Shady Cove Advocate

07/08/2026

Statement from SCM regarding the Recall Election Results.

As of last night, the unofficial recall voter results showed 510 residents voting in favor to recall our appointed Mayor, and 225 against it. As we await the official, certified results from the Jackson County Elections Office, we want to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who participated in this process, whether by signing a petition, volunteering their time, or making their voice heard. We want to thank every neighbor who refused to stay silent, who stood up for transparency, and who took the time to cast their ballot. Considering that less than twenty-five percent of recall efforts are successful, this is truly an achievement.
The recall effort has been focused on important principles for our community, particularly accountability, financial transparency and ensuring that residents have a meaningful voice in their local government. We appreciate the participation of voters and their commitment to safeguarding our city's future. We believe the unofficial results demonstrate that these concerns matter to the residents of Shady Cove.
Moving forward, we want to note that this is only the beginning – there is important work to be done as we prepare for the November elections ahead of us. We look forward to collaborative efforts with our neighbors and city leaders to ensure a smooth, transparent path ahead and to work towards a stronger, more open Shady Cove. Please follow our website www.shadycovematters.com for more updates.

Accountable & Transparent leadership Financial Honesty Respect for Citizen Input New Ideas for the City of Shady Cove

06/21/2026

ANOTHER NEW LAW FIRM, MORE CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL FEES.

We noticed that in the last Council meeting there was a new law firm on the bills paid report. How much more does the City have to spend on confidential legal fees before enough is enough?

It's not hard to guess what this is for. Despite Mayor Richardson, Councilor Nuckles and Interim City Administrator Edwards assuring the public that any restructuring was months away and that only "budget placeholders" were used until job descriptions were fully developed, the City has hired new attorneys. In addition to the old one, so now we have two law firms taking money from the City.

The new firm appears to specialize in labor law, so likely the reorganization of City Hall will cost more $$$ than has been publicly admitted to. No law firm charges a mere $1288 for work, the retainers along run into the thousands.

We demand transparency! Who authorized the hiring of another legal team, and for what purpose? Where is the budget coming from, especially when we are way, way over budget already in this fiscal year.

Here's the link to the bills-to-be-paid report:https://shadycove.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Unpaid-invoice-report-626.pdf

06/17/2026

Recall effort will be going to Ballot as Mayor Richardson declines to resign.

Hello everyone. We found out through a news article published by KOBI Channel 5 that our recall effort will be going to the ballot.
The attached article links a statement from the Mayor, as well as a statement of SCM's ongoing concerns.
https://kobi5.com/news/top-stories/shady-cove-mayor-faces-recall-election-ballots-to-be-sent-next-week-309538/

Jackson County Elections department website has more details on their main page. Ballots to be sent next week, with a deadline of July 7th to return.
https://jacksoncountyor.gov/departments/clerk/elections/index.php

Please remember -- this didn't have to happen. A free & fair election for all appointed Council members could have been scheduled for the May 19th primary, as we requested way back in December 2025. Richardson will stay in office till next year ( 7 more months if she isn't recalled.)

SHADY COVE, Ore.- The mayor of Shady Cove faces a recall election as the signatures in a citizen-led recall effort have now been verified. The recall petition received the required 243 signatures to move it to an election. In it, the recall effort alleges that Mayor Lena Richardson deliberately dela...

06/11/2026

Update on the Shady Cove Budget .

Tonight at 6pm there will be a public meeting in City Council chambers to approve next year's budget. We hope residents will attend. To counter what we believe is misinformation posted by city supporters online, here is our update on budget.

(1) Despite spending over $230,000 on auditors/accounting fees, the City still refuses to provide beginning fund balances in the budget due to "audit uncertainty". They claim it's "financially responsible" to ignore the beginning fund balances so we can live within our means. SCM counters that that money which is not properly reported within the budget, and not claimed explicitly as an investment reserve is at risk of becoming an unaccountable slush fund. Shady Cove is recovering from years of financial issues; Residents deserve honesty, not “smoke and mirrors”.

(2) The City also claims that they will save money from restructuring/re-organizing City Hall employees, allowing them to add $118,000 in funding for the Sheriff. From our independent calculations, we believe this statement is false -- personnel costs will be increasing, not decreasing. While re-organization may be warranted in the long-term, it should not be advertised as savings when it's not. In our opinion, the City needs a lot of work on its plan.

(3) Shady Cove City promotions & events is basically on life support, with a mere $1000 in the budget. The $75,000 that the City expects to collect in TLT revenue will be put towards funding improvements for the next City park at some point in the future.

Read more here, and please get involved with your City government if you want change.

Accountable & Transparent leadership Financial Honesty Respect for Citizen Input New Ideas for the City of Shady Cove

06/11/2026

THE RESIDENTS HAVE SPOKEN!!! Jackson County has officially verified that we have collected enough signatures to move the recall into the next phase.

