COOS BAY - Coos Bay Mayor Jeff McKeown has called a special meeting to discuss the performance of the city’s manager, Chuck Freeman. McKeown would not say why he wants to talk about Freeman, but at least one councilor suggested it is to fire him.

McKeown made his announcement at the end of a special meeting Monday night to consider a city gas tax and an agreement with the South Coast Development Council. McKeown scheduled a meeting with an executive session to evaluate Freeman’s performance for Wednesday at City Hall.

Freeman objected in front of the council. He told the council he wanted to be present for the discussion, but would be out of town that day for family issues.

McKeown initially backed down, saying they could meet Monday, Sept. 28.

Freeman also insisted the discussion take place in an open meeting.

“If you are talking about me, it’s not going to be in executive session,” Freeman said.

Confrontation

Once the meeting ended and all councilors left, Freeman confronted McKeown.

He told the mayor not to be “f---ing with me.”



“That’s real nice Chuck,” McKeown responded.

Freeman went on, telling McKeown he would give him more heartburn than Janell Howard, the city’s former finance director. Howard filed a lawsuit against the city last week alleging wrongful termination, after Freeman fired her a year ago.

“I hope you are ready,” Freeman said.

McKeown was silent.



As Freeman left the room, McKeown said to himself, “It’s not always fun being mayor.”

Morning reaction

This morning, McKeown said, he officially rescheduled the meeting to take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He consulted with the chief lawyer of the city’s insurance carrier, the League of Oregon Cities and the city attorney before scheduling the meeting.

“After his comments to me, we moved the meeting back to Wednesday,” McKeown said. “We are going to be reviewing his job performance.”

Freeman said he’s leaving for Washington state at noon Wednesday to take care of some family issues and he won’t be changing his plans. He said he’d participate via telephone conferencing and possibly have his lawyer present.

This morning, Freeman said he didn’t remember what he said Monday night to McKeown.

“Emotions run high in these things,” he said.

McKeown wouldn’t say whether he plans to consider firing Freeman, but the city manager said there is no doubt in his mind that’s what will happen.

“The mayor has been threatening my job since January and I have it well documented,” he said.

Freeman suggested the city council should review state and federal whistle-blower statutes. He didn’t explain the comment.

Oregon public meetings law allows an employee to request an open hearing of his job performance, though he doesn’t have the right to postpone the hearing to attend or to permit an attorney to attend.

Potential costs

Councilor Stephanie Kramer spoke earlier in the meeting about Freeman’s accomplishments and raised the prospect of termination.

“... We are in the midst of losing our city manager whether it is voluntary or not,” she said.

She also talked about the consequences of firing Freeman, whose contract includes a buyout clause.

“If the city terminates the city manager, the taxpayers will be responsible for approximately $170,000,” she said.

The contract was not available at press time.

[Acting city manager Rodger Craddock has since said the city paid Freeman $128,000 to buy out his contract.]

Freeman and McKeown have locked horns before. When the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce decided to end its agreement to run the city’s visitor information center in July, McKeown and Freeman had a disagreement. According to a letter from Freeman to the City Council, McKeown accused the city manager of orchestrating a breakdown of relations with the chamber. Freeman also wrote that McKeown told him he doesn’t trust him.

McKeown argued it was poor communication, not a lack of trust. He’d gone so far as to contract with a League of Oregon Cities facilitator to help councilors to communicate better.

Other troubles

But Freeman’s trustworthiness was put into question at Monday’s meeting regarding another of the city’s community partners. SCDC executive director Sandra Messerle told the council that Freeman had told her the Urban Renewal Agency had voided its $25,000 contract with the SCDC at the Sept. 16, 2008, agency meeting.

McKeown requested copies of the minutes from that meeting, which showed no indication of such a motion.

After the meeting, Freeman suggested Messerle had confused the September meeting with another one. He said the Urban Renewal Agency had removed the payments during its budget hearing for the 2008-09 fiscal year in spring 2008. Minutes of that meeting were not provided during Monday’s meeting.

After McKeown scheduled the executive session, Freeman argued the record would support his case that the agency voided the contract.

Statement to the Council