A Yamhill County judge’s finding that one current and three former members of the Newberg school board violated state law, and that they are responsible for the economic damage wrought by their actions, was finalized in early May.
Judge Cynthia Easterday confirmed her January decision that former board Chair Dave Brown, former Vice Chair Brian Shannon, former board member Renee Powell and current board member Trevor DeHart violated public meeting laws when they took steps in 2021 to hire Canby attorney Tyler Smith as supplemental legal counsel.
Over the course of the next two years, Smith billed the district for more than $27,894 for his services. Easterday found in January that the four conservative members of the board must pay back the district for Smith’s fees.
The defendants’ legal team, Portland attorneys Robert Steringer and Chelsea Pyasetskyy, filed an objection to Easterday’s January ruling and requested a hearing, which was held in March. Easterday affirmed her ruling in early May, reiterating that the defendants must reimburse the school district for payments made to Smith.
“Plaintiffs initiated this action to protect the public from the unlawful expenditure of school district funds,” said Judy Snyder, one of two attorneys representing the seven Newberg residents that filed suit against the four board members. “They are pleased that their efforts to compel compliance with Oregon’s public meetings law have been successful. The district can now recover from the individual members of the school board who violated state law the funds unlawfully paid to the law firm of Tyler Smith and Associates.”
Also at issue is whether the four will be required to pay the district back for the plaintiffs’ attorney fees, costs and disbursements.
“We are preparing detailed records regarding the plaintiffs’ attorneys time and case costs incurred to pursue the claims for violations of the state public meetings law,” Snyder said in an email. She said she expected the report to be completed this week and didn’t provide an estimate of the amount.
Steringer declined in-depth comment on the issue: “The district has communicated its position in this case in its filings with the court and will have no further comment at this time.”
He added, however, that Easterday has yet to rule on whether the plaintiffs will be awarded attorney fees, costs and disbursements.
The defendants, both the district and the four current and former school board members, can if they wish forward Easterday’s rulings to the Oregon Court of Appeals. Neither attorney revealed whether their clients wished to travel down that road.
The current school board has been briefed by in-house counsel and others on the progress of the case over the past six months but took no action upon word of Easterday’s most recent ruling.
“The current members of the school board need to decide whether to spend additional public funds appealing the judgment,” Snyder said. “If it is appealed, the appeal will be to the Oregon Court of Appeals. This will result in the school district spending substantial additional public funds for the appeal. The alternative is for the school district to accept the judgment the plaintiffs obtained, which would result in the school district receiving reimbursement for the public funds which were unlawfully paid to the law firm of Tyler Smith and Associates. It is not in the school district’s best interests to appeal rather than to seek to collect the judgment and obtain a reimbursement.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0