By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
WALDPORT – A former Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue firefighter fired in 2018 by a disgraced former chief has won a $400,000 settlement from the district’s insurance company over his dismissal.
Nestor Alves of Tidewater filed a $1.1 million federal lawsuit against former chief Gary Woodson and the district in 2020. The lawsuit alleged Woodson had expressed “animosity” toward Hispanics, discriminated against Alves because of his race, and retaliation for reporting safety violations to the state.
Alves, through his attorney Randy Harvey of Sherwood, reached the settlement Oct. 25 with the Special Districts Association of Oregon. Lawyers for the special districts association informed the board of their settlement during an executive (closed) session Nov. 16.
The settlement is being paid by the SDAO’s insurance company and not the district. The Salem-based organization advises fire, water, port and other small jurisdictions with legal, organizational, insurance, planning and other needs.
The settlement was reached during mediation overseen by a retired federal judge.
“He’s very glad to have this behind him and move forward with his life,” Harvey told YachatsNews. “It’s really a sad situation all around.”
The settlement appears to end the last of the fallout of Woodson’s three-year tenure with the Central Coast district, which the lawsuit by Alves was only a part.
The former district board negotiated Woodson’s departure in February 2021 – giving him three months salary and benefits – after years of complaints about his performance. But the former board only took action when a district employee filed a complaint in late 2020 that Woodson was sending pornography to employees.
The litany of complaints and negotiated departure were made public by YachatsNews – and not the former board – after a three-month investigation.
Since then:
- Four of the five board members who oversaw Woodson either did not seek re-election or were defeated in 2021 because of the controversies;
- But two of those new board members – including Alves wife, Kathryn Menefee, and Todd Holt — were recalled by voters in 2022 after 11 months of board turmoil and an aborted attempt to fire chief Jamie Mason, who was hired to replace Woodson. Board chair Buster Pankey resigned in support after their recall;
- Lincoln County commissioners had to step in to appoint an interim board member, thus allowing the three-member board to appoint two more members and conduct business;
- This past May, voters elected four new members and re-elected Reda Eckerman, the only holdover from the board that hired and dismissed Woodson.
Troubled tenure
The former board hired Woodson as chief in 2017, three years after he was dismissed as fire chief in Pendleton, Ore. When he arrived in Waldport his ranking officer was Alves, who had been hired by an interim chief only months earlier.
Fifteen months later Woodson dismissed Alves over a dispute that he had not completed his Oregon EMT certification – even though by then the district had given up its ambulance service to Pacific West Ambulance.
The Special Districts Association of Oregon’s defense of the case was hurt by three outside investigations.
An investigation by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries concluded there was substantial evidence that Woodson retaliated against Alves because he is Hispanic.
And after more than a year of legal wrangling and a change of SDAO lawyers, Harvey was able to get a federal judge to order the release of two other reports. One was an initial investigation by the SDAO into allegations against Woodson — a report that the association initially claimed did not exist. The second was a more damning investigation by the district’s Eugene-based law firm into the pornography allegations that eventually led the former board to send Woodson packing.
Parties to the lawsuit had little to say about the settlement.
Eckerman, who is currently the board chair, said the current board is “relieved to finally close this chapter and put it to rest.”
Alves, through his attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.
The SDAO and its attorneys also declined to comment.
- Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com