PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAM
January 2025

With the new year comes new Public Policy initiatives. And our Branch Meeting on January 25, 2025, 10am will hold the answers to what’s new for the City of Ashland!

Tonya Graham

Gina DuQuenne 

Sabrina Cotta

Join Mayor Tonya Graham, Councilor Gina DuQuenne, and City Manager Sabrina Cotta as they give us the highlights! These three Ashland leaders will participate in a panel discussion on current issues facing Ashland in 2025. As a member of the audience, you will be able to ask questions.

Mayor Graham and Councilor DuQuenne were re-elected this past November to four-year terms. Cotta was confirmed as the permanent City Manager this past summer, after serving as Interim City Manager since Fall 2023. These three women are leaders in our city government.

The City Council is preparing to initiate a new Strategic Plan, which will look at where the City wishes to be in the next decade. Additionally, the Council will adopt a new budget in Spring 2025 for the 2025-2027 Biennium. New construction for the relocated water treatment plant begins this coming year after the ballot measure to accept up to $75,000,000 in EPA funds was approved. Finally, by June 30, 2025, new land use regulations in the form of “Climate Friendly Area designations” will be adopted by the Council for areas within the City known as the Railroad Property and the Transit Triangle, among other choices. Before these issues are presented and discussed at the Council level, they must be prepared by the City Manager and her staff.

There is a lot going on in Ashland! Come and join the discussion!

Lisa Verner, Public Policy Chair

“Big Ideas” Talks To Generate Conversations
2024-2025 Calendar

AAUW/Ashland & Jackson County Library Services, present
monthly discussions, 4:00-5:30 pm at the Ashland Library

—February 4, 2025—
“The Teenage Brain: Impacts on Despair, Homelessness
& Substance Abuse.”
Mary Ferrell (left), Executive Director, Maslow Project;
Lacey Corbett (right), MA, Clinical Supervisor, Maslow Project

—March 4, 2025—
“Oregon Gun Laws Still Under Fire? An Update on Measure 114.”
Nathan Sickler (left), Jackson County Sheriff;
Tighe O’Meara (right), Ashland Police Chief

Member contact information is available on a password- protected page.
If you are not a member and wish to contact our Branch Co-Presidents, go the Contact Us page.
To become an AAUW-Ashland branch member, go to our Join AAUW Ashland page.