CITY OF JEFFERSON
Regular Council Meeting
September 26, 2013
6:30pm
COUNCILORS PRESENT: Clare Troutman, Mayor Ben Pickett, Dave Beyerl, David Jones, Walt Perry, Judi Day
COUNCILORS ABSENT: Vacant position
STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Cook, Deanna Donato, Gregg Gorthy; Representatives from Marion County Sheriff’s Office: Commander Hlad, Sgt. Sherburn, Undersheriff Clausen, Lt. Adcock
I. COUNCIL MEETING CALL TO ORDER/FLAG SALUTE – Mayor Pickett called the meeting to order at 6:30pm, welcomed everybody and led in the flag salute.
II. VISITORS - none
III. OLD BUSINESS
3.1 Resolution #974, Establishing Fees for Use of City Hall Council Chambers
Councilor Beyerl moved to approve Resolution #974. Clare Troutman seconded. All in favor: Ayes – 5, Opposed – 0. APPROVED.
IV. NEW BUSINESS
4.1 OLCC Liquor App – Mint Leaf Bar & Grill
Manager, Evan Phipps was present and explained his family just purchased the old Plantation Inn and they were looking forward to opening in a few weeks. The Council welcomed them. It was a consensus of the Council to approve the OLCC application.
4.2 Volunteer Applications for Planning Comm (2): Rodrigo Arellano & Tracy Vaughan
Councilor Beyerl moved to appoint both applicants to the Planning Commission, noting Council was pleased to have them. Councilor Troutman seconded. All in favor: Ayes - 5, Opposed - o. APPROVED. Tracy Vaughan was present and thanked them.
4.3 Resolution #972, Allowing COG to Apply for Funding from Oregon DLCD for Technical Assistance Grants
Councilor Beyerl moved to approve the resolution, as it could result in grant money for the City. Walt Perry seconded. All in favor: Ayes - 5, Opposed - 0. APPROVED.
4.4 Resolution #973, Adopting a Section 3 Plan & Limited English Proficiency Plan (LEP) to Comply with new CDBG Regulations
Dave Beyerl explained it was housekeeping to stay in compliance with the CDBG grant we’d already been awarded for the water master plan and moved to approve Resolution #973. Councilor Troutman seconded. All in favor: Ayes - 5, Opposed - 0. APPROVED.
V. DISCUSSION/INFORMATION
5.1 Risk Management Incentive Money – Sarah Cook provided the history of the funds, how much was available to the City, and what types of things it could be used for.
5.2 Deputy Rotation Selection
Mayor Ben Pickett provided some background on the deputy rotation process, the City’s involvement in the interview process and the recent turn of events that resulted in another deputy getting selected for the Jefferson contract, before turning it over to Marion County Sheriff’s Office for introductions. Undersheriff Troy Clausen introduced himself and commented how pleased he was with the relationship between them and the City, noting that he was one of the first deputies assigned to Jefferson when the contract first started in 1995. Others in attendance included Commander Eric Hlad, Lieutenant Jerry Adcock from the Enforcement Division, and Sergeant Bill Sherburn in charge of the contracts.
Welcoming all of them, as well as the large number of people in attendance from the community, Mayor Pickett opened up the floor to anybody wishing to speak on Deputy West’s behalf. All City Hall staff was present and spoke specifically about Deputy West’s impact on their day to day functions from the Municipal Court and citations, to Code Enforcement, assistance with updating codes, and providing services outside the normal expectations of law enforcement, such as lawn care through the inmate work crew program, not to mention the relationships he’d built with nearly every agency within the City.
Superintendent of the Jefferson School District, Kent Klewitz was present, along with the Principal’s of all 3 Jefferson schools and the District Office Manager to support and request Deputy West’s continued time in Jefferson. The Superintendent felt an important piece of a small town was its relationship with law enforcement and he’d had the pleasure of building one with Aaron West, one in which he urged MCSO to continue for another 2 year rotation. Comments from other school representatives included: Deputy West was always available when needed, he was a problem solver, great teammate and solid influence, professional, related well to both staff and kids of all ages. In addition, many of them posed the same questions as the City Council, and didn’t understand why the Sheriff’s Office felt the need to rotate him out if he was such a good fit for the town and he wanted to be here.
Other community members including Al Barr, Jon & Sharie Zeilman, and Bud Jones shared the same feelings, commenting that it was a mystery as to why Deputy West wouldn’t be allowed to stay, with all the evident support. Representing the Fire District, Chief Jon Zeilman said without hesitation, and on behalf of his entire staff, they fully endorse Deputy Aaron West for another term in Jefferson, noting he had helped him personally on a number of situations and found him to be extremely professional, knowledgeable, up front and truthful. His wife, Sharie added that she felt the best thing the City ever did was contract with Marion County for police services and felt Deputy West was an indication of that level of professionalism.
