Tuesday, January 20, 2009 saw both the historic inauguration of a new president and a petition to recall Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean filed with the Coos County Clerk. Excited millions crowded together on the National Mall anxious to witness the oath of office and hear the inaugural speech by President Barack Obama. Angry citizens filled the Owen Building large conference room in Coquille to capacity, standing room only, hoping to hear an explanation of why the public was excluded from a New Year’s Eve decision to layoff almost 60% of the Road Department.

Commissioners Stufflebean and Whitty, responsible for the layoffs, deny any claim to evade public input pointing to public notices sent to media and posted on the county website advising of a special meeting on December 16 at 9 AM under the subject heading ‘Worksession- Budget Issues- Commissioners Courtroom’.

Whitty had hoped to control the Owen Bldg meeting “… limited to sharing information relating to both the need for the reorganization and the department’s plan for carrying out their responsibilities in the future.” The crowd of approximately 100 or more had other ideas and quickly took over, firing off question after question at the two commissioners.

The commissioners’ sudden decision to lay off 22 road workers has resulted in an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) complaint filed on behalf of Teamsters 223 with the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB). Amongst the allegations in the complaint is, “The County did not bargain this decision or the impacts of the decision with the Union”. The County is subject to The Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA), which establishes a collective bargaining process for Oregon’s public employers and unions representing public employees.

Amid charges from the crowd of a lack of transparency and ‘speaking in code’, Stufflebean argued The World Newspaper had a reporter present at the December 16 public meeting who reported on other items instead of the Road Department. He then deferred all blame to the press saying, “I am not responsible for what is or is not printed in the paper.”

The room temperature rose along with tempers as the crowd pressed on loudly accusing the Board with avoiding public process. Stufflebean denied the charges again and tried to deflect attention to Commissioner Bob Main intimating Main knew about the layoffs. Main says he heard nothing to indicate a massive and abrupt layoff was in the works.

The newly formed, Citizens for a Fair and Open Government, spearheaded by former County Roadmaster Larry Van Elsberg seek to recall Stufflebean in part because of the group’s belief the commissioner deliberately disguised Board actions from the public. The group claims lost confidence in the commissioner and believe his handling of the Road Department reorganization has put public safety at risk and increased the risk of liability to the county.

The Sentinel has learned an amended ULP has been prepared with additional allegations. Reportedly, allegations appended to the complaint, address public notice and process and are to be filed, January 26, 2009.

The County filed an informal response to the original ULP with the ERB last Thursday and the complaint will be reviewed by an Administrative Law Judge to see if the matter proceeds to trial. The entire process could take six months and if the union prevails the County will have to pay damages that include but are not limited to full restitution of back pay and benefits and job reinstatement.

These are not the only concerns raised by the recall committee. While the commissioners had hoped to settle questions about the reorganization and assure the public their reasoning was sound they raised more questions than they answered.

Amongst these questions is a statement by Stufflebean reported in The World “…in eight of the past 10 years, the cost of running the department has overrun its major sources of revenue.” Stufflebean retracted that statement January 7 after Van Elsberg pointed out he had run the department during much of that period and, “… always had a balanced budget.”

Stufflebean recanted again Tuesday, once again blaming the press for getting his statement wrong. However, a spreadsheet submitted by Stufflebean, included in a Coos County Press Release entitled ‘Major Revenue & Expenditures for last 10 years’, plainly shows the Road Department operating in the red for eight of those years.

Clearly something is amiss with the budget and/or the budget projections adding fuel to the consensus of those attending Tuesday’s meeting, Whitty and Stufflebean acted recklessly and in haste.

Commissioner Main advised the audience he would reintroduce his motion to reinstate the employees through June, the end of the approved budget period to allow citizen and employee review of the decision at Wednesday’s regular Board meeting. Last week a similar motion died when neither Stufflebean nor Whitty would second it.

Despite four days of angry and emotional testimony about public safety from road crew and citizens alike, Stufflebean and Whitty remained resolute and, Wednesday, killed Main’s motion.

The Register Guard reported

“…Commissioner Nikki Whitty supports the cuts, arguing it makes more sense to be proactive now. Plenty of residents in Coos County agree, she said.
“There’s a vocal minority,” Whitty said. “But there are also people who agree with what’s going on, who have the confidence in their board of commissioners.”

The commissioners have yet to make their case supporting the immediate need for a layoff. Nor have they produced a plan to maintain the roads and none of the testimony to date has been from residents in agreement with the layoffs. Many citizens may not feel qualified to comment on a topic like road maintenance. Consequently, it is unfortunate those people the County has employed and trained all these years as skilled road maintenance workers who are uniquely qualified to testify about public safety should now be trivialized as a ‘vocal minority’.

The recall petition has been certified and Citizens for Fair and Open Government can now actively collect the 3,773 valid signatures required to hold a special election. The committee feels the move to make the Road Department more efficient by slashing employees is ill thought and it does seem eerily reminiscent of the failed ‘lighter, faster, deadlier’ Pentagon doctrine ascribed by Donald Rumsfeld.

Whitty wants to give the new roadmaster, John Rowe, the opportunity to see what he needs to maintain the roads. Rowe isn’t convinced the current reorganization will work either saying he will make an assessment once he is on the job and, “if we need more people then we will hire more people.”

Meanwhile, Stufflebean has repeated, “… the employees were not the problem, it was the management.” Nevertheless, the management including the interim roadmaster, Kevin Stufflebean, retained their jobs and it was the employees who paid the price. Based upon figures provided by Stufflebean, and assuming the ULP takes six months to settle in favor of the union, the cost to the County just for back pay and benefits will be in excess of $650,000.