Oakridge mayor faces challenge from political newcomer who wants to rebuild

Oakridge voters have a choice for mayor on the Nov. 3 ballot: the incumbent, a former Navy pilot who says steady management is working for the city, or a political newcomer who wants to be a man of the people.

Here’s what the two had to say about running in the nonpartisan election.

Bryan Cutchen

Cutchen has led the city since January 2023. He spent 31 years in the Navy, worked briefly for airlines, and then became Oakridge’s city administrator in 2019. After about two and a half years, he left to consult for other cities. He said the people he had worked for in Oakridge convinced him to run for mayor.

He is running for a second four-year term, he said, because “I didn’t want to see that momentum die out.” 

His pitch is experience. He said he knows the city budget well and knows who to call at the county and the state when Oakridge needs help.

His first priority, if reelected, is the ambulance service. The city runs ambulance service for an area stretching from the weigh station on Highway 58 near Lowell to the top of Willamette Pass.

Cutchen said federal Medicare and Medicaid changes in 2008 pushed reimbursement below the cost of transporting patients to a trauma center. The service now loses about $500,000 a year, covered by a city general fund of about $1.2 million. 

“This is not sustainable,” he said.

The city added a $17 monthly ambulance fee to water bills in July. 

Also in this election, Oakridge voters will decide whether to replace it with a five-year property tax levy of $1.64 per $1,000 of assessed value, starting in July 2027. If voters reject the levy, the fee stays.

Cutchen represents Oakridge on a county task force studying fixes. If the funding gap isn’t closed, he warned, the city could give up the contract, and a distant provider could take over.

“Instead of 10 minutes to get an ambulance to your front door, it’s an hour,” he said.

Next, he wants to replace aging water and sewer lines. 

“Pipes are beginning to fail, and it’s just like you jump from one failure to another,” he said. 

He also wants to finish renovating the Willamette Activity Center, a social services building the city closed because its insurer would no longer allow people inside. A federal grant that would have turned it into an emergency resilience center was lost, and a citizens committee is looking for other funding, he said.

On budget cuts, Cutchen said the city must protect services required by law. That includes water, wastewater, stormwater, police and fire. He doesn’t want to close parks or libraries, though he understands why other cities have.

One of his proudest accomplishments came when he attended a ribbon-cutting at the town’s airport. He said he learned about 2½ years ago that the runway had about a year of life left. The airport serves as a base for wildfire helicopters and air ambulances. A $2.7 million Connect Oregon grant paid for the resurfacing and other remodels. 

His one regret, he said, is that the city didn’t do a better job explaining to residents how ambulance service is funded in advance.

Shawn Goddard

Goddard, a community activist who’s from New York City and has lived in Oakridge for a few years, is running because he wants to give residents in a small rural town “the feeling of being heard.”

He described the mayor’s job as something like “a peace minister,” someone residents can bring their worst problems to, and said he would hold barbecues rather than make people come to City Hall.

He cited paying for a dumpster outside someone’s house to help clean up the property.

“I found more solutions in the bottom of a dumpster that helps humanity than I’ve ever found in a boardroom,” he said.

Goddard said affordable housing is the town’s central issue. 

Many homes, including single-wide manufactured homes, have outlived their usefulness, he said, and residents can’t build wealth in them.

He proposes a pilot program with the governor’s office and a one-time investment of roughly $50 million to $55 million through state infrastructure funding but did not identify a specific grant or appropriation or provide a detailed funding breakdown.

A new local job corps-style program, proposed by Goddard, would help train workers in carpentry, plumbing and metalwork to replace aging structures with tiny homes over five to 10 years, and salvaged materials would be recycled.

His most immediate priority, he said, is streets and sidewalks. He described uneven sidewalks and a lack of safe crosswalks, especially for people with disabilities. 

He also floated the idea of an aerial tram across Highway 58.

“I would propose the Legislature put in a ‘SkyTram’ similar to what they have in Portland, and because we are in a mountain region that has a ski resort, I think that would be something that would just broaden and champion tourism, just like the trolley cars in San Francisco,” Goddard said.

On the ambulance levy, Goddard opposes the property tax, saying residents are already taxed for services they don’t receive. He pointed to a 92-year-old constituent, who lives on Goddard’s street, who is charged for sewer service with no sewer line.

He said ambulance costs are driven largely by trips to Eugene for overdoses and mental health crises, and he wants a roughly $10 million local facility where police could hold people in crisis for up to 30 days. 

To pay for it, he said, he would temporarily close the library and the parks and recreation program, cut community funding activities and rely on volunteers, then rebuild the budget later.

Goddard points to earlier campaigns rather than a record in office. He cited work on cannabis legalization, with student government at Lane Community College and on the board of the Community Alliance of Lane County. He emphasized personal accessibility and community service, citing his activism and local involvement.

“Sometimes you do things for a good feeling, and all you get is a good feeling,” he said. “But if you do that long enough, that good feeling sustains.”

The election

Cutchen said voters who dislike the city’s direction should pick someone else.

“It’s their mayor, and so they have a choice,” he said.

Goddard said his candidacy shows what has been missing in local government. 

“Average people get motivated by how they’re treated, not by how they want to treat people,” Goddard said.

Bryan Cutchen

Age: 65
Residence: Oakridge 
Education: Bachelor of science at Maine Maritime Academy and master of arts at Air War College
Occupation: Management consultant; retired Naval officer
Prior elected experience: Mayor of Oakridge since January 2023, city administrator of Oakridge from 2019 to 2021.

Shawn Goddard

Age: 57
Residence: Oakridge 
Education: Attended Lane Community College and Cabrillo College
Occupation: Retired plasterer
Prior elected experience: None