The Olympian Mayor

John McArdle, was the mayor of Independence, Oregon, a city of 10,000 in Western Oregon, for 26 years before retiring in 2024. During his time as mayor, he was known as a leader who tackled tough issues and set ambitious goals. He was also a convener who brought together local leaders from across Oregon as president of both the Oregon Mayors Association and the Oregon League of Cities. He has another title: U.S. track & field Olympian for the hammer throw.

For more information, visit us at nlc.org.

Transcript

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 0:07

Welcome back to Cityspeak. I am your host, Melanie Fonder Kay, Senior Executive with the National League of Cities. Cityspeak gives listeners an insider's view of what local leadership in America means today and features conversations with government leaders and policy experts regarding the biggest issues and challenges facing America's cities, towns, and villages. Joining us today is John McArdle, former mayor of Independence, Oregon, serving for 26 years before retiring in 2024. During his time as mayor, he was known as a leader who tackled tough issues and set ambitious goals. He was also a convener who connected local leaders across Oregon as president of both the Oregon Mayors Association and the Oregon League of Cities. He also has another title, Olympian.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 1:07

Thank you.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 1:09

Well, can we just start with your Olympic story? Can you just please tell us that?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 1:14

Well, uh, I grew up in uh Salem, Oregon, and uh I was a high school athlete of, you know, I I participated, went on to the University of Oregon, and I didn't know anything about recruited athletes or anything like that. And uh I found out that uh discus throwers were throwing 40 and 50 feet further than I was, and they said, Hey, we need a hammer thrower. And they handed me a hammer and said, go out in the back and learn to throw it. Well, uh, by and by, over four or five years, I uh was able to be uh successful enough, but a few people helped and made the United States Olympic team in 1980, uh, the year we didn't get to go to Moscow. And so uh, but I competed for the U.S. uh from the late 70s into the early uh 90s, world championships, dual meets, uh meets around the world. And uh because of the Olympic boycott, they got me involved in the political side of track and field as an athlete representative. And then from there, the athletes uh voted me forward to uh the United States Olympic Committee. And I uh had a chance to be a board member of the United States Olympic Committee, serve on a number of uh uh panels and uh committees, and I'm now vice president and I'm president of the Oregon chapter of the Olympic and Paralympic Alumni Association, and also vice president of that same organization, the United States. And so there's there's lots of different parts that go into that, but that's the uh uh the over uh the overarching in uh my Olympic activities and learning the politics of sport got me all warmed up for how to deal with the the politics at both the local and the state level.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 2:56

Oh, that's amazing. So just tell us a little bit more about how did your experience as an Olympian prepare you for your work with local government?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 3:04

Well, it's hard. And uh to be successful uh as an athlete, you need to have a goal, have a focus, uh, build a team around you uh and work hard every day towards that goal. You have to make a plan and move forward. It's very much just like local government. You've got to make a plan, you've got to build a team, you've got to work hard on it every day, and it's gotta be a goal that's worth it. Because otherwise, you know, why are we spending time? Why are we spending uh effort to to paint a park bench? I love park benches, but you know, look, let's do something uh that that's worthwhile. And and those are are the kind of things that uh that, you know, it's athletics. Well, the Olympics are based on um, I had as part of my Olympic travels, I had the uh opportunity to to attend the International Olympic Academy, which was a uh intellectual and scholarly activity in ancient Olympia, Greece. I was one of four Americans that were able to join 120, 130 people.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 4:09

Wow.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 4:10

And learned things that were interesting. You know, the ancient Olympics, of course, we had the there was the athletics, but the discipline of athletics, but there was also the discipline of uh scholarly research, the discipline of art and culture. And so the key word here is the discipline of. And so that's why uh we hear and we see um the athletic portion of it on TV. But there is still an art and culture, there's still a scholarly research component associated with the the Olympic force, and it's the discipline of. And that's the same thing that you have in local government, the discipline of. You know, I like to say that uh local government, they're policy artists. You know, you never think about that, but uh they really are. They are experts in community um and in crafting and finding ways to move things forward. And so all those things come together. And uh, you know, mayors around the world, we're all working on the same stuff.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 5:14

