by Christy Solo – Editor
Shady Cove City Council held their regularly scheduled meeting Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. The meeting was well attended both in person at City Hall and via Zoom. Arguably most in attendance were less interested in agenda items such as “Franchise Agreements versus Rights of Way Agreements” and were more interested in the added agenda item of: Resolution 26-01 “A resolution of the city of Shady Cove concerning the censure and exclusion of a councilor from certain executive sessions held under ORS 192.660(2)(f) and ORS 192.660(2)(h).”
Note: For an understanding of the resolution and situation surrounding it, please first read our article on the open hearing held earlier in the day Feb. 19 which is also in this edition.
In brief: The open hearing during the afternoon of Feb. 19 was to “consider the dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer (councilor).”
The consensus from that hearing was that Councilor Paige Winfrey disclosed, or attempted to disclose, confidential attorney-client privileged information discussed during one or more council executive sessions.
Four options for “what should happen next” were discussed and the option chosen by consensus became Resolution 26-01 (penned by City Attorney Jeremy Green).
The full, and lengthy, resolution will be available online as part of the minutes for the Feb. 19 meeting attached to the March 5 regular meeting agenda.
The key portion of the resolution reads:
“1. Findings: The above-stated findings contained in this Resolution 26-01 (this “Resolution”) are hereby adopted. The council further finds the following: (a) Councilor Winfrey disclosed (or attempted to disclose) confidential attorney-client privileged information without council authorization; and (b) Councilor Winfrey’s disclosure (or attempted disclosure) of confidential attorney-client privileged information is contrary to the city’s interests and caused (and continues to cause) irreparable harm and damage to the city.
“2. Censure: The council hereby condemns and reprimands Councilor Winfrey for her unauthorized disclosure (or attempted disclosure) of confidential attorney-client privileged information. The council requests that Councilor Winfrey obtain a better understanding of her oath of office and obtain individualized training and education concerning her obligation to maintain confidentiality of attorney-client privileged communications.
“3. Temporary and Limited Expulsion from Executive Sessions. Councilor Winfrey will not be permitted to attend and/or participate in any council executive session held under ORS 192.660(2)(f) or ORS 192.660(2)(h) which concern matters related to or concerning the employment and/or separation of employment of former City Administrator Michele Parry. To this end, the council, city administration, and city staff may withhold and refuse to disclose and/or provide Councilor Winfrey any confidential information discussed and/or disclosed during the aforementioned executive sessions.”
The motion on the resolution carried with three yeses and two abstentions. In addition to Winfrey’s necessary abstention, Councilor Jeff Vanier – who during the hearing had supported all but the expulsion from executive sessions concerning the hiring of new city administrator – was the second abstention.
Prior to the motion a few citizens spoke about the topic during public comment on agenda items.
Joyce Chapman said she had been “told on very good authority” that elected officials cannot be excluded from publicly noticed meetings “of ay kind for any reason.”
Chapman herself did not cite any specific Oregon laws but did say twice her information was “on good authority”, however she closed by asking council to “cite the laws and authority for attempting to exclude an elected official from performing their duties.”
Note: Council was advised by and the resolution was written by the city’s attorney Jeremy Green who has 23 years of experience practicing law in Oregon. In addition to serving as Shady Cove’s attorney, he is also the city attorney for Sisters, La Pine, John Day, Madras, Monument, Burns, Dayville, and Prairie City, and county counsel for Gilliam County. Jeremy also provides legal advice to the City of La Grande and the City of Redmond. As a taxpayer Chapman should feel confident that he too is a good authority and would not pen an illegal resolution.
Heather Giroux also spoke, saying, Winfrey “may have answered the [Oregon Government Ethics Committee’s] questions without knowing she needed a subpoena, as many of us might have in similar circumstances” (see article on the open hearing in this edition for details). Giroux then asked council to consider the disclosure, or attempted disclosure, of confidential attorney-client privileged information discussed during one or more council executive sessions by Winfrey as a “learning experience” and ask that no resolution be made.
As to the rest of the meeting, it kicked off with Interim Admin John Edwards giving his report. Edwards discussed several intergovernmental agreements the city now has with the Rogue Valley Council of Governments.
First, the long-awaited agreement with the city, RVCOG and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development to re-do the city’s ordinances has been signed and planning can begin working with RVCOG’s Dick Converse on the updates.
RVCOG has begun work on the next audit in line, again via an IGA. Lastly, the city is ready to begin work on the hiring of a new administrator with help from RVCOG and the third IGA.
Adrian Modjeski from RVCOG’s human resources department attended the Feb. 19 meeting and presented several documents to council for their review and possible approval.
Documents included a proposed job announcement for the position and a list of websites where RVCOG would post once approved. Next was the proposed job description for the position. Modjeski said it was based on the description from the last round of hiring, with some adjustments. Finally there was a document outlining the hiring process with projected dates for completion of various stages.
Modjeski said she hoped they would be able to conduct the first round of interviews around March 23, 2026.
Council had a couple of questions. Vanier asked that wording about interviewing the “top three” candidates be changed so the city could have more options if necessary. Modjeski will change that to a list of all qualified candidates in preferential order.
Councilor Steve Mitchell asked about background checks, would they be done and when. Modjeski said they would only be done at the end of the process and that hiring would be contingent upon a candidate passing said check.
Note: During the last round of hiring an administrator the consulting firm hired by the city was slow to run background checks and council found out at just about the last minute that one highly raked applicant had applied under a false name.
Richardson wanted to confirm that March 23 was not a hard date, but a best-case date and that if necessary the process timeline could be extended. Modjeski confirmed.
Once the job posting is out RVCOG will do all of the initial screening and narrowing of the field. Information on good, qualified candidates will be passed on to the hiring subcommittee (Richardson, Nuckles and Edwards) who will further refine the list. The final interviews etc. will be done by the full council (excluding Winfrey in the instances of any parts of the hiring process that take place in executive session).
The motion to accept the job posting carried 5/0.
The discussion on franchise agreements vs. rights of way agreements was brief. Council held a second workshop and Nuckles is in the process of finalizing a draft for a rights of way ordinance that will come to council for review and possible approval in March.
Last on the agenda was another item added during the announcements section, “Union Negotiations.”
Union contracts with city employees expire June 30, 2026 and council needed to appoint two people to work on the contract negotiations.
Nuckles clarified that the team of two would not make any final decisions, that the final proposed contracts would come to council for approval.
The motion to appoint Richardson and Edwards carried 5/0.
During public comment on non-agenda items Natalie Swendener announced her “intent to submit a prescriptive recall petition seeking the recall of Lena Richardson.”
During council comment Winfrey said to attendees, “I really appreciate the kind words that have been sent and said.”
For his comment, Vanier apologized to attendees for the afternoon meeting “getting personal” adding, “It never should have gone to that. I’m used to working in a professional manner. Okay, not like this.”
For context: During the afternoon meeting Vanier referred to Nuckles as “babe.” When Nuckles addressed Vanier after he interrupted her during her comments he replied, “You don’t want to start me up, babe. You don’t want to start me up.”
When councilor Mitchell began his comments regarding the allegations against Winfrey saying, “Many of you don’t know, back in my early days in government-” Vanier interrupted, saying loudly, “Oh here we go, here we go!” then laughed at Mitchell as he continued speaking.
Vanier then ended his comments with a personal statement regarding Winfrey saying she is a “people pleaser” and regarding the censure, “she’ll move forward, I know her.”
He closed with “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks.”
