A Message from Mayor Drabkin

by Remy Drabkin Mayor of McMinnville

My beautiful hometown of McMinnville, Oregon is the County seat, the heart of the Willamette Valley Wine Country, home to one of only two remaining steel mills on the west coast. We have a high school, two middle schools, a community college, a private small university and an extension office for a State University. Our downtown commercial center is a lovely, historic section of town that still serves as the living room of our community. Our current industrial park is the anchor for multiple advanced manufacturing businesses. Our tourist economy is thriving with food and beverage businesses a plenty and a much-visited aviation and space museum and of course, a water park. A hospital sits on the edge of town, near our municipally owned airport. The City has owned a Water and Light Division since 1889 which manages a 6400 acres watershed and is in the process of creating water redundancy systems. We distribute water to neighboring towns; ours is the oldest utility in the State.

The City of McMinnville is also home to 140 contiguous acres of industrial zoned, shovel ready land. The “Innovation Campus” boasts highway 18 frontage and through the gate access to our airport. McMinnville has some of the lowest water and electric rates in the state. The City has been working with the current property owners and other partners to develop this land as a regional economic driver. We have aspirational goals of high paying manufacturing jobs or research and development jobs landing here with an employment count of no less than 15 employees per acre.

McMinnville City Council and I have been talking to legislators about investing in the infrastructure for the site, making this land even more business friendly. We are asking for State investment to reduce the higher costs associated with developing highway frontage. This could take many forms, expanding our existing fiber ring to serve the campus or contributing to the streets, sidewalks, underground and overhead infrastructure. The development of the site should maximize available state funds just as it will impactfully contribute to the State’s economy. This Innovation Campus, when opportunity is recognized, will result in regional job creation.

While we work on development plans at the City, we’re also meeting with businesses, some operating in town with expansion potential, others representing new interest we’d like to attract. An early McMinnville advertisement still holds true, “McMinnville is old enough to be substantial. Young enough to be ambitious. Big enough to be industrious, and small enough to be friendly.” McMinnville’s economic development goals for the Innovation Campus are regionally collaborative, forward thinking and community supported.

The future Innovation Campus will serve as a gateway to our town, we hope to attract businesses that align with our City goals of stewardship, accountability, equity and courage.