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Bill Currier Newsletter — October 19, 2026
Mayor Bill Currier • Adair Village Weekly Update • October 19, 2026
Dear neighbors,
Check your mailbox before you check anything else this week. Benton County mailed local ballots on Wednesday, October 14, and this year the envelope carries a measure with our own name on it: a bond request from the Adair Rural Fire Protection District. That same Wednesday, city workers next door in Corvallis walked off the job after mediation ended without a contract, and news surfaced of a statewide pause on new data center permits. Busy week. Here is what you need to know, in plain English.
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 Measure 2-158 puts a fire district question in your hands: When your ballot arrives, you will find Measure 2-158, a request from the Adair Rural Fire Protection District to issue $1.86 million in general obligation bonds to acquire and improve fire apparatus and firefighting, emergency, and public safety equipment. The bonds would mature within 25 years, and the estimated average tax rate is $0.40 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value, with actual rates varying based on interest rates and assessed value over time.
→ 💡 What this means: The ask is specific. Fire engines and rescue equipment have a service life, and the district is asking voters to fund the next generation of both. You will not hear a voting recommendation from me, only the facts and where to find more of them: the measure filing below spells out the full ballot question, and the county voters' pamphlet covers it alongside everything else on your ballot.
👉 Read the Measure 2-158 filing (PDF)
💼 Economic Development
🔹 The strike next door is no longer hypothetical: On Wednesday, October 14, Corvallis city workers represented by AFSCME Local 2975, about 246 employees across most departments, walked off the job after a final mediation session the night before ended without a contract. Picket lines formed outside Corvallis City Hall and the public library. The city has offered a three-year contract with raises of 6, 3, and 3 percent at a stated cost of $7.8 million; the union has pressed for a cumulative 14 percent plus an additional longevity step, and says its last proposal narrowed the cost gap to roughly $100,000, a figure that had not been independently verified at press time. No deal yet.
→ 💡 What this means: Police, fire, and 911 response are not affected, but many of us work in Corvallis or use its library, counters, and programs every week, so check the city's updates before you make a trip; hours at some facilities may shift with staffing. Both sides say they want an agreement. The fastest way to prove it is to get back in the room, and I hope the next update I write about this one is a settlement.
👉 Visit the Corvallis city website
🔹 Samaritan's new chapter now has a date: Samaritan Health Services announced that its affiliation with Washington-based MultiCare Health System becomes official on November 1, with every reviewing public agency having approved the transaction or signaled intent to. Patients keep their providers, scheduled appointments, pharmacies, and MyChart access, insurance plans are unchanged, and Samaritan retains its name and local leadership. MultiCare has committed $700 million over ten years toward access, provider recruitment, facilities, and technology.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Samaritan is where many of our families get care, and it is one of the mid-valley's largest employers, so this transition touches both our health and our economy. The integration will be phased and, by the companies' own commitment, guided by the clinicians closest to the work. I will be watching whether those investment promises show up as the things residents actually feel: shorter waits and services closer to home.
👉 Read the Samaritan affiliation story
🏘️ Community Development
🔹 Ballots are out, but some pamphlets went astray: Benton County announced Monday that some voters' pamphlets were misdelivered: Millersburg households received Benton County's pamphlet, and some South Corvallis voters got Linn County's instead. The county attributes the error to the U.S. Postal Service, which is the same partner that drew scrutiny after the May primary, when 388 Benton County ballots arrived postmarked after Election Day, up from 79 the cycle before. The county's own pamphlet now advises mailing ballots at least seven days before Election Day or requesting a hand postmark at a post office.
→ 🗣️ My take: Use the box. The Secretary of State's official drop site list for this election includes one right here at Adair Village City Hall, 6030 NE William R Carr Avenue, and once your ballot is in a county drop box, the county controls it the rest of the way. If your pamphlet went missing, the full Benton County edition is online, and Measure 2-160, the school levy renewal I walked through two weeks ago, is on your ballot as well. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.
👉 Read the county voters' pamphlet (PDF)
🏗️ Infrastructure & Utilities
🔹 Data centers statewide just hit the pause button: News broke Tuesday that Governor Kotek has directed the Department of Environmental Quality to pause new state and federal air and water pollution permits for data center projects until next July, effectively a statewide moratorium on new facilities and expansions. The order follows her advisory committee's preliminary report, and it drew a sharp response from Amazon Web Services, which warned of lost construction jobs and halted investment. The public comment window on that committee report closes this Saturday, October 24, at 5 p.m.
→ 🗣️ My take: I have spent my working life in information technology, so nobody has to sell me on the value of tech investment in Oregon. But permitting that lurches project by project serves no one, and households should never quietly underwrite someone else's growth, a principle regulators already embraced in last month's Pacific Power agreement. If this pause produces clear, durable rules for the 2027 session, it will have earned its keep. Saturday is the deadline to add your voice.
👉 Submit a comment by October 24
🔹 One week until the first leaf pickup: The first of the season's five Monday collections is October 26. Rake leaves to the street shortly before that date, keep piles clear of bike lanes, storm drains, and driveways, and move vehicles off the street; parking is available at City Hall. One rake now beats one flooded gutter in November.
👉 See the leaf collection schedule
📅 Dates & Community Moments
🔹 Ten years of Champinefu: A week after Indigenous Peoples' Day, the learning continues. The Champinefu Series, a decade-long partnership between the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and Corvallis organizations named for the land of the people of the Marys River, opened its tenth season Thursday at OSU's PRAx with an evening of Indigenous song and storytelling from Joseph Dowd and Jedd Schrock. By December the series will have produced 30 programs in 10 years, and the next one, a free webinar on Kalapuya stories and histories, is Wednesday, November 4 at 7 p.m.
👉 Register for the Champinefu webinar
🔹 History, unfinished, at the Corvallis Museum: Also opening Thursday was An Unfinished Country, a Benton County Historical Society exhibit that pairs three contemporary artists with the museum's remarkable collections of historic American flags and more than 65,000 photographs, including large-scale portraits of the people shaping Benton County today. It is a thoughtful outing within an easy drive. For everything else happening nearby, the Advocate's weekly calendar remains the best single stop.
👉 Browse the Friday to Friday calendar
🤝 In Closing
Looking ahead, three dates do most of the work: Saturday, October 24 to comment on the data center report, Monday, October 26 to have your leaves curbside, and Tuesday, November 3 to have your ballot in a drop box, including the one at City Hall. A fire bond, a school levy, and local races are on the line, and I would rather every one of them be decided by informed neighbors than by low turnout. If anything above raises a question, reply to this email and it will reach me, or call City Hall at 541-745-5507, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Your ballot is the shortest distance between your opinion and your government. Use it.
Bill Currier
Mayor, City of Adair Village
