By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
Three elected law enforcement officials and three treatment providers blasted Lincoln County commissioners Wednesday for trying to make last-minute changes to months of their collaborative work on a new state-funded drug “deflection” program.
But Lincoln County presiding judge Sheryl Bachart, Lincoln County Sheriff Curtis Landers and district attorney Jenna Wallace had to use 3-minute public comment time at the end of Wednesday’s commission meeting to voice their complaints because the issue was not on the agenda — despite two requests by commission chair Casey Miller that it be discussed.
“This is the only forum I have to speak to you,” Bachart angrily said, adding that emails and phone calls to county administrator Tim Johnson, county counsel Kristin Yuille and commissioners have gone unanswered. “I’ve been completely ignored.”
The acrimony was preceded by a 30-minute statement from Miller that hinted at Johnson’s possible departure after two years in the job, questioning Yuille’s involvement in deflection decisions and administrative work during Johnson’s recent absences, and asking whether apparent decisions on the program were properly handled under Oregon’s open meetings law.
Wednesday’s criticisms were spurred by Yuille’s statement to a deflection work group meeting two weeks ago that county administrators and commissioners Kaety Jacobson and Claire Hall thought the coordinator position should not be in the district attorney’s office – and the inability of work group members to discuss it with commissioners.
In his statement, Miller said that such a decision was made without his knowledge and could have violated state meeting law requirements.
Oregon lawmakers voted this year to recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs and allocated millions of dollars toward rehabilitation options as an alternative to jail. The legislation also encouraged counties to set up “deflection” programs to allow people to avoid court and jail and have their arrest expunged if they successfully complete a rehabilitation program.
Lincoln County and 27 of Oregon’s 36 counties are setting up programs funded by $20.7 million in grants. Lincoln County is getting $341,500 for the work.
The money is to pay for a new position of “deflection coordinator” and help cover the treatment for any offenders who take that option. After three months of meetings, a work group that included Miller, Bachart, Landers, Wallace, a defense attorney, and social service agencies determined the best place for that position was in the district attorney’s office.
Two weeks ago, Miller, Landers and other committee members say Yuille told them it had been “administratively determined” with the blessing of Hall and Jacobson that the best place for that position was in the county’s parole and probation office, not the DA’s office. But there was no explanation or discussion with the subcommittee as to why.
Under longstanding meeting protocol, Hall and Jacobson did not respond to Miller’s statement or his many questions Wednesday.
But in statements Thursday to YachatsNews, Hall disputed Miller’s characterizations and Jacobson said she did not agree to anything.
In her statement, Hall said she simply wanted to know why the position was in the district attorney’s office and asked Johnson and Yuille to study if it might be better in already-established positions in community corrections or health and human services departments.
“I asked to see the notes of the subcommittee meetings in order to better understand how they arrived at this recommendation,” Hall said in her statement. “I was astonished to learn that no notes were taken, and that the meetings had not been noticed as required by public meetings law. Four elected officials were at that table — a judge, the district attorney, the sheriff and a county commissioner. I am still baffled why they allowed this breach to take place.”
Jacobson said Thursday that after seeing the description of the coordinator’s position “I was concerned about the lack of resources the state was providing for deflection.” She thought the county could save money on staffing costs by assigning someone in corrections those duties so “we could provide more services to those in deflection and better serve them.”
Jacobson also said she discussed her concerns with staff.
“I didn’t feel I had agreed to anything, but was doing my due diligence and providing feedback to Mr. Johnson, who was tasked with following up,” Jacobson said in her statement.
In a long statement Friday evening, Landers said Hall was simply wrong on many of her statements Thursday. He disagreed that the deflection workgroup fell under public meetings laws because it was set up by the Lincoln County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council, and that the workgroup had “plenty of notes and documents from all of its meetings since April” in an electronic folder available to Johnson or any county commissioner. He also disputed Hall’s statement that there would only be three deflection cases a month by pointing out that between Sept. 1 and Sept. 16 there had been 13 people booked into jail on a drug enforcement misdemeanor and who could have been eligible for the deflection program.
