All Posts Tagged With: "Coos County Road Department"
Transparency vs Opacity, will be issue in forthcoming commissioners’ race
Despite narrowly surviving a recall effort for what even The World referred to as the undeniably “stealthy” manner in which twenty two county road workers were laid off, Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean is still curtailing public access.
…Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean outlined his new vision for board meetings. First step was to rearrange the courtroom, secluding employees to one side of the room…Next, he addressed how employees interact with audience members and the board. From now on, all public questions will be directed to the board. Commissioners can either answer them or give the person at the podium permission to take the floor… Stufflebean reminded the 20 or so department heads in attendance they do not have to respond to inquiries by the media and can filter responses through the commissioners’ office.
Stufflebean has been the center of controversy relating to public transparency and public access for some time and a strong case has been made the county, with the apparent approval of County Counsel, Jaqui Haggerty, misuses the executive session. Prior to the meeting Bob Main refused to attend an executive session claiming he didn’t feel comfortable keeping the details from the public. Whitty had no qualms about holding the executive session.
Further, Stufflebean wants to further complicate public access, thereby impairing the public’s ability to participate in its own governance by taking over the video taping of BOC meetings raising many eyebrows
The following was sent to the Editor. It refers to an article printed on January 27th.
It is the same sentiment that I share along with other volunteers at Coos Community Media Center.I was apalled to note Commissioner Stufflebean’s comment reported in Wednesday’s World, quoting a cost
to the county of $30-50,000 to record county meetings and place them on the web. Channel 14
currently records these meetings at a rate far lower than that. Channel 14’s subscription rates are
determined by hours of service rendered to the subscriber. Should the Commission continue to hold two
public meetings a month, that subscription cost would be around $7000 per year. For that sum, Channel 14
records 24 meetings, posts them on the web (where they remain for at least two months),
provides one week of “air” time (at least 12 repeats) on Charter Cable Channel 14 in the Bay Area and environs and on Comspan Channel 73 in Bandon, Coquille, Myrtle Point, and Reedsport, and provides a
DVD archive copy if requested. Additional meetings are charged at $90/ hour.
When the website went active in September of 2009, all the agencies who subscribe to Channel 14
were invited to place a link to it on their site. No government agency (or anybody else) has ever paid
a dime to have their meetings or programs posted to the web by Channel 14.
The care and maintenance of that website costs around $3000 per year.
During the county’s negotiations for the year’s contract with Channel 14, Mr. Stufflebean suggested
that the meeting content was the property of the county and that the commissioners should have
ownership of the sole DVD copy of each meeting. This smacks of censorship and all
citizens need to be wary of such attempts. Public meetings are public domain and can
be recorded by anyone and distributed at will.Gordon Young
Channel 14
So to recap, Stufflebean still wants to control the message and apparently doesn’t trust his own department heads to answer questions about their own departments. (We can all understand why he wouldn’t want Colby talking) Aren’t the commissioners busy enough without vetting questions and answers about ongoing county business? Does he really feel they are incompetent or is he hoping to disguise his intentions and actions from the public as it appears he did with the road department layoffs?
Again, where is Whitty in all of this? Does she share Stufflebean’s apparent contempt for the department heads skills? Does she share his apparent contempt for the public’s right to know? It sure seems like it.
New Year’s catch up #1 Van Elsberg running for County Commish
NORTH BEND, OR, DECEMBER 28, 2009: After much thought and the support of my family and friends, I have decided to seek the office of Coos County Commissioner. I do not take this decision lightly, as there will be many challenges ahead for Coos County and its citizens.
Larry Van Elsberg has opted to run for Position 2 against the very popular and some consider, unbeatable Nikki Whitty. Van Elsberg made quite a name for himself when he headed the recall effort that narrowly failed to unseat Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean but whether that fame will garner him votes will depend upon his platform, not the least of which is public safety and transparency.
Whitty did herself a lot of harm in my view by aligning so tightly with Stufflebean and participating in the public obfuscation of details leading up to the sudden layoff of twenty two county road workers on New Year’s Eve 2008. Hopefully, the bizarre manipulation of the road department budgets wherein the media released worksheets used to justify the layoffs showed the road dept operating in the red for eight of the last ten years (not possible by the way and Whitty should have known that) compared to the budget worksession versions handed out to the public in March showing ample funding for the road department and a balanced budget for the past ten years will be explained. Whitty has distanced herself from Stufflebean even to the point of moving her chair away from him during public hearings, but I don’t think she can totally cleanse herself in the eyes of the public.
