Council gang of 4 hires Duscha despite objections, lawsuit and cronyism concerns

Former Longview Councilman Mike Wallin and others allege 'blatant' open meeting violations

A bipartisan trio of Longview citizens has sued four members of the Longview City Council for allegedly violating the state Open Meetings Act in the wake of their March 13 firing of City Manager Kris Swanson.

The suit, filed in Cowlitz Superior Court, seeks to reinstate Swanson and prevent the council from hiring former Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha as interim city manager.

It also asks for monetary penalties against the council members who voted to terminate Swanson and to prevent them from further alleged illegal action.

Nevertheless, despite taking about 40 minutes to privately review their legal risk, the council’s gang of four voted in lockstep Thursday night to appoint Duscha.

They remained almost completely silent as the three other Councilmembers and members of the public asked in vain for consideration of other alternatives and for protections of city workers.  

The city will pay Duscha about $177,000 annually — just under Swanson’s $179,000 salary — and granted his demand for more than the two weeks’ vacation time proposed in the initial contract. How much more remained unclear Thursday night, but his demand for the extra time off invited some sarcastic comments from the large audience.

Importantly, the approved contract also eliminated a provision championed by Councilwoman Angie Wean to prohibit Duscha from firing any department head or employees answerable to him. It was driven by concerns that the gang of four wants also to fire assistant City Manager Ann Rivers and IT manager David Wallis. 

Employee morale and confidence have been shaken by Swanson’s sudden and controversial ouster, Wean and Councilwomen MaryAlice Wallis and Ruth Kendall said.

“Our staff is terrified,”   Kendall said in support of Wean’s attempt. “We can’t afford to lose them.”

Mayor Spencer Boudreau, a member of the majority bloc, asked  Kendall  if she would support a limit on any other future city manager’s discretion to manage employees if such conflict was not raging. (Duscha had emailed his objections to the provision the day before, saying it would limit his disciplinary authority. “Without  full discipline they (employees) can do what they want,” he wrote to the council contract negotiators.)

“This is no ordinary situation,” said Kendall, who tried unsuccessfully to make any of Duscha’s firings subject to independent review by the city’s insurance authority. 

The majority also rebuffed the minority’s attempts to eliminate a provision that will allow Duscha to apply for the permanent manager’s position.

 Duscha’s appointment rankled Wean, Wallis and Kendall and has drawn complaints of cronyism. They complained Thursday that there has been no review of Duscha’s qualifications, no council interviews with him, and that they were  excluded from contract negotiations. They also contended that Duscha’s longstanding political, business and social ties with Councilwoman Kalei LaFave made for a conflict of interest on her part. 

A few members the public spoke in support of Duscha and chastised the minority bloc for refusing to accept the appointment. But more challenged the majority’s lack of transparency and rush to change.

 One speaker accused the majority bloc of “putting the city in disarray” and hiring someone unqualified to be city manager. “Corruption or incompetency, which is it?” he asked.  

LaFave proposed hiring Duscha immediately after  the council terminated Swanson on March 13. There is an unconcealed suspicion among critics that Duscha may want to stay on the job longer than one would expect for an interim appointment.

Thursday’s meeting began with an executive session to discuss pending litigation, most likely the probability that Swanson will sue the council for breach of contract. 

The defendant council members were served with the Open Meetings Act suit just before the Thursday evening meeting.

That suit is the first of what likely will be multiple legal actions filed in connection with Swanson’s termination. The possibility of multiple lawsuits is  “freakin’ me out,” Councilwoman Wallis said.

The council, in a 4-3 vote, fired Swanson despite pleas from prominent members of the public, former and current city officials and employees and the three-member council minority.

Former City Councilman Mike Wallin said the suit was served on Mayor Boudreau and Councilwoman LaFave Thursday evening just before the council began a special meeting. Councilman Halvorson was served after the meeting and Councilman Keith Young, who was ill Thursday and attended the meeting by Zoom, will be served on Friday.

Wallin, a real estate broker, filed the complaint, which also is signed by John Melink and Thomas Samuels of Longview. They are part of a much larger, bipartisan group that has formed to combat the council’s upheaval of Longview city government.

These plaintiffs are an unusual group of bedfellows. Melink, a Democrat, unsuccessfully opposed Wallin, a Republican, in the 2019 election, when LaFave was one of Wallin’s supporters. She turned on Wallin and defeated his re-election effort in November. 

Samuels, 46, spoke at the Thursday meeting and accused the council of “gaslighting” (getting someone to question their own sanity). The council majority, the nine-year Longview resident said, “may win a pyrrhic victory,” but its actions will be expensive for the city in the long run.

The suit seeks five outcomes from the court:

• Reinstatement of Swanson, who the suit says was fired and suspended illegally following “blatant” violations of the state Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).

• An injunction to block the council from appointing Duscha with the purpose of preventing further violations of the Open Meetings Act. 

• A judicial referral to the county prosecutor’s office for investigation of alleged breaches of the law and filing of possible criminal charges.

• $500 fines against council members Kalei LaFave, Keith Young, Erik Halvorson and Mayor Spencer Boudreau for initial OPMA violations and $1,000 fines for all subsequent violations.

• Reimbursement for attorney fees and other costs in connection with suit.

The suit focuses on council actions after Swanson’s termination. The foursome — without the knowledge of the three-member council minority  —  violated the OPMA by “empowering” LaFave and Halvorson to form a subcommittee to negotiate a contract with Duscha, according to the suit.

It also alleges that before the March 13 meeting, the council majority “apparently settled on (Duscha) as the preferred replacement”  for Swanson.

“These actions were done without public notice and out of the public’s view,” the suit alleges. It says the three minority council members — Angie Wean, Ruth Kendall and Mary Alice Wallis — will “attest to these facts in sworn affidavits.”

Under state law, elected officials cannot make decisions in private. Nor are they allowed to confer with one another separately to arrive at a decision. Such “serial” meetings are prohibited under the OPMA.  

At the very least, the council majority is almost certain to face a lawsuit for breach of contract from Swanson herself. Her contract requires  a five-vote “supermajority” to terminate her, but the council majority consisted of just four.

Before that happens, Swanson is expected to exercise her right to a public hearing before her termination takes effect next month. (She’s suspended with pay for 30 days until the termination becomes official.) Swanson was not allowed to speak at the March13 meeting, at which the council fired her “without cause.”