NEWBERG, Ore. — During the Oct. 19 Newberg City Council meeting, councilors, staff, and the public discussed a local political blogger’s story that released information about Councilor Elise Yarnell Hollamon and her husband’s death in 2025.
The blog post, published Thursday, Oct. 15, focused on Councilor Yarnell Hollamon’s work as a councilor and her relationship with her business and nonprofits, as well as information from police reports about her late-husband. The post named others, including City Manager Will Worthey and other city staff, in accusations of financial mismanagement or fraud.
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“I represent 150 very hard-working and ethical people, and I have to defend the city, and it’s good work when they are attacked,” Worthey said at the meeting, reading from a prepared statement after his monthly city manager statistics report.
Worthey continued by responding to the accusations, asserting no wrongdoing by city staff and saying the city has passed independent audits with no findings for the past five years. The 2026 audit was taking place that week, he said.
Twelve people spoke during public comment, including Ken Yarnell, Councilor Yarnell Hollamon’s father, about the blog post. Most called for Mayor Bill Rosacker to publicly denounce the post.
“I have very little respect for somebody who writes an article with these kinds of things in them,” Rosacker said. “Not a lot of people read his articles, and my intention was to not try to elevate that article.”
After the public comment period closed, Councilor Yarnell Hollamon said she had gone through reviews with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission and city legal counsel on matters involving city business. She then took time to clarify some of the points made in the blog post and stated her willingness to discuss it further.
Yarnell Hollamon and Rosacker are running for Newberg mayor in the upcoming Nov. 3 election.
Also at the Oct. 19 Council Meeting
Mill site discussion
In new business for council, Yarnell Hollamon presented a proposal for the city to take a more active role in marketing and preparing the former mill site for redevelopment, saying the city should develop an economic strategy for the property.
She said she had met with representatives of the site’s owner, Commercial Development Company (CDC), and proposed that the city could offer prospective businesses support such as grant writing, urban renewal funds, and infrastructure improvements. She said the plan would not use general fund dollars or raise taxes or fees.
According to CDC’s website, the former WestRock paper mill closed in January 2016. The company describes the property as a 220-acre campus that includes about 120 acres of industrial or mixed-use land, and says a CDC affiliate acquired it in 2020.
Yarnell Hollamon said businesses that had inquired about the site, including DCI International, did not move forward, and she attributed that to unresolved transportation planning around Highway 219. Newsberg reported in June that DCI would consolidate its Oregon operations in Wilsonville. Rosacker said transportation was one of the issues but that any development would require a transportation study paid for by the developer.
Worthey said his role was providing data on request. He said any city assistance, such as reductions in system development charges or help with infrastructure, would depend on the size and type of development.
As a new business item, no action was taken by council.
Flagpole maintenance procedure
Council voted to adopt Resolution 2026-4051, a procedure for removing materials left at city flagpoles after vigils and protests, with Yarnell Hollamon casting the dissenting vote.
The resolution replaces a framework council approved Sept. 21 under Resolution 2026-4049.
According to the procedure, materials may not be affixed to the flagpole or other city property and must be removed when a gathering disperses. Materials left behind are considered abandoned, and city staff will remove and dispose of them, usually within 48 hours during the work week. Anyone may report abandoned materials to the city manager or the Public Works director, and participants should not expect to reclaim items. The meeting packet estimates the cost at about $200 a year in staff labor.
Public Works workplans
Public Works Director Ahmad Qayoumi and division supervisors presented workplans, at council’s request, for streets, sewer collections, stormwater, water distribution, water and wastewater treatment, operations maintenance, and fleet. According to the presentation slides, several divisions reported fewer available staff hours than their programs require. Qayoumi said the department would need at least three to four additional employees.
City manager’s August report
In his monthly statistics report, Worthey said the city issued permits for seven housing units in August and completed 375 building inspections. According to the report’s slides, police recorded 2,265 calls for service, 808 traffic stops, and eight cases of driving under the influence of intoxicants. The city received 19 public records requests, and the library logged 35,981 circulation events. Water production totaled 125.9 million gallons.
