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It’s her time to run for mayor of Florence, Sally Wantz said. 

Wantz moved to Florence 23 years ago. She worked at the casino for 16 years, has been involved in The Rotary Club of Florence for 20 years. “I’ve been on Western Lane Community Foundation. I’ve been on the PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center Foundation. I’ve been on the Lane Community College Community Advisory Committee,” she said. And she’s been on the Florence City Council since being elected in 2020.

Wantz said she has the energy and the time to serve. “I’m unemployed, you know, I don’t have a job to go to. So I have all the time in the world as long as I keep Jennifer and our cats as the number one priority,” she said.

“It’s just the right thing to do. It’s the right thing for me. I think I’ll be the right mayor that the city of Florence needs,” Wantz said.

Wantz was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, in a conservative family. Her father was a businessman who was anti-union. Her mother was anti-government, seeing child car seats as overreach, for example, Wantz said. 

She would eventually move to New York City, and then Denver. “When I finally got to New York and into Denver, I thought to myself, now, wait a minute, that doesn’t resonate with me anymore.”

She has enjoyed the conversations and debates on city council, acknowledging she has her own opinions informed by her experiences. “All five of us have our own points of view, and when it works, it works great. And when it doesn’t work, it can get a little contentious,” Wantz said.

Wantz believes the city has a moral responsibility to care for its residents. That includes the unhoused. “Can’t we have some compassion and try to find a way to help them as much as we help everybody else in the community? With all the organizations we have, from Food Share to S.O.S., there’s got to be a way that we can be better, be more helpful,” she said. Without offering any specific policies, she believes as mayor, she can look at the problem through a different lens. 

The same holds true for our community’s retirees who are struggling financially because of rising costs. “It breaks my heart that we are a retirement community, and many who are retired struggle financially.” The city can’t control outside forces like the price of fuel or food. But she wants the city and city council to make decisions that are in the best interest of the community, she said. 

Economic development and developing new housing are tied together. “Economic development? Absolutely. Housing? Absolutely. Childcare? Absolutely. They all go together. They’re all economic drivers,” Wantz said. 

The city can provide tax incentives, work with the Chamber of Commerce and developers, all to encourage more housing at all levels, from low-income, through subsidized to market value homes. 

Wantz thinks the city should work with the school district to improve the schools. Better schools would attract more families, she said. She was disappointed that the school bond didn’t pass in the spring.

RipTide Sports gives Wantz a vision of the kinds of businesses Florence could support. The company makes bushings and other parts for skateboards and relocated to Florence from California. 

Mild weather, the ocean, forest, can all be a draw for a business looking to relocate. “I heard not too long ago that there are a lot of small businesses in the Midwest where all the weather is happening, the heat, the stuff that these owners don’t like anymore. They want to move someplace where it’s nice and cool, and they might be drifting to the West Coast, and we just need to be ready to say ‘hi,’ we’re here,” she said. 

She is also supportive of the idea of creating a Parks and Recreation Special District. Special districts are separate entities from the city — the library and port, for example. A Parks and Rec district could extend beyond the city limits, spreading out the cost and workload for managing the parks. 

Wantz believes her experience differentiates her from the other mayoral candidates.

“I think my experience of six years on the council, I think my experience in human resources and management, all my life experiences from where I was born to where I am now, I think all of that informs people of who I am and the kind of person I would be as a mayor.”