By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
A Yachats Rural Fire Protection District board member under investigation by two state agencies for lying in the Lincoln County voter’s pamphlet has resigned from the board.
A’lyce Ruberg of Yachats resigned Nov. 19 in a letter to the fire district.
Ruberg, 50, was elected in a three-way race in May to a four-year term on the five-member board. She was the only board candidate to pay for space in the voter’s pamphlet – where she listed her occupation as a registered nurse, listed an advanced degree in nursing and that she had worked for at least two fire agencies in California.
None of it was true, as it turned out, eventually triggering investigations by the Oregon State Board of Nursing and the Oregon Elections Division.
The nursing board turned down Ruberg’s application for a nursing license in July 2017 for a host of reasons, including not informing it of her criminal history in California, that she had lied in previous hospital job applications, and had given the agency emergency medical technician license numbers belonging to other people.
After investigating the voter’s pamphlet statement this summer, the nursing board voted unanimously in October to fine Ruberg $5,000 for falsely stating that she was a nurse. Ruberg has since requested a hearing on that fine.
The Oregon Elections Division also started an investigation of her voter’s pamphlet statement after receiving at least four complaints from fire district residents. It is felony under Oregon law to make false statements in certain portions of the voter’s pamphlet.
Any investigation will continue even after Ruberg’s resignation, Rich Vial, spokesman for the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, said Monday.
“Her resignation would not affect any possible investigation that is already under way,” Vial said.
In her four sentence resignation letter, Ruberg said health issues and changes in her work hours “have become too great for me to be able to fulfill the requirement of my position on the board.”
Ruberg took office in July but had attended only three of nine fire board meetings since then.
Board members did not confront Ruberg about her voter’s pamphlet statements or ask her questions about the state investigations.
It also had no authority to compel Ruberg to resign, leading to awkwardness at the three meetings she did attend. It did, however, discuss ways to deal with chronic absenteeism of board members.
Board chair Katherine Guenther said she had exchanged a series of cell phone text messages with Ruberg after its Nov. 11 meeting about attendance and upcoming meetings in late November and December. It was then that Ruberg offered to resign.
“She volunteered to resign,” said Guenther, who told her it was “an excellent idea.”
Guenther said she would urge the board at its Dec. 9 meeting to publicize the vacancy and appoint a replacement as soon as possible. It failed to do that in 2018 when a board member moved out of the district, which coupled with illnesses or travel of other members twice resulted in the lack of a quorum to conduct business.
“I would personally like to see us reach out to people to fill it,” Guenther said, acknowledging past problems with having a quorum.
Drew Tracy, a former Maryland police chief who placed second in the May election, said he would be willing to serve. “If they need assistance I will gladly help,” he said in an email reply to YachatsNews.com about interest in Ruberg’s position.
