JOYS OF COLOR
APRIL 30, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
of the Week
presented by
HERSCH
& MARY ANN
SANGSTER
Where and how
do you volunteer?
Open Book, by Joel Nickel. Nickel is the latest artist to be featured in the hallways of the Keizer Civic Center. The show includes both painted
and enameled works, all of which were created during the pandemic. Nickel's work can be viewed during regular Keizer Civic Center hours.
Photo by ERIC A. HOWALD of Keizertimes
A rep to DISCHARGED
protect Reverbs of shot at city hall
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A lawsuit involving an anti-fascist
group caught up in The Red Scare laid
the groundwork for the former Keizer city
manager to receive a six-fi gure severance
package.
Since his resignation after discharging
a gun in his offi ce, Chris Eppley has been
hired by Marion County as a community
development manager and appointed
the temporary city manager of Detroit.
Those moves will save the city money for
Eppley’s insurance coverage as part of a
severance package, but Keizer residents
will still be contributing to his salary and
benefi ts through property taxes.
In a previous edition of the
Keizertimes, the paper examined how due
process relates to the property rights of
public employees. Since that time, Kathy
Peck, Keizer’s human resources attorney,
responded to a list of questions regarding
how Eppley’s due process rights were vio-
lated with a single statement, “Your ques-
tions involve attorney-client privileged
matters which I’m not at liberty to dis-
cuss. I am, however, able to share that the
due process rights which were at issue
involve liberty, not property, interest.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has deter-
mined public employees have a unique
privilege when it comes to employment
– protection of professional reputation.
While the court has massaged the
application of the right of public employ-
ees to avoid damage to their reputation,
The court decision that led to a
city manager’s golden parachute
the foundations are rooted in a court
decision involving an anti-fascist group
in the 1950s, Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee
Committee v. McGrath.
The court determined that the nation’s
attorney general had damaged the repu-
tations of the members of the anti-fascist
committee when he included the group in
a list of “subversive” activities. The court
expressly affi rmed, however, that public
employees, such as a city manager, were
in a class all their own.
Justice Robert H. Jackson, in a con-
curring opinion wrote, “To be deprived
not only of present government employ-
ment but of future opportunity for it
certainly is no small injury when govern-
ment employment so dominates the fi eld
of opportunity.”
In other words, when the government
is the most prevalent employer for certain
professions, damage to an individual’s
reputation deprives them of their ability
to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. For the city of Keizer, it meant
Eppley might have argued that his repu-
tation was irreversibly damaged when an
incident report he authored regarding the
discharge of the gun was made public.
In later court cases, the court deter-
mined that employees of private
companies have no such protection.
However, pursuing court remedy for
damaging Eppley’s reputation might not
have been as simple as it sounds.
In Codd v. Velger, a police offi cer was
hired on a parobationary basis with a
police department and gave the employer
permission to access his personnel fi le at
a previous department. The fi le included
an investigation into an “apparent suicide
attempt.” No conclusion was reached, but
the offi cer’s employment was terminated
and he fi led suit claiming he had been
stigmatized and his reputation damaged.
The U.S. Supreme Court determined
the offi cer’s case was unfounded because
he never denied the substantial facts
purporting the incident had taken place.
Claims of stigmatization and reputa-
tional damage must be rooted in “some
factual dispute between an employer and
a discharged employee which has some
signifi cant bearing on the employee’s
reputation.”
Given that Eppley authored the inci-
dent report that was made public, prov-
ing a factual dispute might have been
a diffi cult hurdle to overcome had the
Keizer City Council terminated him and
a dispute ended up in court.
"We are both active in Keizer
and the Salem Bicycle Club in
promoting bicycle safety and
cycling. From fi tting helmets
for our Keizer kids since 1997 to
arranging and leading bicycle rides
in Keizer, including the Thursday
Night Family Bike ride, which
is in its 40th year, to this year,
coordinating the 45th Monster
Cookie with a new start at Keizer
Rapids Park on August 29th.
We both have been served
on several City Committees.
Hersch on Bikeways, Planning
Commission and the Budget
Committees and Mary Ann on
the KARES Program. Mary Ann
was McNary's Booster Club's Vice
Chair, helped with the McNary
Wear sales and was the school's
equestrian coach. Mary Ann also
volunteered in taking her trained
mini-horse and donkey into
schools, rehab centers and nursing
homes."
Why do you volunteer?
"If you have a passion for
something, which we think
everyone does, it is best to
"'Share it'!"
What does
volunteering do for
you?
"Seeing a kid wearing a helmet
while bicycling and knowing
that you fi tted that helmet weeks
or months ago or seeing the
gentleman sit up in his bed for
the fi rst time to see the animals,
it is what Mary Ann calls a
warm feeling."