Appointed Mayor Richardson will have 5 days (till June 15th) to decide whether or not to resign, otherwise, she forces the City to conduct (and pay for) a special election. Our latest information on the recall and City budget is here: https://shadycovematters.com/recall-main-page

We are very grateful for the Residents who signed our petition, and very grateful to the number of volunteers who tirelessly helped collect signatures.

If you'd like to get more involved in pushing for changes in City leadership and government, please email us: [email protected]

Accountable & Transparent leadership Financial Honesty Respect for Citizen Input New Ideas for the City of Shady Cove

05/21/2026

$230K on Accounting Fees, yet new City budget still has no Fund Balances

Hello everyone. This past Tuesday was Election Day, with a very high rate of participation due to the gas tax being on the ballot. We should have held elections in Shady Cove for our Mayor and two appointed Councilors. Instead, the election was denied, despite clear language in the City charter requiring it. Jackson County had confirmed the election would be free.

We said in our recall petition that as a result of Mayor Richardson's maneuvering, 60% of Council (a quorum) is unelected, with full power to hire, fire and set budgets. That's exactly what is happening now.

Yesterday, a fully-formed budget for FY26-27 was dropped onto the City website, with -- apparently -- no input from the Budget Committee. (There has been only one budget meeting, back on April 13th, and it was used to review the current year’s budget-to-actuals.) The first public meeting to discuss the budget is conveniently scheduled for the day after Memorial Day, at 9AM. (Two additional meetings are scheduled for June 2nd and June 9th.)

https://shadycove.org/budget-committee-meeting/

The City has spent approximately $230K over the last two years on fees for auditors and accountants. The budget shows $100K more accounting spending in the coming fiscal year. Yet, for the second year in a row, the City's budget does not include beginning fund balances. Once again, we are told that beginning fund balances are pending audit completion. Residents of Shady Cove, you need to know that Mayor Richardson announced in the April Budget meeting that a trial balance for FY24 was being prepared and was to be sent to the auditors that week. In SCM's research it is clear that Oregon Budget law allows estimates of beginning fund balances to be used in budgets. Given the staggering fees that have been paid, we think Citizens should be asking why these balances continue to be excluded.

The City’s budget includes property tax revenues that don’t match the Jackson County tax assessor’s records. In the City's detailed budget, the "actuals" number for current-year property taxes collected continues to show $234,454. However, the Jackson County Tax Assessor shows only $183,472 in revenue paid to the City. We pointed the discrepancy out to the City at the May 7th Council meeting; apparently the City did not feel the need to correct it. How can you trust the City’s budget when they cannot even report revenue as simple as property taxes collected?

With no public discussion in Council -- it was apparently decided that City Hall will be restructured. The plan is being announced as part of the new budget, and presumably the Mayor and other unelected Council members will get to pick new employees in addition to a new Administrator. For what it’s worth, our interim City Administrator’s contract does not allow him to hire or fire employees, so SCM is curious whether the plan will ever come before the full Council for discussion. You can read more about the restructuring plan in the City Budget Message: https://shadycove.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/FY2026-27-Budget-Summary-DRAFT-FINAL-SIGNED.pdf

Your last opportunity to sign the recall petition will be tomorrow at Shady Cove Market. Please help us get across the finish line on this recall!!!

05/05/2026

City releases report on delayed IRS payroll taxes!!!

The City of Shady Cove has just published a report on delinquent payroll taxes paid in arrears. A few weeks ago, Residents were told by Councilor Nuckles that the City had a $292K "credit" with the IRS. However, that did not include fines and fees. Less than four weeks after Nuckles statement, the City appears to have paid over $81,000 in fines, fees and late taxes, according to the report on their website.

Link to the City's report: https://shadycove.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Penalties-and-interest-paid-on-back-taxes.xlsx

The report shows a significant amount of payroll taxes were paid almost two years late -- apparently in conjunction with the completion of the first delayed audit in early 2024. For the four-year period 2021 - 2025, total fines/fees associated with the failure to file IRS 941s and late taxes appear to be somewhere north of $81,000 dollars.

We applaud the Council for being transparent on this subject. Residents would rather hear bad news than "everything's fine". We sincerely hope that the Council will work together with the City Administrator, Auditor, contracted RVCOG CPA and Finance technician to implement payroll controls and quarterly reports to ensure this does not happen again. This is on the Council agenda for discussion in the upcoming meeting Thursday, May 7th -- we encourage everyone to attend.

Read our prior research on delinquent taxes here: https://shadycovematters.com/pers-and-irs-problems

Note: The first picture shows the City's report, the second picture shows our reformatted report, which we think is easier to understand.

