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Bill Currier Newsletter — November 2, 2026
Mayor Bill Currier • Adair Village Weekly Update • November 2, 2026
Good morning, Adair Village,
Tomorrow night at 8 p.m., the ballot drop box at City Hall takes its last envelope. As of Friday morning, 41 percent of Benton County's active voters had already returned their ballots, a rate no large county in Oregon can match, and I would like nothing better than for Adair Village to help finish the job. Meanwhile, the clocks fell back yesterday morning, Saturday's porch lights guided another generation of trick-or-treaters home, and Samaritan's new affiliation quietly became official. One consequential Tuesday ahead, a full week behind us. On to the details.
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 The dark commute is back, and the deer know it: Daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. Sunday, which drops dusk squarely into the evening drive home. It also arrives at the worst possible moment on our rural roads: October and November are the peak months for vehicle collisions with deer and elk in Oregon, because migration and breeding season put animals on the move just as daylight shrinks. The stretch of Highway 99W between here and Corvallis is exactly the kind of road where those encounters happen.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: A collision with a 200-pound animal at highway speed is a bad night for everyone involved. Slow down at dusk and dawn, use your high beams when you have the road to yourself, and if an animal appears suddenly, brake firmly and hold your lane rather than swerving into something worse. And a grateful tip of the hat to every driver who took it slow through the neighborhoods Saturday night; our costumed kids made it home with full pillowcases.
👉 Read the fall wildlife driving story
💼 Economic Development
🔹 Samaritan's MultiCare chapter officially opened yesterday: The affiliation I walked through in the October 19 edition took effect Sunday, November 1, right on schedule. Nothing changes for patients today: same providers, same appointments, same pharmacies, same MyChart, same insurance, and Samaritan keeps its name and local leadership. What does change is that MultiCare's commitment of $700 million over ten years for access, recruitment, facilities, and technology is no longer a promise about the future. The clock on it is running.
→ 🗣️ My take: I said last month that the real test is whether those dollars show up as the things residents actually feel, meaning shorter waits and care closer to home. That test started yesterday, and I intend to keep score on your behalf.
👉 Visit the affiliation information hub
🏘️ Community Development
🔹 Election Day is tomorrow, and Benton County is showing up early: By Friday morning the state Elections Division had logged 25,446 returned ballots from Benton County's 62,003 active voters, a 41 percent return rate, roughly six points ahead of the statewide pace and the best showing of any sizable county in Oregon. The busiest single day so far was Monday, October 26, when 5,543 Benton County ballots came in. If yours is still on the kitchen counter, the mailing window has effectively closed, so use the drop box at Adair Village City Hall, 6030 NE William R Carr Avenue, any time before 8 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3. Your ballot carries the fire district's Measure 2-158 bond and the school district's Measure 2-160 levy renewal, both covered in detail in recent editions, and the Advocate published its full 2026 voters' guide yesterday if you want everything in one place before you fill in the ovals.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: In twenty years in this office, I have watched local measures turn on fewer votes than one street's worth of neighbors. Tomorrow, your street could be the one.
👉 Browse the 2026 voters guide
🔹 Our transportation code countdown ends this week: Two reminders from the Notice of Decision I reported on last week. The appeal window for DCA-26-01 closes tomorrow, November 3, and Ordinance No. 2026-5 takes effect Thursday, November 5. From Thursday forward, development applications in Adair Village will be measured against the street, sidewalk, and connectivity standards in our Transportation System Plan. That is how growth arrives with the infrastructure it needs.
🏠 Housing
🔹 Accountability caught up with a landlord next door: On Friday the Advocate reported that the Oregon Real Estate Agency has revoked the principal broker license of Michelle Schoning, the landlord behind Corvallis' Red Door Property Management, under a final order signed September 15. Among the findings: a wire fraud conviction the agency deemed directly relevant to her fitness for the profession, along with business registration failures and loan applications filed under inactive business names.
→ 💡 What this means: The overwhelming majority of landlords in our area do right by their tenants, and they deserve a market that is not undercut by the few who do not. Housing is not just a supply problem; it runs on trust between the people who own homes and the people who rent them. When a regulator follows through, even slowly, that trust gets a little stronger, and every renter in the mid-valley benefits.
🏗️ Infrastructure & Utilities
🔹 Leaf pickup round two is one week out: The next collection is Monday, November 9, with street sweeping following on Tuesday, November 10. Rake leaves to the street shortly before the pickup date, keep piles clear of bike lanes, storm drains, and driveways, and move vehicles off the street both days; parking is available at City Hall. The November rain is coming whether we rake or not, so let's give it clear storm drains to work with.
👉 See the leaf collection schedule
🔹 The data center pause has snagged broadband in its net: New reporting Wednesday revealed that the Oregon Department of Transportation has placed at least 20 right-of-way permit applications on hold for fiber-optic projects along state highways, filed by Zayo, Lumen, and Intermountain Infrastructure Group, while the agency verifies whether the lines are tied to data centers. No deadline has been set for the companies to respond, which means no timeline for resolution.
→ 🗣️ My take: I have argued for weeks that Oregon needs clear, durable rules for data centers, and I still believe the pause can earn its keep if it produces them. But a pause aimed at server farms should not sideline the fiber that carries internet service to rural communities like ours. Regulation this consequential needs to cut like a scalpel, not a snow shovel, and I will be watching whether the state can tell the difference.
📅 Dates & Community Moments
🔹 Kalapuya stories, live from your living room Wednesday: The Champinefu Series continues Wednesday, November 4 at 7 p.m. with a free webinar, "Learning by Doing: Kalapuya Stories and Histories," led by Jedd Schrock, staff linguist for the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. It is billed as the first public presentation of a large body of Kalapuya cultural material only recently found, recorded, and translated, from a people whose history in this valley stretches back at least 18,000 years. Registration takes about a minute.
👉 Register for the Champinefu webinar
🔹 A pioneer's story, just up Soap Creek: The Advocate published a lovely feature Monday on the Letitia Carson Legacy Project, which brings visitors onto OSU's Soap Creek Beef Ranch north of Corvallis, in the same valley countryside that borders our own town. Carson settled along Soap Creek in 1846 and became the earliest known Black American to receive a federal homestead patent, and today OSU and four Black-led organizations are telling her story alongside the land's Kalapuya history, right down to the camas now re-emerging where invasive blackberry was cleared. History this rich, this close to home, is worth the read.
👉 Read the Letitia Carson story
🔹 Veterans Day is next Wednesday: On Wednesday, November 11 at 11:11 a.m., downtown Albany hosts the 75th annual Linn County Veterans Day Parade, billed as the largest Veterans Day parade west of the Mississippi. Seventy-five years of showing up for the people who served is a tradition worth joining, and it is an easy drive from here. To every veteran reading this: thank you, this week and every week.
🤝 In Closing
Looking ahead: a ballot in the City Hall drop box by 8 p.m. tomorrow, a webinar worth your Wednesday evening, and a rake date next Monday. One housekeeping note for election night: Oregon counts ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive up to a week later, so if a close race takes a few days to settle, that is diligence at work, not a problem. Questions about anything above? Reply to this email and it reaches me, or call City Hall at 541-745-5507, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
However you vote, vote. The rest of the week will take care of itself.
Bill Currier
Mayor, City of Adair Village