The campaign will be an opportunity to bring out details of Whitty’s and outed commissioner, John Griffith’s handling of the NW Natural pipeline issue, of which Van Elsberg, then County Road Master was intimately aware of and might illuminate the legislation, hold onto your hat Roblan, that relieves NWN from paying its fair share of taxes to the county.
With luck the local media will start covering these issues with a level a detail they ignored at the time. We will certainly do our best, as time permits, to bring these facts to light here as the campaign progresses.
Where I have been and what I have been doing and why
Coos County and the entire Southern Oregon Coast, without question, is an exquisitely beautiful area, so six years ago I thought this would be a wonderful place to raise my daughters. Within a year, however, some hard realities and culture shocks began to set in.
At first they weren’t so out of the ordinary, I mean everyone knows old people often have too much time on their hands and meddle in other peoples lives, it happens everywhere. The news is riddled with daily accounts of bad cops and incompetent police work around the globe, not just here. The term ‘good old boy’ system wasn’t coined in Coos County and it is no surprise the system thrives here as well as elsewhere.
Elected officials misuse public money and mistreat public employees everywhere, not just in Coos County. Crimes against women are committed everywhere, everyday, not just here. Hard economic times, poor financial planning and lousy business ethics don’t necessarily go hand in hand but they each happen everywhere not just here.
Still there is some other element, some indefinable undercurrent, some unquantifiable but nevertheless measurable resistance, some low amperage buzz always in the background, a niggling impediment to a peaceful and productive life. Coos County has a certain meanness to it. Coos County takes a strange delight in the suffering of others, schadenfreude it is called.
Not that the county and the communities that make it up aren’t changing. Long time incumbents have found themselves replaced with fresh blood, despite an electorate with a below average literacy rate. Some new blood is moving to the area and more importantly some of the old blood, the ‘good old boys’, are grudgingly relinquishing control or passing on. But old habits are hard shaken and the inevitable reaction to fight tooth and nail to maintain power manifests as a mean disregard for anyone perceived as a threat. The despicable handling of the Coos County Road Department layoffs last New Year’s Eve and the recent forced departure of Coos Bay’s city manager are two good examples.
Since moving here I have made some lifelong friendships and had some wonderful adventures but in a nutshell, Coos County is not a good place to raise bright, imaginative and highly gifted children, especially daughters. Despite recent events for which I heap strong praise on local law enforcement for speedy resolutions, Coos County is not a safe or nurturing place for women.
After witnessing the treatment of citizens and employees by local leadership across the county, it isn’t somewhere I want to do business either. In fact, whereas this area made everything harder, set up endless hurdles for me, my children even my damaged veteran son and made almost no effort to support a gift that would have provided $2M in annual revenue for the schools, my little company is now being greeted with an abundance of solid technical support, years of experience and downright goodwill and optimism. A breath of fresh air.
These last several weeks, much to the chagrin of my kids, I have been commuting daily or living in hotels while completing the V-LIM generator outside the strange cosmic influences of Coos County. With a lot of help, we have made less than concentric components concentric, we have laboriously measured and narrowed the gap between magnets and coils. We have remade parts and then remade them again and I have learned the glaring difference between an artisan, an assembly firm and a real manufacturer with years of experience.
We have designed the testing procedure and believe we have located a state of the art digitizing oscilloscope to measure flux fields, resistance, inductance, voltage, amperage and, oh yes, kilowatts output. We now are, I am now ready…
… except to post this I have to find some decent cell coverage or a good internet connection. Guess you can’t have everything.
Stufflebean threatens lawsuit against The World
Wednesday was a very blustery day in Coos County with Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean threatening to sue reporter Meghan Walsh and The World for ‘lack of credibility’. During a Board of Commissioners meeting Phil Thompson, active in the recall effort to oust Stufflebean last May said an article pointing out the glaring discrepancy between fact and Kevin’s pubic statements regarding his bankruptcy helped affirm the reasons behind the recall. Namely, the commissioner may bend facts and distort truth.
The commissioner advised his television audience and those present he was filing suit against the paper and Meghan Walsh personally for unspecified errors in their reporting. In my humble opinion this was more knee jerk, face saving posturing and I imagine it is very unlikely any lawyer would risk their license to file such a suit. Then an obvious plant stood up and said how wonderful it was that Nikki Whitty and former commissioner, John Griffith and Kevin Stufflebean had the courage to layoff personnel. I wonder if the family of Dean Caudle who died when the reduced road crew didn’t barricade a flooded road last spring feel the same way.
My hope is that Meghan Walsh and The World will investigate how the spreadsheets reflecting the budget figures used to justify the layoff of the road crew showed only $3.5M in January and over $5M during budget work sessions two months later. Were those figures cooked to deliberately deceive the public? That is a very fair question and if the answer is yes a severe ethics violation.
