Seven candidates have filed for election to the Lane Community College Board of Education. The candidates have filed for several different zones, but all Lane County voters may vote for all candidates. The candidates that have filed, and the positions they are seeking include:

All candidates have accepted an invitation to appear at a candidate forum sponsored by the Springfield City Club in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Lane County. Each candidate has been invited to submit a statement concerning their candidacy. The statements received so far may be found here: Candidate Statements.

The forum will be held on May 1 at Roaring Rapids Pizza, 4006 Franklin Boulevard in Glenwood. It will be an in-person only event. The forum will begin at noon and is scheduled to run for 90 minutes. Attendees who wish to purchase lunch should arrive by 11:30 a.m.

One of the newest business additions in Springfield is a franchise of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain. The new restaurant is located in the Gateway area, near the intersection of Gateway and Beltline. Chick-fil-A’s franchise model is essential to how the restaurant serves others. Most Chick-fil-A restaurants are owned and operated by a single individual, which means Chick-fil-A’s local Owner-Operators are small business owners, not passive investors, who work in their restaurants side by side with their Team Members each day.

In Springfield, Jared Coleman will be responsible for all day-to-day activities of the business, including employing approximately 150 full- and part-time Team Members, serving Guests, cultivating relationships with local organizations and businesses, and tailoring philanthropic efforts to meet the Springfield community’s needs.

Driven by a heart for service from an early age, Coleman began his journey with Chick-fil-A in high school, serving as a Team Member in Tucson, Arizona. He attended the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and later pursued graduate studies at Florida State University. During graduate school, he worked at a Chick-fil-A near campus, which reignited his passion for the restaurant’s people first-culture. In 2013, Coleman joined Chick-fil-A in Tallahassee, Florida, where he spent nearly six years under the mentorship of a local Owner-Operator. This pivotal experience led him to shift his focus from pursuing a doctorate to becoming a Chick-fil-A local Owner-Operator himself. In 2019, he achieved this goal, becoming the local Owner-Operator of Chick-fil-A Cedar Hills Blvd in Beaverton, Oregon. Now, Coleman, along with his wife and three children, looks forward to opening Springfield’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant, where he plans to build strong partnerships with local educators and schools.

“Chick-fil-A has deep roots in our family – my father became a local Owner-Operator in Tucson after retiring from the Air Force,” said Coleman. “As I introduce Chick-fil-A to the Springfield community, I am honored to continue our family legacy and uphold the company’s culture of care. At Chick-fil-A Gateway & Randy Pape Beltline, we aim to create a supportive environment where Team Members can grow and pursue their dreams through the same kind of mentorship that shaped my journey.”

Natural areas are vital to our wellbeing. Spending time in nature is linked to both cognitive benefits and improvements in mood, mental health, and emotional wellbeing, according to the American psychologist Association. Not only are natural areas vital to us as humans, they are critical to providing habitat for plants and wildlife. Willamalane staff will share their experience implementing large restoration projects at various natural areas, including Thurston Hills Natural Area and Dorris Ranch, to improve conditions for both humans and wildlife. Staff will discuss some threats, such as wildfire, to our local natural areas and what Willamalane is doing to try and address them. You’ll hear about Willamalane’s efforts to balance habitat restoration work with recreation and creating fire resilient landscapes in Springfield.

Jackie Rochefort is the Planning and Natural Resource Manager for Willamalane Park and Recreation District.  Prior to her role with the district, she spent 24 years as the Park Planner for the City of Corvallis Parks and Recreation Department where she designed and managed the construction of almost all of their parks and trails.  In earlier years, she has had the great privilege of working with native plant communities at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and designing environment enclosures for primates at the San Diego Zoo. She has also served as an Adjunct Instructor At UO of where she got her Master of Landscape Architecture.