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From the mayor’s desk: by Meadow Martell

For the past 10 months the city of Cave Junction and Main Street Cave Junction have had the good fortune to work with Rowan Fairfield, a RARE Americorps member. This program, administered through the University of Oregon’s Institute for Policy Research and Engagement, links the skills, expertise, and innovation of higher education with the economic development and environmental needs of communities and regions in the state of Oregon.
Rowan worked with me to get our Main Street Oregon organization, MSCJ, up and running. Just a few of Rowan’s accomplishments: developed an MSCJ website; set up the organization’s goggle docs; acted as the organization’s secretary; walked our downtown main street meeting businesses and keeping them informed; wrote a grant for MSCJ; participated in the downtown flower planting project; and took the lead on the Oak-Art Transformation project.
In addition to downtown revitalization, Rowan was instrumental in kicking off the review of the city charter. Rowan did a comprehensive comparison of our charter with a League of Oregon Cities model charter. This document was of significant help to the Charter Review Committee. Rowan also designed and painted a beautiful mural on the side of the storage building in the City Hall parking lot.
Rowan will finish the RARE Americorps obligation around Aug. 12 and is looking for a job that will utilize their master’s degree in community and regional planning. Rowan’s expertise and help has had a significant impact in our community. I will personally miss working with Rowan. If you would like to thank Rowan, their city phone number is 541-415-6767 and email is rowan.fairfield@cavejunctionoregon.us.
The ADA accessibility project is near completion. Cave Junction now has five more intersections with ADA accessible crossings on both sides.
Last weekend I attended the Healing Hearts and Hooves fundraiser at Augustino’s Vineyard with my friend Mo Connolly. It was a fun time and it felt good to be helping a local nonprofit organization. We have a lot of organizations in this valley doing good work. They can use all the help you give them.
The serious forest fires in Siskiyou County, California close to the Oregon border, are a grim reminder that fire season is upon us. My heart goes out to all the people affected. Please be safe and careful with fire. A disaster could happen here, and it is not too soon to have a plan for you and your family. The website https://www.grantspassoregon.gov/227/Emergency-Preparedness has a very helpful “Emergency Preparedness Handbook” you can use.