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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Lane appointed to city council
(Photo by Laura Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
Ethan Lane at the Cave Junction City Council meeting July 12 before he was
sworn in for council position #1 to replace Councilor Dan Bosch.
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
There’s a new voice
on the Cave Junction City
Council, a new member
that’s ready to bring a fresh
perspective on the issues
facing the people of Cave
Junction.
That’s Ethan Lane,
owner-operator of Grocery
Outlet, who was appointed to
position 1 via a unanimous
decision made during the
opening minutes of last
Monday’s evening meeting,
filling out the void left by
former councilor Dan Bosch.
Bosch served for over
six years before tendering a
heartfelt resignation speech
during a preceding city
council meeting held over
Zoom June 14, citing ongoing
health problems that were
continuing to reduce the time
he had available to dedicate to
public service.
Lane has never held
public office — but that’s not
unusual, and not exactly a
stumbling block for most that
take up the role, considering
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the position is unpaid.
“It’s something I’ve
always been interested in, and
when I was approached by the
mayor with the proposition
of being part of something
bigger than myself, I couldn’t
turn it down,” Lane said.
Cave Junction’s Grocery
Outlet opened in December
2018, bringing Lane along
with it. He has become known
to many during his short
tenure here primarily because
of his role at one of the most
traveled stores in town.
Aside from his semi-
regular attendance of city
council meetings, he has yet
to be caught up to speed on
the specifics of issues facing
the city at this time.
Lane will serve out the
remainder of Bosch’s term,
through December 2022, then
he can choose to run as an
incumbent for the seat during
a regularly held election.
“I have a lot of respect
for Bosch, he’s always been
very detail oriented and
everything I’ve seen come
off of his plate has been
really dedicated to making
sure that nothing is going to
change to the detriment of the
community,” Lane said. “He
would often see things that
others could not.”
Lane said that he has
been in Josephine County
for most of his life, with
significant family ties in
Hugo, but that he grew up
in Crescent City, where he
graduated high school in
1999.
He spent four years
in the Navy before moving
back to Josephine County
in 2004, shortly thereafter
starting a lengthy career at the
Grocery Outlet in Grants Pass,
eventually rising to the rank
of location manager.
When the opportunity
arose to land a location to call
his own in Cave Junction, he
took it and made the move.
“I want to help the
community, that’s the big
picture,” Lane said. “I want to
provide another perspective
and make sure that Cave
Junction is taken care of.”
Mayor Meadow Martell
said that there were a handful
of applications that were
considered before the decision
was made to appoint Lane,
but that Lane was the most
obvious choice, considering
his standing in the community,
and his community-minded
spirit.
She said he was chosen
because he had the longest
running level of serious
interest in civic service, and
that voters can decide on him,
or someone else, when the
time comes.
“He had expressed
interest in the past, and he had
been attending meetings fairly
regularly even before anyone
knew that a position was
going to become available,”
Martell said. “So he was the
natural choice.”