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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2026

Brookings, Oregon

Commissioner Coker talks budget City of Brookings and transparency in the county seeking BY JASON LIDDELL

With the upcoming Curry County Commissioner election on May 19, candidate Lynn Coker is the incumbent commissioner running for reelection. Coker has been a county commissioner since May 2025. He is a husband, and has spent more than three decades in alcohol and drug recovery, spending much of that time as a mentor and sponsor for others. During an interview, Mr. Coker made it clear very quickly that his top three priorities as county commissioner are creating sustainable budgets, increasing government transparency and accountability, and increasing county revenue. Regarding the county budget, one of Coker’s main complaints about previous years, he said, was that the county road fund was being used to fund things like the sheriff’s department and the county jail; one signiﬁcant emergency could likely have been more than the county could sustain, due to depleted funds.

One of Mr. Coker’s solutions to help combat the funding situation is to reduce county expenses. Recently, county staff has been reduced from 155 employees to 115, he claims this reduction has not only increased funds, but made for a more efficient team. Additionally, the interest gained on the road fund, not the principal amount, is being used to help fund the sheriff’s department. As far as government transparency, since 2013, Curry County has not been transparent about its financial situation to the public, according to Coker. With multiple incomplete audits, the county was not able to accurately report on the county funds from one year to the next. A part of the current plan is to publish public monthly financial statements the public can easily access. Candidate Coker’s concerns on the county revenue come down to tourism funding and property taxes; both categories, he says, are “tapped out.” His main idea for increasing

members for Tourism Promotion Advisory Committee Staff Report The City of Brookings is seeking applications for the newly reestablished Tourism Promotion Advisory Committee (TPAC) following a city ordinance (Ordinance 26-O-818) to bring back the citizen-led body. The five future members of the TPAC will advise the city council on the best ways to reinvest the Transient Lodging Tax into further tourism promotion. “The reestablishment of TPAC reflects the City Council’s commitment to strengthening tourism promotion efforts and ensuring Transient Lodging Tax (TLT) revenues are used strategically to support economic vitality and community enhancement,” the city said in a release. Through thorough evaluation the TPAC will make recommendations on projects and initiatives intended to bolster Brookings’ tourism. The goal is to bring more visitors to the city, therefore creating jobs and buoying local businesses. The revenue stream brought in by the TLT is an important funding source, and the committee will ensure those funds are used in an effective and efficient manner to promote the Brookings-Harbor area as a premier destination for coastal travelers. The five-member committee will be confirmed by the City Council following recommendations from Mayor Phoebe Pereda via the application process. Candidates must be Curry County residents within the city’s urban growth boundary, with at least two members living within the city limits. City residents are preferred to help ensure that members have a Please see ADVISORY Page 2

Please see COKERS Page 2

Gov. Kotek signals she’ll veto bill changing Oregon public meetings law criticized by journalists The bill, meant to create clarity about what public officials can call and text about outside of public meetings, would be Gov. Kotek’s only veto following 2026 session BY ALEX BAUMHARDT

Oregon Capital Chronicle

Roger Averbeck addresses his neighbors at the Wallowa County Commission meeting on Aug. 23, 2023, calling on them to find a compromise in the debate to join Idaho.

Following outcry from professional journalist groups and Oregon news publishers, Gov. Tina Kotek is considering vetoing a bill passed last month by the state Legislature that makes changes to the state’s public meetings law. Kotek on Thursday did her final signings for all but one bill, House Bill 4177. In a news release Friday she said she is considering a veto of the bill, which would be her only veto of laws passed by the Oregon Legislature in the most recent session that adjourned on March 6. Kotek has 30 days to sign a bill if it was delivered to her after adjournment, and must announce any plan to veto a bill at least five days before filing her decision deadline, which is April 17. A two-thirds vote of both houses can override a governor’s veto. In a statement, a Kotek spokesperson wrote: “The Governor understands the intent of the legislation, however she

is considering a veto because of concerns that parts of the bill may undermine transparency in the conducting of public business.” The bill was backed by city and county governments and associations and school boards who wanted to provide clarity on a 2023 law that changed Oregon public meetings law, prohibiting public ofﬁcials from deliberating and deciding measures via text, phone call and other chain conversations to circumvent state public meetings law. House Bill 4177 exempts from the meetings law such “serial communications” if they are “made for the purpose of gathering information relating to a decision that will be deliberated upon or made by the governing body.” Bill proponents said it was

needed to clarify that public officials aren’t violating state law when they text an article related to an issue to one another, or share their opinion with a reporter ahead of a vote, who then shares that opinion with other members of the governing body in the course of the reporting. But the Oregon chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Oregon News Publishers Association, The Oregonian and roughly a dozen small publishers, called on Kotek to veto the bill. They warned throughout the session that it fundamentally redefined what constitutes meetings and deliberations in a way that would allow public officials to do important work in private with little transparency. During the session, leaders from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission — tasked

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Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. https://oregoncapitalchronicle. com/2026/04/10/gov-kotek-signals-shell-veto-bill-changing-oregon-public-meetings-law-criticized-by-journalists/

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with enforcing the public meetings law — shared testimony expressing many of the same concerns as the press advocates. State lawmakers passed it anyway, vowing to come back in 2027 to make ﬁxes that might be needed.

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