City of Coos Bay
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Mayor and City Council Candidates
Open Positions
- Mayor (two-year term)
- City Councilor - 3 positions (four-year terms)
Current Candidates
As of August 7, at 12pm, the following individuals have filed candidate applications.- Mayor
- Joe Benetti
- City Councilor
- Sara Stephens
- Jacob Niebergall
- Carmen Matthews
Important Dates
- Filing Period Opened: June 3, 2026
- Incumbent Filing Deadline: August 18, 2026, at 5:00pm
- Non-incumbent Filing Deadline: August 25, 2026, at 5:00pm
- Election Date: November 3, 2026
Position Information
The Council is composed of a mayor and six council members elected from the City at large.Mayor
- Two-year term
- The Mayor is chairman of the Council and presides over its deliberations and has a vote on any question before the Council. The Mayor has authority to preserve order, enforce the rules of the Council, and determine the order of business under the rules of the Council.
- The Mayor presides at all regular, special meetings, executive sessions, and work sessions of the Council and is the recognized head of the City for all ceremonial purposes.
City Councilor
- Six councilors serve with alternating terms
- Four-year term
Candidate Process
- Oregon Secretary of State's County, City and District Candidate Manual
Please contact the City of Coos Bay Administration at administration@coosbayor.gov or 541-269-8912 with any questions.
Ballot Measure
This measure amends the Coos Bay City Charter.
The measure would:
• Establish Charter requirements governing the use of transient lodging tax revenues, including requiring at least 70 percent of revenues be used for tourism promotion and tourism-related facilities and activities and allowing up to 30 percent to be used for other municipal purposes.
• Make the position of Municipal Judge optional and authorize the City Council to establish or discontinue a municipal court by ordinance.
• Revise candidate qualification procedures to reflect the Municipal Judge changes.
• Make various grammatical, formatting, and obsolete-language revisions throughout the Charter.
A “yes” vote approves these Charter amendments.
A “no” vote rejects these Charter amendments and leaves the Charter unchanged.
City Charter Proposed Amendment 2026_Legislative Copy
City Charter Proposed Amendment 2026_Clean Copy
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