Teamsters 223 drops Unfair Labor Practice complaint against Coos County
According to sources close to Teamsters 223 the Union dropped the ULP against Coos County. Reasons cited for dropping the ULP relate to insufficient evidence to support the claim the County was contracting out labor formerly performed by bargaining unit workers. Meanwhile, reports continue to abound the remaining members of the Coos County Road Department are working excessive overtime to meet the minimum safety needs of the County.
Commissioner Stufflebean, who barely survived a recall attempt as a consequence of the perceived slippery way in which he laid off twenty two road workers on New Year’s Eve recently filed bankruptcy claiming his savings were depleted fighting the recall. If this claim is true he failed to declare his contribution to OreSTAR possibly violating campaign financing laws. The commissioner is reportedly vacationing in Hawaii with his family.
Did Coos County Commission violate public meeting laws?
Reviewing the Teamster’s responseon May 28, 2009 to Coos County’s motion to quash a subpoena filed to review executive session minutes some interesting points are raised. In particular that the County should not have been using executive sessions to conduct such business as department reorganization.
The Teamsters theorize that the County has been using the veil of executive sessions to hide deliberation from the public. They note Stufflebean’s request to turn off the tape recorder during the December 16, 2008 budget worksession executive session as further confirmation. Regarding the claim of labor negotiations they note that both sides must request an executive session.
Read the response in full, it makes a powerful case that the County has consistently misused the executive session privilege.
The ALJ has requested an in camera review of the documents before deciding which side will prevail in this matter.
Coos County files answer to Unfair Labor Practice complaint
The County filed an answer to the amended complaint lodged by Teamsters 223 with the Employment Relations Board today. In summary, the County denies the claims of failing to bargain in good faith. The County further asserts an attempt on the part of the County to bargain as per the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act after the ULP was filed by the Union.
Notably the Union complaint lists December 31, 2008 as the first notice from the County of layoffs. The County agrees with this statement as shown below begging the question, what was Kevin talking about when he claimed at the IBO luncheon recall debate that on December 26 ‘individuals had been notified’?
The County is listing as part of its defense a failure on the part of the media to correctly interpret his statements. The complaint alleges bargaining unit work was reported to be given over to non bargaining unit employees, primarily management. That count of the complaint jives with my notes taken during a phone call with Kevin wherein he told me his foremen would take over patrolling roads, etc.
The complaint indicates the…
Union did not demand to bargain over the layoff because the County’s notice stated that the County was conducting a layoff and following the previously-bargained provisions of the Agreement concerning a proper layoff. The County did not provide notice to the Union at any time that the County intended to contract out the bargaining unit work.
Also filed is a motion-to-quash a subpoena filed to review the tapes and notes executive sessions relating to the layoff of twenty two members of the road department.
An interesting side note. The minutes for the December 16, 2008 budget work session wherein Kevin famously requested no recording be made AND a subject of the subpoena, were not approved by the Board of Commissioners until May 6, 2009, six days before the motion to quash was filed. (I have been told Bob Main, not a commissioner December 16, was not present on May 6 and so did not get to vote to approve the minutes).
Anatomy of a recall
Charges that the prior County Board of Commissioners deliberately obscured the reorganization of the Coos County Road Department from the general public have not abated since the New Year’s Eve layoff of twenty-road workers. Done before Commissioner Bob Main took office, he was denied the opportunity to vote but has still had to live with the consequences. The timing of the decision further fueled claims the Board acted with a deliberate lack of transparency.
Citizens claim the bare minimum notice was given and even that was written in code and further used unapproved budget. Testimony about possible serious impacts to public safety was given week after week at the weekly BOC meetings.
Citizens questioned the impromptu budget projections, prepared without public input, used to justify the work force reduction and asked questions and pointed out perceived discrepancies and anomalies in the prepared figures to the Board. Main moved twice to reconsider the reorganization to allow the public to have input in the process and was overruled each time by Whitty and Stufflebean.
A December 31, 2008 press release explaining the road department reorganization includes a five-year revenue projection. The projection, prepared by Commissioner Stufflebean, shows a beginning balance of $3,500,000 for 2009-10, a half million less than the previous year. However, current budget work sheets indicate a proposed beginning balance of $5,867,497 or $2.3 million more than the New Year’s Eve projection.
The New Year’s Eve projection indicated $9, 749,761 total revenue for 2009-10 when the current budget work sheets indicate a $13,974,270 total revenue. The first projection would indicate a shortfall of approximately a million dollars from the previous year while the current work sheets indicate an increase of almost $4 million, a net difference of $5 million.