Yeah, I think a lot about, you know, sports, music, what are these huge um sort of unifiers that we have? And and definitely the Olympics are one of them. How how can that sort of, especially in this polarized moment we're sort of in, how can that um experience from sports and discipline and things that you're talking about, how can we apply that at the local level to increase civility and trust in local government?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 5:40

Well, one of the things that, you know, we we hope to see uh in most of the uh competitions that we're watching on TV now, a level of sportsmanship, a level of mutual respect. Now, I gotta tell you, uh myself and all the athletes I know, we're competitive. That is, but competition does not mean ripping the throat out of your of your opponent. There is respect, there is sportsmanship, and it's people will do what they see. You know, everybody who's been to youth sports, if you show, if you act in a respectful manner, if you show good sportsmanship, the kids will do the same thing. Well, that uh expands to our communities. If you show mutual respect for other people, you don't have to always agree. My wife and I have been married for more than 30 years, and we don't agree on everything. But we uh we try to demonstrate mutual respect, listen to each other, and try to understand the other thing. Sport's a unifying kind of thing. It's something we can all get behind. Whether it was the 1980 Olympic hockey team or or uh uh the gymnasts or any of the things, it's something we can get behind and we find commonality. And that's one of the things that uh Olympic athletes or athletes uh around the world, we find that our competitors are more like us than not. Whether it's sitting down and having a beer with the Russians or eating uh sausages with Germans on the Rhine or any of those kinds of things, it's it's connecting, working together, respect. Those are the kind of things that I think are important. And that's one of the reasons the Olympics happened is to bring people together because you don't fight with people you know. One of my favorite little stories, see, once I start telling stories, um, I remember my first competition before I went, some of the old timers said, John, make sure you take a frisbee. And I go, why? I said, Well, no one person doesn't play frisbee. So I did. I pulled it out of my Nike bag. I was in a uh an athlete village, and so I picked up the frisbee and threw it. And somebody, 50 yards away, picked it up and threw it back. And we started doing it, and then somebody else joined in, then somebody else. Little did I know at that point, the person, one of the people who'd picked up the frisbee and thrown it back was an Israeli athlete. Another person who picked it up and threw it back was an Egyptian athlete. Okay. And so folks got together. We were playing frisbee, but that opened the door for conversation. And uh, isn't that what uh life's about is getting to know people and finding out that we're all on the same page. So all these kinds of things set up a tone and create a pattern that uh I think is replicable in our communities.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 8:41

Well, absolutely. And you say, you know, you brought the frisbee and look who, you know, who who caught it. But, you know, in your local community, every single day, for local leaders especially, right, they're seeing their residents at the post office, at church, at the grocery store. Exactly right. So they have that.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 8:58

I think that's one of the things, and I I'm uh uh proud to have been the mayor of a city of 10,000. And we have a neighboring city of 10,000. Okay. In a smaller community, we had one, we both our cities share one high school. You know, it's uh it's scale. You can you can be disengaged if you want to, but you're gonna see people at the grocery store. You're gonna see people downtown. You know, that's uh they they make jokes about uh Montana and uh Wyoming and even Alaska, that you gotta be nice to people or else there's nobody to talk to. You know? Um, and I I think that's scale makes a difference. And I think that that's what uh connection uh is important. And so local leaders need to find ways to connect with people. We all do it different ways. I used to have a sidewalk office. I'd open a uh a sandwich board, set it up on the sidewalk in the middle of downtown, and people could come up and visit me. I'll talk about anything.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 9:59

And uh okay, that was you did that when you were elected?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 10:03

Oh, yeah. Did that regularly. And it was the kind of thing. So a lot of times people just drive by and go, I could stop, I could visit with the mayor if I wanted to. I don't need to right now, but I could. But people would come up. There's you know, different ways that people do it. Uh, our current mayor does lots of town halls. That works for her. You know, those it it's it's the idea. It's the idea of connecting with people because at least in our community, the uh being mayor is is not a paid gig. There are only two full-time mayors in Oregon. There's a few other cities that put a stipend. Everybody else is a volunteer. And so we're all working to try to make things better together. And isn't that and isn't that how a team is successful? You know, one of the things that I see on TV is uh I'm always thrilled when I see uh the pe the team that supports uh supports an athlete, whether it's the you know, coaches or teammates or people in the grandstand in the stands that are watching. No one gets there alone. No one gets has a successful community alone.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 11:15

