What’s wrong at city hall?

The city council is surrounded in controversy as two sides emerge

By Dan Itel

The West Linn Tidings, Jul 30, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (31 Reader comments)

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The West Linn City Council is at odds.

A series of council meetings over recent weeks have resulting in conflict – played out in dramatic fashion between Mayor Patti Galle and councilors Scott Burgess, Jody Carson and John Kovash – pointing to a rift emerging at city hall.

In consecutive council meetings and work sessions over the last three weeks, controversy has been the main agenda item.

On a July 13 council meeting, Galle used profanity after the meeting was adjourned, sparking criticism from several councilors.

In a July 20 work session, Burgess, Carson and Kovash walked out toward the end of the meeting forcing an adjornment for lack of a quorum.

And on Monday, Burgess, Carson and Kovash called an executive session that Galle refused to attend because she was not given notice nor was the subject of the session divulged.

Meanwhile, city staff is scrambling to bring the council back together through a mediation process that the four councilors and mayor have yet to agree on.

“We have a fundamental disagreement about transparency,” Galle said. “I believe citizens should know what goes on in city government. Some councilors prefer to conduct business in private.”

Galle said that while her behavior at the July 13 meeting – having to do with an IGA agreement review with Willamette Falls Television – was regrettable, she feels the city is keeping too much from the public. During the July 20 work session when Burgess, Carson and Kovash left the meeting, Galle was attempting to discuss how a change in the city’s riverfront development code came about.

“That particular issue is important because that is considered a crime against the citizen,” Galle said. “And it is a serious thing. I was trying to get that point across.”

Burgess, however, made it known that he felt the mayor was out of line.

He felt, along with Carson and Kovash, that getting to the bottom of the code change was a personnel matter that shouldn’t be discussed in public.

“We were discussing something that wasn’t on the agenda,” Burgess said. “It seemed to form into a criticism of staff, and we haven’t heard the whole story yet.”

The next run-in happened Monday when Burgess, Carson and Kovash attempted to call an executive session meeting after the council session. Galle objected, saying she did not receive proper notice and she took issue that the other councilors would not divulge the topic of the session.

“I was totally shocked,” said Councilor Teri Cummings, who has emerged as a Galle ally despite their differences during the November campaign and attended the meeting. “They did make a decision (in the executive session). And when you make a decision, you are supposed to come out and put that decision into effect with a vote. And that’s against the city charter and Oregon public record law.”

What is discussed in executive session cannot be reported under Oregon law, unless it is divulged outside of the session.

Cummings said they discussed City Manager Chris Jordan’s performance review, which was originally scheduled to be conducted by the council on Aug. 3 but has since been delayed, but would not go into details.

“It’s up to them to be forthcoming about that,” she said.

Kirsten Wyatt, assistant to the city manager, said no vote was taken at the executive session but a consensus was reached, legal under Oregon law.

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