Although a budget shortfall has not been reconciled to explain the 11th hour layoffs, in February, a previously undisclosed reason for the road department reorganization may have been revealed. During a meeting with ORC regarding mineral leases for chromite mining Stufflebean advised the recent reorganization provided him with funds to make $450,000 of improvements to W Beaver Hill Road to support future mining activities.
“One of the reasons it was essential we do some of those is everybody who has read the URS report that was provided by Oregon Resources Corporation, Coos County needed to make a $450,000 investment of their share just to deal with maintenance of the road department itself on W Beaver Hill. With the changes we made that was factored into that. We will now have the money to actually make that investment.â€
The URS report cited above relates to Condition 13 of a conditional use permit allowing ORC to conduct mining operations. Condition 13 possibly commits the County to a proportional share of the cost of upgrading W Beaver Hill Road to an industrial grade road.
In March, testimony to the Board claiming the remaining road crew were not adequate to maintain 600 miles of county road were ignited when an 88 year-old man in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease drowned on Fishtrap Road. Roadmaster John Rowe has not explained why barriers were not in place.
Also at issue are the $2.8 million in maintenance costs attributed to the road department equipment listed within the press release for the period December ’04 to November ’08. Members of the public began filing requests for public records that included obtaining details about the maintenance of specific pieces of equipment.
Evidence from these public records indicates some of the costs may have been inflated. One example, a three year-old brush cutter, showed maintenance costs totaling almost $80,000. Review of the records indicates some costs were attachments and upgrades and more than $36,000 was lease payments, a capital outlay not a maintenance cost.
Current budget work sheets do not break out year-to-date equipment maintenance costs. Nor is it clear where the $367,526 projected buyout and layoff costs to date are allocated. An adjusted budget line item entitled ‘OTHER EXPENSE’ totaling $1,000,000 with a $549,427 year-to-date actual cost may include maintenance and buyout costs.
A spreadsheet used in support of the layoffs depicting the last ten years of operation indicated the road department had operated in the red eight of those years. Former roadmaster, Larry Van Elsberg ran the department seven of those years and noted that the department had always had a balanced budget. County governments do not have the luxury of running in the red as the federal government does.
Other department budgets have been under scrutiny including the Sheriff’s Department and the IT Department. The 2006-07, budget allocates $2,868,091 to the Sheriff’s Criminal Division and only $192,635 to information technology. By the 2008-09, budget year the amounts were $1,997,922 and $1,417,441 respectively.
Stufflebean is liaison to both the road and information technology departments. After Van Elsberg resigned as roadmaster in April of 2007, the Board approved appointing Stufflebean as interim roadmaster. Similarly, Stufflebean became interim department head of IT while still continuing as board liaison. In January, this year, he was replaced when both positions were filled.
To date the Board has taken no action to explain or investigate the discrepancies in the road department budget or address concerns about adequate staffing despite repeated public testimony. According to the recall committee, Citizens for Fair and Open Government, the Board’s inaction and a perceived trend away from public safety necessitated the recall effort.
Surprize, surprize!!! Talk radio agitator refuses challenge
Not surprisingly he couldn’t just say NO. Replying to the challenge asking him to essentially ‘put up or shut up’, engaged in a long rant, (for which he is apparently locally renowned) and instead asked me to call in Monday where he will dissect our challenge and reveal us as addle brained buffoons. Here are some tidbits
Ms. Geddry:
I have no intention of lowering myself to address such a sophomoric “challenge”.
The nature of your questions themselves indicate your total lack of understanding of the operation of governmental bodies as well as the laws and ordinances governing public officials.
Eventually he ends up here
I invite you to call my radio show on Monday, April 28 between 3:00 and 4:00 PM. The number is 267-2124. I will be discussing with my listeners your “challenge”. I will afford you all the time you want to present your position and demonstrate to a broad audience the depth of your ignorance.
I’m sure you will use your column or blog to further vilify me but that’s OK. I have facts and documentable information [emphasis mine] to support my positions unlike your hearsay reporting.
Gosh, our challenge was to produce those very ‘facts and documentable information’ (syntax errors are his, not mine) but he WILL NOT DO IT! Alas, we must take him at his word because he is not going to show us his cookies.
He may wish to carry this forward but remember the old saying about wresting with pigs…’you both get dirty and the pigs love it’. Hence my reply
Thank you for the reply, Mr Bice, and for living up to the opinions of my readers and your reputation as a ‘hit and run’ offender. As stated on my blog, I do not engage in forums without professional editorial guidelines from the sponsoring media, so feel free to spend a second week vilifying me without fear of intrusion upon your worm’s eye view of local politics, I can assure you, I will not be listening.
