The World has posted an odd article. Odd in that it contradicts its own reporting and then has John Rowe contradicting Nikki Whitty and facts contradicting other statements. Evidently, enough concern has been expressed over the paving of ten private driveways as part of the Wallace Road LID the paper sought to clear things up but seems to have just made them muddier. The paper still fails to report on the additional $36,000 in cost to be financed over a ten year period. Nor is there mention of the incongruity of using county forces and dedicated road funds on private property when many residents report their roads are not being adequately maintained.

Although county crews paved private driveways as well as streets in the Wallace Road Local Improvement District, property owners paid for both labor and materials at the same price they would have paid a private contractor, according to Rowe.

And the plan to pave driveways while roads were being paved in the county’s first local improvement district was never a secret.

‘It was talked about at several meetings,” Rowe said.

‘It was in my feasibility document.”

This account counters the earlier account that the driveways were a surprise.

what Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean and Roadmaster John Rowe didn’t announce at the time was they were also paving 10 private driveways.

That was revealed only when citizens snapped pictures of the work in progress.

The driveways, or at least the mention that some residents wanted driveways paved, may well have been discussed at public meetings attended primarily by the residents of the LID. Rowe’s claim driveways are mentioned in his feasibility study meet the barest definition of mention.

Prior to the paving of the driveways neither the public nor the BOC were presented with the $36,000 cost and whether the County was going to be financing the cost over the ten year period. A subsequent BOC meeting ratified the paving ‘after the fact’ but the public was not informed of the costs before the paving.

Rowe also contradicts Whitty’s statement that he didn’t want to do driveways.

Another contradiction is the claim county forces were able to pave the driveways for the same price as private contractors. One LID resident claimed on this blog that it was cheaper for him to have the county do the paving.

Rowe is now saying that for the Stage Road LID it would cost $10 per yard more for the county to pave than a private contractor. This despite the county not having to pay fuel taxes or prevailing wages. Rowe claims contractors are hungry right now but where are they cutting the costs if the job requires them to pay prevailing wage? (It may be the job size does not require prevailing wages)

Lastly, the paper reports Planning Commissioner, Dennis Schad, who had five driveways paved had nothing to do with the formation of the LID. What may be pertinent in this instance is whether a sitting commissioner received favorable terms or benefits from public funds. Schad and five other property owners had their driveways paved and financed by the County, an opportunity not being offered to property owners of the other two LIDs. Of course, if Schad plans to pay the $10,200 for the driveways in full upon presentation of the final cost, it isn’t an issue.

Not surprisingly, Coos County Commissioners voted unanimously (Bob Main held his nose) to accept the findings of hearings officer Andrew Stamp with a few minor amendments. For those who had read both Stamp’s findings and the comments submitted, it was obvious neither the commissioners, the planning department or Stamp had actually read all the comments and evidence submitted. The commissioners seemed more focused upon grammatical and spelling errors in Stamp’s findings than matters raised during the comment period.

Main, reminded the audience of the wonderful but empty promises of the 12″ pipeline and those of Methane Energy. Main noted that if the BOC were empowered by the legislature he would have asked to impose potential penalties of $1,000 per day for the first week of any violations, $5,000 per day for the second week not corrected and $10,000 per day every day thereafter.

Ultimately, today’s acceptance by the BOC of the unaddressed evidence will benefit the argument with the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).

In what appears to be the third editorial calling for the recall of Adam Colby, The World sloppily defends a decision not to support an earlier recall effort against Kevin Stufflebean by misstating facts.

But a key difference separates the two recalls: clarity of purpose.

Stufflebean’s foes never articulated a reasonable al-ternative to the layoffs. Larry Van Elsberg, who led the recall, admitted in a World interview that he had no better solution to the department’s budget troubles.[Emphasis mine]

In light of Stufflebean’s very public and humiliating emails that reveal his incompetence and inability to manage the job, and The World’s own unprofessional participation in his implosion, I can see where they would like to pass the buck. Had The World really done its job during that time they would have known, as should Nikki Whitty, there was no budget problem!