04/18/2026

Sign the Recall - today 12-2 at Shady Cove Market

Good morning Shady Cove, we will be collecting signatures at the Shady Cove Market today from noon to 2pm. Sign the petition or just come talk to us. To spark some conversation, we're posting the City's cash balances from the recently completed FY2023 audit.

Natalie Swendener, on behalf of Shady Cove Matters
Email: [email protected]

04/16/2026

21% of March City Budget spent on Legal Fees, City Council Mtg tonight!

Good morning. There is another Shady Cove Council meeting coming up tonight at 6pm. On page 12 of the agenda is the Bills Paid report, showing that the City continues to spend legal fees at a rapid pace. In fact, 21% of this month's City expenditures were legal fees.

Another thousand bucks for a confidential invoice that only the Mayor can see.
Just under a thousand bucks for miscellaneous legal fees
Incredibly, ANOTHER sixty bucks on Councilor Paige Winfrey -- really!!!???
And 900$ on the "Richardson Recall Petition" which we will be asking about

There was a City Budget meeting on Monday, which the City held in the library and did not provide Zoom access. We understand that the City does not believe they need a supplemental budget (despite massive overruns in legal fees and accounting), and we understand that participants were told there will still be no beginning fund balances "because of audit uncertainty"

There was also a special Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday at the River House event space across town for
Council members (except for Paige Winfrey -- who isn't permitted to attend) to get to meet the new
City Administrator candidates. We're not sure why the City used the River House instead of its' own facilities,
hopefully that's not another expense citizens have to pay for.

If you haven't signed the recall petition yet, email us at [email protected]

Natalie Swendener, on behalf of Shady Cove Matters

04/10/2026

Business Oregon Public Records Contradict Lena’s Cronies

Our third post in rebuttal to statements made by Councilor Kathy Nuckles in the last City Council meeting. Nuckles never loses an opportunity to belittle others in public to make herself look exceptional. The behavior happens so often it’s predictable. She made some alarming statements in her public remarks on April 2nd about Shady Cove’s water grant which caught our attention.
So, we fact checked Nuckles by requesting public records from Business Oregon (the Administrator of Shady Cove's $1.5M SB1530 water grant). Their response to our questions and the records they provided directly contradict Nuckles claims – we aren’t sure if her statements were outright lies or gross errors, but either way – they are demonstrably false.

CLAIM FROM KATHY NUCKLES: Former Administrator Parry was illegally funneling expenses through the water grant. Tens of Thousands of dollars of illegal charges need to be backed out of the water grant, with an accusation of criminal activity.

Statement from Kathy: “ The water grant has also been illegally used to pay for City Hall operations not-related to the water project. I mentioned this last meeting; We are now analyzing all water grant charges and backing out the illegal charges which I am estimating to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Sadly, this is going to be a hit to our general fund, however, this money should have NEVER been spent in the first place, and to hide it within the water grant is criminal. So no, the former City Administrator did not do great things with the water grant; rather it appears that she did everything in her power to derail it and use the money to cover her City Hall overspending.”

FACT-CHECK: Shady Cove appears to be way behind in spending the water grant, likely because of the infighting in Council. There have been zero drawdowns of the water grant in this fiscal year. None. Zip. It would be impossible to back out illegal charges from the grant, because none have been filed.

FACT-CHECK: The only reimbursements Shady Cove requested from the water grant were done in the previous fiscal year, in February and April 2025. The reimbursements totaled $44,147 and Kathy Nuckles PERSONALLY SIGNED OFF on both of those requests.

FACT-CHECK: Business Oregon conferred with their program staff and confirmed to us that they have not had ANY conversations with the City of Shady Cove about incorrect/ineligible grant expenses connected to the SB1530 $1.5M grant.

Nuckles claimed that Parry billed her administrative assistant to the water grant; however the City’s Bills Paid reports clearly show these costs were billed to the General Fund and are within budget. We went back through over a year of the City’s online Bills Paid reports and there appear to be approximately $37,000 in water grant charges since the last filing. Including all costs (grand total of approximately $82K)

FACT-CHECK: we estimate about 5.5% of the water grant money has been spent to-date.

Nuckles statements (re-posted by Bob Collier) are clearly an attack on Shady Cove Matters, by association. Kathy has said in the past how loyal she is to the Mayor, and we’re sure these attacks are because of our efforts to recall Mayor Lena Richardson. Why else would someone who is supposed to represent City government use such inflammatory language, which is so obviously wrong?

As I sit here and try to find the words to conclude this post, it makes me sad and frustrated. We had to draw the line and we couldn’t let this go unchallenged because the lies are so egregious. But, honestly -- the City is putting so much energy into attacking us, and it’s such a waste of time. Why attack your own citizens? Is this really the kind of government we want representing us?

Please contact us to sign the recall petition.

Natalie Swendener, on behalf of Shady Cove Matters