Regards,
Mary Geddry
Challenge to Bi-Coastal Media UPDATED
Apparently, some people have taken issue with our coverage of the events leading up to the Stufflebean recall election. After discussing the personal attacks upon myself, The Coquille Valley Sentinel and Jody McCaffree issued from talk radio host Jim Bice, with editor, Jean Ivey, we have decided to issue a challenge to Bi-Coastal Media.
We challenge Bi-Coastal or Bice to produce one credible member of the public, not affiliated with the road department management or the board of commissioners that knew about the twenty-two layoffs in advance of December 31, 2008.
Further, we challenge Bi-Coastal Media to quote one phrase from either the December 3, 16, or 31st meetings that make it clear to the listener 60% of the road department will be laid off.
We challenge Bi-Coastal Media to produce one press release dated in advance of December 31 regarding a reorganization of the road department.
We challenge Bi-Coastal Media to indicate one meeting in which the budget prepared by Stufflebean to justify the layoffs was ever vetted, approved or ratified by either the Board or the public.
Bicoastal Media accepts no responsibilty for their programming, they only accept advertising revenue.
Mr Bice, please accept the following challenges on behalf of Jody McCaffree and myself and by association The Coquille Valley Sentinel
We challenge Bi-Coastal or Bice to produce one credible member of the
public, not affiliated with the road department management or the board
of commissioners that knew about the twenty-two layoffs in advance of
December 31, 2008.Further, we challenge Bi-Coastal Media to quote one phrase from either
the December 3, 16, or 31st meetings that make it clear to the listener
60% of the road department will be laid off.We challenge Bi-Coastal Media to produce one press release dated in
advance of December 31 regarding a reorganization of the road department.We challenge Bi-Coastal Media to indicate one meeting in which the
budget prepared by Stufflebean to justify the layoffs was ever vetted,
approved or ratified by either the Board or the public.Please accept this challenge and produce the above prior to the May 5
election or be professional enough to retract your false claims on the air.In other words make good on your ‘word’.
Thank you,
Mary Geddry
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: RE: Jim Bice
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:01:49 +0000
From: de Groot, Joe
To: mgeddry@mgx.com
CC: Koosnews@myearthnet.netThe above captioned e- address is that of Jim Bice at his newspaper the “Koos News”. Best, Joe
Joe de Groot
General Manager
Bicoastal Media CB, LLC.
KSHR-FM, KBDN-FM, KTEE-FM, KJMX-FM, KWRO-AM, KBBR-AM
320 Central Avenue, Suite 519 – Coos Bay, Oregon 97420
Tel: 541-267-2121, Fax: 541-267-5229, Cell: 541-217-8741—–Original Message—–
From: mgeddry@mgx.com [mailto:mgeddry@mgx.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 16:55
To: de Groot, Joe
Subject: Re: Jim BiceThen please forward the challenge to your talk show host given we do not have an email address for him
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T—–Original Message—–
From: “de Groot, Joe”Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:41:41
To: Mary Geddry
Cc: O’Brien, Mike; McKenzie, Jordan ; JODY MCCAFFREE ; jeanivey
Subject: RE: Jim BiceDear Ms. Geddry, to reiterate from my previous e-mail to you; “Bicoastal Media neither endorses nor supports any statements made by Jim Bice on the Jim Bice Show, the opinions expressed by Mr. Bice are strictly his own and “do not” reflect the opinions of Bicoastal Media, LLC. The point is we “do not” endorse what Jim says we just air his show which is his show and reflect only his opinions. I hope this will clarify our position for you. Thanks so much for your concern.
Best, Joe
Joe de Groot
General Manager
Bicoastal Media CB, LLC.
KSHR-FM, KBDN-FM, KTEE-FM, KJMX-FM, KWRO-AM, KBBR-AM
320 Central Avenue, Suite 519 – Coos Bay, Oregon 97420
Tel: 541-267-2121, Fax: 541-267-5229, Cell: 541-217-8741—–Original Message—–
From: Mary Geddry [mailto:mgeddry@mgx.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 15:41
To: de Groot, Joe
Cc: O’Brien, Mike; McKenzie, Jordan; JODY MCCAFFREE; jeanivey
Subject: Re: Jim BiceThank you, Joe, for the reply. Happily, I have never heard Mr Bice on
the air but do know of him by reputation. It is unfortunate that
vitriol and name calling serve your business so well.Mr Bice made no effort to approach me or contact me prior to his
statements and I have zero interest in talking with anyone like him.
