By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT – The Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue board was left without a quorum to conduct business Thursday night after two board members resigned this week and a recalled member did not show for a meeting.
With just two of five members at its monthly meeting, board member Reda Eckerman said she will ask Lincoln County commissioners to appoint a third member Wednesday so it can resume conducting business June 30.
Board chair Buster Pankey resigned Monday as he said he would if board members Todd Holt and Kathryn Menefee were recalled in a special June 7 election. In final, unofficial results released Tuesday, Holt was recalled 580 to 341 and Menefee recalled 599 to 349.
Holt also submitted a letter of resignation Monday, but Menefee has not and is technically in office until the county clerk officially certifies the recall vote at 5 p.m. June 29.
Menefee told the Newport News-Times in a story published Wednesday that she intended to attend Thursday night’s regularly scheduled 5:30 p.m. monthly meeting. Menefee works as a nurse practitioner at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport and lives in Tidewater. But after waiting for an additional 10 minutes, Eckerman and board member Kevin Battles were unable to proceed.
If Menefee had attended, she could have helped appoint a board member, then resigned and left Eckerman, Battles and the new appointee to pass the district’s 2022-23 budget and conduct other business.
Eckerman said the board — with a county commissioner appointee — would meet at 5:30 p.m. June 30 to meet a deadline to pass its budget and then determine a process to appoint two more members.
Six district residents have already submitted letters of interest for a board appointment, but Eckerman encouraged others interested in an appointment to email the district or drop off a letter. Eckerman said the district will forward letters to commissioners to consider Wednesday.
The six who have so far expressed interested are:
- Zach Akin, a Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy and former COCF&R firefighter;
- Greg Dunn, a Waldport city councilor and former district volunteer who finished second to Menefee in a three-way board race in May 2021;
- Jon MacCulloch, a Lincoln County Community Emergency Response Team leader;
- Barbara Wiley, a member of the Ocean Hills subdivision homeowners association board;
- Jim Sehl, manager of the Waldport Moose Lodge; and
- Dakota Hartzell, a member of the district’s budget committee.
All three elected last May
Menefee had not been in communication with the district office or Eckerman and Battles since the last board meeting in May. On Monday, Pankey and Holt dropped off their resignation letters at the district office.
All three declined to talk to YachatsNews before or after the recall election.
Ballots were mailed to 3,233 voters in the fire district; turnout was 30.66 percent.
Holt and Menefee were elected to the COCF&R board in May 2021 and took office last July. After three quiet months, they and Pankey starting clashing with Chief Jamie Mason over projects, personnel and an intergovernmental agreement with the Seal Rock Fire District.
After a fiery meeting last September, public board actions quieted considerably until March when Pankey, Holt and Menefee led a board executive session where they wanted to fire Mason, but backed off at the last minute.
That was two months after former board member Peter Carlich filed petitions with the county to start collecting signatures to recall Holt and Menefee.
Meetings have been short and quiet since March – and the three board members did not attend the May 12 meeting of the 10-member budget committee.
The district’s six paid firefighters and its 12 volunteers issued a vote of “no confidence” in Pankey, Holt and Menefee in April. After ballots were mailed they told YachatsNews they planned to resign if the two survive the recall election and join with Pankey to dismiss Mason.
Near the end of the election, Eckerman said she too would resign if Holt and Menefee were not voted out.
What has happened with these fire agencies on the central Oregon coast? Sad.