Mayor candidate · City of Oregon City · November 3, 2026
Adam Marl
City commissioner and state land-use agency legislative coordinator.
Reach the campaign
- adammarl.com (opens in a new tab)
- info@adammarl.com
- Volunteer form (opens in a new tab)
- Facebook (opens in a new tab)
As published in their pamphlet statement and campaign site.
In their words
Said: As a lifelong OC resident, I know that with our rich history and pioneering spirit, we have everything we need to reach our community’s full potential.
Pamphlet p. 37
Candidate statement · November 2026 edition; extracted September 21, 2026
Clackamas County voters’ pamphlet · PDF page 37 ↗Skipped the “A New Day in the First City” heading. Verbatim opening of the candidate's own statement; publication by the county does not verify the claims.
The verbatim opening of their voters’ pamphlet statement, the same rule for every candidate. We chose nothing.
What they say they would do
Our summary of their platform, in our wordsSupports public safety, homeownership, road improvements and conditions for small businesses to grow.
- Improve streets and safe school routes.
- Expand homeownership opportunities.
- Coordinate regionally on homelessness and oppose tolling.
Our reading
Our interpretation, not their wordsHis plan pairs infrastructure and small-business growth with a no-new-property-tax stance; the $4 million and past-vote claims are the campaign’s own account.
Where they stand
Rent and homes
Starter homes- What
- Said: Would expand homeownership by encouraging starter-home development, and work with regional partners to connect people who are homeless with services.
- How
- Not in their sources
- Measured by
- Not in their sources
Camps, crime and who responds
Police, behavioral health- What
- Said: Would fund the Oregon City police, invest in behavioral health and youth substance-abuse programs, and keep public spaces clean.
- How
- Not in their sources
- Measured by
- Not in their sources
Your bills and taxes
No property-tax increase- What
- Said: Would hold the line on property taxes, push for lower residential utility fees and hold private utilities accountable for ratepayers.
- How
- Not in their sources
- Measured by
- Not in their sources
Streets, buses and air
Potholes, safe routes- What
- Said: Would fix potholes and build safe routes to school, oppose tolling, and keep local road projects at the front of ODOT’s queue.
- How
- Said: Federal money through the congressional delegation for local roads; leverage over ODOT after the Abernethy Bridge delay; a proposed data-center moratorium to protect employment land.
- Measured by
- Said: $4 million in federal road funding, which the campaign says is already secured.
The choices this office faces
Every candidate in this race is asked the same 6 questions. Adam Marl is on record on 6. A question without an answer is a research gap, not a position.
On recordAdopt a temporary moratorium on data centers while the city rewrites its code?
Said: Proposed a data-center moratorium at the September 8, 2026 work session to protect the city’s remaining employment land for living-wage jobs; his site says the commission agreed to move forward, though no ordinance has yet been published.
Close the general fund’s structural gap by raising the property-tax rate or the $6.50-a-month public-safety fee, or by cutting?
Said: Proposed a May 2025 framework to keep the tax rate flat by trimming DEI, adaptive-reuse and business-promotion budgets, then moved adoption of the budget at the higher $4.489 rate on June 4, 2025; his campaign says he opposed the increase.
Move the city’s Caring Court into the Caring Place services hub, and keep the downtown civil-exclusion zone?
Said: Voted yes December 3, 2025 on the downtown civil exclusion zone; in September 2025 said the Caring Place had made no formal request and he had “a hard time” with it seeking collaboration so late. Caring Court move unsaid.
Keep the urban-renewal district (about $3.2 million a year in tax increment) and try again to loosen the charter’s voter-approval rule, or wind it down?
Said: Chairs the Urban Renewal Commission and voted January 7, 2026 to rezone two agency-owned houses so they can be sold; his site describes the agency’s focus as redeveloping underused public property. Charter Section 59 and closing the district are unsaid.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
Give ODOT five more years, to 2031, to stage I-205 bridge work in two riverfront parks, and keep pressing the state to strike tolling from statute?
Said: Moved the January 7, 2026 motion that tolling language be permanently stricken from statute, passed 5–0; says that when ODOT sought five more years in the parks he made local projects relying on ODOT a condition.
Ask voters for a parks bond to build a new aquatic center and rebuild the End of the Oregon Trail center?
Said: Says he will champion community involvement as the city decides upgrades to the pool and the End of the Oregon Trail center; his May 2025 budget framework listed a potential parks bond as a coming topic, without endorsing one.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
A question the evidence leaves open
Which housing and road changes would you deliver first without weakening the city’s finances?
Sources (2)
- Clackamas County voters’ pamphlet · PDF page 37Candidate statement · November 2026 edition; reviewed September 18, 2026Written by the candidate or campaign. Publication by the county does not verify the claims.
- Marl · prioritiesCandidate statement · Website reviewed September 21, 2026Campaign position. Claimed results and numerical premises have not automatically been independently verified.