The Siuslaw news., August 09, 2017, Page 8A, Image 8

8 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2017
ued.
Port
from 1A
Rickard pointed out that Leskin
“I approached Swinney and
asked what I could do,” Leskin said.
“He produced documents stating his
vessel was 35 feet and not 37 feet.
He then demanded to pay his moor-
age bill and I stated he had to wait
for Kelly.”
Leskin said Swinney became bel-
ligerent and accused the port of
wanting his boat.
“Swinney began to yell at the
staff and refused to leave,” Leskin
said. “A police officer, who was at
the port on other business, arrived
and Swinney began to leave. ... On
the way out of the office, Swinney
called Kelly a ‘c--t.’”
Several obscenities, which were
described by Leskin in full detailed
from a prepared script in front of
video cameras, continued. This
enraged the commission, in particu-
lar Duman, who didn’t directly men-
tion the language but chastised
Leskin for not accepting the pay-
ment.
“If you can’t take his money, who
can? You’ve got to sit here and wait
for Kelly to take the money?
Something’s wrong with that sce-
nario. You should have taken his
money and the situation would have
de-escalated right there. End of
story,” said Duman. “I don’t care
how much authority you think you
have, if it’s not in the policies and
the ordinances, don’t assume it.
There comes a time when you can’t
keep pushing people.”
In discussing the incident at a
later meeting, commissioners were
unsure why Leskin used the obscen-
ities verbatim, rather than alluding
to the language.
Caputo speculated that it was
retaliation for Culwell’s negative
comments about Leskin.
“I’m sure that he was upset hav-
ing heard the complaints from
Michelle Culwell, but the reading of
the events and incident with the
offensive language was not appro-
priate at a public port meeting,”
Caputo said.
Of the incident, Huntington stat-
ed, “That was the most inappropri-
ate thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Attending the meeting was
Florence City Councilor Ron
Preisler, who said, “The port meet-
ing this week was a good example
of how not to have a public forum.
There was extreme disrespect
shown by most of the commission-
ers, audience and port manager.”
The tensions between the com-
mission and Leskin had been brew-
ing for some time, which Rickard
pointed out at the Feb. 15, 2017,
meeting.
On Leskin’s Jan. 30 evaluation,
Rickard believed the commissioners
were unconstructive in guiding
Leskin to what they deemed suc-
cess.
In a prepared statement, Rickard
read, “Mr. Leskin received ‘meets
expectations’ on 12 of the critical
areas with a few ‘needs improve-
ment’ scores, such as updating infor-
mation, communication between
manager and commission and carry-
ing out assignments requested by
the commission.
“These items were not addressed
one by one giving time for a reply
from the Manager,” Rickard contin-
Eclipse
from 1A
appealed to a much larger, non-stu-
dent audience. This interest led Brau
to begin giving lectures and talks off
campus.
“I’ve done a series at the Eugene
Public Library on a whole variety of
topics — neutrinos, dark energy,
gravitational waves — all kinds of
matters that the public is really inter-
ested in,” Brau explained. “We try to
bring information to people in a way
that everyone can appreciate. ... The
sent the commissioners a weekly
report by email. “I’m not aware of
assignments not carried out or lack
of updating information,” she said.
She went on to praise Leskin on
his work on the “many problems
facing the port,” adding that she felt
“commissioners have the responsi-
bility to support the manager and
staff recommendations and do their
share in the communication
process.”
At the Jan. 30, 2017, meeting,
Rickard spoke of a performance
evaluation for Leskin with the possi-
bility of a four-percent raise.
Just a few months earlier on Aug.
17, a wage increase was approved
by unanimous vote, with Duman
stating, “I think for the record that
he did receive a ‘good to excellent’
evaluation by every member of the
board.”
But by Jan. 30, the commission’s
attitude had changed.
Duman described Leskin’s per-
formance as “good to excellent,” but
also said, “In my four years I’ve
been here, I’ve never seen so many
letters from attorneys across my
desk here.”
Duman went on to say that if
there was room for improvement, it
would be Leskin’s customer service
and conflict resolution skills. He
stated Leskin was “adequately com-
pensated” and did not suggest giv-
ing Leskin a raise.
Leskin pointed out that, “Staff
receives four percent a year. I would
just ask to stay current with what
everyone else receives in raise.”
Caputo and Rickard voted for the
raise, but the others abstained and
Leskin’s raise was denied.
Though this was well before the
Swinney incident, Leskin and the
commission had begun to butt heads
on a variety of issues.
In a June 16, 2016, meeting,
Leskin proposed a requirement that
would put $15,000 aside each year
into special projects, particularly
maintenance, based on an in-depth
analysis of the upcoming costs to
the port prepared over a long period
of time by Leskin and the staff.
The report focused on life
expectancies of port assets, i.e., how
long a building lasts, projected years
it will last and the costs of repairing
the building.
Leskin wanted to make saving
the $15,000 mandatory.
