This is a message from Councilor Jeri Turgeson who represents the River St. district for City Council, this is an important change in the Mayor’s behavior since it is counter to what he has said he would support in regards to the ad-hoc committee process.
Dear River Street Community,
I am writing this email to provide a significant update related to the River Street Ad-Hoc Committee.
I received a phone call from the City this afternoon, informing me that Mayor Bill has explicitly and unilaterally directed staff to add a motion to approve the under-consideration Talt-Plan and initiate the RFP process, without a formal presentation or recommendation from the Ad-Hoc Committee. As part of this decision, the mayor did not have the professional courtesy to contact me personally to provide this decision and his rationale directly, rather city staff were directed to inform me of this unilateral decision.
I agreed to support facilitation of the River Street Ad-Hoc Committee after an explicit conversation with the mayor, outlining my belief that this process must be authentic, transparent, community-centered, and represent a genuine process. The mayor committed to this and personally outlined an anticipated timeline of 5-6 meetings for information gathering, community engagement, and consensus building on a plan that would work best for both the community of River Street and the larger Newberg community. To this point, the River Street Ad-Hoc committee has had two meetings, characterized by meaningful dialogue, community input, and transparent deliberation. Our third meeting is scheduled for June 16, 2026, at 6:00pm.
It is at this scheduled meeting that the Ad-Hoc committee will be provided with the full, preliminary scope of the current design via a Roll Plot. This additional information will support better understanding of street and block-level impacts, access considerations, and further design discussions and considerations. Additionally, this meeting is intended to have expert input on aspects of tree preservation and replanting considerations through dialogue with ODF, in addition to reviewing the proposed River Street Tree Plan. At that time the Ad-Hoc committee may choose to vote to move forward with the Talt-Plan, or they may wish to defer for ongoing community conversations and input. Even if the Ad-Hoc committee were to make the decision to approve a design for presentation at the June 16th meeting, the compressed timeline between Thursday night and Monday evening would make it difficult to provide the public with meaningful notice, supporting materials, and a fair opportunity to review the substance of the recommendation before Council action.
While the good work of the Ad-Hoc Committee can (and I hope will continue), the Mayor’s pre-emptive decision to sideline the committee and move forward on his own timeline, without meaningful, community-centered input directly undermines, negates, and minimizes the role of this committee as well as the community at large. The role of our City Government is to center and uplift the voices of the communities we serve, working for the people of Newberg, not sidelining and moving forward with personal agendas.
Unfortunately, the Mayor has the sole discretion over the agenda for City Council Meetings and has directed that this topic be added to the packet. City staff are required to make the agenda and associated documentation based on directives provided by the Mayor.
I have sent the mayor a message directly expressing my anger and frustration and explicitly stating that we need to have a conversation. At the time of this writing, I have not yet heard back from him.
I am humbly requesting that the River Street Community please send comments, feedback, or come in person for our next City Council Meeting scheduled for Monday July 20, 2026, and provide public comment, feedback to the Mayor, and urge the council at large to not overstep or negate the work, role and importance of the Ad-Hoc committee in this deliberation process.
I continue to be grateful for your collaboration, engagement, and feedback throughout this process.
Thank you,
Jeri
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