Well, absolutely. And we're not we're not done with the Olympics yet, but we are getting close. So for you, for the for the Milan Cortina games, what has been the most inspiring part of the games for you so far? Well, and where have you seen that that spirit, that team spirit shine?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 11:31

I watched that, and it's not just the U.S. team, it's every team. It's ever it's every team that uh there's some there are people cheering for each other. Even competitors are cheering for uh for good performances. People know each other. You know, we've been competing against each other all over the world for years, so we know uh uh the situations that people are uh are overcoming. To to see people who are overcoming uh job challenges, injuries, death, families, friends, you know, the human experience, and to see people overcoming that, to see uh people from other places recognize it. So it's not one particular uh event uh at this point, but it it's the it's the flavor, it's the passion, it's the it's the commitment that um that that energizes me, that it that provides encouragement, uh inspiration. And I think I think sometimes we forget the power of inspiration, the power of an idea. Um, and that's something that we as local leaders need to embrace, need to do things that are that are worth time and effort, that are uh thinking big because a big thing can shrink, can can be scaled, but a micro thing goes away.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 12:59

Yeah, I love that. Uh what inspired you to first, you know, become a local leader?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 13:06

Well, when I was saying I got involved in sport politics and learning about that, I could see that uh a person could make a difference. And um, I live in my wife and I live in our community. We chose to raise our son here. We we came from different places and uh and we ended up here. And that I had skills and I wanted to help. And the other part is that my travels uh in in my competitive years, I saw facilities, I saw places around the world, I had new ideas put in front of me. I said, we could do some of those kind of things here. And one of the most important things I think is is an attitude, is getting people who have a positive attitude together to go, we can do these things. Why not? Let's take a look. So, what did that turn into? Well, you know, at the beginning part of the century, doesn't that make me feel old? The part of the century, um, we didn't have uh high-speed fiber in our area. We had copper wire. And we asked the telecoms, hey, when are we gonna get it? And they said, oh, 20, 25 years. And our neighboring city and city and I, the two mayors, we got together and said, we can do better. So you know what? We've we own uh the two cities created, own, and operate our own high-speed fiber system. So if you want a gig at home like we do, that's it. It's it's locally owned, locally operated. It's a big enough idea. You know, you want two and a half gigs, not a problem. It's a big enough idea that made a difference long term for our community. And I could go on in those kind of things. We have a trolley that runs between the two cities and the university. Uh, and it look, it's a Mr. It looks like Mr. Rogers trolley, and it's cute and people love it. And in our little city, 10,000 people a month ride the trolley. And so, you know, those those kind of things, you know, we have an entrepreneurial uh mindset, but those are the kind of things you got to think big enough and make a plan and move forward, get it getting a team to do it. Because so anyway, I'd seen those kind of things. And so I was able to share some some ideas and some things, and you build momentum. You have a little success, and then you build on that success, and then you build on that, and people join in, and it's and it's not a cult of personality because once it gets going, it creates its own momentum. And that's one of the things we see in sport all the time is momentum makes a difference. And uh in 1980, I remember watching the 1980 hockey team. I was a track and field person, but I was motivated by watching what they did. And uh I see that in all sorts of other competitions. You you come away going, gosh, we could do that, or what about? Have we ever thought of? And that's what I think local leaders need to do. Be bold, because you know, and I taught and I I helped I have the opportunity to help train um mayors, city counselors, county commissioners, and um the things that you're doing, make sure they're big enough because when you're doing that, like when our son was growing up, I'd have to be at a council meeting in the evening. And we and I had to justify to myself and my family that what we were doing was worthwhile. Missing reading stories to him at night. And that kind of set the tone of what we were gonna do. We use a city manager form of government, and so but we thought about big enough stuff that was gonna make a real difference. And then that kind of keeps all the sniping down because you're going at a a bigger goal. And whether that's in athletics, whether that's on the the stage with music or drama, whether that's scholarly research, you know, a big enough goal and work for it and don't just exist, prosper, flower.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 17:16

I mean, I'm hearing like the theme, right? Which is, you know, that inspiration, be bold, being part of the team, the momentum all leads to, you know, good things happening in your community, right?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 17:27

And you folks at the NLC get the opportunity to see victories all over.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 17:32

Yeah, we get to see the best of America Cities, towns, and villages every single day. That's exactly right.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 17:37

Well, you know, I'm very proud, and yes, I'm unabashedly promoting our little community. Uh, 10 years ago, independence, Oregon was an was named an All-America City. One of the smaller cities in America to do that. But how did we do that? It was attitude. It was, you know, we could do it. The things that we can do, how do we mobilize people? And and that makes a real it makes a real difference. Attitudes are everything, you know, and they're contagious. Is yours worth catching?

