OregonLive runs
three-part series on
Amazon data centers’
Morrow County impact
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VOL. 141
NO. 36
8 Pages
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Fired county administrator
files $750,000 lawsuit
Green claims unlawful employment practices, wrongful
discharge, and violation of open meetings law
Former County Administra-
tor Darrell Green has filed
a $750,000 lawsuit against
Morrow County, alleging
unlawful employment prac-
tices, wrongful discharge
and violation of the open
meetings law. Green was
terminated June 28 for al-
legedly violating a nepo-
tism agreement involving
his wife Debra, who also
worked for the county in the
health department.
In his lawsuit, filed in cir-
cuit court last week, Green
is seeking $250,000 in eco-
nomic damages for lost
income and $500,000 in
non-economic damages for
mental stress, humiliation
and inconvenience. He is
also seeking to recover his
attorney fees incurred in the
lawsuit. Green’s attorney is
Loren Collins of Salem who
specializes in employee
representation.
Unlawful Employment
Practices
Green’s first claim says it
was against the law to fire
him “solely” because his
wife also worked for the
county, as long as he was
not her supervisor. Green
says except for a short pe-
riod of time, approximately
one month from late No-
vember to late December
2020 he was “never in a
position of exercising su-
pervisory, appointment or
grievance authority over
Debra.” He also says during
that one-month period he
never actually “exercised”
supervisory duties over her.
Later in May of 2021
Green signed a nepotism
agreement with the county
stating Debra supervisor
would be the public health
director and if “substantial
escalation” were needed
in an employment matter
or dispute the issue would
then go directly to Morrow
County District Attorney
Justin Nelson, who was
assigned by the Board of
Commissioners to act in
this role. The nepotism
agreement was singed by
Debra and Darrell, Com-
missioner Melissa Lindsay,
DA Justin Nelson, Public
Health Director Nazario Ri-
vera and Human Resource
Director Lindsay Grogan.
However, the county’s La-
bor Counsel Bruce Bischof
said in a May 2022 letter
to both Debra and Darrell,
and made part of the law-
suit filing, that the nepo-
tism agreement was “not
having the desired effect,”
Former county admin-
istrator Darrell Green
and therefore the county
“is providing you both 30
days to decide which one
of you will resign from
employment.”
The Green’s had until June
24 to decide which one
would resign, and when
neither did, the county com-
missioners on June 28 in
front of a packed public
meeting room, voted 2-1
to fire Darrell. The county
later also terminated Debra
but not at a public meeting.
The investigation
How the county conclud-
ed the nepotism agree-
ment wasn’t working was
through an independent
investigation by an outside
attorney paid for by the
county.
According to Bischof’s
resignation demand let-
ter sent to the Greens, the
county had earlier received
“several” complaints about
Debra’s conduct on the job.
In addition, there were also
complaints made by Debra
against the county regard-
ing alleged improprieties of
COVID-19 vaccine actions
taken by the then-Public
Health Department Di-
rector Nazario during the
pandemic. Debra thought
these transgressions were
so serious enough she need-
ed to become a whistle
blower and report them.
County Commissioners
felt all these complaints
taken together warranted
the outside investigation,
as explained by Bischof
in his letter to the Greens.
“Because of the complexi-
ty of these complaints, the
county retained an indepen-
dent third-party investigator
to review the totality of the
situation,” Bischof stated.
Although never made
public Bischof said after
the investigation was com-
pleted it revealed that Debra
had made “disrespectful
and derogatory comments
in the workplace about
her supervisor, the former
Public Health Department
Director; and engaged in
disrespectful and confron-
tational behavior toward
another County employee.”
Bischof said her conduct
violated the county’s no
bullying policy.
In his termination letter
to the Greens and made part
of the public lawsuit Bis-
chof said the investigation
was not the first time the
county addressed “prob-
lematic performance” on
the part of Debra. “In fact, a
lack of professionalism and
inappropriate communica-
tion were issues raised as
far back as Deb’s probation-
ary period in 2019, which
resulted in her being placed
on a performance improve-
ment plan. Previous efforts
to correct Deb’s conduct
have been unsuccessful, in
part because of Darrell’s in-
volvement in Deb’s person-
nel matters,” Bischof said
in bringing up the alleged
nepotism issue. He added
that in early 2021, when the
Public Health Department
was attempting to address
Deb’s conduct, there were
concerns raised then that
“Darrell was interfering in
Deb’s personnel matters.”
Bischof said the outside in-
vestigation of the health de-
partment was also prompt-
ed by “propriety of actions
taken by the then-Public
Health Department Director
(Nazario).” Those actions
centered around Nazario,
and Health Department
Employees alleged improp-
er handling of COVID-19
vaccination protocols and
documents.
