6 City Council Candidates Vying for 4 Open Positions: Get to Know the Candidates
The November 3 election will bring significant change to the Lake Oswego City Council. Four of the Council’s seven seats are open, and six candidates are running to fill them.
The decisions the City Councilors make will affect your neighborhood and your property taxes for decades.
The Council elected November 3 will face important decisions that will affect our city, our neighborhoods and our finances for years to come. Among the issues ahead:
The City is planning for a new wastewater treatment facility, a major multi-year project with potentially significant implications for future utility costs.
Other major decisions include the future of the library, the North Anchor and Foothills District development and funding for Emerald Ash tree Borer mitigation.
Lake Oswego is also facing state mandated housing-production requirements. City decisions about housing and zoning, especially the placement of high density and affordable housing, will shape how and where future housing is built and the character of our City and neighborhoods.
The Council will also be responsible for the day-to-day business of the city—including roads, police, fire, water, parks, zoning, building codes and other essential services.
The new Council will also work with a new City Manager and will need to fill the City Attorney position.
These are complex issues. Effective Councilors need to understand the details, ask good questions, proactively seek out different perspectives and best practices from other cities and weigh both short- and long-term consequences. They also need to be thoughtful stewards of taxpayer dollars. Ideally they are optimistic pragmatists who can get along and get the important things done within budget and in a timely manner.
What makes someone effective in this role?
We recently asked that question in our post and heard from several existing Councilors:
We've Spent 1–2 Hours With Each of the Six City Council Candidates
Several Old Town Neighborhood Association Board members and I have spent one to two hours with each of the six candidates—walking through our neighborhood, talking about local issues and getting to know each candidate personally.
Each candidate brings a different background, experience and perspective. What they share is a willingness to listen, learn, ask questions and take on the substantial responsibility of serving Lake Oswego as a volunteer City Councilor.
Here are some of the things that stood out to me during our conversations.
Bryan Guiney
Practical problem-solver. Action-oriented. Nice.
Bryan brings an unusually broad understanding of government and public service to Lake Oswego. He spent 21 years in the Marine Corps, has an MBA, and has work experience in both Oregon state and federal government. He understands how government works—and, just as importantly, where it can work better for us in LO, especially around Salem mandates for high density housing.
What impressed me during our time together was Bryan’s approach to problem-solving. He listens intently. He asks good questions. He takes notes. Then he shares possible solutions and ideas for how to collaboratively fix problems in practical, efficient ways. He benchmarks what other cities are doing and he follows up. Fast.
Bryan is a young dad with family roots in Lake Oswego and a wife who is one of his biggest advocates. He's excellent and experienced at managing his time. And someone you'd want to be your neighbor.
We found Bryan to be energetic, smart and clearly motivated by a desire to serve and improve LO. I came away from our time together thinking he has a lot to contribute to Lake Oswego—and a lot of potential for the future.
Learn more about Bryan:
Suzanne Miles
Big-picture thinker. Smart questioner. Collaborative.
What impressed me most about Suzanne is the way she thinks about problems—and opportunities. She gathers both emotional stories and data and facts. She looks at the big picture, connects the silos, asks hard and necessary questions respectfully, and seeks out different perspectives before reaching a conclusion.
Her experience as a federal prosecutor has involved digging deeply into complex problems. She brings that same curiosity and analytical approach to our conversation about Lake Oswego. She approaches problems with curiosity, respect and a collaborative mindset.
Suzanne is a Stanford Law School graduate, has practiced as a federal prosecutor and has taught at UC Berkeley, the University of Oregon and Lewis & Clark Law School.
But her résumé isn’t what made the strongest impression on me. She is personable and persuasive, curious and thoughtful. She listens carefully and asks questions that get beneath the surface of an issue. And she has a genuine interest in helping Lake Oswego raise its level of excellence. She’s also a mom of junior-high-age twins and the daughter of a social worker and a teacher.
I came away from our conversation thinking Suzanne would bring pragmatic curiosity, thoughtful analysis and a collaborative approach to the Council.
Learn more about Suzanne:
Heather Ramsey
Collaborator. Connector. Community builder.
