By Christy Solo – Editor
There was one item added to the Jan. 15 Shady Cove City Council Meeting agenda; “City Administrator Employment.”
Mayor Lena Richardson began the discussion on this topic saying, “This agenda item is related to a personnel matter, which is also a very sensitive matter, so I ask that Council refrain from comment.”
Richardson continued, “Section 10B of Ms. Perry’s employment contract provides that the City may terminate her employment with or without cause.”
Richardson then made the motion to terminate the employment of City Administrator Michele Parry “without cause.”
The motion carried with four “yeses” and one abstention (Councilor Paige Winfrey).
Backing up to the beginning of the meeting, the first item of business was a presentation of the 2022/2023 audit results to council.
Ben Cohn of KDP/Soren Accounting gave the presentation. For those interested in the details of the audit, the 35-page report is attached to the Jan. 15 meeting agenda and can be found on the city’s website under the “Agenda and Minutes” section.
The takeaway is that the audit is done and has been sent to the Oregon Secretary of State. KDP will immediately begin work on the 23/24 audit.
Councilor Steve Mitchell asked Cohn what sort of “knowledge or background or certification” should the “financer” for the city have?
Cohn said ultimately the city would want “somebody with pretty high-level government accounting experience.” He added that it was difficult to find people with those qualifications and emphasized that, “governmental accounting is some of the most complicated accounting out there” but people can learn.
The final step for the 22/23 audit will be for the city to submit their Corrective Action Plan to the Secretary of State regarding the audit. Richardson said council will be going over that letter in their next meeting and once that’s done and the letter is adopted it will be sent.
Councilor Jeff Vanier asked Cohn if he felt the Secretary of State would be upset that the Corrective Action Letter would be a bit late.
Cohn replied, “I mean, the audit was due three years ago, so at this point, they’re happy.” He continued saying they might send a letter in return, but they won’t withhold any state funding from the city.
Following Cohn’s presentation Richardson announced two changes, first meetings would return to the old format where public comment on agenda items would be at the top of the meeting – with no comment during discussions on action items – and PC on non-agenda items would remain at the end of the meeting.
She also announced that written minutes are again included in the agenda packets.
During the consent calendar discussion – which now includes a review of bills-to-be-paid versus bills already paid – Councilor Kathy Nuckles inquired about some bills dating back several months.
Interim Administrator John Edwards said some bills had been sent to Michele Parry’s administrator email and no one had access to that, so they had now been resent and would be paid.
Also included in the consent calendar was a new budget to actual report put together by Richardson and Finance Administrator Sierra Gradney. Edwards commented that it was “a really great format” which “makes it really easy to read.”
During public comment on agenda items Natalie Swendener posed a question on a complex budgeting issue, stating “we need to be transparent” about the topic.
Note: Swendener did not present council with a written copy of her statement, or any accompanying budget documents to clarify her question. You can view her comments in their entirety at 45:34 minutes into the Zoom recording of the Jan. 15 meeting on the city’s website.
Upon receiving no answer to her question, Swendener said, “Okay, so you’re not going to answer my question. I get it, that’s fine. But I think you made my point on transparency.”
Note: Government transparency is not about questions being answered on-the-spot in council meetings, especially complex budgetary/audit questions which require time and research both to ask and answer.
For folks who have questions about any city matters, budgetary or otherwise, the best way to get answers is contact the staff, the mayor or a council member directly. All contact information is listed on the city’s website.
Additionally, City Hall is open five days a week, stop on by and set up an appointment to meet and pose your questions in person.
Regarding “transparency” which seems to have become a much bandied about phrase of late – please see our supplementary “What is government transparency” article on Pg. 10 of this edition (or online under “City Business” at UpperRogueIndependent.com )
Back in the meeting, Swendener then questioned why “the full council” wasn’t participating in the drafting of the city’s audit plan of action.
Richardson had said minutes before that the plan would be on the next meeting’s agenda for all of council to discuss, review and approve before it was sent to the Secretary of State.
Note: Oregon’s Audit Plan of Action letters are not complex. There is a one-page template provided for cities to use on the Secretary of State’s website.
Next to speak during public comment on non-agenda items was Shari Tarvin who handed council a resolution to put the appointed seats in the May primary election, saying that it “needs to be adopted tonight.”
During his report, Edwards said he’d done a walkthrough the city with the Energy Trust of Oregon and the contractor who will be doing the free lighting upgrade to the city. Some city property already has the money saving LED lights, but all lights at City Hall and the maintenance building will be replaced at no charge to the city.
Edwards estimates it will save the city $4K – 5K per year in electricity costs.
Back on the agenda once again was the topic of a rights of way ordinance to replace the city’s current franchise agreements.