Pleading for trust
The three county law enforcement officials and treatment providers lambasted commissioners for not trusting their collaboration to set up a program in just a few months’ time.
The apparent decision to move the coordinator out of the district attorney’s office doesn’t make sense to them, they all said, and is causing delays in getting the program started that could jeopardize lives.
“If you don’t make a decision and move this forward, Lincoln County loses. People will die,” Bachart told commissioners in a trembling voice after Miller angrily overruled Yuille from trying to cut off the judge’s comments after three minutes. “I’m not trying to be dramatic here, but this opportunity for recovery is something our community needs …”
Others told YachatsNews on background that the whole issue of where a single position should be placed in a county with 500 employees illustrates growing dysfunction or disarray in the commissioner’s office and regular disagreements over budgeting with other elected officials.
Bachart, Landers and Wallace emphasized that it was that lack of trust that also bothered them.
In her comments, Wallace – who was elected to the district attorney’s position in May and was appointed in June by Gov. Tina Kotek after controversial former district attorney Lanee Danforth resigned – said she had hoped the “tumultuous history” between the DA’s office and commissioners was over.
“I was hoping for a fresh start,” she said. “I know you probably don’t trust me. You probably didn’t want me to be in this position.”
But she said the deflection work group has a “Plan A” and if it doesn’t work, they’ll fix it.
“Put a little faith in me and my office and the program,” Wallace said.
Landers – who is retiring when his term ends in December and has endorsed Hall’s opponent in November’s general election – told commissioners he was disappointed the deflection group has not been able to discuss its work with the full board. Landers added that he’s not sure why Yuille was involved in telling the group that Hall and Jacobson wanted the sole, new position in a different department.
“We should have been well on our way if they would have let us do our job,” Landers later told YachatsNews.
It is unclear what happens next.
It was thought Wednesday that commissioners might need to call a special meeting Friday to approve a revised grant application that included details of the deflection coordinator. Landers later found out the application only had to be revised and sent in by 5 p.m. Thursday to reflect a $35,500 increase in the county’s grant.
Other issues surface
But Miller’s long statement prior to comments from Bachart, Landers, Wallace and three principals at the Phoenix Wellness Center also brought up other issues, including:
- Although Johnson has been the county’s first administrator since April 2022, commissioners only recently finished their first evaluation of his work. Miller wanted this to be discussed in executive (closed) session — as every other local government does – but said he was told by Yuille and the county’s human resources office that only he should discuss the three commissioners’ evaluations with Johnson;
- Miller said both he and Johnson are confused about the evaluation process, where it stands, and that Johnson may decide not to go through it. “In the interim I suggest we let Administrator Johnson get back to the work he is doing for us. And I can talk with him about bringing you an exit strategy and succession plan for his remaining tenure in the coming months that allows him time to finish and/or hand over the projects he has been tasked in a manner that captures the best of what has been provided to us from him and allows us also to create clear and reasonable expectations of him during his final tenure and prepares us with better equipped and clear expectations for future individuals who work in the position.”
- In Johnson’s absences recently, Miller said the administrator’s duties had fallen to Yuille without seemingly being designated by commissioners as required in the 3-year-old ordinance establishing the position, its duties and what happens when the administrator is away. He asked for a list of what Yuille has been doing and for commissioners to discuss more formally designating the administrator’s stand-in;
- Numerous questions about whether commissioners were following Oregon law when it came to responding to emails from the human relations department on Johnson’s evaluation, and whether commissioners’ weekly staff meetings and those of a local law enforcement public policy committee and the deflection work group were subject to open meetings rules.
At the beginning of his statement, Miller said he was laying out a long list of questions to staff and commissioners and “that I and the community deserve answers to these questions.”
“I am being very deliberate in proposing these questions and have highlighted them in yellow,” he said. “I also recognize that these are my truths and my analysis. You may not be comfortable answering them today. I’ll understand if you need time to respond. This is lengthy report, and this may be the first time you’ve considered these points of view that I am proposing.”
- Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
Clown car governance.
Thank you, Yachats News for your reporting on this important matter. I’m not sure what was going on with the deflection program process. By all appearances there seemed to be some underhandedness and attempts to either wrench control of the process or road block the process by some parties. The deflection program is important to our county. People need to set aside their differences and their need for control to ensure this funding is successful. Follow the task force’s recommendations.
There’s so much more to this than what meets the eye. There’s a lot of unasked questions in that office. I really hope the Ethics Commission gets in there and digs. We the people want answers as taxpayers. Why hinder a program that has the chance of helping people. If it saves one life it will be worth it. It comes down to a power issue and that’s sad. It speaks volumes of the person that has become a roadblock. Who blatantly ignores and overrides a committee?
From what I understand, no one is hindering anything. It’s all going to be okay. That deflection program is going to happen and is not being held up. Commissioner Miller made what seems to be some grave errors yesterday, from what I can tell. He really should not be serving as a commissioner and I voted for him.
I have discovered that in this county some Commissioners feel themselves holier than thou.
Go to a meeting and see for yourself.
Deflection will not help anyone except criminals.
“Deflecting typically appears in conflictual situations, when a person is confronted with their mistakes. Instead of accepting responsibility and facing the uncomfortable situation head-on, the deflectors will try to move the focus from themselves, usually by passing the blame onto someone or something else”
When I first read this article, I felt upset. So I spent a lot of the day looking into things. Now I feel relieved. The important Deflection program is definitely happening. No one is hindering the progress, and the county is going to benefit from the thoughtful, sound decisions of its governing board.
I’m also feeling a little resentful toward Commissioner Miller and all the other “actors” in this drama filled, politically motivated blow up. My God. A judge. A sheriff. A District Attorney. And their candidate of choice for Lincoln County Commissioner sitting there taking notes. All taking up valuable time and resources to put on this power-mongering display. I’m really impressed with the calmness and strength of character exhibited by all at the desk, other than Miller.
This story describes public servants and paid public officials who are not doing their job. Acting like a bunch of kids fighting on a playground. Shameful. Lincoln County citizens and taxpayers deserve better. We are their customers. A fact that gets overlooked in the heat of silly squabbles. We expect our public officials to be leaders and good managers. We expect them to work together to solve problems. We expect them to act with intelligence, leadership, thoughtfulness and mutual respect. Do the right things and get good things done.
I’m not sure why some commenters here are criticizing Miller. It seems to me that he and Hall both are raising legitimate questions about whether open meetings laws were followed, though I do understand Landers has a reasonable reply to that.
It appears a lot of miscommunication happened here, and for some reason Yuille told the working group that Hall and Jacobson had made a decision, when they say they were just asking questions.
And to me the idea of locating the deflection program outside of law enforcement seems perfectly reasonable. Law enforcement has been handling the War on Drugs for more than 50 years and it hasn’t worked. The idea of deflection is to deflect the person away from jail and the criminal justice system and toward treatment and rehabilitation. So putting this under the control of the DA, sheriff and judge just doesn’t make sense in that regard.
On the other hand, it is important to get a program up and running so that this new law doesn’t turn out to be an utter failure like voter approved .easure 110, which in my opinion failed not because it legalized small amounts of drugs, but because the state never got off its hindquarters and got a decent deflection and treatment program running.
I do wonder how one deflection program staff member will manage to deal with a dozen or more drug arrestees per month.
I read this article. I listened to the meeting and the public comment and I’m disappointed that YachatsNews, which normally doesn’t do this, imparted emotions to the speakers that were not correct. The judge was not talking angrily and if her voice was shaky, I’m guessing it has to do with her surgery and I’m bothered by the complete overreaction of the press and Rick Beasley (the Facebook posts sounds just like he did in the Beacon) and the fact that they are padding their news reporting with emotional attributes that did not exist. Passion, yes, anger no. If Judge Bachart has truly been ignored, then shame on the county.