Stufflebean tried to sell the public that the department was operating in the red for eight of the last ten years. This was not only untrue but would have been impossible and illegal if it had. Whitty, who was commissioner during all those ‘red’ years, should have had bells going off but instead fell for it hook, line and sinker, and so did The World. Neither Van Elsberg or anyone else could make judgments about the budget because public information was suddenly very difficult to obtain and explanations from Stufflebean were, in a word, nonsensical.

The road department layoff was not the purpose of the recall, although, it did motivate a lot of people to get involved. The committee to recall Stufflebean was called ‘Citizens for Fair and Open Government’. The push for the recall was because enough people knew then what everyone is starting to realize now, Stufflebean is not competent to manage public resource and provide for public safety.

Citizens for Fair and Open Government showed how the commissioners, Whitty, Stufflebean and John Griffith, technically complied with public meeting laws while at the same time obscuring their intentions from the public. Even The World reporter, along with the workers themselves, did not know there were going to be layoffs. Later Stufflebean, acting as road master, blamed the reporter for his staff not knowing he was laying them off. The recall was never about finding an alternative to a layoff, it was about letting reasonable people allow the public to participate in their own governance about critical matters like public safety.

Other papers covered this travesty and the obfuscation well enough that only those precincts relying predominantly on The World for information voted to keep him. Had The World done their job, the additional 1,800 votes needed would have spared Coos County these recent embarrassments thrust upon us and Sheriff Andy Jackson by Stufflebean.

As to their continual drumming for a recall of Colby, their opinion should have little sway this time after bungling the Stufflebean recall and late night email accusations. Nevertheless, they should stop trying to cover up their poor decision on one by passing it off on a failure to clarify the message – Citizens for Fair and Open Government wanted fair and open government. Hard to get any clearer than that.

The editorial is entitle Why Voters Should Care. The real question is why voters should care what The World thinks?

There are rumblings of a recall effort forming to remove Coos County Assessor, Adam Colby from office. Too early to release details but of concern will be timing. Should a recall be successful, and unlike during the Stufflebean recall, The World has called for a recall at least twice, then a replacement will be necessary. If my information is correct, the Coos County Commission will choose an interim assessor to complete Colby’s term.

Given we are in July already, assuming a recall committee can be mobilized quickly to gather signatures, it is possible, though improbable, Colby could be voted out before the end of the year. Consideration should be given to timing the recall election to allow a new BOC in January to pick the interim assessor, unless the recall group is comfortable with Nikki Whitty and Kevin Stufflebean having a hand in the choice.

Stufflebean has made challenger Andy Jackson’s job pretty easy with his erratic behavior and poor public safety decisions and terrible employee handling. There seems little doubt Sheriff Jackson will be Commissioner Jackson come this November.

Whitty’s challenger, Larry Van Elsberg, suggested earlier this spring how he would handle the Colby matter in a response to questions from The World.

The Board of Commissioners needs to look at these costs and see if they can be reduced through policy, training or better communications with employees and managers. I would rather see these funds spent towards county services than expensive outside attorney fees.

Until recently, due to news media and employee union concerns, the current Board of Commissioners seemed reluctant or silent in dealing with the excessive turnover of employees in the Assessor’s office. I realize they cannot discuss those issues publically, but from an outsider’s perspective, it seems they were slow to react or possibly condoned such actions.

In a June 29, 2010 letter from the BOC to Colby, expectations listed include ‘training’ and ‘communication’. Why the present BOC dynamic allowed the problems at the Assessor to continue for so long before taking this type of action isn’t clear. What is clear is that Whitty has repeatedly relied upon Stufflebean and his representations without doing her own research or pulling upon her oft touted experience. Two days after the lay off of twenty two road workers, Whitty couldn’t state why she voted to fire them.

So far, all efforts to obtain a copy of the analysis that maps out how this can be done as Whitty claims have failed and was not made a part of the county press release. Nor could Whitty under persistent grilling by road crew workers, Friday, explain her own decision instead deferring questions repeatedly to Kevin who is out of the office until Wednesday.
Many road workers questioned the commissioners decision to vote on this matter in advance of newly elected Bob Main taking office. Whitty claimed responsibility fearing Main, not having enough background information, would vote NO.

After days, if not weeks, of requests it was finally admitted the ‘analysis’ did not exist on paper but that didn’t stop Whitty from eschewing public safety and terminating twenty two family wage jobs despite an approved budget covering their employment and, like Stufflebean, not bothering to attend the swearing in of Commissioner Bob Main.

