By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
NEWPORT – Lincoln County commission chair Casey Miller has been restricted to working from home after an allegation he harassed and bullied county employees.
Miller was notified of the allegations the day after speaking out at the board’s Sept. 18 meeting when he expressed frustration about being left out of discussions with commissioners and county legal counsel about which office would oversee a coordinator for a new drug deflection program.
He also questioned legal counsel Kristin Yuille’s involvement in deflection decisions and administrative work during a recent absence by administrator Tim Johnson and questioned whether decisions on deflection followed Oregon’s open meeting laws.
It was during that same September meeting that presiding circuit judge Sheryl Bachart, Sheriff Curtis Landers and district attorney Jenna Wallace used the session’s public comment period to complain about not being able to meet with commissioners to discuss deflection issues.
“Thursday following our (Sept. 18) commissioners meeting, Human Resources notified me that a formal complaint process had been initiated regarding my alleged behavior of creating a hostile work environment and that I have allegedly harassed and bullied county employees,” Miller told YachatsNews on Tuesday. “As a result of this complaint the county is retaining an outside investigator to handle this matter.
“Furthermore, I have been asked to limit my interactions with staff and time in the office unless it is regarding our commissioner’s meeting. I have also been asked to confirm I will not attend my management team meetings or they will be cancelled.”
Miller said the allegations hit him “really hard on an emotional level,” and that it is the first time he has faced these sorts of allegations.
“As someone who feels they care greatly about the emotional and physical safety of others, it’s been a very difficult time for myself and my family,” Miller said.
Miller was elected to his first four-year term on the three-member commission in November 2022 and took office in January 2023. He had worked as the county’s public information officer the previous 15 years.
Statement stopped Wednesday
On Wednesday, Miller planned to read a statement during the commissioner’s bi-monthly meeting to say how he was saddened that his efforts to look deeper into “our organization structure, asking for transparency and accountability, have somehow been received as harassment and bullying.”
He told YachatsNews that a commissioner’s job description requires him to meet and confer frequently with department heads about policy and decision-making and to participate in commission and other internal county meetings.
But Miller was quickly stopped by Yuille and commissioners Kaety Jacobson and Claire Hall as he began to read his statement. He started by referring to the Sept. 18 meeting, saying he made a “heavy drop on everyone” and “right now what I’m working through is HR’s notified me that the formal complaint has been made …”
“This is confidential employee information,” Yuille said, cutting him off.
“Even involving yourself, it’s confidential,” Hall added.
Miller began again, saying it was something that happened to him before Yuille again cut in to say “Commissioner Miller your confidential information is confidential. I’m not comfortable discussing that.”
Hall then said she was concerned that discussing it could lead to disclosing who made the complaint. Miller acknowledged that but said he has limited contact with anyone at the commissioner’s office and “as a practical matter” asked how he was expected to perform his duties.
“So, I really do need some sort of guidance or clarity,” Miller said. “I haven’t talked to anyone in two weeks. Two weeks okay. No one from my management team. So help me out here you guys … How am I supposed to do the work that I’m doing, push through some of the issues …”
Yuille asked what work he was referring to and said Miller’s assistant could help him set appointments. And she questioned whether Miller had actually been asked not to attend committee meetings.
“So, several county rules were violated at the last meeting, confidential information was shared,” Yuille added. “So, we are not going to continue to do that.”
Yuille went on to say Miller could “professionally” reach out to staff and attend committees he is assigned to, “so I think you can conduct business.”
Jacobson added that in answer to Miller’s question, “I would say that our HR director and our county administrator could assist with certain things as they always do.”
Yuille then suggested Miller speak with human resources.
“I have asked human resources that question and I’m not getting responses for that,” Miller said. “So, you’re not going to provide me any other feedback, is that correct?”
At that point, Yuille directed staff to turn off the meeting’s audio and video feed to the public. The meeting then ended with Hall and Jacobson leaving, denying a quorum for it to continue.
One public comment
During the public comment period before Miller’s attempted statement, Monica Kirk of Depoe Bay accused him of “process violations” during the Sept. 18 meeting.
“I think you abused the right that you have as a commissioner to report and brought up things unrelated to what you’ve been doing or I hope unrelated to what you’ve been doing,” said Kirk, a founder of the 15neighborhoods short-term rental group and active supporter of Hall’s Nov. 5 re-election campaign.
Kirk accused Miller of publicly criticizing a staff member in a voice she characterized as harsh and unprofessional.
“Staff are not elected officials,” Kirk said. “They can’t respond. You have the bully pulpit, they don’t. But what I can do is apologize to your staff for voting for you. I would expect better.”
Miller told YachatsNews on Tuesday that he had no idea what led to the allegations or whether it was someone who felt he hurt their reputation during the Sept. 18 meeting. He said he understands protecting whomever made the allegations but questioned sidelining him and the administrative process for alleged activity.
Miller has not been told how long he will have to work from home or to limit his contact with staff to his personal administrative assistant. And no details have been provided about how long the investigation process will take or when he will meet with investigators.
“I know some people will just say ‘Yeah, well he was probably a harasser if he’s being accused of it,’ ” Miller said. “But I think I have to take that risk (by making a public statement about it) knowing that some will think that.”
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
Thank You Commissioner Casey Miller for bringing up the issues with Commissioners Hall and Jacobson. They need to be voted out if they can’t work with other commissioners. They really only want to push their issues instead of what the residents want. I have seen this first hand with Commissioner Hall. I live in Lincoln City and we have warming shelters, transitional housing and now we are getting an apartment complex for the mentally ill. We only have 10,000 residents in our community so ask yourself how many cities offer these services with that small of a population.
I witnessed the meeting. My impression is that Casey Miller violated some county rules during the last meeting by amplifying, publicly, confidential information regarding county employees and processes. Fast forward to yesterday’s meeting at which he again brought up personnel information that is confidential. He is either very ignorant about these rules (that are there to protect all employees and elected officials including himself) or this was a contrived effort to make the public think he is a victim of his colleagues. This is so disappointing. I thought the “reprimand” from Monica Kirk was harsh, but maybe it wasn’t.
After reading and witnessing Miller’s so-called “Commissioner Report,” I regret supporting him and voting for him. It seemed to be essentially an unprofessional litany of complaints about his colleagues and staff. If he does not understand Oregon Public Meeting law, he needs to take responsibility to learn about it, and/or facilitate training for the county counsel. Contacting the state about this, and then taking up a portion of the commissioners meeting to display his ignorance, was embarrassing. There are productive and legal ways to deal with staff and work out differences of opinion among the commissioners. In my opinion, Miller’s actions were neither.
Thank you Casey Miller for your dedication to our community and for your leadership. I have known you for years and you have always been professional, supportive and interested in learning all you can about issues in this county. Your extra effort to meet with constituents in various communities is appreciated. When you are in a public position, things happen. I applaud your efforts to share your perspectives and make things better. Hoping your fellow Commissioners are finding a way for this to happen. Sadly, cutting off the mic isn’t the answer- that is counterproductive and adds to the situation negatively. It’s a team. We are counting on all of you.
If Commissioner Miller hasn’t learned how the county operates in the 15 years he was a staff member there, then his short tenure as an elected official seems destined for a disastrous end. His public whining demonstrates his lack of experience and inability to navigate the complex dynamic of a governing body. Lincoln County needs elected leaders who can propel us forward, not ones who stumble over procedural issues and can’t navigate around their own ego.