Oregon voters elect new mayor amid data center debate

OREGON, Ohio (WTVG) – Oregon City Councilman Steven Salander will become the city’s next mayor, after voters elected him to the seat Tuesday.

“I think the voters have spoken that without a doubt they’re ready for some change,” Salander said.

Michael Seferian was elected to the mayoral office in 2009 and has served four terms.

In this year’s race, Seferian received roughly 36% of the vote, compared to Salander’s roughly 63%.

Salander has served on the city council for nearly two years. He said he wants to see more transparency from the mayor’s office and wants to give residents more opportunities to get involved in city government.

“I want to have a citizens advisory board and so forth to be able to help us make those decisions. Surround ourselves with engineers and other attorneys and outside people that can give us information and understanding,” Salander said.

The city’s proposed data center became a major issue for Oregon voters.

Outgoing Mayor Michael Sefarian said when he spoke with voters Tuesday, he heard significant concern about the proposal, which he supports.

Sefarian believes a data center would be a good fit for the city’s industrial park because of the revenue it would bring to the area.

“They made their thoughts heard that maybe I wasn’t getting their opinions understood, that they didn’t want a data center here. And that reflected pretty strongly in the vote tallies,” Sefarian said.

Salander said he is neither for nor against the data center because he wants more information about the project.

“I was for it earlier in the year,” Salander said. “But as information came out more and some of the information we were given changed, I have the same concerns our citizens have as well. And we need to look at the full big picture.”

Salander said he plans to start getting that information when he takes office come January 2026.

There is a town hall set for Oregon Residents to learn more about the data center. That will be held on Nov. 19 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Fassett Jr. High.

Latest Local News | First Alert Weather | Crime | National | 13abc Originals

Copyright 2025 WTVG. All rights reserved.