Heather is a proven Lake Oswego community leader who knows how to bring people together around a common goal and get things done. She served as President of the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce and chaired the most recent school bond campaign. As an executive coach, she has spent 20 years helping individuals and teams communicate, work effectively together and achieve results.
That experience could be particularly valuable on a seven-member City Council, where getting things done requires collaboration.
Heather is an advocate for entrepreneurs and for strong police and fire services. She’s also a mom of two young men, and her husband is a retired FBI agent.
What I noticed most was how she listens. She asks thoughtful questions. She doesn’t pretend to have all the answers—and she’s willing to keep learning.
Heather knows how to bring people together, build relationships and move toward practical solutions. That kind of collaborative leadership could be valuable to Lake Oswego.
Learn more about Heather:
Our blog post about our visit with Heather
Peren Tiemann
Engaged listener. Caring. Hardworking.
At 21, Peren Tiemann would bring a distinctly younger perspective to the Council.
She has lived in Lake Oswego since she was 13 and is a Lakeridge High School graduate. She earned a full scholarship to Miami University in Ohio and is now a third-year law student at Lewis & Clark Law School. She's been working to support herself while also going to school and volunteering.
Peren also chairs Lake Oswego's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board.
During our Old Town walkabout, Peren listened intently, asked thoughtful questions and showed genuine interest in understanding our neighborhood's concerns.
Her priorities include safety, accessibility and making Lake Oswego a welcoming place for residents and businesses. We encouraged her to think specifically about how Lake Oswego can remain a place where seniors and people with disabilities can continue to live as their needs change.
Peren brings curiosity, compassion and a willingness to learn and advocate for others.
Learn more about Peren:
Neil Tunmore
Experienced construction executive. Constructive challenger.
Neil is polished, professional and willing to question how things are currently done—particularly when it comes to bureaucracy, project management and costs.
He brings substantial private-sector experience in construction, infrastructure and wastewater treatment, along with a practical focus on completing projects on time and on budget. At Intel, Neil managed construction projects, facilities, budgets and operations around the world. After Intel, he consulted for a company involved in building wastewater treatment plants and advised a construction company working on solar-energy projects. That background could be relevant as Lake Oswego takes on major capital projects and makes decisions involving infrastructure, construction, budgets and long-term costs.
Neil has lived in Lake Oswego for 27 years, and his children and grandchildren live here. He told us he is prepared to make a substantial commitment of time to serving the community.
During our conversation, he came across as financially savvy, experienced in large-scale project and budget management, energetic and direct and clearly someone who enjoys tackling big, complicated projects and getting them done on time and on budget.
Learn more about Neil:
Patrick Walsh
Caring. Curious. Creative.
Patrick brings a combination of community involvement, arts leadership and a willingness to learn.
Through his work leading a nonprofit theater arts organization, which performs in settings including Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, he uses the arts to connect with people from different backgrounds.
He is also the father of an incoming first grader and has been involved in several Lake Oswego community efforts. He has served as chair of the Lake Oswego Library Advisory Board and worked on the vision for the future library. He also volunteered on the school bond campaign.
During our Old Town walkabout, Patrick listened, asked questions and learned about our neighborhood concerns. He recognizes that serving on the City Council requires preparation and a willingness to understand the details of city operations, budgets and neighborhood priorities. He's all in to learn.
The November 3 election is your opportunity to dramatically re-shape the Lake Oswego City Council.
Why? Because 4 of the 7 seats on the council are open during this election. Usually only 3 council seats are open every 2 years, since it is made up of 6 councilors (plus a mayor), who are elected for 4-year terms. This year, Councilors Corrigan and Afghan are not running for re-election, Councilor Wendland can’t run again after serving two terms, and Aaron Rapf resigned from the council earlier this year.
There are six candidates running for these four open seats. The three who receive the most votes will fill the three 4-year terms. The fourth-place candidate will fill the remaining two years of Aaron Rapf’s former seat. The fifth and sixth-place candidates will not be elected. New terms begin January 1, 2027.
So how do you decide who to vote for? Hear from the 6 candidates yourself.
Hosted by 5 Lake Oswego Neighborhood Associations and the Lake Oswego Review.
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