After voting April 21, to declare repairs on the Coos Bay Rail Link an emergency, Port commission president Dave Kronsteiner now seeks a contract for that repair work to be performed by his own company. According to The World, the Port “also has set up a page on www.coosbayraillink.com that lists contractors who have requested bid packets for railroad jobs”.

Kronsteiner’s company, West Coast Contractors is listed as one of those companies that has requested a bid packet and is offering to provide pile driving, bridge construction and bridge rehabilitation services. A citizen spoke during the public comment period at the April meeting to Kronsteiner that any contracts with West Coast Contractors might give the appearance of impropriety. There is a big difference, of course, between an appearance of impropriety and actually manipulating Port circumstances for actual financial gain but Bethany Reeves of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission provides this recap of Oregon statutes.

Oregon government ethics law prohibits all public officials from using or attempting to use their official position to obtain a financial gain or avoid a financial cost for themselves, a relative or member of their household, or business with which they or their relative or household member is associated, if that financial benefit is only available to them because of the official position they hold. [ORS 244.040(1)]

In addition, the conflict of interest provisions in ORS 244.120(2)(a) require that public notice be given before the public official on a commission participates in any action, decision, or recommendation which could result in a private economic benefit or detriment to the public official, one of their relatives or household members, or a business with which any of them are associated. If the action the public official on the commission has the opportunity to make would result in a private economic benefit or detriment to any of the people listed above, then statute requires the public official to both publicly announce the nature of the conflict of interest, and to refrain from any discussion, debate, or vote on that issue. [ORS 244.120(2)(b)]

When conducting the activities of their official position, all public officials need to be sure that their actions comply with all statutes, including the prohibited use of office and the conflict of interest provisions. A public official with multiple land and business holdings, who also has relatives that are associated with additional business, would need to vigilantly watch for conflicts of interest, and diligently consider every action, decision and recommendation they have the opportunity to make.

The state of emergency was declared necessary to enable Roseburg Lumber to take advantage of an imminent business opportunity requiring rail service by June 20. That date has since been pushed back to October.

To request an Ethics Commission investigation into this matter click here

UPDATE: Elise Hamner of the Port of Coos Bay called me today to inform me that West Coast Contractors has NOT applied for work relating to the emergency work on the rail line. The World article quoted above refers to a list available at the Port website which does not yet exist. The list that is posted is merely a list of the contractors that attended a meeting, held last May related to future bid letting. Also, I have added a word in the sentence “There is a big difference, of course, between an appearance of impropriety and actually manipulating Port circumstances…” Ms Hamner read that line to mean the opposite of what I intended. My intention was to say, essentially, that an appearance of impropriety does not necessarily mean any “actual” impropriety has taken place.