opinion/community
august20
2015
An Opinion:
There Goes Another City Administrator
By Scott Laird
3
Well, another Vernonia City
Administrator has come and gone.
Gian Paolo Mammone was
hired in August of 2014. Following a
very long, Executive Session meeting
on Tuesday, August 11, 2015, which
included a formal job evaluation,
Council entered into Open Session and
voted unanimously to terminate without
cause their contract with Mammone.
Mammone was an interesting
choice from the beginning for City
Administrator of Vernonia. Born in Italy,
he came to the U.S. where he studied
at Ohio State University. An affable
gentleman who developed several
close relationships in the community,
Mammone smiled, joked and was jovial
at times, and seemed to have a real
interest in the future of Vernonia.
Several things ended up working
against Mammone as he tried to fill the
City Administrator position.
From the beginning one noticed
a language barrier that ended up being
difficult to overcome, especially in
public meetings. It was often difficult
to understand him when he got excited
and began to speak quickly, and he
often had trouble understanding and
comprehending direction from the
Council.
Issues with his management
style quickly came to the surface. What
was most obvious was the way he
would disengage during City Council
meetings,. He was often caught unaware
of the topic of discussion when asked
for advice or input. This happened
repeatedly and was visibly frustrating to
the Council.
He never was fully engaged
in the Waste Water Treatment Plant
Project, his number one priority
according to the Council, and several
deadlines were missed because of his
lack of involvement and knowledge of
the project. He did not get involved in
other priorities as well and often had
a hard time following the direction of
Council on several key issues. He also
didn’t appear engaged with most City
Committees in a meaningful way and
he took a long time to make decisions or
take action on important issues.
He had trouble developing any
real rapport with his staff. You certainly
had to question why City Recorded Joann
Glass, after talking about retirement off
and on for several years, finally decided
to leave after Mammone had only been
in charge for several months, and also
question when City Planner Carole
Connell quit working for the City soon
after the start of Mammone’s tenure.
Mammone did do some things
right. He ingratiated himself with
some parts of the community and
showed interest in the development and
improvement of city parks; he thought
Vernonia showed real potential to be a
destination. When City Recorder Glass
retired, Mammone was able to evaluate
the personnel needs of the City and create
a new position, which ended up being
filled by then Mayor Josette Mitchell.
Mitchell resigned as Mayor to become
part of city staff as the City Recorder/
Assistant to the City Administrator,
and also take responsibility for Flood
Plain Management. Mammone created
a position to make the most use of
Mitchell’s knowledge and familiarity
with current City projects. He also
analyzed current staff and hired
temporary public works employee James
McMahon as Parks Superintendent. On
the flip side, a contract renewal with
valuable GIS consultant Ben Fousek
was bungled and was executed only after
Council insisted it be done.
A visionary in many ways,
Mammone often talked about grandiose
changes and ideas for improvements.
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
He had many good ideas, although most
503-367-0098
were beyond the scope of a community
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
with such a tight budget.
Because of Vernonia’s recent
history with City Administrators, I
Contributors
think it’s safe to say that everyone
Chip Bubl
wanted Gian Paolo to work out in the
Tobie Finzel
position. By firing Mammone without
Karen Kain
cause the City will have to pay some
Aaron Miller
type of separation severance, which is
Shannon Romtvedt
money the City could use elsewhere.
Sonia Spackman
The decision to cut ties was not one the
Grant Williams
Council took lightly.
But in the end, Mammone’s long
Photography
range vision and European sensibilities
Karen Kain
just weren’t a good fit for the City of
Scott Laird
Vernonia at this time. With so many
projects needing attention and a small
Want to advertise?
staff to achieve City goals, Council
Have an article?
needed a hands-on, involved and detail
Contact:
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
oriented City Administrator, and those
One year subscriptions
were not Mammone’s strengths.
(24 issues) $35
Speaking of Josette Mitchell,
it has been no secret that Mitchell
Vernonia’s Voice is published
was interested in filling the City
on the 1st and 3rd Thursday
Administrator position. She was one of
of each month.
three candidates, along with Mammone,
Vernonia’s Voice, LLC
who Council chose to interview from
PO Box 55
among a dozen applicants for the
Vernonia, OR 97064
position last summer. She has filled in
503-367-0098
as Interim City Administrator on two
separate occasions. Council has yet
to name a replacement for Mammone,
or even discuss how they might move
forward; Mayor Randy Parrow left
www.VernoniasVoice.com
on vacation following Mammone’s
termination and was absent for the
August 17 meeting. Council President 21, but it would not be inconceivable to
Kim Tierney is scheduled to miss the think Mitchell might be included in any
September 8 meeting. It looks like any future plans.
decision about a permanent replacement
will be put off until at least September
Opponents of the Oregon LNG
Project received both good and bad news
which impacts the future development of
the project. The proposed project would
develop a $6 billion export shipping
terminal near Warrenton, OR and also
construct a large natural gas pipeline
through Columbia County, passing Ver-
nonia and crossing Rock Creek.
The good news arrived on July
31 when Federal Magistrate Judge John
V. Acosta in the U.S. District Court in
Portland dismissed Oregon LNG’s chal-
lenge to the Army Corp of Engineers’
easement on Skipanon Peninsula, a sig-
nificant setback for project planners.
Skipanon Peninsula is the proposed site
of the export terminal.
The bad news was the release of
the Draft Environmental Impact State-
ment (DEIS) issued by the Federal Ener-
gy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for
the project. The review is being roundly
criticized by a coalition of groups in-
cluding fishing, public health, property
rights, and conservation organizations.
This long awaited report was a
disappointment, but not a surprise to citi-
zens and groups who oppose the project.
FERC has a history of approving lique-
fied natural gas (LNG) developments,
including the Bradwood LNG project
on the Columbia River, which filed for
bankruptcy in 2010.
Vernonians Against LNG, a lo-
cal group who organized to educate the
public about the project and oppose it,
were scheduled to hold an informational
discussion about the newest develop-
Two Issues Impact Oregon LNG Project
ments in the project on Wednesday, Au-
gust 19th. The group has already been
successful in helping persuade the Ver-
nonia City Council to officially oppose
the project.
The FERC’s analysis directly
addressed local concerns about the pipe-
line crossing of Rock Creek:
“We received a comment from
the City of Vernonia expressing concerns
about the pipeline crossing Rock Creek
in close proximity to the water source
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continued on page 14
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