A Conversation with Mayor Rob Ward of the City of Florence, and Oregon Rainmakers Host, Michael Dunne
I’ve had many people come up to me and say they were used to city’s changing mayors, but I was the first mayor they even met who changed cities!Rob Ward
Rob Ward has had a long career in city government, but he didn’t plan for that.
“I told my wife, when we first got to Florence, we’d be here for four years, and that was 1974 and my wife Cathy and I are still here!” he said.
He thought his job as a logging engineer
would move them around a lot, but instead they stayed and become civic fixtures in the community and he became a land surveyor by trade.
He started his political career as a board member for the Florence Junior Baseball to help maintain the playing fields. At the time, the only fields were at the schools and so Ward helped launch the building of Miller Park with multiple playing fields.
From there he was appointed to the Florence City Council and became mayor in the 1980’s.
He backed away from politics for a while, but apparently politics didn’t want to back away from him. Even though they left Florence, the Ward’s moved to nearby Dune City and he was asked again to serve as mayor for that municipality for nine years.
“I’ve had many people come up to me and say they were used to city’s changing mayors, but I was the first mayor they even met who changed cities!”
Ultimately, he found his way back to Florence as an opening came up on the council and he ascended to the mayor position last fall.
