Maupin: Meet Melissa Napoli; Connecting 'Compassion with Compliance'
Melissa Napoli and a volunteer work on recycling some cardboard in Maupin recently. Napoli, a resident of Wamic and longtime resident of The Dalles, is now helping put an attractive face on the community in her new role as a Community Liaison Officer.
By Donna Henderson
Melissa Napoli
Melissa Napoli is passionate about connecting ‘compassion’ to ‘compliance’.
On a recent, sunny Saturday, at the City of Maupin’s recycling depot, I met with the City’s new Community Liaison Officer as she greeted and directed residents dropping off their recycling, offering her help to those who needed it.
Located on the Deschutes River, forty-five miles south of The Dalles, with a year-round population of 423, the economy of this former mill town is now heavily dependent on the recreation industry: fishing, rafting, bicycling and other outdoor activities.
In recent years, the construction of the new Deschutes River Athletic Complex, and the addition of the fiber-optic high-speed internet service to the town have helped to make Maupin increasingly attractive as a destination for visitors, businesses, and those looking make the move from urban to rural living.
Back in 2021, Michael Whitaker, then 26, of Maupin got a pretty decent view on his way to work most days, like this one, Tuesday, March 2. Nothing like the Deschutes River to lift your spirits.
In response to the community’s recognition of the value of presenting a welcoming and attractive “face” to visitors and residents alike, and with considerable community input and support, the Maupin City Council drafted and unanimously adopted a Nuisance Abatement Ordinance, Maupin Municipal Code Chapter 9.10.
Since it was not until a couple of years ago that a position tasked with actively pursuing compliance with the code was created, many people are surprised to know that this ordinance not only exists but that it has been in existence for close to ten years.
As a result, enforcement in Maupin has been met variously with resentment, surprise, and with relief.
Maupin Daze kicks off the summer season attracting tourists from all over. This year it will be held on May 20 and will feature a parade, food, and vendors. It provides the City yet another chance to show off its intense desert beauty on the Deschutes River.
Since a central role of the Community Liaison Officer is the pursuit of nuisance abatement, I was curious about Melissa’s experience in and approach to the position, which she has held since January, and asked if she would be willing to be interviewed. Consistent with her evident eagerness to connect and communicate, Melissa gladly agreed.
Interview with Melissa Napoli
Donna Henderson: So Melissa, maybe you could begin by describing what, exactly, the “Community Liaison Officer” position involves?
Melissa Napoli: It’s part “nuisance abatement officer” —in other words, code enforcement officer— and that is some of what I do, but it’s not all of what I do. In fact, the bigger part of what I do is to connect citizens and residents with resources within the community that help make it possible for them to live in accordance with the code.
I am the one who needs to be the most well-versed in the code, as I am also the one whose responsibility it is to let people know when they are operating outside of the code. But the city has also made resources available to assist individual citizens with compliance, in ways that few other communities are doing. So there’s a huge amount of both compassion and resources that are unique to Maupin, and that’s something that people need to understand as well. The misperception is that there’s somebody going around town and putting stickers on cars and being mean. That’s not it. We do need to enforce the code as it is written, and to provide information and resources to the community to make sure that compliance with a code that’s meant to make our community livable for everybody does not burden individual residents who do not have the means to do their part.
Maupin Madness Motorcycle Ride has been a popular attraction to the town of 472, which balloons to thousands when the weather turns. It returns this year on its 10th Anniversary June 8-11.
DH: What is the background that you bring to your position? What made you interested in applying for it?
MN: I had a friend who pointed out the posting to me, a former co-worker who said ‘you need to apply for this, this is perfect for you!’
My background is in business development, non-profit development, and community development. I did those things through a career in finance, and then a career as a property manager and a director of operations.
One of the misperceptions, since I arrived, is that I came here from Portland or somewhere urban. In fact, I spent my childhood in Sandy, then moved to The Dalles, and have been a Wasco County resident for the past twenty-one years. My father was very involved in The Dalles community, and my grandfather owned gas stations there since the forties. He had a cattle ranch, and for the past five years, since he passed away, I have been managing his company for him, and running the cattle ranch. So I’m also a rancher and a farmer.
A bigger portion of what I’ve done is volunteer work. My ex-husband and I started the Fort Dalles Fourth fireworks festival in The Dalles in 2014. We started that fundraising campaign in 2013, raising funds to bring fireworks back to The Dalles. It was a huge collaborative, grassroots effort between citizens and businesses.
Prior to that, I worked for a non-profit women’s center in Hood River, and my job was to open a center also in The Dalles. It was completely donor based—there was no federal funding for it—so I worked with the community to raise the funds to open that second location. So my heart is really with non-profits, and with communities that need services. And so those are some of the things on my resumé that I think made city manager Kevin Lewis think that I would be a good fit for a job that is, at heart, really about connecting, educating, resourcing, and supporting community.
DH: Do you live in Maupin, or elsewhere in South Wasco County?
MN: I live in Wamic. I moved there last July from The Dalles, where I’d lived since I was twenty years old. I met my husband a few years ago, and he lived in Wamic, so now I am there, too.
Maupin is picturesque and provides a great jumping-off spot for adventuresome souls from all over the United States. Maupin is celebrated for whitewater rafting adventures, world-class salmon, steelhead, and trout fishing, upland bird and big game hunting on public land and private land, with 12 seasonal shooting preserves, breathtaking cycling routes, hiking trails and waterfalls. It’s the perfect mix of danger and beauty.
DH: What do you enjoy doing in your off-work hours?
