6A • September 22, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Probe finds Thompson crossed boundary of decorum
Incident with
county employee
occurred in June
By Jack Heffernan
EO Media Group
Clatsop County Com-
missioner Lianne Thompson
“crossed the boundary of ac-
ceptable decorum” when she
allegedly placed her hands on
a county employee and spoke
in a loud and frustrated tone
about County Manager Cam-
eron Moore after a Red Cross
meeting at Fort Clatsop in June,
an internal investigation has
found.
The county employee, who
has not been publicly identified,
did not feel threatened or intim-
idated but thought Thompson’s
behavior was “bizarre.”
County commissioners will
discuss the findings of the inter-
nal investigation at an executive
session later this month. If the
commissioners choose to take
any disciplinary action against
Thompson, the board would
make an announcement during
a public meeting.
The incident exposes ten-
sion between Commissioner
Thompson, some of her fellow
commissioners, and County
Manager Moore that has bub-
bled under the surface for sev-
eral months.
Lianne
Thompson
Scott
Lee
Commissioner Scott Lee,
the board’s chairman, learned
of the incident soon after it
happened, though he did not
disclose how. Lee then called
an executive session in late July
with other board members and
Portland-based labor attorney
Heather Martin. At the private
session, the board decided to
pursue an investigation and hire
Jill Goldsmith of Workplace
Solutions Northwest, a Portland
mediation service, to conduct
the probe.
Goldsmith interviewed the
county employee who had
allegedly been touched by
Thompson, a witness to the in-
cident, and a county employee
who has a personal relationship
with Thompson and is famil-
iar with the commissioner’s
demeanor and concerns about
the county manager. Thompson
declined to be interviewed but
submitted her account through
an attorney.
The results of the internal
investigation were revealed to
commissioners during an exec-
utive session Wednesday night.
“Several staff have raised
issues about county govern-
ment with me,” Thompson
said in an email to The Dai-
ly Astorian. “They said they
feared retaliation if they went
public. I now understand their
fears of retaliation.”
But Lee insists the internal
investigation was a human-re-
sources matter meant to ensure
that county staff are protected
from commissioners, who su-
pervise the county manager
and staff.
“It’s outrageous that she
would accuse me of making
this issue politically motivat-
ed,” Lee said. “I have been
following the advice of county
counsel.”
Official role
The internal investigation
found that Thompson was
acting in her role as commis-
sioner during the June 27 inci-
dent after a Red Cross meeting
at Fort Clatsop in Lewis and
Clark National Historical Park.
After the Red Cross meet-
ing, Thompson approached
the county employee and
expressed frustration with
Moore. She also allegedly said
that she “was the only com-
missioner on the board who
worked.”
Thompson, according to
the report, at one point became
agitated about Moore, stepped
toward the county employee
and asked, “Do you know what
he did?” As the county em-
ployee reflexively placed her
hands up, Thompson allegedly
placed her hands on the em-
ployee’s hands or, according
to the witness, upper arms near
the shoulders. The county em-
ployee then took two to three
steps back as Thompson vocif-
erously repeated her question.
After untangling herself,
the county employee asked
Thompson what she was
talking about. Thompson then
allegedly expressed her belief
that Moore had intentionally
scheduled a meeting in May so
that she would not be able to
attend. The county employee
described Thompson as upset
and agitated during the con-
versation.
In the account Thompson
provided through an attorney,
the commissioner said she has
no memory of physically push-
ing anyone backward. “She is
the first to admit she is some-
times loud — a character trait
she attributes to her passion for
the people of Clatsop County, to
her blue-collar roots, and to her
hearing loss. She is outwardly
demonstrative. She sometimes
talks with her hands or touch-
es people during conversations
(for example, she may place a
supportive hand on someone’s
shoulder or she might touch
someone’s arm while making a
point).”
‘Appropriate decorum’
According to board rules,
commissioners must com-
mit themselves to “ethical,
businesslike, and lawful con-
duct, including proper use
of authority and appropri-
ate decorum when acting as
board members.” The inter-
nal investigation concluded
Thompson violated this pol-
icy.
Lee pointed to an incident
in 2014 when he castigated
former County Commission-
er Dirk Rohne, now a Port of
Astoria commissioner. Rohne
allegedly complained about
staff and former County Man-
ager Scott Somers to Port-
land-based labor attorney Akin
Blitz.
“This is not the first time
I’ve called out a commission-
vwer for failing to understand
how to do his or her job, in
my opinion, and getting out
of their lane with staff,” Lee
said. “It’s a very big problem
and it’s been something that I
take seriously.”
David Kramer, Thomp-
son’s Salem-based attorney,
questioned whether the board
has the authority to investi-
gate an independently elected
official since that power is not
specifically outlined in the
county charter. He said the
board’s rules apply to con-
duct at board meetings, “but
nothing you allege arguably
relates to a board ‘meeting.’”
