ENTERPRISE — It may not garner the turnout of a presidential election debate, but in some ways this year’s local elections hit closer to home — and about 55 local residents agreed, coming to the Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise on Sunday to hear from candidates running in the Nov. 8 elections.

The forum was sponsored by the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Wallowa County.

The only thing nearing a debate was the race between Devon Maxwell Sundman and Eric Stangel for Enterprise City Council Position No. 1. Maxwell is on the ballot and Stangel is mounting a vigorous write-in campaign.

Maxwell started her comments with what she admitted was a sarcastic reference to the reactions she received to TikTok posts containing obscenities that she posted and has since removed.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve learned I’m a radical leftist from people who don’t even know me,” she said. “I’m not a witch.”

Maxwell has said that she posted those comments as part of a research project.

She then went to the issues, emphasizing her college studies, work in public administration, grant-writing abilities, and service on the city’s Planning Commission.

“I will continue to be a planning commissioner if I’m not elected this year,” she said. …”At the end of the day, I’m someone who understands how to be a nonpartisan civil servant for all people, not just a politician.”

Stangel, who said he entered the race as a write-in candidate after seeing Maxwell’s TikTok posts, emphasized his lifelong connection to Enterprise and experience in business at the family-owned Stangel Industries. He, too, has been to college, having studied politics, philosophy and economics at Eastern Oregon University. But he didn’t think it would lead to a career so he sought technical and business degrees to better fit in with the family business, he said.

Maxwell emphasized her experience at writing grants, saying obtaining grants would be an avenue to bring tax dollars back to Enterprise.

“When I look at our community, I see areas that can use a city councilwoman who knows how to research and apply for grants, so we can reinvest our tax dollars back into our city and bolster opportunities for affordable housing and workforce development,” she said.

Stangel addressed the issues of housing and jobs.

“I think we are all aware that housing shortages are an issue here and … the city of Enterprise has already started the process to find solutions with a housing-needs assessment,” he said. “I’m excited to assist the city in any capacity that I can and continuing that process to meet housing needs, as we have dealt with the problems ourselves in trying to bring skilled labor to our community, and there’s just nowhere for people to live.”

Both attended a forum on the topic held on Wednesday, Oct. 19, where that assessment was unveiled for the public and discussed. (See the related story on page A3.)

Outdated laws?They also both addressed an issue Maxwell has raised — that of removing outdate or archaic ordinances from city code. Maxwell cited a couple of examples she believes could open the city up to liability, while Stangel was less certain that would be the case.

However, county Commission Chairman Susan Roberts, who also spoke at the forum, said that in the 1990s when she was mayor and served on the council, that body went through the city code to remove outdated ordinances, saying the job had been done.

“I don’t know what happened, unless they resurfaced after the fire,” she said, referring to City Hall burning in 2017.

Economic development of Enterprise always is a key issue for the City Council. Maxwell recommends establishing an economic development commission and said similar bodies have worked in other small towns. She also cited her economic development plan, copies of which were available for the audience.

Stangel’s approach was more in keeping with his work as a businessman.

“I am in business. So I have a little bit of sense there,” he said. “What I would plan to do is talk to business owners and talk to other people in the community who want to be part of the culture and work through the council to try to make it more enticing to do business within Enterprise, because the council can control things along the lines of policy and how businesses operate within the city.”

Both were asked if they thought Enterprise should be declared a sanctuary city for the unborn and for Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

Maxwell said both issues are covered by state law so making Enterprise a sanctuary city would be redundant.

Stangel said he personally believes both the unborn and Second Amendment rights should be protected in Enterprise, but he also said that the city should hold public hearings and seek input before taking any action.

“We would really have to come together and see what the constituency within the city limits really wants to see,” he said.

Ballot measuresRoberts was invited to address the crowd on countywide and statewide measures on the ballot. The two county measures involve a ban on what the state now allows regarding psilocybin. a hallucinogen that some say has potential in treating mental illness, and the establishment of a road service district.

Roberts emphasized that the psilocybin measure only affects the unincorporated areas of the county and the four incorporated cities can do as they like on the issue.

“So what we ask was that it not be allowed in the county, because there’s lots of places in Wallowa County where things can go on that we can’t track. We don’t have the police force to monitor that,” she said. “And under this particular one, it’s supposed to be on done under a sort of a medical purview so that someone is there. If you’re using mushrooms, someone’s monitoring (you) so you don’t get up and walk out in the middle of traffic.”

So, she said, the commissioners elected to put the issue of a county ban on psilocybin services on the ballot — as allowed by Measure 109, the statewide ballot issue that Oregon voters passed two years ago. She said the commissioners advised voters to vote in favor of the ban.

Roberts admitted the road service district is a complicated issue.

“Absolutely no one’s gonna understand it,” she said.

She added that it basically allows the county to direct the state to place money for roads into the road service district budget rather than the county budget.

“This is not a tax,” she stressed, adding that it won’t cost taxpayers anything. It just directs the state where to deposit money already coming to the county.

On Ballot Measure 111, which would require the state to ensure affordable health care access, Roberts was concerned the measure would end up costing taxpayers money not already allocated.

On Ballot Measure 112, which removes language in the Oregon Constitution allowing “slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crimes,” she said the slavery portion was dealt with long ago but this measure could eliminate the opportunity for incarcerated inmates to earn time off of their sentences through labor.

Roberts was adamantly against Ballot Measure 114, which she said adds extra fees and regulations to gun control laws that she said already are sufficient.

“It’s gun control without calling it gun control,” she said.

Other candidatesOther candidates also appeared at the forum.

Statewide candidates included Donice Noelle Smith, who is the Constitutional Party’s candidate for governor, and Cheri Helt, a candidate for commissioner of the state Board of Labor and Industries; her opponent, Christina Stephenson, did not attend. Also present was Quinn Berry, who is running for Wallowa City Council Position 1. His opponent, incumbent Councilor Karen Josi, did not attend.