Two Lincoln County commissioners are still meeting remotely and still cannot settle on someone to fill the seat left vacant by Claire Hall’s death in January. (Shayla Escudero/Lincoln Chronicle)By QUINTON SMITH/Lincoln Chronicle
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners will apparently limp along with two members for the foreseeable future.
Commissioners Casey Miller and Walter Chuck continued their stalemate Wednesday over who to appoint to fill the seat vacant since the January death of Claire Hall. The two initially struggled to agree on an appointment process, how to interview and then select finalists before each settling on nominating two people.
But repeatedly in April – with a break for the May primary election – and again twice in June they couldn’t agree who to appoint.
Which led Miller on Wednesday to contend that the county deserves a three-member board and that any selection should not favor candidates in the November general election. He then made four motions to nominate a replacement – which were all rejected by Chuck.
MillerFirst, Miller nominated former sheriff Curtis Landers of Newport, who defeated Chuck outright in the May primary and will take office in January. Miller said Landers could use the next five months to get up to speed on issues and hit the ground running in his elected Position 3 in January.
That motion died for lack of Chuck’s second.
Miller then nominated Marci Baker, a Lincoln City councilor who one was of his two appointment finalists but who finished third in the Position 2 primary race to fill the remaining two years of Hall’s term. Chuck again said no.
Miller’s third motion was to nominate Dru Earls of Lincoln City, who finished fifth in the May primary for Miller’s Position 1 seat. Citing Earls as one of Chuck’s original five finalists back in April, Miller said that nomination might be more palatable to Chuck.
Chuck said nope.
Miller’s fourth and final motion was to appoint Cheri Brubaker of Waldport, a field representative for Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore., who finished third in the May race for his seat. Miller said Brubaker received the most votes of any May primary candidate who did not advance to November and seemed like “another reasonable compromise.”
For a fourth time, Chuck said no.
Miller’s fifth and final motion was to schedule a special meeting within seven days for the sole purpose of filling the commission vacancy.
“No,” said Chuck. “We don’t need a special meeting for this.”
ChuckOnce again Chuck defended his desire to appoint Cristin Don of South Beach to fill the Hall vacancy. Don finished first in the Position 2 race in the May primary but did not receive a majority of the vote and is facing Joe Steere of Lincoln City in November.
Chuck said the process was determined in February without considering what might happen in the May primary. “The election was not part of the process,” he said. “But if you are using the election, Don is the most qualified” because she received the most votes.
Miller reiterated his stance that appointing someone who is on the ballot in November could unduly influence the results.
“I like Cristin Don a lot … but I won’t be moving forward with her,” he said.
And with that, the two continued their stalemate and went on to other business without discussing a way to select a third commissioner.
- Quinton Smith is the editor of Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
For anyone that still thinks Casey Miller has been the problem, I hope this demonstrates what’s been going on at the county. Casey Miller still didn’t agree with Walter Chuck’s choice on a replacement, but he provided a defensible reason and offered three alternatives to appointing Curtis Landers. Chuck said no to all of them, including one of his original picks. This isn’t about Chuck wanting to follow a process. It’s about county counsel and a few others being fearful they will lose control if the let Chuck agree to appoint someone who won’t follow their direction. Meanwhile, the Human Resources Director is basically king of the county (ironic it happened here) who doesn’t answer to anyone and continues to place sheer obedience from employees above serving the community. I’m not a die-hard Miller supporter, but I appreciate his willingness to find a compromise over Chuck’s “my way or the highway” mentality and hope the November election brings some resolve.
I agree that Walter Chuck, for no reason other than blind obedience to Kristin Yuille and David Collier, is obstructing the appointment of a qualified person to fill Position 2 until November. Casey Miller offered, for a fully functional board, reasonable choices for filling the vacancy yet Chuck just keeps resisting. It is obvious who is obstructing this process and it is not Casey Miller.
I think it’s a good thing that change is coming for the Lincoln County Commissioner’s office.
Time for all new commissioners. The election is coming soon. There are great, honest, hardworking candidates without personal axes to grind on the ballot. Let’s get all new people on the commission. Throw this unpleasant past behind. Vote.
Common sense to me would be to appoint Landers now as the public has already elected him. The people have spoken and Chuck needs to recognize that.
Agreed. Curtis Landers was already voted in. It makes the most sense. We need to move forward.
Walter Chuck needs to go. David Collier and Kristin Yuille should start looking for new jobs.
RE: the June 18th reporting of Judge Aiken’s findings, I wonder if Commissioner Miller has relocated to his Courthouse office space as well as re-joining the leadership team meetings where communication, support, and team building would increase functional leadership for the county programs, and improved morale. I would hope that individuals in public service could be guided in their decision making by the principles of the “Common Good” that are clearly described in a book by that title by Robert Reich and by input from the people for whom they are in service.