Boddie absent as Bend council talks censure rules

Wednesday night marked the first Bend City Council meeting since controversy arose in recent weeks over the alleged behavior of Councilor Nathan Boddie. He didn’t attend the session, but fellow councilors — some of whom have called for him to resign and withdraw from an Oregon House race — talked about whether they could or should issue a censure (a public reprimand).

Democrats withdrew campaign support last month, and later a specific allegation about an incident at a Bend bar six years ago prompted Boddie to issue a sharp defense that also claimed his accuser had issues with substance abuse at the time, which cost him more support.

All the details were discussed Wednesday night, but the whole situation weighed heavily in the discussion with City Attorney Mary Winters. She noted that the censure rules in the Bend City Charter, added in the last revision of the document, were based on a League of Oregon Cities “model charter” and were fairly narrowly focused on actions that affect city business.

The council did discuss its options, but they are pretty limited under current rules.

Allegations of sexual misconduct by Boddie prompted the discussion, as some colleagues and others have called for him to resign from the City Council. Gov. Kate Brown joined the chorus calling for him to withdraw as Democratic nominee for House District 54.

Winters spoke about the process of censuring a fellow City Council member.

But according to Winters, the current city charter rules about censure don’t cover the allegations against Boddie, focused primarily on actions in office or things like removing a councilor convicted of a crime or who moves out of the city.

Council members asked the city attorney if she believed the rules would allow them to publicly reprimand someone for past conduct.

“I would say If you wanted to censure under the rules as drafted, it would be a stretch,” Winters said.

Winters added that a review found other city charters have broader language involving “conduct unbecoming” a councilor. That is not the case for Bend though.

One city councilor told NewsChannel 21 that they have not heard from Boddie and they don’t know of anyone who has spoken with him recently.

One thing was clear, however – if a councilor does not resign in the wake of such allegations, only the public can remove him or her, through a recall process.

“That’s democracy,” Winters said.

So is the visitors section of a council meeting, where some frequent speakers weighed in, such as Justin Gottlieb, who called the criticisms of Boddie a “witch hunt” and Ron “Rondo” Boozell, who urged the council to not consider censure: “This is not the council’s business, it’s the voters.”

But defense attorney Aaron Jeffers spoke in defense Moey Newbold, whose revelation of an alleged 2012 groping incident sparked the much-criticized denial by Boddie. He said Newbold is “very respected and called for Boddie’s resignation, saying “voters are signing petitions.” He said Boddie’s actions were “inappropriate” and “criminal” and that he “should to the right thing” and step down.

NewsChannel learned of an online petition calling on Boddie to pull out of the House District 54 race. As of late Wednesday night, it had 258 signatures, with a goal of 1,000.

Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Sally Russell proposed that city councilors (and appointed board members) be required to take the anti-harassment training common in most workplaces, including for city employees. That will come up for further discussion at a work session next month.