By Dr. Ferrell Miller
JC Breakfast Optimis
On July 29, Sam Yoskowski, Junction City’s Vice Mayor spoke to the JC Breakfast Optimist Club members at the Hampton Inn. She shared that she is “one of five Commissioners with equal vote. The City Commissioners meet twice each month, and meetings are live streamed as well as in person. However, there is much more work to be done when not meeting. Each Commissioner is assigned to two Boards.” Hers are the Metropolitan Planning and ATA Bus Boards. “Then there are face to face contacts and messages from local citizens to respond to and other preparation work behind the scenes”, she said.
Providing resources is a big part of what the Vice Mayor sees as an important part of her role as a commissioner. “I may not know the answers or be able to solve someone’s problem directly, but I can lead or guide them to someone who will help”, Sam stated. Two of Sam’s goals from her campaign were: 1. To establish a funding process for people to request funds from the city; for the commissioners to have pre-established guidelines on how, when and why to respond to requests; and an accountability report back to the commissioners on how the money was actually spent by the requestor. 2. To legalize chickens in the city.
Using a petition to get an issue on the ballot and for citizens to be able to vote on is a part of the democratic process which can be used when a governing body has decided contrary to what a group may believe is important to them. “That is a process being looked at in the case of allowing chickens in the city”, she said.
An Optimist member asked the Vice Mayor about how to improve not only the image of Junction City, but if there are ways to address how locals speak about our city. She responded by saying “Give people reasons to believe in our town and rebuild trust through actions.”
The JC Breakfast Optimist Club meets every Wednesday with a gathering time of 6:30 AM, the meetings begin at 6:50 AM and conclude at 7:30 AM in the Hampton Inn Meeting Room. The mission of the club is to nurture optimism in youth, ourselves, our community, nation and world. Next week Nicole Green, JC Breakfast Optimist Club 2025 Scholarship winner will share about her experience having concluded her studies at the Paul Mitchell School of Cosmetology.