Lincoln County’s two commissioners begin process to replace Claire Hall but disagree repeatedly on procedures

Editor’s note: This story was updated Friday to indicate the county had revised its commission application.

By QUINTON SMITH/Lincoln Chronicle

Whomever is selected to replace Claire Hall on the Lincoln County commission may consider wearing a referee’s uniform to meetings.

Hall, who was facing a Jan. 9 recall election, died unexpectedly Jan. 4 voiding the election and set off a commission appointment process for the second time in 11 months.

The new commissioner could be selected by Feb. 12 and will likely have to spend the next nine months trying to referee or mediate disagreements between commissioners Casey Miller and Walter Chuck and county counsel Kristin Yuille. This comes after 15 months of tense, conflict-filled meetings that surfaced once again during Wednesday’s 34-minute virtual workshop session.

And that’s while all three commissions positions will be up for election in the May primary and likely runoffs in November.

Here’s what was decided Wednesday:

• Applications to fill Hall’s position were posted on the county’s website immediately after the meeting and are due Friday, Jan. 30. The original application released Wednesday was nearly the same form that drew criticism last year when Chuck won his appointment, but was changed Friday to remove some inappropriate questions;

• Yuille suggested a timeline that had Chuck and Miller score the applications by Feb. 4, interview finalists Feb. 9 and hold a special meeting Feb. 12 to select the new commissioner.

Commissioners appeared to agree on the timeline, but Miller repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked for Wednesday’s workshop and the commission’s meeting next week to include a broader discussion of the selection process. Because there are now just two commissioners, both must agree — be a majority — on an action before it can take place.

Chuck and Yuille several times rebuffed Miller’s request to show a Power Point presentation of his thoughts on the application and selection process. At one point, Yuille asked Miller if he was trying to “micro-managing the process” and that her suggested timeline “is a guidepost and not set in stone.”

Last year, after Kaety Jacobson quit, there were 27 applications. Miller and Hall each ranked the applicants from 1-27. Yuille and then-county administrator Tim Johnson looked at the top 10 from each, forwarding the finalist recommendations based on who was in both Miller and Hall’s top 10.

Miller said Wednesday that commissioners deserve to see the full list, see who might match but also who might be at the top of each list, and then discuss and decide finalists.

Chuck, who dialed into the meeting from his car on his way to legislative meetings in Salem, repeatedly said he was fine with the process and would use his “own best judgment” to help pick the commissioner.

Miller said he hoped to have a deeper discussion of the candidate evaluation process and be more transparent about how finalists were selected. Miller said he hoped that discussion could take place next week, but Yuille said there currently was nothing on the commission’s agenda to warrant a meeting.

That led Miller to again bring up months of unsuccessful attempts to get items of his concern placed on agendas or to hold workshops on issues where ideas and discussions – a practice common among other local governments – are more informally kicked around.

Yuille replied that it was up to staff and not commissioners to place items on bi-monthly agendas.

“Just to be clear, your items of business may not be the county’s business,” Yuille said.

Miller also inquired Wednesday about a series of virtual commission meetings and said he hoped their next would have everyone meeting in person. Chuck said as an Association of Oregon Counties liaison to state lawmakers it was important for him to be meeting with legislators during the 35-day session that begins Feb. 2 and Yuille said that the county found during the pandemic that virtual meetings drew a larger audience.

“I will see both of you next week in commission chambers,” Miller said.

All three seats up for grabs

While the last 15 months have been chaotic for the commission, the next few months could be more so.

Because of Chuck’s appointment last year, Hall’s death and the end of Miller’s first four-year term, all three commission positions are up for election in the May 19 primary. If no one in each of the races gets more than 50 percent of the vote in May, then the top two finishers for each position face off in November and the winner of races for Position 1 and Position 3 would take office in January 2027.

For Position 2, however, the county says if someone wins the race outright in May or November that person would take office immediately and the appointee to that seat would step down.

Here’s the lineup:

• Position 1: This is Miller’s current position, but as of Wednesday only perennial candidate Mitch Parsons of Lincoln City has filed. Parsons, a former Lincoln City councilor, was appointed to the Lincoln County School District board last year.
• Position 2: This is Hall’s former seat. If someone gets more than 50 percent of the vote in May or wins a runoff in the November general election, they would take office immediately and fill the remaining two years of Hall’s term.
• Position 3: Chuck was appointed to this seat last year and he has filed for election for a four-year term beginning January 2027. No one else has yet filed.

If the commission adheres to Yuille’s suggested schedule and appoints someone to Hall’s position on Feb. 12, that person would have another month – until March 10 – to decide whether to file for the May primary.

Miller has not filed for any seat yet, but hinted last fall that he was considering a run against Chuck – which would be a test to see what direction voters wanted to follow and also open his seat to a new person and voice.

That application, again

Commission positions are considered full-time jobs with a salary starting at $98,000 a year, not including a range of benefits.

The only legal requirements to apply are that an office seeker have been a resident of the county for one year and be a registered voter.

The application released Wednesday to replace Hall is nearly the same as one used to select Jacobson’s replacement and is a form usually used for high level administrative or law enforcement positions. Once again it asked some questions generally avoided by employers, including the candidate’s age, Social Security number, whether they had been involved in civil litigation, and – despite the commission being a non-partisan position – if they are involved with a political candidate, position or issue.

The application also asks if the person has “ever had an association with any person or group or business venture which could be used, even unfairly, to impugn or question your character and qualifications for the requested appointment?”

The county re-worked the application Friday to remove some of the inappropriate questions, although asked for the applicant’s driver’s license number.

Only one question asks the candidate why they are seeking the appointment and there are no questions asking what attributes the candidate might offer.

• Quinton Smith is the editor of Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]