Document text
2 Ashland ballot measures affecting parks go down to defeat By Morgan Rothborne Updated: Nov 09, 2022 03:55 PM A A [Mail Tribune / file photo] Two ballot measures proposed by Ashland City Manager Joe Lessard that would have affected city parks failed Tuesday. Measure 15-210 was defeated 65% to 35%, according to election results updated Wednesday afternoon. The measure would have altered Ashland’s city charter to place employees of Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission under the direction of the city manager’s office rather than APRC. Measure 15-211 was rejected 60% to 40%. The measure would have amended and extended Ashland’s food and beverage tax, which raises roughly $3 million a year. The tax originally was proposed as temporary when it was offered to Ashland voters in 1995. Measure 15-211 would have extended the sunset date of the tax to Dec. 2035. Money from the tax currently serves to maintain Ashland streets and parks, but the measure proposed on the Nov. 8 ballot would have given Ashland City Council expanded flexibility in how to spend the money. In other Ashland election results, APRC commissioners Rick Landt and James Bachman ran unopposed, and no one filed to run for the Commissioner 4 seat, but 2,135 votes were cast for write-in candidates. If there is a clear winner for Ashland Parks and Recreation Commissioner seat 4, voters may not know it until after Thanksgiving, Jackson County Elections Clerk Chris Walker explained. Oregon’s vote count will be later this year, as the state will now accept ballots postmarked by Nov. 8 or earlier. Ballots flagged as having a problem, like contested signatures or ballots sent without a signature, may drag out the official count even longer. Voters, by law, have 21 days to correct any flagged issues with their ballots. Write-in candidates won’t be sorted out until that period has expired, Walker said. “We anticipate we will abstract write-ins during the week of Nov. 29 and have results not later than certification (of all votes) on Dec. 5,” she said. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected] or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.