Quick reminder: The reasoning for a RoW is to replace the city’s several and slightly different franchise agreements with each individual franchise (i.e. Hunter Communications) with one agreement that has the exact same terms for every business for which it is applicable.
Nuckles gave a brief history: approximately one year ago the previous city attorney drew up a rights of way ordinance for council’s consideration. That version is the one Eagle Point uses. Council liked some of the customizations Eagle Point added, so they asked the Planning Commission to review it.
It came back to council, but before they could do a first reading, a new city attorney was hired and he rewrote the entire RoW. Due to all the changes to council and admin it has not yet come back to council.
Nuckles said she wanted to emphasize they wouldn’t be “starting from scratch” if they moved forward with an RoW but have two versions to work with.
Edwards said he is not ready to make a staff recommendation on either and noted RoWs require more staff time. He suggested council schedule a workshop to discuss the entire topic.
Both drafts will be sent to councilors, and Edwards will set up the workshop in the near future.
Next up was the topic of a possible May 2026 election.
Richardson gave a statement which read in part, “Past legal and administrative opinions have supported the position that [next available election] means the next general election. A primary election such as the one in May is for the purpose of selecting party candidates who will run for office in the upcoming general election. Shady Cove elected officials are not party-related and therefore not subject to the nominating process which is the purpose of a primary election.
“The purpose of a general election is to elect members of governing bodies to seats that have become available between general elections. Precedents, a crucial element of law and government, clearly point toward the importance of recognizing the general election as the next available election to fill appointed Council positions in Shady Cove. Precedents provide consistency, stability and fairness and allow for the evolution of established principles over time, especially in cases where ambiguity exists.”
Continuing she said, “the city and its citizens need consistency and stability to restore the trust and truthfulness necessary to get important work accomplished.”
Richardson’s comments concluded, “service instead of spending 2026 engaged in territorial wars centered on mistrust, misinformation and suspicion. The process involved in the November election will be distraction enough, we must avoid spending the entire year focused on such distractions.”
During discussion Mitchell said he’d called Jackson County Clerk Chris Walker and asked for their interpretation of “next available election.” Walker advised they do not do interpretations, and the city should consult the city attorney. Mitchell said that with two previous city attorneys interpreting “next available” as “next general election” he felt he had done his due diligence.
Vanier said he spoke with the District Attorney Patrick Green with the Jackson County District Attorneys Office and city attorney Jeremy Green who said “next available” meant “next primary.”
Richardson asked if Vanier had received either response in writing, he said he had not. Richardson said she wished they could have been presented to the council in writing, because she had seen neither response.
Vanier then said, “I think we actually have a team here that can do the work and get it done” and that “common sense” dictated they put the appointed seats on the Nov. 2026 general election.
He closed saying that “one of” the attorneys said if an agreement could not be reached regarding May or Nov. “we should throw it up to council” for a vote.
Richardson asked if anyone would like to make a motion and said if there was none, they would run in November.
Nuckles said it would be nice to have a motion and made one to put the appointed seats up for election in the November 2026 general election.
The motion carried 4/1 with Winfrey as the no vote.
During public comment on non-agenda items Swendener made a “suggestion” for the new budget to actuals report, saying “it would be nice” if the report “showed our cash position and our investments.”
Richardson appeared to mishear and replied the city could not provide a beginning or ending fund balance due to ongoing audits as discussed by the auditor at the beginning of the meeting.
Swendener said “Let the record show the city will not agree to let the city show a bank balance.”
Richardson replied, “A bank balance will be fine” adding they would “absolutely” add that.
Next to speak was Hank Hohenstein who said council “is able” to spend money on “interim city administrators, oversight accounting firms, and attorneys” and these “do nothing” for the “well-being” of citizens.
Note: These are non-optional and needed for the city to run.
Hohenstein asked that council fill the vacancies on the Recreation and Tourism committee immediately.
Tarvin then spoke to the matter of the election, saying, “We will be forced to go to a recall.”
During council comments Vanier said, “When we come in [to meetings] we need to put personality problems away” continuing that everyone should come to meetings “as citizens” and “not be trying to pick at one another.”
Richardson agreed and said council also needs to put everything into perspective, We have a handful of folks who are very, dissatisfied and upset, but there are 2,500 registered voters and over 3,000 residents in Shady Cove. I think there’ a different environment than we see right here in this chamber every council meeting.”
Mitchell suggested that in a future meeting they compile a “job description” for the duties of council members so “folks know what they’re in for” when applying or running for the seats.
Winfrey said there had been a chimney flu fire at a residence in the city and she wanted to remind everyone that Fire District 4 has chimney sweeping brushes they will loan out to anyone free of charge.
