Prineville, Ore. – The Crook County Cemetery District reportedly fired its manager who runs its day-to-day operations, according to multiple sources who spoke under the condition of anonymity. One of the sources included an individual who works within Crook County government.
Cory Nelson, the manager appointed by the Crook County Cemetery District Board a year ago this month to manage the district’s operations, was reportedly fired by public body’s board of directors yesterday afternoon. The same sources claim the decision was made by Chairwoman Velda Jones and recently appointed board member Jamie Wood.
Another recently appointed board member, Roxanne Cummings-Basey, also reportedly resigned from the board just days after her publicly announced appointment on July 11th during the boards public meeting. The resignation came days following The Prineville Review’s publication of a story revealing numerous ongoing violations by the board related of Oregon Public Meetings Law, including violations that called into question the legitimacy of the appointment of not only Cummings-Basey this month, but also the handling of the appointment of Wood at the district’s board meeting on early June.
Wood’s appointment was made to fill a vacancy following the resignation of former district manager and later appointed board member Al Bidiman. Cummings-Basey’s appointment reportedly filled a vacancy created upon the resignation last month of Dar Fishel, reportedly for health reasons amid growing scrutiny of the cemetery district’s operations and board management.
The reported firing of Nelson now raises serious questions about further violations of Oregon Public Meetings Law by the district’s board. The decision to fire Nelson would require a vote by the board during a public meeting. Deliberations of any complaints or disciplinary issues would qualify for executive session, but no notice even of an executive session was made, including if it qualified as a special or emergency session.
Oregon law requires that a special meeting include at least a 24-hour notice to the public and representatives of the news media who have requested notice, even if the meeting will consists primarily or only of an executive session. While an emergency meeting could be called without 24-hours notice, it still requires attempts to provide notice, especially to members of the news media. According to the Oregon Department of Justice, the holding and notices for emergency meetings are highly scrutinized by the courts, and recommend that notice involve phone calls to members of the news media who have requested notice.
The Prineville Review made multiple notices of its request to be informed of all public meetings as outlined in ORS 192.640, as well as any meeting consisting only of an executive session. This include notice on the record during the boards public meeting July 11th, as well as an email sent to the district shortly after.
Should the board have also deliberated in reviewing Mr. Nelson’s employment as the agency head in executive session, Nelson is also afforded the right as a public official for the deliberations to happen in the course of a public meeting. It is unclear if he was provided with either opportunity.
According to ORS 192.660(2): “The governing body of a public body may hold an executive session: (b) To consider the dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent who does not request an open hearing.”
Calls placed to the district as well as to a number for Wood this morning have not been returned as of time of publication. We were also unable to reach Nelson for comment.
According to a source who practices labor law in Oregon, the reported firing could spell serious consequences for the district and tax payers should Nelson contest the matter for potential violations of his rights as a appointed public official, as well as violations of the State’s meetings law.
The timing of the firing raises further questions, especially as yesterday was the final day for district officials to respond and even acknowledge this publication’s public records request submitted last week. Nelson, who has repeatedly been open to answering this reporter’s questions, confirmed that the board was made aware of our public records requests and past opportunities for an interview before our earlier story.
Nelson did repeatedly say that many of our requests needed to be handled by the board, and repeatedly attempted to get board members to reach out for comment. Except for a brief interview with now-former director Cummings-Basey last Friday, no response from either Jones or Wood has been received.
The Prineville Review had also informed the district of its intent to submit a petition as outlined in Oregon Public Records Law with the Crook County District Attorney’s Office if it ignored our requests within the prescribed deadline. Nelson’s firing yesterday afternoon came hours after this publication again requested the district comply with the public records law on the last day of the deadline, as well as provide the documents which were required to be publicly available related to its conduct of public meetings.
That petition is set to be submitted today seeking an order from the DA under the public records law requiring the district to release the requested records. Should an order be issued, the district would be afforded the option of contesting the order in Crook County Circuit Court or to release the records.
EDITORIAL STATEMENT:
While we typically avoid being involved in such matters, this publication is also considering swift legal action against the board seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction in Crook County Circuit Court to prevent the governing body from continuing to hold illegal meetings and failing to provide notice to this publication of such meetings as required under ORS 192.640. The failures of the board to comply with the law hinder our ability provide transparency and information on governmental operations to the public and citizens of Crook County.
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The Prineville Review is currently continuing to obtain documents from other public bodies. We also obtained documents Wednesday from the Special Districts Association of Oregon, who while not required to respond to public records requests, was transparent in providing them.
SDAO Executive Director Frank Stratton explained that they understood the records of their communications with public officials would be a public record, so their organization had no issue disclosing the communications in light of the lack of response from a public body.
Those documents are now raising even more questions for the board.
First is the adoption formal resolutions related to the organizations projected budgets which must be submitted to the Crook County Tax Accessor’s office and the Oregon Department of Revenue. Multiple budget submission forms, with attached resolutions from its board, were unsigned by the board. The document is typically signed by the chair of the elected board.
The documents also reveal that the district appeared to have informed the SDAO on June 17th that it had already found a replacement, calling into question the application process that was also posted later the same day by the district.
A July 1st report obtained from the Prineville Police Department showed that the CCCD’s consultant at the SDAO called to say that Jones requested police presence for the July 11th public meeting as the three female board members of the CCCD feared for their safety.
The statement raised further questions considering the June 17th applications for consideration of a new board appointment, which was announced on July 11th as being Cummings-Basey, was stated as being open until July 5th.
Additional records obtained have also called into question the former appointment of local accountant Sherra Moore in March of 2022. Moore, through her accounting firm Cascade Country Consultants Inc., has reportedly been paid thousands each year to provide the district’s bookkeeping and CPA services, both prior to and since her past appointment serving on the board.
According to local citizen Jack Radenberg, who had also ran unsuccessfully for a board seat after he felt the district was being mismanaged, Moore resigned following questions raised regarding the ethics of Moore’s role.
Documents obtained of past board meeting minutes appear to confirm Moore’s resignation. While The Prineville Review has not been provided requested financial documents that would show the amount of payments to Moore and her business, projected budget records appear to show the district would allocate $9,000 annually for CPA services.
“It’s a serious ethics issue,” said Radenberg. “The [Oregon Government Ethics Commission] really should look into this.”
Additional meeting minutes from a August 2021 board meeting appear to show that the district received a quote of $400-$600 monthly from Evan’s Bartlett, Higby & Porter which would cover all payroll, 1099s, taxes, and more. The average cost annually would have been $6,000, compared to the reported budget listing of $9,000 in recent years.
Calls placed to Moore’s office this week had not been returned.
Meeting minutes from 2021 through 2023 repeatedly appear absent of any discussion related to and budget or financial reporting of the district, something Radenberg also says the board is intentionally been concealing for years from his own requests for records. The meeting minutes repeatedly appear to show that the district would also select a contractor without any mentions for a requests for proposal (RFP).
Radenberg provided a copy of a document reportedly drafted by the board during a meeting, which he said only came after repeated pressure for disclosure. That document alleges the district’s total balance between all accounts in April of 2023 as being $534,769.95, but the document provided was a handwritten disclosure and not an actual report from the districts books or bank statements, records which this publication has requested.
This is a developing story which you can count on us to keep you updated on.
