They may each have only one name on the ballot, but the uncontested Jackson County races feature candidates who bring years of experience and passion to the elected offices they seek.

Incumbent Justice of the Peace Joe Charter has served four prior terms going back to the mid-2000s. Incumbent county surveyor Scott Fein has been in the role since 2012. And Angela Stuhr would be new to the role of county assessor, but she has more than 15 years of experience in the office.

In interviews with the Rogue Valley Times, the unopposed candidates shared what they’ve accomplished — and why they’re on the ballot.

Joe Charter, Justice of the Peace

Retired judge Joe Charter was appointed to the Jackson County Justice Court bench earlier this year, but his experience in the role spans the better part of two decades.

Charter served four terms as Justice of the Peace, from 2004 to 2019, handling traffic tickets written by the sheriff’s office and Oregon State Police, and shaping the office into one that also handlescode violations in Central Point, Jacksonville, Phoenix, Shady Cove and Talent.

Asked why he wants to run for a fifth term, his answer was simple: “I love the job — I love talking to people one-on-one.”

For instance, Charter said that people often do not understand why their license is suspended. He said he takes the time with individuals to address each issue holistically.

“That’s working on fixing the problem,” Charter said.

His office handles about 12,000 cases a year with three clerks, although in prior years it has seen more than 17,000.

“We stay busy enough,” Charter said.

It was only focused on traffic court when Charter took office in 2004. He adopted Central Point’s municipal court cases in 2013 and Shady Cove’s soon after. The justice court adopted Talent’s municipal cases in 2014, Jacksonville’s in 2017, Phoenix’s in 2018, Rogue River’s in 2020 and Gold Hill’s earlier this year.

He said that having all these municipal court cases under one roof allows him to streamline fines and fees.

“Now we can tailor a payment plan that people can afford,” Charter said. “It’s more efficient for the local governments to have everything in one place.”

Scott Fein, surveyor

From securing unprecedented federal funding to restore hundreds of survey markers damaged and destroyed in the Labor Day 2020 fires, to implementing a new online database that makes a century and a half of survey and land records available to the public, incumbent surveyor Scott Fein described what he and his team have accomplished during his most recent term.

“We were the first county in the U.S. that FEMA has ever given money to to restore survey monuments,” Fein said.

Roughly 450 markers were damaged or moved during the Almeda and South Obenchain fires and its aftermath, according to a report from the surveyor’s office in a recent county budget document. With many fences obliterated that had delineated property boundaries, Fein said his office’s efforts, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, spared property owners from needing to hire private surveyors during the rebuilding process. He said that the federally funded work helped keep land owners’ costs down “immensely.”

“We actually did something pretty amazing for the community,” Fein said. “I’d say that’s a pretty proud accomplishment.”

That’s not to mention the spike in demand for survey work that followed the fires. 

“We picked up, like, 10 years of work overnight,” Fein said. “The level of damage was a lot greater than we usually see.” 

Yet the accomplishment Fein is most proud of is maintaining his department’s “longstanding, exceptional reputation.” That includes much quicker turnarounds than what the state requires.

The surveyor’s office has internal processing goals that are at least half of what is required under state statute. The department report shows that Fein’s department met the same performance metrics every year since at least fiscal year 2020-21. Fein prides his team on a “private-sector attitude” that strives to cater to the needs of private sector surveyors and the greater development community.

“I’m very passionate about surveying,” Fein said. “I really care about this profession, and we care about the community.”

Angela Stuhr, assessor

Angela Stuhr has run for assessor before, making it to the runner-up spot among five candidates for county assessor in 2016 before landing behind outgoing assessor David Arrasmith in the general election that year.

“I came in second, but you still do the work,” Stuhr said. “If you love the job, you still do the work.”

This time around, Stuhr is the only candidate on the ballot for assessor, but she still wants to earn her vote, she said. Stuhr brings more than a decade and a half of experience in the assessor’s office and for the past two years has worked as the valuation manager — a position similar to that of a chief appraiser in other counties — where her responsibilities include certifying the tax roll each year and working closely with county administration to identify goals and needs.

“The work we do is very complex,” she said.

Stuhr said that she and her predecessor have “very different management styles,” but she praised Arrasmith for allowing her to take a leadership role. That year there was a state audit that “indicated we had some deficiencies,” and Stuhr said she was given the autonomy to “dig in with staff” to address the issues in a five-year plan.

“We broke it down into parts we could manage,” Stuhr said.

She values the staff of roughly 30 as the department’s greatest asset. In the term ahead, she wants to build them up, cross-train them and ensure the department “leaves little room for major mistakes.”

“My greatest accomplishment is having the respect of my office,” Stuhr said. “They are committed public servants.”

Ballots for the May 21 Oregon primary will be mailed to Southern Oregon voters May 3.