With about three months to go before the general election and the filing window open until August 21, two candidates are confirmed to be running for mayor in Banks.
Current Mayor Stephanie Jones is running again for her seat, and current City Councilor Marsha Kirk is running for the same position, pitting two of Banks’ most well-known elected leaders against each other.
(A note about our process for publishing interviews: We publish candidate interview stories in the order they are received. Candidate Masha Kirk got well ahead of the process by reaching out to the Banks Post and asking for an interview months before we had sent out our first blast of interview requests, and as such, gets the first story. We will publish the rest as soon as our candidate interview and questionnaire process is complete. Thank you for bearing with our small staff numbers!)
Kirk, a current Banks City Council member, holds several volunteer roles in the community — leading the Friends group supporting the Banks-Vernonia State Trail and Stub Stewart State Park, heading the Banks Historical Society, and as a member of the Northwest Area Commission on Transportation, among other roles — and is on her second term as a councilor. Her first position with the city was as a member of the then-newly formed Economic Development Commission (EDC) in 2016, according to a document provided by Kirk.
“As a 4th generation Washington County resident, I have become increasingly concerned with the possibility of Banks losing its small-town feel,” Kirk said in an Aug. 13 press release. “With its rich logging and farming legacies, Banks is deeply rooted in the history of western Washington County. We have numerous families who have called Banks home for several generations, and they have helped to make the area what it is today,” she said.
Kirk noted her desire to see Banks grow at a responsible rate, citing the planned Westside and Eastside developments, which could eventually triple Banks’ population by 2040, according to Kirk.
“Currently, Banks’ population is about 1,900 citizens, and within 10 -15 years, that number will almost triple! We need to be careful not to lose the Banks way of life in the process. It is not the role of our city government to simply rubber stamp everything developers put in front of us. We have a responsibility to examine all the potential impacts of development – from water, transportation and land use to preservation of our community’s cultural and historical resources – and we need to govern in a way that nurtures and builds upon our way of life rather than undertaking growth for no reason other than growth itself.”
Kirk has lived in the Banks community after moving to the region in 2005.
Kirk said in an interview with the Banks Post that her decision to run for mayor began during her time on the city’s EDC. That group set goals for the city, and she has become frustrated at what she says is a lack of progress on some of the items identified as priorities years ago.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we could have done for the community, just… we hadn’t stepped up and done,” she said.
Kirk cited, for example, the delays in fixing Banks’ water line, which was identified in city documents for more than two decades as having major leaks before work to replace it began in 2021.
As a city councilor, Kirk wants a more focused effort on city projects.
Kirk said the proposed Eastside development had infrastructure changes that should have been undertaken by the city itself.
Kirk also said that the city’s style of communication with the citizens of Banks was lacking.
“There’s a lot of common themes where people don’t necessarily know what’s going on,” Kirk said, saying that people still don’t know that the city addressed the water leak issue more than two years ago.
“It’s a lack of communication, it’s a lack of transparency that we definitely need to work on,” Kirk said.
With the recent demolishment of the Wilkes House, Kirk said her faith in the city’s leadership has diminished further.
“I doubt the city’s knowledge of their own policies,” Kirk said. “In a meeting last week it was obvious that the mayor the city manager and the former mayor knew nothing about what is actually in the city’s comprehensive plan that was authored back in 1979 and is a living document that we go by and amend certain things when needed,” she added.
“I question their capability on running the city when they don’t know or have not taken the time to sit down and read our policies, procedures plans and codes,” Kirk added.
“If the city of Banks must grow then let’s do it right the way we want it, not the way outsiders want it!” Kirk said.
Kirk’s campaign has formed a PAC, and has a Facebook page. Two campaign meet-and-greets have been held, with two more scheduled at Local Joy Coffee & Wine in Banks, scheduled September 12 from 3 to 6 p.m. and October 10 from 3 to 6 p.m.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
