By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
Lincoln County commissioners have officially recognized commission chair Claire Hall as the acting county administrator despite a recall threat and ongoing health issues that have kept her out of the office for two months.
During another tense meeting Wednesday, commissioners decided to formally select the commission chair – currently held by Hall – as the acting administrator and look for an interim to fill the position.
The county hired Tim Johnson as its first administrator in April 2022 after commissioners decided they needed someone to focus solely on directing department heads and overseeing its budget. Since Johnson’s resignation in February, Hall and county counsel Kristin Yuille have divided his duties.
The county has been advertising for an administrator the past eight months and using a head hunter company that specializes in government recruitment – with no success
Hall, who attended the meeting over the phone, has not been physically present since suffering a fall in September and being treated for additional health issues. Hall is also facing a potential recall as voter signatures in favor of removing her made their way to the clerk’s office this week to be verified before determining if a recall will be on the ballot.
Commissioners voted 2-1 to formalize the acting administrator role after a lengthy discussion.
Commissioner Casey Miller argued to put off making a decision since the item was not included in the original agenda that went out Friday, only added Monday and felt it wasn’t enough time for sufficient review.
“We’ve had so much change going on over the last year,” Miller said. “A lot of deep change that affects this organization greatly.”
In the past year, commissioner Kaety Jacobsen stepped down, commissioner Walter Chuck was appointed, the county administrator resigned, commissioners put on a hiring freeze, and the Oregon Government Ethics Commission is investigating the board’s electronic voting process for hiring decisions.
Miller advocated for looking closer at the administrative role and connecting with department heads to evaluate its effectiveness. Hall had a different take and advocated for voting Wednesday.
“I believe we need to do this, and I am ready to move forward now, because this really is codifying what has been our practice for months and again, this hopefully will be a relatively short term thing, not a permanent thing,” Hall said.
“I know that publicly, I personally have been accused by people of somehow wanting to consolidate or seize power,” Hall said. “Once the position is filled, the need to exercise the authority will cease. The ordinance also spells out that if the board of commissioners changes, the new chair would take these duties and the chair is chosen by the board.”
Chuck said he was in favor of the administrator model.
“I think that by not being involved in the day-to-day operation, it allows us to work with and trust our department heads that we appoint, and our other elected officials to manage their departments,” he said.
He said he was looking forward to the search for an administrator and would consider finding an interim so that the county could be prepared for the upcoming budget season and the increased uncertainties from state and federal resources.
Miller advocated for feedback from department heads and more discussion to see if the administrative model is working for everyone.
“I do not dispute what commissioner Miller is saying,” Hall said. “The kind of review of the position and the associated things he’s talking about are perfectly valid and logical. But what this feels like to me at the moment is the courthouse is on fire, and instead of calling 9-1-1, we fiddle around trying to figure out what happened …The immediate needs, I believe, have to come first.”
Commissioners ultimately voted 2-1 to appoint the board chair as the acting county administrator with Miller voting no. But they unanimously approved a motion to begin looking for an interim county administrator.
While the action Wednesday specifically names the board chair as the acting administrator, it allows the county administrator to designate a person to temporarily exercise duties at their discretion. In Hall’s case that will continue to be Yuille, she confirmed after the meeting.
Hall told the Lincoln Chronicle on Thursday that hiring for the administrator’s position hasn’t been a priority for a number of reasons. Keeping the position open means some savings for the county’s strapped budget and that internal turmoil between department heads has also taken time and added to the distraction.
The two-hour long meeting was also tense at times and included a heated public comment period where District Attorney Jenna Wallace asked again to fill some of the positions affected by the county’s budget-triggered hiring freeze.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
I am not a fan of social media and the unhinged rantings by people that it facilitates – rantings that are (to use Judge Immergut’s words) “simply untethered to the facts.” I offer some facts that are relevant to the issues plaguing the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners:
– On Wednesday, 11/5, only two of the three commissioners voted to consolidate power into the hands of one commissioner, Claire Hall, acting as county administrator. Claire Hall was one of the two votes in favor of that decision.
– The Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigator’s review found
“substantial objective basis that public meeting laws were violated by the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners.”
– The Oregon Government Ethics Commissioner voted to unanimously
investigate commissioners’ votes on hiring decisions done outside public meetings.
– At the Oct. 15th meeting Commissioner Miller proposed discussing a resolution related to the Ethics Commission investigation. Commissioner Chuck refused the proposal stating “It is not on the agenda.”
– Since July 2024 Commissioner Miller has submitted over 30 agenda requests that have not been placed on the public meetings agendas.
– Though an outside investigation of Commissioner Miller found him innocent of alleged bullying of fellow employees, Commissioner Miller has not been allowed to use his office within the commissioners’ department for over one year – while the taxpayers foot the bill for an off-site office costing us $325.00 per month.
– Per the public information officer’s official statement there is no law that authorizes preventing a commissioner from occupying his office.
– On Oct. 15th Commissioner Chuck denied DA Wallace permission to speak during the Public Comments period as she had not signed the Public Comment form prior to the start of the meeting. In that same meeting an online person spontaneously raised his virtual hand and was allowed to speak, pointing out the selective silencing of DA Wallace.
– The point here is that facts matter.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely – Decisions were made to violate or ignore the rules and mistreat Commissioner Miller and anyone wishing to address this was silenced, ignored and threatened. Further rules and Oregon State Statutes were broken – employees were bullied and if they still believed in doing the right thing instead of buckling under the pressure applied, they were fired – and Lawsuits were filed. The Oregon Ethics Commission investigation began but instead of abiding by the rules they doubled down.
Budget shortfalls were not discussed, failed audits were ignored but decisions behind closed doors were made freezing departments that were already understaffed due to an ongoing battle between Comm Hall, Counsel Yuille and the DA. With a shortage of prosecutors, the DA unable to get her office staffing issues on the agenda had to attempt to get her message out in the public comment section of the BOC meetings with only 3 minutes allowed with no answers ever to be given. Prisoners were released from jail and public safety was at risk and still no correction came. Meanwhile the BOC Chair is crowned with even more power temporarily, so we are told but it has already been 10 months and is still ongoing – all while not having a presence at the County since last August. The sincere hope is that change is possible for Lincoln County because this is our home and the County is in trouble.
Our community needs good leadership. Our people have special needs.