a statement in the city’s online voter guide, he lists previous work experience as a public works director of Tieton, Washington, an equipment operator and other roles at Yakima County Public Works. 

“Rich is a problem-solver. He understands infrastructure from the ground up, knows what responsible budgeting looks like, and has experience turning plans into results,” Olson wrote in a statement in the city’s online voter guide.

Lisa Walter-Sedlacek

Walter-Sedlacek said she decided to run for City Council after attending council meetings and becoming concerned about how the city follows its procedures and keeps residents informed.

“There’s a lot of potential for good governance in Dunes City, and I feel like I could be a part of it,” the 70-year-old said in a recent interview.

As a councilor, Walter-Sedlacek said she’ll work to improve the city’s website and make it easier for residents to follow council business.

Walter-Sedlacek said she’ll “probably vote” for the vacation rental ballot measure but understands both sides of the issue.

“People are checking into vacation rentals at 3 in the morning. If you live within 20 feet, that’s going to be a problem. People are also having loud parties,” said Walter-Sedlacek, who has heard complaints from city residents. 

Walter-Sedlacek moved to Dunes City in January, but she’s lived in the Florence area for more than 40 years. She spent decades as a landscape contractor and owned and operated Laurel Bay Gardens.

“As a landscape contractor, I did lots of work in Dunes City, so I know how the city works,” she said.

Walter-Sedlacek wants the city to take a larger role in monitoring Siltcoos and Woahink lakes and notifying residents of potentially harmful algae blooms. She said the city should not only rely on the state and volunteers from the Woahink Lake association to monitor the lakes and communicate test results. 

Walter-Sedlacek also wants the city to have stronger protections for shoreline vegetation.

“People are cutting down trees and building things right next to the lake, which they’re not supposed to do, and nobody’s doing anything about it,” she said.

Jeanne Jackson

Jackson did not respond to multiple interview requests from Lookout.

According to Jackson’s candidate filing, she’s a retired Westlake resident with experience working in healthcare and hospitality, including a family-owned motel in Maine. 

“Three current (city councilors) moved here recently, and originally joined the council by appointment rather than election, so voters have had few real chances to choose,” Jackson wrote in a statement in the city’s online voter guide. “I want to offer that choice and reflect what residents said in the last city survey. Most want to protect our special habitat and manage growth carefully.”

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Susan Snow

Age: 70
Residence: Westlake in Dunes City
Education: Master’s in national resource strategy, National Defense University Eisenhower School, 2014; master’s in business administration, California State University, Bakersfield, 1998; bachelor’s in industrial technology, 1996
Occupation: Retired federal military civilian employee
Prior elected experience: Dunes City councilor since 2017
Family status: Married with seven children

Rich Olson

Age: Unavailable 
Residence: Dunes City
Education: Unavailable
Occupation: Owner of Darlings Marina and RV Resort
Prior elected experience: Currently serves as a Dunes City councilor
Family status: Unavailable

Lisa Walter-Sedlacek

Age: 70
Residence: Dunes City
Education: Bachelor’s in resource recreation management, Oregon State University School of Forestry, 1980
Occupation: Retired small business owner and landscape contractor
Prior elected experience: None
Family status: Married with two children 

Jeanne Jackson

Age: Unavailable 
Residence: Westlake in Dunes City
Education: Bachelor’s in English and theater arts, University of Oregon, 1988
Occupation: Retired with experience working in hospitality and healthcare 
Prior elected experience: Unavailable
Family status: Unavailable