Well, several things: I’m a board member for the South Wasco Alliance, and we have several projects going for connecting individuals in the community with resources of all kinds, including those for meeting basic needs. We have hunger in South Wasco County, and poverty, people experiencing houselessness. And the Alliance exists in part to help people in need connect with the resources that exist to help them. I am also running for a position on the White River Health District Board, to help with strengthening the Deschutes Rim Clinic. I am passionate about providing a means for people to receive what they need!
Additionally, I’m also a watercolor artist, and I display my work at a variety of galleries between The Dalles and Joseph. I have three kids in college, who keep me busier and more worried than I ever was when they were under my roof! And I’m newly married— I got married in October— to Scott Napoli, who is an avid outdoorsman: a sportsman, a hunter, etc. I am also a beekeeper, a gardener, and an equestrian.
DH: It sounds like you have quite a background in —and a passion for—bringing communities together to develop the resources needed to improve the quality of life for everyone in them.
MN: Yes! And I’ve learned that what energizes people to work together to improve conditions for everyone is morale and community spirit…and pride, really, in our sense of place, our sense of togetherness, and our neighborhoods. That’s the key to everything else: getting everyone playing on the same team.
DH: To come back to your job as Community Liaison Officer, and its role in enforcing the nuisance abatement: some people who have lived in Maupin for a long time wonder why that ordinance even exists now, how it got there, and what is point in having it? So what is the history of the abatement ordinance in Maupin?
MN: Chapter 9.10 of the Maupin Municipal Code is the piece of our code that applies to “nuisances”: to how nuisances are defined and how they are “abated,” which means “removed or dealt with.” And so chapter 9.10 specifies all of the definitions, including what the city is able to consider a “nuisance”, and then it walks out precisely how those things have to be handled. And that is the code that I live by every day in my job.
Now that my position exists, it is being enforced, and that is understandably taking a little getting used to by some of us. So I really want to emphasize that even though the code is now being enforced, the heart of city government is not in the enforcement part; the heart of the city is in compassionate assistance. But we also understand that in any community there has to be standards that we live by, because we live in a community with other people. And, you know, maybe our neighbor doesn’t want our abandoned vehicle in front of her house. Or maybe the junk pile in our alley is both an eyesore and a hazard.
I just had a conversation with our city manager yesterday, and he said, ‘you know, if we have citizens who don’t have a truck and trailer, or they don’t have the money or the means to get their stuff up to the city-wide cleanup event site on April 15, let’s go around with the backhoe and a dump truck, and let’s offer to pick it up for them. I don’t know of other cities that do that. We really want to make sure that people know that. We really want to make sure that people know that we are here to serve them. While there’s a code that we need to enforce, at the same time, we want to make it possible for people to live in accordance with the code, without burdening them too much.
The Addition of a world-class track and field event space called the Maupin Deschutes River Athletic Complex is providing a venue attracting thousands of spectators for intense competition.
DH: What about people who are learning about this ordinance and want it changed or eliminated?
MN: I would suggest getting involved in your local government. We have deep respect for the opinions of community members, and welcome citizen involvement. City Council meetings and Planning Commission meetings are open to the public, and attending these is a way not only to stay aware of planning and decisions, but to make your wishes known to Council when they are deliberating possible changes to the city’s ordinances.
And come talk to us at City Hall! We all have a unique opportunity in a town this size for our voices to matter! This isn’t Portland, it isn’t Bend. Unlike city council meetings in larger cities, our council is made up of people you probably know and who who know you, and so are going to take you more seriously than if they didn’t. And we have a City Manager, a Community Liaison, and a Mayor who would love to welcome you in and have coffee with you and hear what you have to say.
So I encourage people to take advantage of the accessibility of our local government officials, their compassion, and their willingness to listen to citizens. Because the more people we have involved from diverse backgrounds, the better our city is going to be.
DH: Can you say more about what’s available to people who aren’t able to remove or otherwise deal with what has been identified as a nuisance— say they find a sticker on a junked car and don’t have the means to dispose of it?
MN: They are always welcome to come visit or to call me at City Hall. We do have remedies for problems like that. The city is working with a tow company, for instance, that will tow and dispose of junked vehicles for free, provided the owner has a title or a bill of sale. If someone needs assistance with a property cleanup and they are elderly, disabled, or have a seriously illness, or if they lack the means to take care of the issue themselves, they can fill out a Waiver of Abatement Cost application and the city may step in and fund some or all of that abatement.
DH: Are there other resources available to help people clean up their properties?
MN: Yes, absolutely. We have the bi-annual, day-long cleanup event —the next one is April 15—sponsored by the City of Maupin and available free to all South County residents. Which is incredible, and such a gift of the city to the larger community. And if there are residents in town who, say, have a big brush pile but they don’t have a pickup truck, or maybe I’ve sent them a letter that says their weeds are overgrown, or they have too big a collection of discarded items in their yard which they are happy to get rid of but don’t have a way to haul things away, the city will send someone to come around with our dump truck or maybe a backhoe, and we will load that up for you and get it out of there. If someone needs that they can just contact me at City Hall at any time and I will arrange that for them.
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DH: One final question: what do you find to be unique about Maupin and other communities of South Wasco County?
MN: So —and this is true for many people and communities in Wasco County— it’s the grit of the citizens. They’re strong, they’re tough, they’re resilient, and they’re very close-knit. The relationships among individuals and families go back generations. And I love that. I heard a story the other day about someone’s house burning down —very recently— and members of the community running into the house to rescue the family dog. Safety concerns aside—like the risk of running into a burning building— that kind of care for your neighbor that is that passionate and loyal: I think it’s something you lose in larger communities, and it’s probably the most beautiful thing about Maupin that I’ve seen: how strong and how loyal the relationships are.
It all begins, I think, and goes back to Maupin being neighborly, even at a government level. And I love getting to be a part of t