Notwithstanding that Whitty herself appears to have had no more information than was released to the press, her unilateral choice to exclude Main is even more confusing because she claims the interim roadmaster did not require board approval to terminate employment.
“Kevin didn’t have to bring that to the board of commissioners because the department head, which he technically is, has the authority to do that. But I was glad that he kept us in the loop,” said Whitty.
Nevertheless there was a rush for an unnecessary vote, in closed session, to terminate 22 employees and avoid putting the decision, “on Bob’s back”. Bob Main does not appreciate being excluded from the decision no matter the reasons, and does not believe the information provided to the board was adequate to make such a sweeping decision.

Whitty has voted pretty much in lockstep with Stufflebean all along. Stufflebean has publicly revealed his incompetence and lack of stability again and again which may be why she has been so silent of late. It seems that a word of support for exonerated Andy Jackson would be in order.

Regardless of Whitty’s poor judgment and willing dependence on a character like Stufflebean, Van Elsberg has his work cut out for him to oust the social butterfly this November. However, despite Stufflebean’s resentment for Van Elsberg for heading the recall attempt, the commissioner has done more to win Van Elsberg votes and has certainly cost Whitty votes, (remember his reference to the ‘pipeline fiasco’? Thank you, Kevin!)

An obscure little tidbit on the BOC agenda for the July 7, 2010, Coos County Board of Commissioners meeting “B. Discussion re: Letter from BOC- Assessor” could spell some heated debate next week.

The beleaguered assessors office has lost yet another employee. On June 22, at about 12:00, Mary Loiselle left her position with the Coos County Assessor without notice. There is no clue whether the agenda item is directly related to Loiselle’s departure but sources indicate Adam Colby is responding to action or communication from the BOC.

The assessor’s presentation may not be the only hot item on the agenda next week. Given the recent revelation that Commissioner Stufflebean’s wild accusations against the Sheriff proved baseless expect some kickback from that as well. Don’t forget the popcorn, cameras, recorders, sustenance…. this could be a long but eventful public hearing.

We didn’t have to wait long to see how The World would handle the news about Sheriff Jackson being cleared of corruption. As everyone knows, an email to the paper from Kevin Stufflebean, unreleased to the public but selectively quoted from, prompted an investigation by the State Attorney General. Given the vagueness and wide sweeping tone of the accusations many people including me felt the paper was errant in even reporting the accusations without some evidence. The Attorney General, also not provided any evidence, found the accusations to be baseless but lack of evidence didn’t stop the paper from giving Stufflebean a platform to vent his anger towards his perceived enemies.

The paper penned an editorial today (better written than usual) likening the commissioner to the boy who cried wolf. The paper throws Stufflebean to the wolves but doesn’t own up to its own responsibility in this entertaining but ridiculous event.

Last month, stinging from a weak finish in the May primary, Stufflebean unleashed a batch of invective, including an unsupported accusation of corruption in the sheriff’s office. He evidently didn’t realize such an allegation would justify an investigation by the state attorney general, which the sheriff solemnly requested.

Not surprisingly, the investigation found nothing. Stufflebean had sound and fury, but no evidence.

“Not surprisingly”, they say, like they knew it all along. If that is true, if they knew the accusations were baseless, then the fact they published the story at all reveals a terrible lack of journalistic ethics. Of course they should have known it all along. How many commissioners report corruption to a paper rather than a district attorney or a police department?

That a sitting commissioner might send a late night venom filled rant to a newspaper about his political enemies is news, sure. Spelling out the accusations without revealing the source document, without any evidence… That is not news, that is sensationalism and at the expense of a lot of people who, had the paper not cooperated with Stufflebean, had they not enabled his childish behavior, would not have had to be bothered.

The paper owes the citizens an apology. Stufflebean isn’t alone in losing credibility over this chapter in Coos County politics.

Not a surprise. The AG has cleared Andy Jackson and the Sheriffs office of any criminal misconduct after a month long investigation spurred by charges of corruption from Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean Regrettably, the AG does not have authority to investigate the mental stability of the commissioner who made the charges.

It will be interesting to see how The World approaches this development.