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 18:10

Yeah, right. Well, looking back, what advice do you wish you had someone give you or would have given yourself as you began your post-Olympic life?

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 18:21

Oh, that's a harder one. You know, patience. You said something post-Olympic life. I'll let me talk about that for a second. Once you had an experience, it's always going to be part of it. And so while I don't put on my sweats and my shoes and go out and throw my hammer in the field anymore, um, but that Olympic and international experience is still there. It's uh whether it's working on projects, whether it's working on the policy side of the sport world, uh figuring out where we're gonna host events, uh working with the alumni folks, you know, and one of the things that uh if I was to tell myself to realize is I would I got to hang around with people just oh, the Olympics, the world championships, it's just kind of like, oh, okay. Well, I'd forgotten that it was a bigger deal to other people. That it was just something I did. You know, it was just okay, just just what we did. But I forget. I forget that the uh that it's special, that it still gets kids excited. It still gets rotary clubs and business groups kind of going, ooh, ah, you know, and there's a bully pulpit to share to share the stories, just what we're doing today is uh uh sharing the insights, the commonalities, and uh I'd like to think a little bit of inspiration, maybe tweak things along. Uh there is something there's something very special when you go talk to a high school group, and it's there's the formal talk. And then you know, afterwards we may have had a clinic and we're all in the locker room getting changed, and it's the informal conversations, and people go, I never thought about that. Or what about? Or, you know, many people don't know how to make a plan. I've done a bunch of talks in schools and wrote written up on the board, okay, um, how how to become a district champion. You know, you got to go to practice, you got to know your coach, got to know their okay. How do you get an A? What's the hardest class in school? It's Mrs. Jones's nuclear powered algebra. Okay, well, how do you get an A? Well, nobody gets an A. Well, how would you? Well, you gotta go to go to class every day. You got to get to work with the teacher, gotta do your, and all of a sudden they go, Oh, nobody ever has shown them how to make a plan and how to move it through. It's amazing, but I've had I've had people pay me money to do that talk, you know, for business people also, or schools, you know, those kind of things. And it seems very simple, but until somebody tells you how to do it, and that's and that was part of my Olympic experience. I had a former uh Olympian sit down and say, John, how do you how would you get there? And we sat down on a napkin in a pizza parlor and wrote it down. And so I wish I still had the napkin. But um, you know, those kind of things.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 21:38

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, we have obviously the Olympics coming here in a couple of years to the United States. Um, we have a lot of other major sporting events happening sort of in this decade of sport. Um, what should what would you say to local leaders who want to think about how to attract major events to their community or to capitalize? Events happening happening in their region.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 22:03

Well, first of all, with LA happening, LA 28, and then Salt Lake in 34. So you're absolutely right. We and then we've got the World Uh uh World Cup this summer. So those are big events. Now, if you're a small town, you're not, we don't have a stadium that's that's that's that big. We're not, but you know, emphasize for what you have. Take a look at what your resources are. And there are lots and lots of different events. Let me just tell you this last fall, here in Independence, Oregon, along the Willamette River, uh, 70 miles south of Portland, we had a cycle cross event, which was we had river, we had parkland along the river, and they needed places to ride bicycles cross-country on a course. We had 300 and some participants plus family members. And okay, it was land that uh uh is a little rough, but it was great. People came. It was a great, it filled the hotel, it filled the uh um the restaurants. They want to come back. So those kind of things. So take a look at what you have and and partner with another community, find who the partners are. Why does it make sense? Not just a one-time kind of thing, what makes long-term sense for you? And start small if you have to, just get going. The kinds of events, especially smaller communities, if you don't have a giant stadium and you don't have a giant sports commission with bazillion dollars, find the things that you can do. Youth events, because for every kid that comes, like 3.8 people come with them.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 23:48