Moving back to the City Council, Dave Beyerl noted, with little exception, Jefferson had had the cream of the crop with the deputies assigned here and Aaron West was one of the best fits for Jefferson. In regards to the process, he felt a 2-year rotation was simply not long enough for a deputy to get involved in the town, familiarize themselves with the trouble people/areas before it was time to get rotated out again. He further stated that Deputy West was given the opportunity to re-apply and did so because he wanted to be here as much as the community wanted him to be. Councilor Troutman agreed with Dave and asked specific questions very directly to the Undersheriff in regards to what the problem seemed to be; if the City, who paid for the service, requested Deputy West and he voluntarily applied to be here. Undersheriff Troy Clausen responded, explaining that their intent was to make their deputies as successful as they could be; the purpose of the automatic rotations was to allow them the ability to gain the specific knowledge of working in a community like Jefferson and apply it to their careers later, noting that many of the deputies that started in Jefferson had gone far, including himself. He was so proud to hear of the things Deputy West had done in the community and heard the passion in the room, noting that it would discount it to say he wasn’t going to take the request to keep Deputy West into consideration. He planned to take the information back to those involved in making the decision. Troy Clausen also spoke on the other deputy that applied, Steve Duncan, who he felt was more than capable for the position with his years of experience and his time working other contract cities. In regards to the interviews and scoring, Undersheriff Clausen shared that the City Recorder scored Deputy West just 2 points higher than the other Officer and Mayor Pickett scored him lower, and that there was quite a gap in points from the 3rd deputy on the panel. Regardless of the outcome, he hoped the matter wouldn’t jeopardize the contract after all the years they’d worked with Jefferson.
Mayor Pickett informed the group that the questions/scoring was one of the things he brought up in the interview process because the questions were clearly geared more for a new Officer coming into the position, and he didn’t think it was very fair for Aaron West, having already been doing the job for a number of years. He spoke on the flaws in the interview process, and reiterated that both he and Sarah Cook announced at the end of the interviews that they wanted to keep Aaron West, in addition to a follow up email from the City Recorder a couple days later that further expressed the City’s desire to keep him. Councilor Day, having worked with children for many years, felt it was one of the things Deputy West had positively demonstrated and was a very important part of his job that should not be overlooked. Councilor Jones explained he’d been involved in emergency services for 40 years and around cops all his life. He said there were a lot that didn’t fit in small towns and felt Jefferson was blessed to have a deputy who fits in the community so well and would like to see him stay. Councilor Perry agreed with the other statements and thought there would be a tremendous loss in continuity as well.
In closing, Mayor Pickett commented that in some ways this was great because they were able to see all the support from the community, but at the same time, when he saw a disadvantage in a process, he felt it needed to be called out. Processes were great and they help to establish an organization; however, he believed Deputy Aaron West and the Jefferson community did not get a fair shake. He said there were times when people needed to set processes aside and do what is right. He understood the awkward situation the Sheriff’s Office might be in, but he implored them to make an exception to the process this time and do what was right by the community by allowing Deputy West to stay on another 2 years. He hoped they could work together to fix the process for future transitions and thanked the Sheriff’s Office for all they had done, urging them to make this one exception because it made sense for everybody and he did not see any good reason for them not to.
Undersheriff Clausen said they would go back and reconsider the decision, taking in all that they’d heard that night. A decision would be made by the next regular Council meeting on October 24th and they would be present to answer any questions or discuss the matter further then.
VI. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE - Councilor Beyerl moved to approve. Councilor Troutman seconded. All in favor: Ayes - 5, Opposed - 0. APPROVED.
VII. COMMITTEE/DEPT UPDATES
Cemetery – no new info
Library – no new info
JT! – no new info
Planning – Dave Jones assigned liaison for Planning
Chamber – stadium area at middle school has signs promoting the Chamber, donated by the chamber
Historical – no new info
Peer Court – no new info
Building comm – new floor plan; another meeting on 9th to discuss new plan
LAC – collecting bids
MPO – housekeeping; passed interim transportation improvement program so something is in place; will fluctuate as things change; looking into process for COJ to file our plans because we are the only part of the MPO that is in Marion County; hoping to add a loop in/out of Albany at least once a day.
Fire Board – no new info
School Board – no new info
VIII. COUNCIL COMMENTS
Clare Troutman appreciated everybody coming up to show their support. David Jones will not be at the Oct. worksession. Walt Perry thanked all the participants, noting it was good to see the community utilize the facility.
Jefferson Chamber having highway clean up Saturday 8am; meet at Community Center.
FOL having Sportstacular October 12th on Main St. as a fundraiser for library.
IX. ADJOURNMENT - Councilor Beyerl moved to adjourn. Councilor Troutman seconded. All 5 were in favor and the meeting closed at 7:25pm.
MINUTES APPROVED this 24th day of October, 2013.
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Ben Pickett, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Sarah Cook, City Recorder
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