Bend lawsuit filed over Roats residency issues

Now that the election is over, and Casey Roats has apparently won a Bend City Council seat, the question of his candidacy was thrust back into the spotlight Thursday by the filing of a lawsuit alleging he was not a valid candidate and should be barred from taking office in January.

Roats had acknowledged in the closing weeks of the campaign that he spent much of the past year living at his parents’ home just outside of Bend while his new home was being built. The Bend City Charter requires that candidates be a resident for the 12 months preceding an election, though it doesn’t define the term “resident.”

Further muddying the waters is a series of voter registration filings by Roats, at one point listing his address as his family’s business, Roats Water Co., saying later he did so because that would be where he would most easily be found.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Bend resident and political activist Foster Fell by his Bend attorney, Charlie Ringo, and names Roats, City Recorder Robyn Christie and the city, which had no comment on pending litigation.

It notes that when Roats filed to run for office, he listed a residence address on Brookswood Boulevard that was his unfinished home, for which an occupancy permit wasn’t issued until Oct. 3 rd .

The voter registration comes into play because along with the residency requirement, the city charter also says a councilor must “be a qualified elector under the state constitution” to serve, meaning a registered voter in Bend. Fell claims Roats “failed to submit accurate voter registration cards.”

That’s also the focus of a state Department of Justice investigation after a complaint was filed by another Bend resident and political activist, Michael Funke.

When the issues arose, Roats acknowledged and explained his candidacy and voter registration filings while rejecting a call by Ringo (a supporter of Roats’ opponent, Lisa Seales) for him to drop out of the race. In a response to Ringo, Roats’ attorney, Neil Bryant, issued a strong refutation of the claims, saying Roats’ intent to continue living in Bend was clear.

While the city charter says the city council “is the final judge of the election and qualifications of electors,” the council did not step to do so before the election, and now a judge could make a ruling — if he or she believes they have jurisdiction to do so, or unless the council acts first.

Fell told NewsChannel 21 he filed the suit because “I think it really is important to have some clarity going forward.”

Reached by NewsChannel 21 Thursday evening, Roats said despite all the pre-election hubbub over his residency issues, the lawsuit “was a surprise. I didn’t expect it at all.” And he said he’s “really disappointed” at the legal action.

“What’s really regrettable is, now I really have to retain a lawyer and defend myself from a lawsuit. Obviously, it’s going to be very expensive,” Roats said.

In seeking the part-time city council position, with pay of roughly $200 a month, Roats said it’s clear he didn’t run “for financial gain,” though some have questioned whether he might have to recuse himself from deliberations or votes some water issues due to his company’s involvement in serving water to Bend residents.

“I plan to be seated as a city councilor,” Roats said, going on to note that since Foster Fell is fellow city councilor-elect Barb Campbell’s partner, it’s “going to be a strange dynamic” when he and Campbell take their council seats.

For this week’s issue of The Source Weekly, the newspaper asked an election law expert at Willamette University to review the charter and media reports involving both Roats and Seales, who has defended her residency amid questions raised by Bryant about her time spent in Florida and co-ownership of property there. Seales finished second in a four-way council race Tuesday, less than 1,000 votes behind Roats.

Norman Williams, director of the Center for Constitutional Government at Willamette, said both appeared to him to “qualify as residents of Bend,” though he added it’s not a clear-cut case. He also noted the city is not bound by the state’s definitions regarding residency or intent, and that “there’s no controlling case on that point here in Oregon or the U.S. Supreme Court.”

While parsing the wording in the city charter is likely, as a voter-approved document, several councilors also told the paper they could need to revise it, to be more clear and prevent such issues from arising in future elections.

City Attorney Mary Winters declined to comment to The Bulletin on the lawsuit, having not yet discussed it with councilors.

Ringo also has written to Winters on the issue, asking how she plans to present it to the council, and noting he has not filed for a preliminary injunction — though holding that option open, depending on how the city and council proceed. He told the paper it’s “problematic” and “doesn’t make sense to have a highly political body make a judicial decision like this.”

But with a lawsuit now pending, it’s also quite possible the councilors cannot comment again publicly, much less formally weigh in before a judge does, one way or the other, or the lawsuit is withdrawn or resolved.