A4 Wednesday, February 19, 2020
LOGO
The Dalles Chronicle
TheDallesChronicle.com
The labor violation the
district admitted occurred
when district officials ap-
proached a firefighter last
year about settling an unfair
labor practice complaint,
saying the firefighter was
“reasonable.” The district
thought the firefighter was on
the union executive board,
but he wasn’t. Settlement
discussions can only happen
with union executive board
members.
The district settled that
complaint by paying each of
its 18 firefighters $1,000.
Last August, the district
provided a written apology
for the mistaken contact.
Retired MCFR Division
Chief Dan Hammel has
called the lawsuit a waste of
taxpayer money. He learned
last month by filing a public
records request that the dis-
trict had spent over $88,000
through last year on the
lawsuit.
In a press release last
month, the district said the
money to cover the unex-
pectedly high legal bill would
come from contingency
funds or by adjusting the
ending fund balance.
Hammel said at the
meeting, “Don’t lie to the
public and say you will either
use contingency funds or ad-
just the ending fund balance.
The use of contingency funds
only delays the impact, since
that line item would be fund-
ed back to where it was in
next year’s budget. Adjusting
the carryover also impacts
services by having to poten-
tially borrow money next year
to cover your costs between
July 1 and the collection of
property taxes” later in the
fiscal year.
Hammel also said the
press release stated it was the
board’s decision to pursue
litigation. But Hammel said
he couldn’t find any record
of such a decision in meeting
minutes from last year.
“It is my understanding of
the public meeting laws that
no decision is allowed to be
made while in executive ses-
sion. So when did this board
make that decision?”
He said he believed that
was a violation of public
meeting law and that he’d
filed a complaint with the
Oregon Ethics Commission.
“It appears that this
board has not only wasted a
significant amount of our tax
dollars, they proceeded with
this action under a potential
violation of Oregon Revised
Statutes,” Hammel said.
He also noted the board
said it pursued the litigation
on advice of its legal coun-
sel. Hammel said that law
firm, Peachey Davies Myers
& Dunn, was paid nearly
$60,000, or 68 percent of
the $88,000 the district had
spent through last year on the
lawsuit.
“It makes this taxpayer
wonder if a conflict of inter-
est isn’t involved,” Hammel
said.
After the settlement was
announced, Hammel said
he applauded the parties
for reaching it. He said “the
firefighters obviously decided
that the public’s safety was a
higher priority than keeping
their logo.”
He said it was “dishearten-
ing” to see that the initiation
of the lawsuit “appears to
have been conducted in
violation” of state public
meeting law.
Hammel said that while
the monetary loss from the
suit has stopped, “the inter-
nal relationship damage will
continue on for some time.
Unfortunately, the mental
impact of an employer suing
their own employees after a
settlement is not something
you can just change with a
flip of the switch.”
He said the board would
have to ensure that rec-
ommended changes to
improve the relationship are
implemented.
He said district and union
leadership both need to
follow advice from the book
“Extreme Ownership: How
US Navy SEALs Lead and
Win,” which states, “The
leader must own everything
in his or her world. There is
no one else to blame. The
leader must acknowledge
mistakes, admit failures, and
take ownership of them.”
Casey DePriest, the wife
of a retired firefighter, also
spoke to the board, saying a
settlement was a step in the
right direction. “I applaud
the board for finding your
common sense as it seems to
have escaped you for some
time.”
She said, “now let’s put
this behind us and move
forward in a positive
manner, restoring trust and
respect to this district.”
from ones shaped like USB
devices or flash drives to vape
watches.
Kids have more
There are thousands of
ways to use THC flavors of e-liquids, the vast
majority of which contain
Continued from page A1 nicotine, the same highly
addictive ingredient found in
outbreak. Vitamin E acetate is cigarettes.
Other e-liquids contain
an additive used by produc-
ers to increase their product. THC.
Debby Jones, Wasco
Vaping devices heat a
liquid to produce an aerosol County prevention specialist
with YouthThink, said the data
that users inhale into their
shows kids are taking advan-
lungs. The devices come
in a variety of sleek forms,
tage of new mechanisms for
using pot, particularly vaping
and dabs, which were the
two highest increases locally.
Dabs are highly concentrated,
waxlike doses of THC that
are heated, and the resulting
smoke is inhaled.
“We don’t have more kids
using it, the kids that are
have more ways to use it and
abuse it,” she said.
Steps like banning flavors
of vape “are really important
because that’s one of the
easier ways for kids to get it.
But we have to get ahead of it,
the industry is always ahead
of us,” she said.
A bill in the Oregon
Legislature would ban all
flavored nicotine vapes. The
ban wouldn’t include mari-
juana vapes.
“At some point making
money has to be less import-
ant than the health of our
children, and that to me is
the biggest challenge,” Jones
said.
“Anything addictive is all
about, on the other side,
somebody making money, be
it opioids, gambling, porn,
you name it,” she said.
The data from Wasco and
Sherman counties are re-
ported together because they
are part of the three-county
North Central Public Health
District. Gilliam County is
also in the district, but did
not participate in the latest
survey.
For more informa-
tion on vaping, visit
SmokefreeOregon.com
or www.youthnow.me/
schools.
Union will turn
over logo items
Continued from page A1
future.”
The fire district said in its
suit that the similar-looking
logo the union had created
could cause confusion. The
union endorses candidates
and supports labor causes,
and with the similar-looking
logo, the district argued,
it could create the misim-
pression that the fire district
itself was the one making
endorsements.
The union has to turn
over to the district all union
logo-emblazoned items, from
brochures to pants and shirts
to banners and challenge
coins. They also have to turn
over the means and materials
for making the logo.
The parties agreed that, in
the development of any fu-
ture logos, they will give each
other the chance to comment
on any proposed logo and
will avoid adopting logos
that might be “confusingly
similar.”
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WHAT’S
HAPPENING
SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS AT
THEDALLESCHAMBER.COM/
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IN ADVANCE TO MGIBSON@
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COM. LISTINGS ARE FREE.
FEBRUARY
Wednesday, February 19
CAREGIVER SUPPORT:
Family & Caregiver
Alzheimer’s/Dementia Support
Group 3-4 p.m. Meetings are
held the third Wednesday
of each month. at Flagstone
Senior Living, 3325 Columbia
View Drive, The Dalles. Also,
Alzheimer’s & Dementia
Related Support Group, 3
to 4 p.m. on the Terrace at
Flagstone.
Thursday, February 20
AFTER HOURS: Business
after hours, Curtis Homes, 2191
Radio Way, 5 to 7 p.m.
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS:
Governmental affairs, 7 to 8
a.m. at The Barbecue, 1013 W.
Sixth. St., The Dalles. Open to
public.
KIWANIS PROGRAMS:
Kiwanis meetings are held every
Thursday at noon at Spooky’s
and visitors are welcome. This
week’s events include Philip
Mascher on the Blue Zones
Project. For more information
visit www.thedalleskiwanis.org
online.
Friday, February 21
PRESCHOOL YOGA:
Preschool Yoga, 10 to 10:30
a.m. at at The Dalles-Wasco
County Public Library, 722
Court St., The Dalles. Free.
Saturday, February 22
ADULT YOGA: Adult Yoga,
10 a.m. at The Dalles-Wasco
County Public Library, 722
Court St., The Dalles.
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WEATHER FOR THE DALLES, OR | FEBRUARY 19 - 25, 2020
Today
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Actual High/Low
Tuesday
51° 49° 54° 54° 49° 53° 56°
/26°
Plenty of sunshine
/27°
Mostly sunny
/32°
Mostly sunny
/39°
A couple of
showers possible
/34°
Cloudy, rain
possible; breezy
/29°
A couple of
showers possible
/31°
Partly sunny
Feb 10 - 16
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
55/31
57/31
56/30
48/26
52/37
46/39
53/38
Updated 2.17.20, 11:30 AM PDT
Data from Accuweather.com