However, I will issue the following challenges in the hopes that
Bicoastal Media and Jim Bice will back up their statements. On behalf
of Jody McCaffree, myself and by association The Sentinel -We challenge Bi-Coastal or Bice to produce one credible member of the
public, not affiliated with the road department management or the board
of commissioners that knew about the twenty-two layoffs in advance of
December 31, 2008.Further, we challenge Bi-Coastal Media to quote one phrase from either
the December 3, 16, or 31st meetings that make it clear to the listener
60% of the road department will be laid off.We challenge Bi-Coastal Media to produce one press release dated in
advance of December 31 regarding a reorganization of the road department.We challenge Bi-Coastal Media to indicate one meeting in which the
budget prepared by Stufflebean to justify the layoffs was ever vetted,
approved or ratified by either the Board or the public.Please accept this challenge and produce the above prior to the May 5
election or ask Mr Bice to retract his claims on the air.Thank you,
Mary Geddry
> Dear Ms. Geddry,
>
> The Jim Bice Show, as stated in the show’s disclaimer, does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Bicoastal Media, LLC., etc. Jim’s show is an open Mike forum that acts as a sounding board for Jim’s Op Eds, and opinions on local and national issues. I do know for a fact that he encourages and welcomes those people who want to take issue with him while he is on the air. Frequently Jim makes disparaging remarks designed to elicit feedback and commentary from his audience. As long as Jim maintains decency in language as defined by the FCC we are OK with the format of the show. If Jim’s comments are inflammatory to you perhaps approaching him directly would something you may want to pursue. That’s your call. If you listen to his show he frequently attacks the World Newspaper as well as other “liberal media sources” as he call them. As you know Jim is quite the character and is never shy about his opinions. We are searching for a local response on our “Pr
ogressive Talk Station” KBBR-AM to the conservative local talk show hosted by Jim Bice.
>
> I hope this answers your questions and concerns regarding Jim’s show. Meanwhile, best regards. Joe
>
>
> Joe de Groot
> General Manager
> Bicoastal Media CB, LLC.
> KSHR-FM, KBDN-FM, KTEE-FM, KJMX-FM, KWRO-AM, KBBR-AM
> 320 Central Avenue, Suite 519 – Coos Bay, Oregon 97420
> Tel: 541-267-2121, Fax: 541-267-5229, Cell: 541-217-8741
Stufflebean blames recall on ‘anti’ people
This theme began at the IBO Luncheon recall debate when Kevin made this statement (again I take no responsibility for syntax errors)
So why the recall now versus later? Its very obvious to everybody who’s been following this that the recall now is because the comment about decisions around businesses is very correct because of if I am successfully recalled then you have every group that is anti-development, anti-progress, anti-LNG, anti-anything that goes on in Coos County that has used this group to see this recall through and we’re going to have substantial impacts on business’ futures if this recall is successful because it has nothing to do with the layoff of employees[emphasis mine]. It has nothing to do with a flawed process because we have already demonstrated that the process was not flawed. There was no illegal meetings it has to do with the fact that anti people want to change the prosperity for you as taxpayers futures.
While Stufflebean is correct, the recall is not about layoffs at the road department, evidently, there is a movement to push the meme that concerns for public safety and public process translate as ‘anti-business’. Evidently a local radio talk show host and publisher of an ‘alternative’ news rag spent most of his show slamming Jody McCaffree and myself. Since I didn’t hear it I won’t comment on specifics but I will share that Kevin did alienate a large contingent of the business community when he lumped everyone opposed to LNG into an ‘anti’ category. He should get to know his constituents better.
Meanwhile we are waiting for him to really demonstrate that the reorganization of the road department was done openly. If it was, how many in the county residents knew about it before reading it in the paper or hearing it on radio shows like the one discussed above? Why was it such a surprise to ev eryone?
Stufflebean plays the spread the blame game
The name of the game was ‘spread the blame’ at the recall debate between Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean and chief recall petitioner, Larry Van Elsberg. Stufflebean began his opening statement by informing the audience, just in case they didn’t already know, that he did not act alone.
I think it’s a critical point right now that people start finding out what the truth is going on in your county. And the first truth that is a fact is that we have three Coos County commissioners that were hired by the voters of Coos County, not just Kevin.
Stufflebean continued to deny the claims of Van Elsberg and Citizens for Fair and Open Government, that public process had not been met.
People keep talking about the process was flawed. Coos County Commissioners and our managers followed the process by law in order to do what was right for you as a taxpayer.