“We have to budget with disci-
pline, and we have to save for the
future,” Leskin explained. “Our pri-
ority is that we have to save to the
future. That’s why it was written
without wiggle room.”
Buckwald disagreed, saying,
“Why make it mandatory? This just
says if you don’t have $15,000 in,
that means you gotta cut something
else.”
“To my way of thinking, it says
‘saving for a future event is a priori-
ty,’” replied Leskin.
The somewhat heated discussion
ended with Buckwald forcing
Leskin to cut the mandate.
This happened throughout much
of Leskin’s tenure. Valid points were
made on both sides of the argu-
ments, but as time wore on it turned
heated and personal. Gradually,
Leskin’s defenses for his policies
became more forceful, as did the
commissioners’ pushback to them.
By the time the discussion about
commercial vessels came around on
March 15, the demand for anger
management had entered the dis-
course.
In that meeting, Buckwald
accused Leskin of actively seeking
to be discriminatory with the “sole
discretion” rule, something Leskin
had never hinted at throughout the
conversation:
Buckwald: “You set forth the cri-
teria. You want to break that.”
Leskin: “I don’t want to break
that.”
Buckwald: “Yes you do. That’s
what that says.”
Leskin: “Please don’t accuse me.
Please don’t accuse me.”
Buckwald: “You know what, you
need a little bit of work on some
anger management. Control that a
little bit, won’t you please?”
The situation finally came to a
head during a special March 31,
2017, disciplinary meeting to dis-
cuss Leskin’s behavior at the March
15 meeting, two weeks earlier.
Caputo opened the meeting by
saying, “I know the Bible says ‘eye
for an eye,’ but, being somewhat of
a Christian, I say ‘turn the other
cheek.’”
The board proceeded to system-
atically list a litany of complaints
and demands of Leskin.
In addition, Leskin’s use of offen-
sive language in a public setting was
questioned.
Buckwald stated he couldn’t dis-
pute Leskin’s retelling of the inci-
dent because he wasn’t there, but
believed Leskin should have hinted
at the strong language, not repeated
it verbatim.
Leskin countered that this wasn’t
the first time staff had issues with
Swinney, which was made more dis-
turbing by the fact that Swinney was
running for port commissioner in
the May 2017 election. This, Leskin
argued, was why he read the letter
verbatim: To get Swinney’s behav-
ior on public record.
Caputo and Duman stated Port
staff should have simply taken
Swinney’s money. They also argued
that issues regarding Gordon
Owen’s late payments should be
worked out.
Leskin refused, stating he was
“beyond working” with Owen, and
that he intended to bring criminal
charges against him.
Rickard stated the port has a
responsibility to enforce a payment
schedule.
“Everybody else plays by the
rules,” Rickard said. “We’re talking
public money here. We’re letting
somebody go and not paying.”
Huntington agreed with working
with Owen, stating, “If we don’t
have a boat in that slip then we don’t
get money. At least we’re getting
some money.”
Another issue brought up in the
disciplinary meeting was contract
overrides by Leskin where the com-
missioners felt he spent more than
he was allowed.
Buckwald brought up an instance
when Leskin had been approved to
spend $5,000, but had spent $7,000
instead.
Leskin agreed that the amount
had gone over what was approved,
but that it was his right to do so. He
argued that the law allowed him full
range to spend up to $10,000 with-
out board approval.
Duman
disagreed,
stating
“$5,000 is the threshold that you
have to put it up for bidding proce-
dures.”
When Leskin did put contracts up
for bid, Duman argued, he was
doing it incorrectly. “I’d like to clar-
ify one thing about the public bid
process,” Duman said. “You should
have had three bids in hand. It does-
n’t have to go to a public bidding
process, but you should have
requested three bids.”
Duman’s interpretation of the law
was incorrect. Regarding a $5,000
threshold, ORS 279B.065 states, “A
contracting agency may award a
procurement of goods or services
that does not exceed $10,000 in any
manner the contracting agency
deems practical or convenient,
including by direct selection or
award.”
In addition, OR 279B.055 regu-
lates this bidding process and states
an organization is required to make
a public notice of the bid, published
in “at least one newspaper of gener-
al circulation” or, by rule or order,
electronically.
Leskin reminded Duman that he
did present the ORS codes to the
commission, even bringing in an
expert on Jan. 30 to explain it the
regulations. Duman said he vaguely
remembered these, but he remained
firm in his belief.
Nevertheless, Caputo requested
that Buckwald and Duman review
all Leskin’s contracts, taking away
the port manager’s financial autono-
my regarding contract bidding.
Finally, Caputo made two more
demands of Leskin, saying, “If the
commissioners agree with me, I
would like the port manager to write
a letter of apology to David
Swinney and Michelle Culwell. I
would propose that the manager
take a 16-hour class on anger man-
agement. There are several online
classes that are available to you.”
At this point, Leskin refused to
cooperate. A transcript of the
response reads as follows:
Leskin: “I am not writing a letter
to Dave Swinney.”
