Complaint of alleged meeting violations never served

The deadline has passed for West Linn City Councilor Teri Cumming’s lawsuit against the city.

Cummings, along with resident Karie Oakes, filed a civil lawsuit in May against the city over an executive session held March 12 concerning adding a new in-house attorney position.

The complaint, dated May 17, listed several alleged meeting violations committed by staff and city council members, although the suit was just against the city of West Linn.

The complaint stated that the council violated Oregon law by reconvening a meeting without public notice or announcement; the exemption under which the council met in executive session was incorrect; and the council misused an executive session to evaluate city goals.

According to Chad Jacobs, a contract attorney with the city of West Linn, after filing a complaint, it has to be served to the other party within 60 days. The city of West Linn was never served the papers and the window of opportunity passed mid-July.

Cummings and Oakes cannot refile their complaint because they only had 60 days from the date of the alleged violation to file a lawsuit, as per Oregon public meetings law, said Jacobs.

On March 12, the city council adjourned from its regular meeting to hold an executive session, which Cummings attended, to discuss the option of giving City Manager Chris Jordan the authority to recruit, hire and supervise an in-house attorney, who would supplement the city’s existing contracted attorney, Tim Ramis. After the discussion, the council reconvened and voted on the issue. Cummings did not return to the meeting after the executive session and did not vote on the issue.

The March 12 executive session was originally exempt from being open to the public under ORS 192.660(2)(a), which pertains to considering hiring a public employee or staff member. On advice from Ramis during a pre-meeting, it was changed to ORS 192.660(2)(i), which encompasses a staff member review and performance evaluation, with Ramis as the subject of the review.

Cummings contended an evaluation of Ramis was not conducted in the executive session and therefore the meeting was erroneously labeled and in violation of Oregon law.

“Contrary to the stated purpose of the executive session, councilors John Kovash, Jody Carson, Mike Jones and Jenni Tan used the executive session to discuss numerous issues, options, requirements and financial aspects for creating a new city staff position of in-house city attorney,” the complaint stated.

To rectify any possible meeting violations, the council chose to re-conduct the vote on hiring an in-house attorney during its regular May 14 meeting. By re-holding the discussion and the vote at a regular meeting, the council nullified the executive session actions and corrected any violations, said Jacobs, one of the city’s attorneys with Beery, Elsner and Hammond.

However, according to the complaint, the city “has failed to take appropriate action to correct the violations of Oregon’s public meeting laws.”

The complaint asked that the city admit violations occurred, void the decision to hire an in-house attorney, stop all actions to recruit and hire the position or terminate the in-house attorney if hired before the case is resolved and to restart the process of recruiting and hire an in-house attorney “by way of properly noticed and conducted open meetings, in compliance with all Oregon public meeting laws.”

The city notified Cummings and her lawyer of its intent to defend itself against the complaint.

“Should your clients proceed forward with any litigation on this matter, the city will not only vigorously defend itself but will seek recovery of its attorney fees,” Jacobs wrote in a May 22 letter responding to the complaint.

This lawsuit was unique in that a city councilor was suing the city while still in office.

The city recently hired Megan Thornton as the assistant city attorney and she started in the new position July 23.

Cummings did not return email or phone requests for comment.