Lincoln City, OR – Last Monday’s three+ hour city council meeting had Councilor Kip Ward threatening possible jail time to any Councilors he finds violating our council’s rules, and again names Mayor Don Williams. In response to our scathing expose last week, City Manager Ron Chandler discouraged us from publicly airing sexual harassment complaints raised by city employees. And City Attorney Richard Appicello explained why he neglected to forward to council an important communication from Ross Smith regarding Smith’s two lawsuits against the city.

Here are all the juicy bits, in chronological order:

1. City threatens to shut down Warming Shelter due to alleged zoning issue (Chandler)

Chandler offered an update on the city’s threat of $1,100/day fines to Mayor Williams, if he continues to rent Taft Hall to the Warming Shelter (for the cost of the utilities, by the way). Chandler said the charges against the Mayor cannot wait until the Warming Shelter’s upcoming appeal hearing set for January 16th, before the case is eventually sent to our Municipal Judge. Watch

2. Alleged Harassment complaint against Lincoln City Attorney Appicello (Chandler)

Chandler discussed the need to keep complaints, such as the alleged harassment complaint against Appicello, under wraps. “Reporters and bloggers need to be cautious on assumptions being made as a general view” he said. The Councilors were silent on the alleged harassment of one of their former employees, but Councilor Dick Anderson offered to help anyone trying to make sense of the Lincoln City budget. Watch 

3. City’s violations of Oregon’s Public Meetings and Public Records Laws (Appicello)

Appicello gave an update on Smith’s two lawsuits on the city’s numerous alleged violations of Oregon’s Public Meeting and Public Records Laws (15CV22131 & 16CV21270). Smith sent his latest settlement offer last Friday, the deadline set by one of the city’s seven outside attorneys, Bob Steringer, of Harrang, a Portland law firm. Steringer forwarded Smith’s communication to Appicello, who neglected to forward it to the city council for three days, forcing the council to cancel the executive session they’d previously scheduled to discuss Smith’s response. Is this how Appicello spends all his time, scanning and password protecting all communications? Watch 

4. Possible jail time for “self-dealing” council members (Ward)

Ward lamented “it’s been a challenging three years” with the “unbecoming behavior” of members of the council. Ward again accused Mayor Williams of “self-dealing” without offering specifics. Ward said anyone violating our City Charter is committing a Class A misdemeanor (1 year jail/$6,250 fine). That’s so ironic coming from Ward, as Ward’s primary residence is in Otis, according to former Code Enforcement Officer Janell Templeton, Jerry Warner, and many others. (Section 8.1 of our Charter requires a Councilor‘s primary residence to be in their Ward.) Watch 

5. City’s failure to require permits to run surf contests (Chandler)

Chandler spoke on the city’s failure to require permits to run surf contests, even though the city required John Forse to have permits to run his Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic for the last 13 years it’s been held. “I think it’s appropriate for me to review with our attorney, [VCB Director Ed] Driestadt and others, our interpretation of the ordinance” Chandler said. Chandler declined to meet with Forse to address Forse’s serious safety and city liability concerns, choosing instead to meet privately with Appicello, Driestadt, and Police Chief Keith Kilian. Why the secrecy Chandler, afraid of another lawsuit? Watch