Five candidates are seeking one of three seats on the Philomath City Council in the Nov. 3 general election with four having already qualified for the ballot and a fifth still awaiting confirmation.
As of Monday afternoon, four candidates had officially qualified for the ballot — Candy Garcia, David Low, Amanda Polley and Richard Saalsaa. A fifth, incumbent Jessica Andrade, was still in the petition verification process with the Benton County Elections Office.
Unlike council races in some other cities, Philomath does not use wards or districts and fills vacant positions through an at-large election. As a result, the top three vote-getters will win seats.
City Recorder Crystal Weber said she received several submissions early last week.
“Right now we have four and then it looks like there’s going to be a fifth that’s going through the process,” Weber said. “Verification could take a bit because Benton County is doing multiple cities.”
The three seats up for election are currently held by Andrade, Teresa Nielson and Saalsaa. As of Monday, Nielson had not filed for reelection. The terms of Mayor Christopher McMorran and councilors Diane Crocker, Spencer Irwin and Brent Kaseman expire at the end of 2028.
Garcia owns a bakery and catering business and works for the Philomath School District as a classified substitute. She currently serves on the Philomath Park Advisory Board and the Philomath Public Art Committee.
Saalsaa, a retired deputy fire chief, works as a consultant for Priority Dispatch Corp. He was appointed to the council in January 2025 to complete the term of Matt Lehman, which expires at the end of this year.
Polley works as an office specialist in Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. She currently chairs and facilitates the Philomath Inclusivity Committee and also served last year on the city’s Budget Review Committee.
Low retired after a career in finance and banking. He served three terms on the City Council after winning election in 2016, 2018 and 2020, and lost his 2022 reelection bid to Andrade by a single vote.
Andrade works as substitute classified staff with the Philomath School District and Edustaff in the Corvallis School District. She has served on the council since 2021, having won the 2020 election and then the 2022 election to a four-year term.
The filing period for council candidates opened June 3. It closes Tuesday for incumbents and Aug. 25 for all other candidates.
“No one else has taken out an application or expressed interest yet but the week is still young,” Weber said on Monday afternoon. “If anyone else is interested, I’ll do what I can from my end to help move the process along, but time is short.”
Weber said the process has gone smoothly this cycle, though the pace typically picks up as deadlines near.
“It starts getting really busy in the last two weeks,” she said. “We just want to make sure that they get everything verified on time.”
All three seats carry four-year terms beginning Jan. 1 and expiring Dec. 31, 2030. The positions are nonpartisan and unpaid, and candidates must reside within Philomath city limits.
