Hamsher says the mayor plays the role of Prairie City’s manager

By Logan Bagett on Monday, December 19th, 2022 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories

PRAIRIE CITY – Prairie City Mayor Jim Hamsher was recently on KJDY’s Coffee Time. The mayor reflected on the town’s operating costs over the last several years:

“With PERS and health care costs going up, sometimes we’ve had to reduce the amount of employees. Just to give you a glimpse on how much it’s risen, I was looking back in 1972—the town ran for, I believe it was a $140,000 per-year budget. Last year it was just over $4 million.”

Jim said he’s served a total of 12 years as the mayor of Prairie City. During the first city council meeting in January of 2023, Hamsher will hand the reigns over to Mayor-Elect Scott Officer. Mayor Hamsher said for an unpaid position, there’s a lot to take on:

“A lot of people don’t realize, here we don’t have a city manager. You play the role of the city manager to keep these projects moving. It adds a little bit more to the position of mayor, but it’s worth it when you can get some good things done.”

For more information about Prairie City’s government, call City Hall at (541) 820-3605.