Sisters mayor comments after DA orders Gorayeb report released

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel on Tuesday ordered the city of Sisters to produce records related to the investigation of former City Manager Andrew Gorayeb, who resigned under fire late last month.

Hummel said he reviewed the matter based on appeals filed by Mike Morgan, The Bulletin newspaper, and the Nugget newspaper. All three had previously requested the records from the city of Sisters, but the city declined to provide them ,citing numerous exceptions to Oregon’s public records law.

Hummel’s order found the exemptions cited by Sisters did not apply. The complete version of the order (PDF) can be accessedhere.

After issuing his order, Hummel said in a news release: “The governments’ business is the peoples’ business.

“Government officials should look for ways to produce records that are requested by the public and should deny public records requests rarely, and only when the law clearly requires the records to remain confidential.”

In the 10-page order, Hummel gave the city a week to either provide the records or file a notice of intent to appeal for a judge’s ruling on the matter.

The city manager had been on paid leave after the council received complaints about his behavior from employees.

Gorayeb resigned late last month rather than accept what he considered the “disproportionately harsh” disciplinary action the city had proposed. Instead, he will receive over $100,000 in severance pay.

The city declined to release the investigator’s report into Gorayeb’s conduct, contending it’s a private personnel matter. Councilor David Asson has said the report contains some negative comments about employees that would hurt efforts to move forward in the wake of Gorayeb’s departure.

Mayor Chris Frye told NewsChannel 21 the city council will discuss its next steps at Thursday evening’s meeting.

“I don’t know if we will” release the report immediately, Frye said,. “It might not even be much of a discussion at all. It might be something that’s automatically done.”

“For me, from the get-go, this wasn’t about what I wanted to do – it was about what the law requires,” the mayor said. He added that the city’s legal counsel indicated disciplinary action is part of a personnel file and thus not subject to a public records request.

“If we went the other way, and we said we thought it was in the public’s interest (to release the report), and we were wrong, Andrew and his lawyers could sue the city, and we’d fight an uphill legal battle, potentially,” Frye said.

“I don’t have a feeling one way or the other,” he added. “I just want us to do the best for the city of Sisters and to also be in the best spot for us. I want to be as transparent as appropriate.”

The city council recently chose Madras resident and former La Pine and Madras city manager Rick Allen as the new Sisters interim city manager, with plans for him to take the post by mid-May. He was unavailable for comment Tuesday.