Kramer called the internal
investigation “likely political-
ly motivated, and it undercuts
the political independence of
elected public officials.”
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After graduation from the
Carson College of Business
at Washington State Universi-
ty, Drumheller participated in
the Hyatt Hotel management
training program before es-
tablishing Escape Lodging of
Cannon Beach as its chief ex-
ecutive officer in 2001.
Escape Lodging also owns
the Ocean Lodge, The Inn at
Cannon Beach and other lodg-
ing properties and restaurants
in Oregon and Washington
state. Drumheller served on
the Oregon Restaurant and
Lodging Association Board of
Directors, Washington State
University Hotel and Restau-
rant Advisory Board of Direc-
tors and Travel Portland Board
of Directors.
In 2014, Drumheller and
Tom Krueger teamed to open
Tom’s Fish & Chips restaurant
at 240 N. Hemlock St.
Drumheller said in a 2014
interview his goal was to “try
to make it really, really cozy,
especially during the offseason
for the locals.”
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Tom Krueger and Tom Drumheller, the two “Toms” of
Tom’s Fish & Chips.
Drumheller and Krueger
opened a second location in
Seaside this summer.
“I was very fortunate to have
some great mentors I admired
and learned a great deal from,”
Drumheller said in an alumni
magazine profile. “When one
of them passed away, it spurred
me, along with my future busi-
ness partner, to take what I had
learned and start my own com-
pany. It was both very scary and
exciting. The risk-to-reward ra-
tio has been better than I could
have imagined.”
This spring he was induct-
ed into the inaugural class of
the Carson College of Busi-
ness Hall of Fame.
The city mourns
Friends and family gath-
ered in his last days to salute
the man they had grown to
know and love.
Robin Risley was among
the founding members of the
arts commission when Drum-
heller served as chairman.
“He was such a fun person
to have at the meeting,” Ris-
ley said. “He did things with a
sense of humor. We didn’t all
come from the same place, but
he was so inclusive that most
of the decisions were made
were fair and forward think-
ing. I just appreciated him so
much. He always had such a
twinkle in his eye.”
Cannon Beach Police Chief
Jason Schermerhorn knew
Drumheller as a member of the
Tourism Advisory Committee.
“When I started with the
city five years ago, the city
manager at the time said,
‘There’s a list of people you
need to meet,’ and he was at
the top of the list,” Schermer-
horn said. “He always had
a smile on his face, and very
generous when he gave back
to the community.”
“He was a huge rock here
in Cannon Beach,” said Court
Carrier, the executive director
of the Cannon Beach Chamber
of Commerce. “He was im-
portant — a hospitality exec-
utive for decades.”
Drumheller and his wife,
Christy Lynn, have two adult
daughters, Brook Burnett and
Britney Drumheller.
A memorial service will be
scheduled.
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Online hotel market ‘an evolving area’ CANNON
MINI-STORAGE
Taxes from Page 1A
forthcoming, Sawrey said.
Often rooms are sold at a dis-
count to these intermediaries,
who take their own profit off
the sale. Without knowing
which rooms are being sold
to what booking site, figuring
out which booking site to hold
accountable for reporting that
taxable profit margin is diffi-
cult.
“It takes more time for us.
Are people not reporting? Do
they misunderstand? We don’t
know the situation if we don’t
have numbers in front of us,”
Sawrey said.
Sawrey and City Attor-
ney Tammy Herdener hope to
change the ordinance so that
companies who don’t file their
tax returns will face a fine.
In May, AirBnB presented a
voluntary agreement to the city
of Seaside to collect thousands
of dollars of lodging taxes on
Seaside vacation rentals.
Some saw the agreement as
an opportunity reap the ben-
efits of previously untapped
revenue. Some in the lodging
community, however, think the
agreement gives the company
an unfair advantage over oth-
er hotel owners, and ultimate-
ly drain affordable long-term
housing units to the vacation
rental market.
“This is an evolving area.
Cities all over Oregon are hav-
ing trouble with this,” Herden-
er said. “But to whoever is lis-
tening, it is important to have
this in our code so (intermedi-
aries) know they are responsi-
ble.”
Next steps
It’s hard to estimate how
much more revenue these
changes could bring in for the
city, because there is so much
variation between lodging
options. For City Councilor
George Vetter, the solution
comes from striking a balance
between keeping the property
owner and the intermediary on
the hook.
“I’m reluctant to take the
burden off the property own-
er, because those are the only
people we have control over,”
Vetter said.
Whatever the solution to
this issue is may be hard to
come by.
“No city has figured this out
perfectly yet,” Herdener said.
City councilors plan to dis-
cuss an ordinance change in
more detail at the November
work session and hope to get
more input from the lodging
industry in the meantime.
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