ENTERPRISE — Three candidates for the soon-to-be vacant position of Enterprise mayor mounted the podium Sunday, Oct. 6 as part of a forum to make their cases for why city voters should choose them.

Cody Lathrop, Daniel Sticka and Stirling Webb are vying for the position Ashley Sullivan resigned earlier this year. Since then, the position has been filled by council President Jeff Yanke.

Yanke is running unopposed for reelection to his council seat rather than seeking the mayor’s office.

Here are the three candidates running for Enterprise mayor, in one of the few contested local races in the Nov. 5 election.

Daniel Sticka

Daniel Sticka introduced himself by saying when he first filed for office, no one else was running had filed and he was interested in filling what otherwise would be a vacant office. He said he sees the volunteer position of mayor as not unlike much of what he does anyway.

Sticka said he’s not on anyone’s payroll at present, but spends much time volunteering at various concerns and has for the 15 years he’s lived in Enterprise. Partially disabled, he said he also spent much time caring for his mother.

Most of his income comes from music royalties from his past work.

“I’m mostly self-employed,” he said Tuesday.

Sticka said he’s confident he could fill the office for the two-year term it calls for.

He said he’s sure of his priorities.

“It’s God, family and country, in that order,” he said.

He wants to find better ways of funding for anything the city needs other than raising taxes, he said.

“My philosophy is encouraging personal responsibility and just healthy attitudes, spiritually, mentally and physically,” he said.

Cody Lathrop

Cody Lathrop returned to Wallowa County to become a history teacher at Wallowa High School in 2019; he teaches now at Enterprise School.

He said he grew up in the Leap area north of Enterprise, where his family has farmed and ranched since the late 1800s.

“I learned the value of hard work (on the ranch) and the importance of honesty,” he said. “Those traits I brought with me to the U.S. Army, where I served overseas as a combat engineer before being medically retired due to receiving two Purple Hearts from combat operations.”

Purple Hearts are awarded to military veterans wounded in combat.

“The Army taught me leadership, responsibility and a strong sense of duty, traits that define the person that I am today,” Lathrop said.

“This sense of duty is why I decided to serve again, this time as mayor of Enterprise,” he said. “I want to bring my experience as a leader to the position to address three specific and important issues our community faces, first, our economy; second, our current housing availability and affordability; and lastly, preserving our local cultural values.”

Stirling Webb

Local business owner Stirling Webb may not have been born in Wallowa County, but he doesn’t see that as a drawback.

“I’m from Portland, Oregon,” he said, and laughed. “But don’t hold that against me.”

He grew up in Portland in the 1980s and spent his years from age 17-22 caring for his grandmother, Claire, after whom he named his daughter. He came to Wallowa County to live near his mother, who also needed care for 10 years.

“I fell in love with this county,” Webb said.

He believes his experience caring for his mother helped forge a connection with the community.

“People saw me taking care of my mother, and they were so appreciative of what it took to do that, I had a lot of support just from the community,” he said. “It was the first time in my life I actually felt a real sense of community. And it happened pretty quickly. People were like, Hey, good job for taking care of your mom, you know. And it was, it was special.”

He got some assistance with that care from his soon-to-be wife.

“Before that, I met my wife, Emily Bright, who’s the love of my life,” Webb said.

He said his mother died shortly after he started blowing glass. He owns and operates Moonshine Glass Art in Enterprise and enjoys operating a local business.

“It’s a lot different than I thought it would be,” he said. “I thought I’d be a fancy glassblower artist who is shipping his expensive art all over the place to people, but it turns out I’m a Wallowa County glassblower, and I love it. I really do. I wouldn’t trade it for all the money in China. I just think that this is the best life I could ever wish for (and) you guys have supported me.”

He has an idea or two to put into action if he’s elected.

“I think I’d make a good mayor, because when I talked to the city administrator, I said, ‘What do you want in a mayor?’ And she said, ‘Someone without an agenda.’ That’s me. I just want to help. I have no agenda,” Webb said. “I have no experience. But I also said, What are you guys working on that you think I should study up on? And she mentioned the Enterprise Main Street Strategic Plan.”

Webb said that’s right up his alley with his experience in sales and marketing.

“You know, creative marketing, business,” he said. “In the last few weeks that been studying that I’ve found some rental spaces. I know some people who want to start businesses. I’m all about encouraging young, creative, vibrant business owners that thrive on Willow County and vice versa.”

A disagreement

Lathrop disagreed with Webb on at least one point.

“I kind of want to go back about a kind of what Stirling had said, something about how a mayor doesn’t need to have a an agenda. And I disagree with that,” Lathrop said. “I think a good leader has to have a vision first, and that’s where I set my three priorities, the economy, housing and then cultural identity.”

Lathrop noted that the schools and the hospital are among the largest employers in the county, and both get the bulk of their funding from outside sources.

“We have to have a diversification” of the county’s economy, he said, instead of an “all-the-eggs-in-one-basket” approach. “One of the things that I really want to try to build here is a diversified economy, which is again growing our small businesses, but also looking at different ways that we could bring in business.”

He also believes the economy and housing are intertwined, pointing to the hospital and county schools, which have had difficulty filling vacant positions because qualified candidates couldn’t find a place to live.

“I think the economy and our housing go hand-in-hand,” he said. 

Realtor Diane Daggett served as moderator for the forum, which was held at Cloverleaf Hall on the fairgrounds. It was sponsored by the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Wallowa County and the Wallowa County Stockgrowers Association, with the Wallowa County Fair Board providing the hall at no cost. The forum attracted about 100 people.

An earlier version of this story should have made it clear that Cody Lathrop, although he has taught at Wallowa High School, now teaches at Enterprise School.