Both City Council and Parks Commission appear to have violated executive session laws

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news

Acting City Attorney Doug McGeary said a breach of Oregon Public Meeting Law during an Ashland City Council executive session was an oversight caused when he performed duties normally in the purview of human resources. 

An increase in pay for Interim City Manager Sabrina Cotta was discussed during a June 18 Ashland City Council executive session. In an interview with Executive Director of the Oregon Ethics Commission Susan Myers, Ashland.news learned discussing compensation in executive session is prohibited under Oregon Public Meeting law. When asked about the executive session, McGeary confirmed compensation was discussed. 

The performance evaluation for Cotta was the main subject of the meeting but Human Resources staff could not perform the evaluation because Cotta oversees the HR department. McGeary said he was not familiar with “acting in an HR capacity,” and therefore did not know Oregon Public Meeting law prohibits discussion of compensation during an executive session. 

“There’s a rule apparently that I was not aware of, I should have been but I just didn’t know it. … Just a genuine error on my part, they (city councilors) weren’t aware of it. They were acting under my counsel,” McGeary said. 

Delicate personnel matters such as performance evaluations and changes in compensation will have to be reevaluated for the future to align with the law while respecting the individual staff at hand during a public meeting, he said. 

A pay increase would not normally be part of a performance evaluation, but Cotta was being recognized for the volume of work she is performing while filling the roles of both deputy and interim city manager, he said. 

The pay raise was outlined in an addendum to the employment agreement for Cotta to serve as pro tem or interim city manager. Obtained by Ashland.news, the addendum specifies a one time $20,000 deposit to Cotta’s retirement account and a move from step 4 or $185,657 annually, to step 5 or $191,227 of the city of Ashland’s pay scale. 

The addendum also replaces the previous stipulations for performance evaluations. “The employee” will now have “additional performance feedback opportunities,” in May and September with an annual performance evaluation on Jan. 30, according to the addendum. 

In discussing the ethics oversight with the City Council, McGeary also stated the recent ethics oversight with Ashland Parks & Recreation should be understood as a final decision not yet made, not a decision illegally made in executive session. 

APRC Commission Chair Jim Bachman stated the commissioners chose the new parks director during an executive session because they were unaware the decision could not be made in executive session, as previously reported by Ashland.news. McGeary said commissioners are confused in this case and the confusion is due to unclear counsel from himself. 

“There was no final decision. … We made sure there was no final decision made in executive session,” he said. 

McGeary stated while he was not present at the session in question, Assistant City Attorney Carmal Zahran was, in addition to Human Resources Director Molly Taylor. In conferring with Zahran and Taylor, McGeary confirmed no formal vote was held during the executive session. Because there was not a formal vote, commissioners may have made up their minds during the session, but there won’t be a complete decision until commissioner’s hold a vote in a public meeting, McGeary said. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.