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Retiring Medford Mayor Jerry Lausmann gets credit for ... Putting a face on City Hall Photos by Jim Craven Jerry Lausmann walks into the council chambers for one of his last meetings as Medford's mayor. He leaves office this week. Medford's getting a new mayor; one observer calls Lausmann 'best of the old' By JIM DAVIS A t one of his last meetings, Medford Mayor Jerry Lausmann cast the deciding vote to table a controversial ordinance regulating sex businesses. The mayor looked across the City Council dais to Mayor-elect Lindsay Berryman, who was watching the proceedings. "OK, Lindsay," Lausmann said. "you're going to get this hot cookie." Jerry Lausmann's sense of humor and personality made him a popular mayor. Lausmann, the longest-serving mayor in Medford's history, will end his tenure this week, passing the gavel to Berryman and setting aside his trademark humor. "His jokes were terrible -- the only jokes that were worse was when he told another one," said Bill Mansfield, a former city councilman who served with Lausmann. Even so, Mansfield, who at times clashed with the mayor, said Lausmann's humor and his personality were what made him popular. "Jerry gave the city government a sense of being human, rather than just some remote machine," Mansfield said. As Lausmann retires, the city is changing, and the City Council will begin focusing on issues ranging from fiber optics to a convention center. Councilman Curt Bennett said the council, the new mayor and the new city manager are poised to take on issues that will affect Medford for the next five, 10, even 50 years. "I think Berryman will almost grab the standard and run with it," Bennett said. Bill Kirtley, who has a graduate degree in political science and has been doing research on Medford city government, said he thinks Medford is ready for a new mayor. "Jerry Lausmann is the best of the old," Kirtley said. "And Medford's changing -- the economy's changing and the population is changing -- and I think people in Medford are ready for that change." Lausmann, born in 1930 in Portland, was adopted by Anton and Grace Lausmann. When he was 12, the family moved to Medford, where Anton Lausmann started a highly successful sawmill that eventually was named KOGAP. The sawmill has closed, but the company, now diversified, continues. After high school, Lausmann pulled a three-year stint with the U.S. Navy. Getting out of the service in 1951, Lausmann bounced between colleges, work and living a "free-spirited" life. In 1961, Lausmann moved back to Medford and started working at KOGAP. "I did every lousy job they had," Lausmann said. In the 1970s, Lausmann entered public life when he twice ran unsuccessfully on the Republican ticket for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 4th Congressional District, which at that time included the Rogue Valley. "I thought I had something to offer," Lausmann said. "I wanted to serve my country." After the second loss, Lausmann focused on his family's business. In 1986, Lausmann said, Medford businessmen were upset because they didn't think the city listened enough to their concerns. "I met with a group of businessmen downtown over coffee," Lausmann said, "and they persuaded me to run for mayor." That fall, Lausmann ran successfully against incumbent Mayor Lou Hannum. "I outspent (Hannum)," Lausmann said, "and I outworked him." Lausmann put up lawn signs, which he said was unheard of for the unpaid mayor's position. He also went door-to-door, working the voters. He said he won the election with two promises: that he'd clean up all the election signs in Medford and that he would make the city government friendlier. Lausmann began his career as mayor with a controversial decision. Lausmann is a fundamentalist Christian -- the top shelf in his KOGAP office is full of Bibles and biblical study material -- and one of his first acts was reinstituting a prayer before meetings. "I am a Christian," Lausmann said, "and I believe that we need guidance and an invocation is nothing more than invitation to God and the Holy Spirit for guidance." The idea was strongly opposed by some council members at the time -- including Mansfield. The prayer issue made national news, and Mansfield was quoted as saying Lausmann's decision showed the new mayor didn't know what he was doing. The prayer was adopted and, gradually, Lausmann won more supporters -- including Mansfield. He said he became a believer when he saw that Lausmann was treating every issue fairly. "I guess I didn't know the new Jerry Lausmann," Mansfield said. In the early 1990s, Lausmann learned he had a rare form of brain cancer, and his struggle with the disease was watched throughout the community. He underwent surgery and subsequent radiation treatments. Later tests have shown him free of cancer. "His personal struggle against illness -- he's been an inspiration to us all," Kirtley said. Since Lausmann took over the office, the city's annual budget has grown from $35 million to nearly $80 million and its population has grown from 43,875 to more than 57,000. The economy of the Rogue Valley has changed, too, said Rob Patridge, a Medford councilman and state representative-elect who graduated from high school the same year Lausmann won the election for mayor. "The environmental movement changed the face of this entire valley," Patridge said. "(Lausmann) helped guide the city through everything from emissions testing and woodstoves to fairy shrimp and the spotted owl." Kirtley said Lausmann has been one of the most popular mayors in Medford's history. "He's never lost the common touch," Kirtley said. "He always seems like an ordinary guy, even though he's wealthy." Mansfield said he believes Lausmann has done a good job as mayor. But he said that he believes it is time for a new direction. "It's a healthy thing in a democratic government for the leaders to change from time to time," Mansfield said. Bennett said Lausmann did a good job -- for all segments of the community. He said he knows Lausmann is going to miss being mayor, but he thinks it was time for Lausmann to step aside. "It was getting harder and harder for him physically," Bennett said. "He would lose track where we were at times." Lausmann said he is healthy enough to continue, but he doesn't have the energy he once had. And he wants to devote more time to Donnis, his wife of 33 years. "It's time to give my wife a break. Donnis deserves to have some quality time. She would like to do a little traveling." Thinking back on his career, he said he is proudest of getting youth involved with the city through the Mayor's Youth Advisory Committee, helping start the Medford Jazz Jubilee, making City Hall a friendly place to do business and instituting the invocation before meetings. He's also proud of taking a stand against hate when two lesbians were killed in Medford in what later turned out to be a botched robbery attempt. The thing that gave him the most joy was when the City Council named the city's new $3.9 million office building the Lausmann Annex. "That was the most humbling thing that ever happened to me." In all those years of service, Lausmann said he doesn't regret any decisions. "I had to call them the way that I saw them," Lausmann said. "If I was wrong, we'll let the history of Medford tell that story." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA