PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 9, 2021
Emails show city staff
reacting on the fl y
DISCHARGED
Reverbs of shot at city hall
INVOICE: Investigation of
city mgr. cost nearly $8K
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
An investigation that, at least in part,
led to the resignation of Keizer City
Manager Chris Eppley cost the city more
than $7,900.
Eppley fi red a gun inside his city hall
offi ce in early March prompting the Keizer
City Council to call for an investigation
less than a week later.
Jim Ferraris, a recently retired police
chief, conducted the inquiry into the
incident.
Keizertimes requested a copy of the
invoice the city received from Ferraris
Investigations & Consulting. The request
was promptly fulfi lled and the invoice
includes an itemized list of expenses.
The paper did not receive a response to
a request for the investigation report by
press time.
The city was charged $5,750 for the
investigation, prep, report writing, inter-
views, transcript review and phone calls.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When former city manager Chris
Eppley discharged a gun in his offi ce on
March 4, it triggered numerous emails
among members of the city staff .
Keizertimes requested copies of any
emails sent in the wake of the incident
using city servers and received 13 pages
in return. It includes the full incident
report Eppley fi led in the wake of fi r-
ing a gun in his offi ces and matches,
identically, a description Keizertimes
obtained two weeks ago.
Eppley reported that the discharge
happened at noon on Thursday, March
4.
The fi rst email sent came from
Kristen Meyers, a human resources gen-
eralist with the City of Keizer, at 12:54
p.m. Meyers had to “quickly” create
a new form since the typical incident
report was only made to include events
resulting in “injury, illness, or exposure
to a contagious disease.”
Meyers states that she called Machell
DePina, Keizer’s human resources direc-
tor, who said “at a minimum detail the
incident completely.”
At 1:09 p.m., the chair of the Keizer
Civic Center Safety Committee,
requested a “private chat” with Meyers.
Reimbursement for travel time and mileage
(the invoice states 876 miles were logged
during the investigation) amounted to
$1,425. Transcription services were billed
at $786.10.
The total billed to the city was $7, 961.70.
According to the Oregon Secretary
of State business registry, Ferraris
Consulting’s principal place of business is
in Powell Butte, 141 miles from Keizer. The
business’ registered agent is a company
on River Road in Keizer and its mailing
address is in Wilsonville.
It was announced Thursday, April 1, that
Eppley had off ered his resignation, which
the council accepted. Eppley is expected
to receive six months salary and a year’s
worth of insurance coverage in exchange
for not fi ling a lawsuit against the city.
A statement read by Mayor Cathy Clark
implied that Eppley’s due process rights
might have been violated when a portion
of his incident report on the matter was
made public.
brainfood ANSWERS
sudoku
crossword
BRIAN & APRIL McVAY
503.510.6827 - Call or Text anytime
As lifelong residents, we are your
Keizer neighbor. We know this
market and we are here to help!
Enjoying real estate since 1998
3975 River Rd N • Suite 3 • Keizer
Oregon Licensed
Real Estate Brokers
An hour later Meyers responded she
could not discuss the “current situation”
and told him to document any informa-
tion he wished to share.
At 5:06 p.m. Meyers emailed DePina
with an update on how the rest of the
day played out. DePina had apparently
reached out to Tammie Harms, an
employee of the city’s legal department,
who was also in the civic center and
heard the shot fi red in Eppleys’s offi ce.
Meyers states that Eppley called her
into his offi ce where “he apologized for
the incident and that it was awkward for
me.”
Heyen had also stopped by to ask
who would complete the supervisor’s
portion of the incident report and if it
would be him.
“I steered clear of giving defi nitive
answers,” Meyers wrote.
On Friday, March 5, Debbie Lockhart,
Keizer deputy city recorder, sent out a
notice that an executive session would
be held the following Monday, March 8,
at noon.
City Councilor Roland Herrera for-
warded the message with the executive
session notice that included the inci-
dent report and two image fi les to a per-
sonal email account on March 23.