The Ashland City Council appointed two new members at a Special Council meeting on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Jeffrey Dahle and Dylan Bloom will serve until the next election in November 2024.
 
A total of 19 Ashland residents applied for the vacant seats. In January, then Mayor Julie Akins resigned, followed by then Councilor Shaun Moran. Councilor Tonya Graham was appointed Mayor in February 2023, leaving two seats open on Council.
 
Bloom brings experience from serving on various committees while a student at Southern Oregon University (SOU). He also served as Director of Government Affairs in student government and lobbied on behalf of SOU and students. “I feel that as a young millennial and parent who lives in Ashland, and lives paycheck to paycheck to survive here, that young families and people like me are underrepresented in our local government. We need to inspire change in our City and give a voice to folks who want to see Ashland become more vibrant, that means having representation that they can relate to,” Bloom stated in his application.
 
Dahle is a local small business owner, born and raised in Ashland, who served on the City of Ashland Airport Commission from 2020-2023 / Chaired in 2022 and was recently appointed to the City of Ashland Citizen’s Budget Committee. Dahle shared in his application that he has a, “… curiosity, coupled with a desire to understand how individuals, families, businesses and organizations live, interrelate and prosper within a community [and that] has led me to a desire to serve and contribute.”
 
For general questions about the City or Council, please visit ashland.or.us, email administration@ashland.or.us or call 541.488.6002.
 
 “We are better together!”
  Ashland.News photo by Bob Palermini
Released March 16, 2023