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2 Wednesday, May 4, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Editorial… Moving on from the manager mess rigorous reviews and assessments of the city Well that was messy — and expensive. After two months of investigation and manager’s conformance to those expectations. deliberation over complaints by some City If there are issues with the manager’s perfor- of Sisters employees regarding former City mance or conduct, they must be addressed Manager Andrew Gorayeb’s conduct, the directly and thoroughly and in a timely man- City Council accepted Gorayeb’s resigna- ner. That is the only way to be fair to staff, tion — with an attached payout of more than constituents — and the manager. Mayor Chris Frye explained Gorayeb’s $100,000. When the total bill is calculated — paid leave, attorney’s fees, staff time, sizeable payout this way: “We believed it was costs of the investigation — the taxpayers of in the best interests of the City. Looking at all Sisters will have forked over likely upwards possibilities including possible litigation and of $175,000 to close a chapter in its municipal associated costs, as well as staff time, we felt this package was the best way to go.” history. Councilor David Asson, who voted against Why was this episode so expensive? Why did the City pay out so much when Gorayeb the payout, cited the Council’s “excess con- cern regarding the possibility chose to resign? Deliberations of reprisal litigation.” over the matter are privileged, If, in the future, the City but statements by Council If there are issues with expresses clear, well-defined members and by Gorayeb in the manager’s performance standards and expectations his resignation letter make the and provides strong guid- tea leaves pretty easy to read or conduct, they must be ance and supervision based — and point to some areas in addressed directly and on those expectations, they which the City must improve will always be on solid legal its processes going forward. thoroughly and in ground and need have no fear In his letter of resignation, of any explicit or implicit Gorayeb wrote: “I am greatly a timely manner. threat of litigation. troubled by the dispropor- There is no remedy for tionately harsh discipline you what has gone before. The have imposed on me due to your belief that I have acted ‘at times’ contrary City must move forward. That will probably mean hiring an interim city manager, then to the city’s ‘Encouraged Conduct’ policy.” That “encouraged conduct” policy should searching for a permanent one. It would be a good idea to model the pro- be made an “expected conduct” policy. The Council must insist that any future city man- cess on the manner in which the school district ager conduct himself or herself at all times in searches for a superintendent. That includes an appropriate and professional manner, treat- significant citizen input on what the com- ing staff, colleagues, council and community munity wants and needs in a city manager. with respect and creating a collegial working Citizens should be able to serve on a hiring committee to narrow down the candidate field environment. Gorayeb further noted that, “prior to this before the City Council makes its pick. The City of Sisters has endured two tumul- investigation, I have never been notified or warned about deficiencies in my performance tuous and expensive city manager transitions in the space of three years. Some painful and or workplace conduct.” Moving forward, the City Council must expensive lessons have been learned. It’s time establish clear, explicit and firm expectations to apply them. Jim Cornelius, News Editor for performance and conduct — and provide SEE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ON PAGE 8 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Showers likely Chance showers Partly sunny Partly sunny Mostly sunny Mostly sunny 63/44 58/37 66/39 74/40 75/42 73/na The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson News Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Williver Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Karen Kassy Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. Robert Reich American Voices Marissa Mayer tells us a lot about why Americans are so angry, and why anti- establishment fury has become the biggest single force in American politics today. Mayer is CEO of Yahoo. Yahoo’s stock lost about a third of its value last year, as the company went from making $7.5 billion in 2014 to losing $4.4 billion in 2015. Yet Mayer raked in $36 million in compensation. Even if Yahoo’s board fires her, her contract stipulates she gets $54.9 million in severance. In other words, Mayer can’t lose. It’s another example of no-lose socialism for the rich. The rest of America works in a different system. Theirs is cutthroat hyper- capitalism — in which wages are shrinking, median household income continues to drop, workers are fired without warning, two-thirds are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and employees are being classified as “independent contractors” without any labor protections at all. Why is there no-lose socialism for the rich and cutthroat hyper-capitalism for everyone else? Because the rules of the game — including labor laws, pension laws, corporate laws and tax laws — have been crafted by those at the top, and by the lawyers and lobbyists who work for them. Before we go to the barricades, you should know about another CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya, who’s developing a third model — neither no-lose socialism for the rich nor hyper-capitalism for everyone else. Ulukaya is the Turkish- born founder and CEO of Chobani, the upstart Greek yogurt maker recently valued at as much as $5 billion. Last week, Ulukaya announced that he’s giving all of his 2,000 full-time workers shares of stock worth up to 10 percent of the privately held company’s value when it’s sold or goes public, based on each employee’s tenure and role at the company. If the company ends up being valued at $3 billion, for example, the average employee payout could be $150,000. Some long- tenured employees could get more than $1 million. Ulukaya’s decision is just good business. Employees who are partners become even more dedicated to increasing a company’s value. Which is why research shows that employee-owned companies tend to outperform the competition. Ulukaya just increased the odds that Chobani will be valued at more than $5 billion when it’s sold or its shares of stock are available to the public. That will make him, as well as his employees, far wealthier. As Ulukaya wrote to his workers, the award isn’t a gift but “a mutual promise to work together with a shared purpose and responsibility.” A handful of other companies are inching their way in a similar direction. Apple decided in October it would award shares not just to executives or engineers but to hourly workers as well. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is giving a third of his Twitter stock (about 1 percent of the company) “to our employee equity pool to reinvest directly in our people.” But the vast majority of American companies are still locked in the old hyper- capitalist model that views workers as costs to be cut rather than as partners to share in success. That’s largely because Wall Street still looks unfavorably on such collaboration. (Remember, Chobani is still privately held.) The Street remains obsessed with short-term stock performance, and its analysts don’t believe hourly workers have much to contribute to the bottom line. But they’re prepared to lavish unprecedented rewards on CEOs who don’t deserve squat. Let them compare Yahoo with Chobani in a few years and see which model works best. © 2016 By Robert Reich Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
