Council impasse hurts small town in big way.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

OAKLAND - According to the city charter, this Douglas County town known for its historic homes and business district should be governed by a mayor and four city councilors.

Nearly eight months after residents recalled their last mayor and two city councilors, however, Oakland is still run by two feuding representatives in what League of Oregon Cities officials call an unpre- cedented standoff.

Surviving councilors Jackie McCarty and Myra Weber have failed to agree on a single replacement appointment. Three seats remain vacant despite applications from 21 city residents - including a state trooper, several former city councilors and several current planning commission and budget committee members. And the lack of a tie-breaking third vote gives each woman complete veto power over any city action.

Meanwhile, the city has received notice of several potentially costly legal and liability issues.

"I've never seen anything that resembles the situation in Oakland," said Paul Nolte, special counsel to the League of Oregon Cities and a longtime attorney for Douglas County and the city of Ashland. "Small towns in general, and especially in Eastern Oregon, seem to have difficulty keeping full councils and may have one or two vacancies at any given time, but that's for lack of anyone willing to run."

Weber is a retired Navy and Veterans Affairs nurse elected to the council in 2002. McCarty, owner of a bed and breakfast inn, was appointed by the three recalled officials just before their removal.

While City Attorney Bruce Coalwell has urged the two to find common ground and fill out the panel, he's also advised them that they constitute a legal quorum under Oakland's City Charter. It appears both women intend to continue operating that way until all five city council seats come up for election in November.

"All city business has been handled well," McCarty said. "We've been able to operate without a problem."

"I think most of the time, we've been getting things done," Weber agreed.

Their rare agreement on that topic may paint a falsely rosy picture, however.

While a two-member council may fulfill the letter of the city charter, it can't guarantee the checks, balances and public debate of a five-member panel.

"Each city has a charter as to how it's to be governed, including a council of so many people and a quorum to conduct city business," Nolte said. "When you have less than that, it creates all kinds of problems.

`The system provides a method by which problems can be addressed and resolved by a majority. Here, it's difficult to do that."

In a town so small that most residents still give phone numbers in just four digits, a two-person council also poses some practical challenges. For example: McCarty and Weber could not have an impromptu conversation in the grocery store aisle without violating Oregon's public meetings law.

If they need to communicate something to one another when not in session, Coalwell has advised them to use City Recorder Barb Mock as a go-between.

And, while neither can single-handedly make city decisions, both can single-handedly prevent an item from receiving so much as a public airing.

The last council meeting, June 6, provided a case in point.

McCarty was unable to present a private investigator's findings in a hostile work environment complaint filed by a city employee, even though the report had been on the agenda. Weber, who had been named in the complaint, simply walked out of the meeting - effectively ending it - when they reached that part of the agenda.

"I would have had to recuse myself, so I couldn't have discussed it anyway," she said.

The lack of cooperation has cut both ways, from the very beginning.

Minutes from the first City Council meeting after the recall - Nov. 29 - show McCarty wasting no time vetoing an attempted action by Weber: "Councilor Myra Weber called the meeting to order. Councilor Jackie McCarty called a point of order. McCarty objected to Weber running the meeting."

After McCarty balked at Weber's assertion that she should preside as senior councilor, based on her longer tenure, Coalwell suggested that Mock preside over meetings - a task normally handled by the mayor.

Weber and McCarty describe their working relationship as "somewhat tense." Mock calls it "hostile" and hard on the city's six employees.

"It's upsetting. It's stressful," she said. "I'm tired of running the meetings. I have been taking a vacation day a week to decompress."

Strained relations between Oakland's elected officials and city staff are nothing new. The recall itself arose largely over the former council's decision to fire former Police Chief Dale Shaw without cause, just before his one-year anniversary would have required a cause be cited.

About 20 city employees have come and gone in recent years, including a city clerk and a city recorder who resigned the same day in the spring of 2005, citing an "intimidating and malicious" work environment.

Oakland resident Nancy Staples, who was among the city residents who applied for appointment to the council, called problems such as the truncated June 6 meeting "a little frustrating." But she added that she thinks the city can make it until November under the present system.

"The only issue is if something comes back and bites us at this time," she said.

City records show several significant issues nipping at the city under its two-member council. Among them:

Shaw filed suit in U.S. District Court Feb. 13 against the city and the three recalled officials - Mayor Jim Baird and Councilors Karen Copeland and Diane Fred. The fired chief charged violation of his free speech, due process and equal protection rights; defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful discharge. He seeks reinstatement or replacement of lost and future earnings, a public apology, and punitive and compensatory damages as determined by a jury.

Oakland's nonprofit insurance carrier, City County Insurance Services, in January began imposing $10,000 per claim deductible because the city officials had "repeatedly elected to disregard" the advice of the insurance pool's risk management professionals. In the most recent instance, Weber initially refused to cooperate with the carrier attorney defending Oakland against the lawsuit by Shaw, saying she would be a hostile witness since she'd opposed the firing. She agreed to meet with the lawyer only after the insurance pool sent her a letter warning that her failure to do so could expose the city to "significant financial liability."

Current Police Chief Norm Counts could lose his state certification as a police officer. The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training notified him in November of its intent to revoke the credential over his "for-cause" firing by the Warm Springs Police Department in September 2005. Certification supervisor Marilyn Lorance on Friday called the notice a "serious matter," saying her department found that the Warm Springs termination met the state's definition of "for cause:" gross negligence, insubordination, incompetence or gross neglect. Counts, who did not return a reporter's phone call, has requested a hearing to appeal the revocation. If that fails, he can no longer work as a full-time police officer in Oregon, Lorance said.