In his complain with the
court Darrell spelled out
his handling of those im-
proprieties saying in July
of 2021 he was notified
that a nurse in the health
department had “falsified
notes on a medical chart.”
Meeting with Director
Rivera about the alleged
falsifications Darrell said
Rivera was “unable to tell
him what was going on re-
lating to this issue.” On an-
other occasion Darrell was
informed of a complaint
against the Public Health
Department about a person
with COVID-19 symp-
toms who had requested
assistance at the Boardman
office saying there was a
lack of protocols for people
displaying COVID symp-
toms. The next day Rivera
complained to the county
human resource department
that Darrell had retaliated
against him because Rivera
had earlier “verbally repri-
manded” Debra.
Later in March of 2022 after
becoming a whistleblower
and reporting the COVID
improprieties to county
officials, Debra then filed
a labor complaint with the
state Bureau of Labor and
Industry (BOLI) saying she
had been retaliated against
for her actions. “I found
that the Morrow County
Health Department was not
following the Data Submis-
sion Guide required by the
Oregon Health Authority
in regard to the COVID-19
vaccines,” she said in her
complaint. She charged
that Rivera, who was at that
point no longer employed
at the county, “falsified
medical documents” which
she then reported to her
supervisor, who was also
Rivera, and to Local Pub-
lic Health Administration
(LPHA) Director Darrell
Continued page 2
The OregonLive news web site is running a three-part
series on Amazon’s arrival with its large data centers in
Boardman and the impact it has had on Morrow Coun-
ty. The stories are accessible online at www.oregonlive.
com.
“This special report from The Oregonian/Or-
egonLive examines what happens when one
of the world’s biggest companies lands in one
of Oregon’s smallest communities. Internet
data centers bring big economic upside, but
they come with costs — often amplified by tax
breaks.”
Mediation could help end
ambulance dispute
County and Fire District discuss ending conflict
Boardman Fire Chief Michael Hughes (left) speaks to county commissioners Don
Russell, Jim Doherty and Melissa Lindsay about ways to solve the ongoing emergency
medical service disagreement.
Having an outside me-
diator hold talks with com-
munity leaders across the
county could lead to res-
olution of a long-running
dispute between the County
Health District and Board-
man Rural Fire District
over ambulance service in
north Morrow County. For
months the two districts
have battled over how to
provide ambulance service
in the area, with the conflict
producing, accusations,
caustic statements and both
sides hiring attorneys.
The ongoing argument
is over who should respond
to emergency medical calls
in the Boardman area. The
health district has, for 27
years, provided emergency
medical service (EMS)
there and has ambulances
stationed in both Board-
man and Irrigon. Howev-
er, Boardman Fire Chief
Michael Hughes recently
acquired three ambulances,
and now wants licenses to
also provide the service.
Hughes says the additional
ambulances will give citi-
zens added medical protec-
tion and safety.
Fire trucks are now
being used to respond to
the medical emergency
calls but without licenses
cannot transport patients.
The fire district responding
to calls at the same time as
Health District ambulances
has led to the accusations of
“call jumping” by the health
district, and requests to the
Sheriff office to stop send-
ing 911 EMS dispatch calls
to the Fire District.
In an effort to break the
contentious months-long
dispute county commis-
sioners at a special August
31 meeting discussed hiring
a professional mediator that
specializes in emergency
services issues to look into
the county’s Ambulance
Service Area Plan (ASA)
for solutions to the prob-
lem. The ASA governs
how emergency services
are deployed in Morrow
County. A link to the plan
is available on the Morrow
County Health District web
site.
At the special meeting
Commission Chair Jim
Doherty suggested maybe it
was time to bring in a pro-
fessional to help the county
solve the dispute. “Maybe
we need to take a re-look
at this and visit with peo-
ple in health care,” he said.
“Perhaps we can look into
what Mike Hughes said to
us” (see further in story).
In looking for a mediator
Doherty said he had talked
to a woman at the state
level “who does these type
of things” (negotiate EMS
disputes) who may be will-
ing to act as mediator in the
argument. Doherty agreed
that all the participants,
Sheriff for dispatch, fire
chief, health people and
other leaders need to come
together “hopefully in a
public meeting” and work
out the problem, adding
that it can be a complex is-
sue. “There are 36 counties
in Oregon and 36 models,”
he said about various am-
bulance service area plans.
Commissioner Don Russell
agreed with the mediator
idea saying “I think this
would be a good thing. We
need to put the baggage
behind us and go forward
with the best model that
brings the best service to
the people.”
A motion was made to
move forward and look for
a mediator for examining
the county ASA plan.
Earlier in the month
at an August 17 commis-
Continued page 2
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