On Wednesday, April Fools Day, Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean must either resign his position or file a letter of justification with Coos County Clerk Terri Turi triggering a special election to be held May 5. Stufflebean has publicly stated he will not resign and The Sentinel has requested an official statement.
According to the recall committee Citizens for Fair and Open Government, headed by former Roadmaster Larry Van Elsberg, a recall had been under consideration for some time but it was the 11th hour layoff of 22 road workers from the County Road Department on New Year’s Eve that pushed the committee to action. Earlier, after an executive session, then Commissioner John Griffith along with Nikki Whitty and Stufflebean voted to ‘reorganize’ the department despite adequate funding through the current budget year and with no warning to the employees or the Teamsters Union.

For weeks, citizens stood before the Board during regular commission meetings and citing public safety concerns pleaded with the Board to reconsider. So many people came each week that Whitty was prompted to use a timer, limiting public participation to three minutes further infuriating the public. Newly elected Commissioner Bob Main twice made a motion to reinstate the road crew through June when their contracts were up to allow for public input and both times Whitty and Stufflebean let the motion die.

The two incumbent commissioners claim there was ample time for public input and cited December 3, 16 and 31 as dates the matter was discussed. Citizens present during these meetings remember nothing to indicate 60% of the road department was about to be laid off and the Board was accused of speaking in code to deliberately obscure their actions from the public. This perceived opacity on the part of the Board is the main premise of the recall effort.
An unexpected consequence of the layoff and the manner in which the Board handled it prompted Teamsters Union 223 representing the road crew to file an Unfair Labor Practices Complaint with the Oregon Employment Relations Board. That complaint has been accepted by the Administrative Law Judge and will be heard at the end of June. Should the ULP prevail it could cost the County in excess of $650,000 in back wages and benefits with no services rendered. The County has paid over $15,000 in legal fees to outside labor attorneys.

Amidst public outcry questioning whether 14 people can handle 600 miles of county roads Stufflebean, who acted as interim roadmaster after Van Elsberg resigned April of 2007, claimed an analysis had been done and the new department would be more efficient and would easily handle critical road safety functions. After repeated attempts by The Sentinel to obtain copies of the analysis it was acknowledged that no written analysis existed adding fuel to committee assertions the road department reorganization was ill conceived and put the public at risk.

The recent drowning death of 88 year-old Dean Caudle after trying to drive through 4’ of water on Arago Fishtrap Road had new Roadmaster John Rowe scrambling to explain why barriers closing off the road were not put up until after Caudle drowned. Former road worker Dennis Backman said this was, “…the type of thing we were afraid would happen.”