Previously, Stufflebean has blamed The World newspaper for failing to inform the public about impending layoffs. (The World reporter denies hearing anything about layoffs). At the debate hosted at the IBO Luncheon and held at the Mill Casino, April 15, the commissioner accused a local labor counsel representative for not getting the word out.
There was no hidden agendas, there was no secret meeting, everything was done on the up and up and we have all the public proof, … if we were trying to be secretive there is no way at any time that I would have had a conversation with a member of the South Coast Labor Council that handles the media information on December 3rd saying we needed to look at a budget reduction and layoffs in the road department.
There is no South Coast Labor Council however The Sentinel spoke with Shawn Jennings, Committee on Political Education (COPE) Director, for Southwestern Oregon Central Labor Council who regularly attends Board of Commissioner meetings and she denies any conversation regarding pending layoffs ever took place.
Stufflebean states on December 26th he took special pains, “…that insured that individuals were notified.†He does not identify these select individuals.
Before his opening statement was done, Stufflebean had taken a shot at The Sentinel (see this week’s editorial) and pointed out that Commissioner Nikki Whitty, who confirmed this to The Sentinel in January, was responsible for pressing the decision to reorganize the County Road Department be made in advance of Bob Main taking office.
I personally wanted to hold off on the decision until the first meeting in January however the other board members, and I did support that, wanted to go ahead and act on that on December 31st. I have no guilts with doing that on that date because it was a board decision that we were going to move forward with that.
Stufflebean spread more than blame after a question from the audience, asking why he would not vote to reconsider the reorganization as moved twice by Bob Main, was answered by accusing Main of collusion with the road workers.
We actually did consider that but the problem we ran into was that it was obvious that Commissioner Main had already met with uh, members of the road department and made promises to them he couldn’t meet. Our job was to move forward with the process that was best for the taxpayers and not looking at hidden agendas like so many individuals have.
The Sentinel has inquired of the commissioners when and under what circumstances Whitty and Stufflebean considered the topic and then agreed not to second Main’s motions to see if such a meeting constitutes an illegal quorum. Commissioners have not responded to an email from The Sentinel requesting comment.
Main responded to Stufflebean’s accusation,
In my opinion, supposed actions by someone else is never a reason for a competent administrator’s business decision. Diverting attention from his actions is a common tactic to avoid responsibility.
Van Elsberg, meanwhile kept his focus on the recall committee’s belief that public process may have violated at least the spirit of open meetings laws.
Kevin, without any public input prepared ten year projections that were never approved or ratified by the Board or the public and used those projections despite having a fully funded and approved budget to work with. Kevin apparently felt the citizens who elected him and oversaw the budget did not deserve the respect of having their budget adhered to.
County Counsel Jackie Haggerty was served with a subpoena last week to provide tapes and notes taken during executive sessions prompting an Unfair Labor Practice complaint filed by Teamsters 223 on behalf of the road workers. County Counsel has not responded to an email asking if the County will comply with the subpoena or file a motion to quash.
Relating to the ULP The Sentinel has received reports of possible ongoing labor contract violations wherein non-union personnel are doing work formerly handled by union workers, a violation of the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act. Email inquiries to Roadmaster John Rowe have not been answered.
Note: Quotations above are literal transcriptions and I take no responsibility for syntax errors.
Bob Main responds to Stufflebean accusation
As posted previously, during the recent IBO Luncheon recall debate, Kevin Stufflebean accused Commissioner Bob Main of colluding with the laid off road workers. In response to a question asking why the Board ignored Main’s motions to reconsider the layoffs Stufflebean said
We actually did consider that but the problem we ran into was that it was obvious that Commissioner Main had already met with uh, members of the road department and made promises to them he couldn’t meet. Our job was to move forward with the process that was best for the taxpayers and not looking at hidden agendas like so many individuals have.
Main responsed to my inquiry this morning.
In my opinion, supposed actions by someone else is never a reason for a competent administrator’s business decision. Diverting attention from his actions is a common tactic to avoid responsibility.
Again, not to belabor the point, when did the ‘we’ in Kevin’s statement meet and reach this conclusion? Whenever it was it was outside of a formal board session and not before the public. Did Nikki and Kevin form a quorum in a hallway somewhere and reach this conclusion, or is Kevin simply lying? Inquiring minds want to know!
Some tidbits from the recall debate UPDATED
The DVD from the IBO luncheon recall debate arrived here today and I transcribed a couple of parts here and will update throughout the weekend. Please know that these are literal translations and I am not responsible for grammatical errors.
