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Bill Currier Newsletter — October 5, 2026
Mayor Bill Currier • Adair Village Weekly Update • October 5, 2026
Hello neighbors,
Tomorrow night is the night. At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6, the City Council opens its public hearing on the transportation code amendments this newsletter has been tracking since mid-September, and the full 119-page meeting packet posted on October 1 for anyone who wants to arrive prepared. The rest of the week brought plenty worth knowing too: a half-million-dollar lifeline for the region's biggest pool, fresh report cards for the schools that serve our families, and a Fire Prevention Week message aimed squarely at the chargers plugged in around your house right now. Let's get into it.
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 Fire Prevention Week starts with your chargers: Fire Prevention Week runs October 4 to 10 this year, and the 2026 campaign, "Safe Charging Is a Superpower," zeroes in on the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in our phones, laptops, e-bikes, scooters, and power tools. The guidance is refreshingly simple: use the cord and charger that came with the device, charge on a hard, flat surface instead of a bed or couch, and unplug once the battery is full. If a battery ever swells, overheats, or gives off a strange odor, stop using it and get it out of the house.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Nearly every home in Adair Village holds more rechargeable batteries than it did five years ago, and battery fires burn hot and fast. Ten minutes spent checking how and where your household charges is the cheapest fire protection you will ever buy.
👉 Explore Fire Prevention Week resources
💼 Economic Development
🔹 A federal deadline lands on mid-valley hemp: A new federal law sharply narrows the definition of legal hemp, banning the sale of hemp-derived products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, with Congress recently pushing the effective date to December 11. The impact is already visible close to home: an Albany CBD shop is shutting its hemp storefront while the dispensary next door stays open, and the Independence company that supplies roughly three quarters of the nation's hemp seed expects its market to shrink.
→ 🗣️ My take: Congress wrote this law to close a real loophole, the one that let processors convert legal hemp into potent synthetic THC products. But farmers and shopkeepers who followed the rules as written are now absorbing the cost of a rulebook that changed almost overnight. I said it about development fees a few weeks ago and I will say it about federal law: predictability is oxygen for small business.
🔹 A strike date next door: Corvallis city workers represented by AFSCME have formally served the city with a strike notice, naming Wednesday, October 14 as the planned walkout date. The union represents about 246 employees across every city department. Bargaining has run since January, the contract expired June 30, and state mediation is underway, with the two sides separated by roughly two percentage points of cumulative raises over three years plus a longevity step. Corvallis says it is building a contingency plan to keep core services running.
→ 💡 What this means: Plenty of Adair Village residents work in Corvallis, run businesses there, or use its parks, library, and permit counters, so a disruption there is felt here. I hope the remaining gap closes at the table before October 14. It is also a preview of what happens when a projected $8.1 million budget hole, the one I wrote about last week, meets real wage pressures.
👉 Read the strike notice story
🏘️ Community Development
🔹 Final call: the transportation hearing is tomorrow night: The City Council holds its public hearing on DCA-26-01, the amendments that turn our adopted Transportation System Plan into enforceable street, sidewalk, bicycle, and connectivity standards, on Tuesday, October 6 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, 6030 NE William R Carr Avenue. The complete meeting packet, all 119 pages of it, is now posted, and written comments are welcome before or at the hearing.
→ ➡️ What happens next: After testimony, the Council can adopt the amendments, refine them, or send staff back for more work. Either way, tomorrow night is when this rulebook gets decided, and I would rather hear your perspective before the vote than after it.
👉 Download the Council meeting packet (PDF)
🔹 A $500,000 lifeline for the region's biggest pool: Travel Oregon has awarded the Corvallis School District $500,000 from its 2026 Competitive Grants Program to help reopen the Osborn Aquatic Center, closed since October 2024 after serious corrosion turned up in the roof's structural steel. The school board approved a $5.2 million repair bid in July but still faced a $1.2 million gap; this award cuts that to roughly $700,000, with a capital fundraising campaign chasing the rest. Osborn houses Oregon's only indoor 50-meter competition pool, and the district projects a reopened facility could host about a dozen competitive events in 2028, filling area hotels in the slow season.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Great community spaces do not stop at city limits, and Osborn sits a short drive from our front doors. As we work toward our own town square, I take note every time this region proves that gathering places are worth the investment. This grant is proof.
👉 Follow the Osborn project updates
🔹 Report cards are in for our schools: The Oregon Department of Education has released its 2026 school assessments, and the Corvallis School District, which serves Adair Village families, ranks 11th out of 141 districts statewide.
→ 📊 By the numbers: District students beat statewide proficiency averages by roughly 9 points in English, 11 in math, and 13 in science, and 90.4 percent of students graduate compared with 83 percent statewide.
→ 🗣️ My take: A single ranking flattens a lot of texture. The Advocate's deep dive shows one small K-8 campus pulling the averages up and wide gaps between schools, which is exactly why I encourage parents to read the results campus by campus rather than stopping at the headline. And if those numbers make you want a real seat at the table, the district is still recruiting three citizen volunteers for its Budget Committee, with applications getting their first review on October 29.
📅 Dates & Community Moments
🔹 Log a greener trip or two: The Get There Challenge, a friendly two-week competition run through Corvallis Public Works that rewards walking, biking, carpooling, and transit, is underway now. Fitting timing for a week when our own Council takes up street and sidewalk standards: we plan the network, you put it to use.
👉 Join the Get There Challenge
🔹 Pumpkins, hayrides, and a corn maze: Fall is officially in business at Davis Family Farm on Highway 20, with the farmstand open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and activity bracelets at $8. For that and dozens more nearby happenings, the Advocate's weekly calendar has you covered.
👉 Browse the Friday to Friday calendar
🤝 In Closing
Council chambers hold more neighbors than you might think, and tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. is a fine time to test that. If you cannot make it, written comments carry the same weight. Two more dates deserve a sticky note: October 24 to weigh in on the state's data center findings, and October 29 for the school Budget Committee. Questions on anything above? 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.
Thank you for reading, and for being the kind of community that shows up.
Bill Currier
Mayor, City of Adair Village