With them. That's right.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 23:50

And what do you you know? I've been on site selection committees at the Olympic level, okay, and at the U.S. track and field. A lot of times, uh, major events in the United States, whether it's track and field or archery or bocce ball, they don't need a lot of stuff. They just want somebody to say, hi, we'd like to have you here.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 24:10

Hey, come here.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 24:12

Yeah, please come. Here's what we have to offer. We we decorate our downtown, we can we can make it nice for you, we can declare it as it's it's it's humans, it's people to people. Emphasize what you have and look outside and utilize your resources that you have. Everybody has resources. You have people in town who travel, they go places, they talk to people. Well, have you ever thought of ask? You know, there people want to get out and about, whether it's cycle cross, whether it's a road race, whether um it's a a kids' sporting event, whatever it is. And it doesn't have to be just a sport type thing, you know, art shows, music festivals, okay? Think of what you have and find a way to make it happen. Think of a goal, make a plan, make get a team together, start working it because every community has an opportunity to do a festival, to do us something. So um, and make it worth your while.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 25:19

Well, speaking of big celebrations, obviously we're marking 250 years of America this year. And I'm just curious, especially with a name like Independence, if you all have anything in the works.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 25:30

Um You first of all, you need to come because we've had a we've had a 4th of July parade that goes from uh Monmouth, Oregon to the end to independence along the river. It's three and a half miles. It's been going for 125 years. It's put on by the Rotary Club, okay? And it's terminally local. You we have about 125 to 150 entries. You get in up to 20 minutes in advance, and it's it's kids on uh doing uh playing music on backs of trucks. They've had the big ugly station wagon club, they've everything. The county even comes over with an antique manure spreader and the county commissioners ride in it.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 26:13

Fabulous. It sounds wonderful.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 26:15

Those those kind of things. One of the things that I am very proud that we've done a couple of times is that we are a diverse community. We have a large Latino population. A couple of years ago, uh, we were able to do a naturalization uh reenactment because uh they give people the oath of uh allegiance to become a citizen. Uh they do that in Portland, but the families aren't always there. And now I'm a naturalized American citizen also. And uh so this has a special place, but we had in our amphitheater with 800 to 1,000 people walking, we did a reenactment of those folks taking the oath of allegiance. And uh we did it right there. And it's amazing because when most people haven't haven't heard what you have to swear to, amongst the things like I swear, I promise to be to serve in the military is required by law. I promise to serve in jobs of national importance when required by law. And people go, oh, wow. And so all of a sudden, it was an unbelievably warm and wonderful thing to see these brand new American citizens who came from other parts of the world who chose to be part of not just our community, but to become citizens. And it was, I gotta tell you, with a thousand people sitting there, and the Elks Club handed out a little American flag, and they played, you know, um America the Beautiful in the um in the backdrop afterwards. It was so that was one of the special things in our community. Um, so there's all sorts of reasons. So um, Melanie, you have to come to Independence, Oregon.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 28:07

Well, I love that so much. Olympian mayor John McCardle, thank you for sharing your story and experience here on CitySpeak. Um, your dedication to public service and background as an Olympian are an inspiration and just what a terrific conversation.

John McArdle, Olympian and Former Mayor of Independence, Oregon 28:21

Well, I I I so enjoyed it. And um, I just want to say that in my Olympic travels around the world, and my I've met mayors from and mayors all over the world are doing the same stuff. Whether it's in Britain, in Germany, whether it's a mayor in Ukraine or other places, we're all working on transportation, water, sewer, connection. And I encourage your uh viewers, go on a YouTube channel. And there is uh um there's some videos on mayors should run the world. And um, there is one by the mayor uh from Barcelona, and mayors have been around for 5,000 years, and we're all doing exactly the same things. We're all working together to try to make our community better. We're all doing the same kind of things, and maybe, maybe if we can help others, and I mean city people can help those at the state and the federal level understand that we're all working together to make things better for all of us and hold them accountable and to help them think correctly.

Melanie Fonder Kaye, Senior Executive and Director, Digital Engagement & Communications, National League of Cities 29:31

Well said. Thank you.

NLC 29:41

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