Stufflebean: People keep talking about the process was flawed. Coos County Commissioners and our managers followed the process by law in order to do what was right for you as a taxpayer. There was no hidden agendas, there was no secret meeting, everything was done on the up and up and we have all the public proof, all the meetings were documented, all the agendas were listed as a matter of fact, if we were trying to be secretive there is no way at any time that I would have had a conversation with a member of the South Coast Labor Council that handles the media information on December 3rd saying we needed to look at a budget reduction and layoffs in the road department. At no time if I felt I was being secretive would I ever had that discussion with somebody, with South Coast Labor Council. So that right there discredits any information they talk about when they say we were trying to be secretive.
There are so many language mechanic flaws in this first claim that I almost don’t know where to begin but I must note the phrase ‘if I felt I was being secretive’ only because no one cares how he felt but rather what he did. Also, a South Coast Labor Council representative believed to be the person Kevin is referring to has no idea what he is talking about. Regardless, it is a moot point because why, why, why would Kevin rely upon a labor council or members of the public at the meetings or the media to inform the road workers they were being laid off? Why not do it himself? He was acting road master at the time.
Next snippet
Stufflebean: 15:45 This is the appalling part ladies and gentlemen that I find absolutely appalling is that my conversation with Coquille Sentinel media absolutely identified that the business manager for the Teamsters Union in Portland hem hawed around that he knew about it the 23rd of December, there is no way that we were being secretive about these layoffs, we insured that individuals were notified. Even on the 26th, I was off that day I called in to work that day to make sure that the individuals were notified. They were notified, we received a final information on December 31st it was written right on our minutes that we would be having an executive session on that day because we needed to clarify some legal issues. We clarified those.
So what is the appalling part? That he claims to have described to The Sentinel a hemming and hawing Teamsters’ business manager? Is that appalling? No one at The Sentinel has any recollection of this ‘absolute identification’ and did not start covering the layoffs until, ta da, after they had occurred because there were no press releases regarding pending layoffs. Presumably, unless there was a collective brain washing amongst all the local media, no one received any press releases. So, is Kevin appalled because The Sentinel did not report to its readers that according to Kevin Stufflebean, Teamsters 223 business manager hems and haws?
We are not clear what Kevin was appalled about, though it clearly isn’t that he did not notify the public about the layoffs, but as Jean says, “whatever it was, it was appalling and he was appalled.”
Lets challenge Kevin to produce the people that were notified, December 3, December 16, December 23 and whomever he is talking about on December 26 and demand to know of these well informed people why no one else in the County knew about the layoffs, including the workers, until they heard about it on the radio and in the paper after it had happened?
Also, Kevin used the organization chart which he just held up and no one could see, to claim he clearly showed that 22 people were losing their jobs. Later I will scan that chart and add it here and you can decide for yourself.
Next, I had an exchange with County Counsel yesterday which I will include here
Me: Hello Jackie,
Kevin has advised the reason he requested the December 16, 2008 executive session held at the end of a budget work session not be recorded was at your behest. Given Coos County has the ability to and regularly records executive sessions, why would you advise him in advance to request handwritten notes for this session?
You have been served a subpoena to supply notes or tapes of the executive sessions relating to the layoff of twenty-two road workers and the ULP with ERB. Will you comply with the subpoena?
Also, have you prepared a written opinion to the Board for applying the Nollan and Dolan precedents to the ORC, West Beaver Hill road improvement issue surrounding Condition 13? If so will you please provide a copy?
Thank you,
Mary Geddry
Haggerty:
All legal advice to the Board is protected by the attorney-client privilege.Me: Will you comply with the subpoena?
Thank you,
Mary Geddry
The Employment Relations Board has advised me the County has the right to file a motion to quash the subpoena. If they do and the ALJ denies their motion they will have to comply based upon the rules used at ERB. There may be civil options to deny the subpoena but the ALJ I spoke with was not aware of any.
Later I will post the part where Kevin accuses Bob Main of being in collusion with the road workers and Bob’s quote to me when I told him.
UPDATE:Did Kevin and Nikki meet in a quorum and agree to this? Kevin uses the term “We”.
Stufflebean: 26:10 We actually did consider that but the problem we ran into was that it was obvious that Commissioner Main had already met with uh, members of the road department and made promises to them he couldn’t meet. Our job was to move forward with the process that was best for the taxpayers and not looking at hidden agendas like so many individuals have.
UPDATE #2Road Dept Organizational Chart used during December 16, 2008 budget work session that Kevin claims clearly shows people will be laid off.
Thank you for this M. I've been asking on The World and The Forum for the Editorial Board at The ...
http://www.larryvanelsberg2010.com/index.html 
Thanks, Den, this is very useful 