ENTERPRISE – Wallowa County Commissioners selected Mike Hayward to fill the board’s vacant seat, Monday, Aug. 4, in an emergency meeting.
Following the death of Commissioner Susan Roberts, July 30, Commissioners Lisa Collier and John Hillock conferred with County Counsel Joanna Lyons-Antley in a public meeting held at 3 p.m. in the Thornton Conference Room. Hillock cited Hayward’s more than 19 years as county commissioner as the reason for the decision.
“Lisa and I can learn a lot from Mike and glean from his many years of experience,” Hillock said. “We know that he can start the job running with the advantage of having done this before.”
Collier, who has been in office since January, echoed Hillock.
“As a new commissioner I look forward to learning from Mike, who served this county so well for so long,” Collier said.
Wallowa County citizens first elected Hayward in 1996 to what was then referred to as the Wallowa County Court. He eventually ran, and won, the chairman position, in which he served until February, 2016, the last year of his fifth consecutive term.
Hayward left the county to fill the general manager position at Wallowa County Grain Growers, a local business that he said he long admired.
Grain Growers always intrigued me as a company,” Hayward said. “It is an important business, not only because of the number of staff members it employs, but also its service to the ag community.”
Hayward left Grain Growers after more than five years and was happily retired, when he was asked to consider filling Roberts’ seat until the next general election in November 2026.
“When I was asked to fill Susan’s seat, it seemed like something I could do to help the county,” Hayward said.
Admittedly, it has been more than nine years since Hayward left the commission, and some things have changed.
Hayward said, “There will be a learning curve; I am not going in there with the notion I know everything.”
A Pullman, Wash. native and Washington State University forestry graduate, Hayward first came to Wallowa County to work for Wallowa Lake State Park. His job with State Parks moved him first to Madras and later to Bend after he and his wife, Bev, were married. Faced with a career riddled with moves every few years, the Haywards decided to move back to Wallowa County to start their family.
At first, Hayward said, he worked on a ranch. After a couple of years, he went to work for tire shops, including Les Schwab. For 10 years, the Haywards ran the Eagle Cap Chalet resort in the Wallowa Lake village. After he was elected to the county court, the couple decided to sell the resort and move to Joseph.
Hayward will be sworn in at Wallowa County Board of Commissioner meeting Aug. 6 at 9 a.m. in the Wallowa County Courthouse’s Thornton Conference Room.