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What are your qualifications for a GREAT LO City Councilor?

Updated: 10 hours ago



In November we will be electing four new City Councilors in Lake Oswego.


Mayor Joe Buck and Councilor Rachel Verdick will be continuing their terms. Trudy Corrigan and Ali Afghan have both decided not to run for re-election. Councilors Massene Mboup and John Wendland will have served two terms. Councilor Jackie Edmunds Manz was appointed by the Council to complete the term left vacant by Councilor Rapt's resignation in April 2026.


Being an LO City Councilor is an important and time-intensive VOLUNTEER role.

Serving on City Council requires more than attending meetings and voting. Councilors need to be prepared to understand complex issues, evaluate recommendations, ask informed questions, and make decisions that can have long-term financial and community impacts.

  • You will have no staff. No one will read through hundreds of pages of meeting materials, condense the information, identify the key issues, drill down on the numbers and data, highlight potential concerns, or prepare questions for you. You will need to do that work yourself—or develop your own systems and relationships to help you prepare.

  • You will need to independently research issues. There is no one whose job it is to gather best practices from other cities, research alternatives, analyze options, or provide you with additional information before you make a decision. A good councilor needs to be willing to ask questions, do the homework, and seek out reliable information.

  • Your role is to set policy—not manage the City's day-to-day operations. Council determines the City's policies, priorities, budget, and overall direction. The City Manager is responsible for implementing those policies and managing City operations and staff. Councilors work through the City Manager, City Attorney, and other appropriate department leadership. You do not directly manage City staff.

  • City financial management is different from having a CFO. The City has staff responsible for managing the budgeting process, financial reporting, and compliance. That role is fundamentally different from a CFO in a business setting. A CFO is typically a strategic financial leader who looks beyond annual budgeting to long-term financial planning, financial sustainability, risk management, capital needs, and the broader business implications of major decisions.

  • You will be expected to understand the City's finances well enough to ask the right questions. Councilors don't need to be accountants or financial experts, but they do need to understand where the City's money comes from, how it is allocated, what obligations already exist, what is discretionary, how long-term commitments affect future budgets, and what the financial consequences of major decisions will be.

  • You will be on camera, and what you say and how you vote will be part of the public record. Council meetings are public, your comments and deliberations are recorded, and your votes are documented. Residents, the media, and future candidates can review what you said and how you voted. This is an important part of the accountability that comes with serving on the City Council.


Being a GREAT City Councilor is a significant volunteer commitment. The job requires preparation, curiosity, independent research, financial literacy, critical thinking, and a willingness to devote substantial time outside of council meetings to understanding the issues before making decisions.


What's Happening in LO's City Council Election

The City of Lake Oswego will elect four City Councilors during the general election on November 3, 2026.

  • Three positions, receiving the first, second, and third number of highest votes, will serve four-year terms beginning January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2030.

  • The fourth position, left vacant by Councilor Rapf’s resignation in April 2026, will be filled by the candidate receiving the fourth highest number of votes and will serve the remaining two-year term beginning January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2028.


The current candidates who have filed

For the November 3, 2026 City Council election are (listed in order when they sent in application):


The filing period is still open (it closes on August 25, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.), so the field is not yet final. Here's the link to the City Website with candidates.


City Council Candidate Forum


Our Old Town Neighborhood Board wants to ensure we have the best four City Councilors elected. We, along with the Neighborhood Associations in First Addition, Palisades, Evergreen and McVey/Southshore are co-hosting a candidate forum at City Hall on Friday October 9, 6:30pm. All LO residents are invited. Each of our neighborhood association boards will be submitting questions. The Candidate Forum will be moderated by Corey Buchanan from the LO Review.


Here are my thoughts on what makes a GREAT City Councilor


Please make this better! Send your thoughts here


1. Commitment

  • Willing to commit ~20 hours/week to meetings, preparation, events, constituent conversations and city business

  • Does the homework—not just showing up for meetings

  • Available and responsive to residents - goes out on walkabouts 


2. Character & integrity

  • High integrity

  • Honest and transparent, even when the answer is unpopular

  • Willing to acknowledge mistakes and change course

  • No hidden agenda or personal financial/political interests

  • Treats city employees, fellow councilors and residents with respect


3. Judgment

  • Level-headed

  • Can separate facts from emotion

  • Can distinguish an urgent problem from an important long-term issue

  • Thinks through unintended consequences before acting


4. Financial & governmental competence

  • Financially savvy about city, state and federal budgeting and funding

  • Understands that taxpayer money is finite

  • Willing to ask: What does this cost? Who pays? What are we giving up by spending it here?

  • Willing to learn the details rather than simply relying on staff or advocates


5. Independent thinking

  • Not a single-issue candidate

  • Doesn’t arrive with every decision already made

  • Can listen to staff, residents, experts and opposing viewpoints without being captured by any one group

  • Has the courage to disagree with friends, political allies or city staff when necessary

  • Independent of special interests


6. Curiosity & rigor

  • Thorough

  • Asks hard questions—nicely, but persistently

  • Wants evidence and data 

  • Reads the staff reports and supporting material

  • Asks “What are we missing?” and “What happens if we’re wrong?”


7. Collaboration

A councilor cannot accomplish much alone.

  • Can work constructively with people who disagree

  • Knows the difference between compromise and abandoning principles

  • Builds relationships and bridges 

  • Doesn’t publicly humiliate or attack people

  • Can disagree without making the disagreement personal


8. Listening & representation

  • Actually listens to residents, including people who aren’t politically active and puts plans in place to act

  • Proactively seeks resident input to understand pros/cons and different perspectives

  • Understands that representing the city means representing all of Lake Oswego, not just one’s neighborhood or constituency


9. Long-term vision

  • Loves our town and the people who live here

  • Understands infrastructure, parks, housing, transportation, public safety and finances as interconnected

  • Thinks about what Lake Oswego should look like in 10–20 years

  • Can balance preservation of what makes LO special with necessary change


10. Attitude toward the city

Proud of Lake Oswego, but never complacent about it. Should be able to say both “We’re doing this well” and “We can do this better.”


11. Courage

Asks hard questions nicely which requires both courage and temperament—two qualities that are surprisingly difficult to find together.


The courage to:

  • Say no when something isn’t in the city’s best interest

  • To stand up for the "underdog" (do no harm to residents) 

  • Ask uncomfortable questions

  • Challenge assumptions

  • Admit when something isn’t working

  • Stand alone when necessary

  • Make a difficult decision even when it will generate criticism


I asked City Councilors Ali Afghan and Trudy Corrigan who are serving now and chose not to run for re-election for their input on this list.


Ali wrote me back, "Sums it up very nicely!"


Trudy Corrigan shared, "Derrith, There is something else I might add to this great list. That would be curiosity/awareness of how other cities that are comparable to ours are dealing with issues and solving problems. Not sure where (or if) this fits, but I appreciate your thoughts and communication." Great point Trudy!


Readers, please send your thoughts and suggestions related to this list here and I'll update this blog post to include feedback from others.


 
 
 

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