New Mayor – New to Area
The new mayor of Dunes City may be relatively new to the community, but he has three decades of municipal experience. Ed McGuire retired as the Public Works Director last year in the city of Henderson and made the Central Oregon Coast his home.
“Moved to Dunes City in January. I’m retired, local government about 30-years with the City of Henderson in Southern Nevada.”
Immediately after moving in he heard about an opening on the Dunes City Planning Commission and was appointed to that panel in February. He said he immediately took an interest.
“I watch the council meetings closely. I read all the meeting minutes. And I saw the general difficulty with running the meetings. I could see why the mayor was frustrated when he resigned, so I thought it over and decided I’d put my name in the hat.”
McGuire wants to focus on moving forward. He mentioned discussions on the council over the summer about whether or not to pursue disincorporation.
“I disagree. I think, you’re a small city, you have home rule. I think there’s an advantage over being a map dot in a large county.”
McGuire is scheduled to be sworn in at the November 15th Dunes City Council meeting.
Bill for Anti-Union Deductions Proposed
A bill in congress aims to close a tax loophole allowing companies to deduct anti-union activities. The No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act has support from Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Val Hoyle. Currently, many employers write anti-union consultation off in their taxes as business expenses. Isabela Gonzalez works at an Apple store in Portland, where she was subject to an anti-union campaign, despite the fact that her store was not in the process of organizing.
“If Apple would hire an anti-union firm to provide them the tools necessary to prevent us at Apple to unionize as a whole, that really speaks of not allowing their workers to have an equal voice and allowing them the control.”
Critics say the bill wouldn’t raise much revenue and could be hard to enforce. The House version of the bill is currently in the Committee on Ways and Means. Supporters of the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act also point out that companies could be running afoul of the National Labor Relations Act, which lays out that workers have the right to freely organize unions.
Helping Hands Event
The Helping Hands Coalition in Florence is preparing for a “Siuslaw Community Stand Down” the one day event is being created to assist member of the community that might otherwise not have certain services readily available to them. Rick Chilton with Helping Hands says the November 18th event at the Florence Elks Lodge will offer free onsite services. things like clothing, food, haircuts, resources to housing and employment as well as access to health care from Dental, medical, to spiritual, social and mental health. The event will also offer breakfast that morning. Services will be available to veterans and their families, unhoused individuals, families, pregnant women, disabled individuals and the youth of the community.
