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Wednesday, January 21, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
CONCERNS:
Councilor released
attorney’s letter
Continued from page 1
Executive sessions are
closed sessions, usually
focused on personnel or legal
matters. Media is allowed
to attend, but not to report
on discussions conducted in
executive session. There is no
specific sanction for breaking
executive session, although
if it involves litigation, there
can be potential personal
liability.
In a separate instance, the
council was given access to
work materials on the city’s
new website and the oppor-
tunity to give input. The
website was (and remains)
a work in progress and con-
tained many placeholders.
It was not considered ready
for public dissemination and,
Frye noted, it was made clear
that the draft was for city
staff and “council eyes only.”
Asson disseminated the work
to members of the public, an
action which several council-
ors thought inappropriate.
The action Frye said he
considered most serious
involved disseminating a doc-
ument that Frye and other city
officials considered attorney-
client privileged. At Asson’s
request and with the council’s
agreement, City Attorney
Steve Bryant provided a let-
ter answering several spe-
cific questions regarding
city approval of siting food
carts at a downtown Sisters
business (see related story,
page 1).
The letter was labeled:
“Via Email Only to City
Council Members and City
Manager.” When The Nugget
requested a copy of the let-
ter, the city recorder told
the paper that the commu-
nication was attorney-client
privileged and could not be
released before the Thursday
workshop.
Asson provided a copy of
the letter to Mike Morgan in
advance of the meeting. At
the meeting, the councilors
officially agreed to make the
letter public.
Frye took issue with Asson
releasing what was consid-
ered privileged information
on his own initiative.
“It was kind of the deci-
sion of this council to decide
whether to make it public,”
he said. “I have no problem
with the letter being public.”
(The contents are available
with the online version of this
story at www.nuggetnews.
com).
Asson made no response
to Frye’s concerns at the
workshop. He responded to a
request for comment from The
Nugget via email. Regarding
the attorney’s letter, Asson
wrote the following:
“Given the extensive
communications circulating
about the food cart issue, I
requested that counsel pre-
pare a written opinion to
guide our next session… I
released his opinion to Mr.
Morgan without comment
but hoped that it would add
clarity to the discourse. This
is a serious matter and we do
not need to add another law-
suit to the three already pend-
ing. I want to get the matter
discussed by all parties, not
just those inside City Hall and
their supporters.
“As part of Mayor Frye’s
remarks, he justified his cen-
sure of me on this point stat-
ing Mr. Bryant made known
that his response was attor-
ney-client privileged. He
attributed the phrase “Via
Email Only to City Council
Member and City Manager”
as reasoning. Oddly, in the
same session, a head nod
assured that the opinion
should be made public. This
is not a good beginning to the
often promised more trans-
parent administration.
“I savor my right to inform
interested readers and will
continue the practice.”
(The full text of Councilor
Asson’s response is available
with the online version of this
story at www.nuggetnews.
com.)
to work together
cooperatively, which is of
the utmost importance,
we have to have trust
and mutual respect
for each other.
— Mayor Chris frye
For Frye, the issue
revolves around how council-
ors work together.
“To work together cooper-
atively, which is of the utmost
importance, we have to have
trust and mutual respect for
each other,” he said.
Sisters salutes...
photo by Jim Cornelius
Members of sisters Band of Brothers saluted ray’s food place for
providing a place to sell raffle tickets.
• Sisters Band of
Brothers veterans presented
a plaque to Ray’s Food Place
last week in appreciation for
the market allowing them
space to conduct a raffle for
an electric bike. The Sisters
organization plans to raffle
another bike soon, with pro-
ceeds going to the Band of
Brothers outreach work.
• Tate Metcalf gave a
shout-out to the participants
in the Resolution Run and
Sisters Athletic Club mem-
bers for providing over 300
pounds of healthy food to
the Kiwanis Food Bank. The
run was put on by Sisters
Athletic Club and Sisters
Multi-Sport on New Year’s
Day.
• Kiwanis Club of
Sisters offers a salute and
thanks to all who bought
See’s Candies and sup-
ported Sisters Kiwanis this
year. And a special salute
to Ray’s Food Place for use
of their parking lot and to
All Season RV in Bend for
providing the trailer. All
profits will be returned back
to community projects and
local programs such as col-
lege scholarships and the
career opportunity fund.
See www.sisterskiwanis.
org for details on Kiwanis
programs.
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