Rickard: “And I disagree with
these demands you have made.
We’re not the manager.”
Caputo: “I understand that.
Anybody have anything else?
Anything you want to say, Steven,
before I close the meeting?”
Leskin: “I’m not agreeing to take
an anger management class.”
The room went silent at that
point.
Caputo: “Any ... more com-
ments?”
Huntington: “What’s going to
happen with refusal? I mean, he’s
refusing. What are we going to do?”
Caputo: “I don’t know.”
Buckwald: “Well, we just call
legal council and find out. Maybe
that’s a good idea.”
Caputo: “I will talk to the legal
department and go from there.”
Caputo then closed out the meet-
ing.
One month later on April 21,
Leskin filed a second ethics com-
plaint, this time to the Bureau of
Labor and Industries (BOLI). He
accused the entire commission of
retaliation. He is more specific with
a timeline in the complaint:
series has been very popular.”
Brau decided to speak about the
eclipse after a presentation last year.
“At the time, very few people
were actually aware of what was
coming. Slowly, over time, I got
more and more invitations to speak,
and now I am doing a whole series
of talks on the subject,” Brau said.
After his visit to China, Brau will
be busy the day of the eclipse.
In addition to watching the first
U.S. cross-continental eclipse in his
lifetime, he will be guiding others
through the phenomenon from an
area of totality.
“I am going to be giving a class
on the day of the eclipse at the
Oregon State fairgrounds in
Salem.The Oregon Museum of
Science and Industry (OMSI) is
sponsoring a big event at the fair-
grounds, which sold out months
ago, to a large group there before the
eclipse.”
The Solar Eclipse will begin on
Aug. 14 at 9:04 a.m., with the total
eclipse occurring at 10:15 a.m. Total
darkness will last for 1 minute 58
seconds.
Florence will be in 99 percent
range, so will experience darkness
as the moon crosses the sun, though
not the full effect.
For more information about the
August Solar Eclipse, Siuslaw News
will have a special publication in the
Wednesday, Aug. 16, edition.
1. On
March
15,
2017,
Respondent Commissioners Duman
and Huntington voted at a commis-
sion meeting to engage in conduct
that I believed created a conflict of
interest.
2. On March 21, I filed an ethics
complaint with the Oregon
Governmental Ethics Commission
against Commissioners Duman and
Huntington. That complaint was
made in good faith and was reason-
able. It was, therefore, protected
from retaliation by both ORS
659A.199 and 659A.203.
3. On Friday, March 24, 2017, I
emailed copies of the complaint I
had filed to Respondent.
4. On Friday, March 24, 2017,
Commission Chair Ron Caputo told
me that I had “crossed a line” and
would be replaced.
5. On
March
29,
2017,
Commissioner Caputo informed the
local paper that Respondent would
hold an open session to publicly dis-
cuss charges against me. He fol-
lowed that announcement with an
email informing me that the com-
missioners “may consider charges
against (me) that may lead to disci-
plinary action.”
Commissioners imposed disci-
pline on me in a special meeting
held on March 31, 2017.
6. Respondent violated ORS
659A.199 and ORS 259A.203 by
threatening to discharge me and by
imposing discipline in retaliation for
the report I made to OGEC.”
The mentioned ORS violations
are, essentially, “whistleblower
laws,” barring employers from retal-
iating against employees who, in
good faith, report violations of the
state law by their employers.
However, the complaint to the
ethics department was misleading.
Leskin’s scenario paints a pic-
ture of himself seeing an unethical
financial violation, reporting it dili-
gently and then being threatened
with termination because of it —
all while omitting the circum-
stances surrounding the alleged
violation.
In the March 13 disciplinary
meeting, the commissioners never
brought up the OGEC letter of
complaint.
Neither did Leskin.
By July 10, BOLI dismissed the
complaint, stating: “This letter is to
inform you that the above-cap-
tioned complaint… has been dis-
missed because the Division did
not find sufficient evidence to con-
tinue our investigation.”
By then, Leskin had been placed
on leave.
On Tuesday, May 30, Caputo
gave an official statement to Leskin
after an executive meeting:
“You are being put on paid
administrative leave while we
check on a complaint we have from
Amber Novelli concerning some
sexual advances that she perceived
that you made.”
To date, nothing has been pub-
licly released regarding this claim.
In the past year, the only men-
tion of Amber Novelli was in rela-
tion to being late on her payments.
During the December 2016
meeting, now Interim Managing
Director Dina McClure listed the
Novellis, along with three other
moorage customers, who were in
“various states of collection.”
During the January 2017 meet-
ing, Leskin specifically stated the
Novellis are “up to date on pay-
ments for the floating fish market,”
per the meeting minutes.
The only other information
known comes from Port Attorney
Brewer, stating they were unable to
substantiate the complaint.
The Port Commission’s justifi-
cation for Leskin’s termination
comes from what it says has been a
tense relationship that crippled the
port committee for the past year.
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