Submitted By: taylorgordon003@gmail.com – Click to email about this post
There has been misinformation spread that the present City Council took actions concerning waterfront development proposals that were illegitimate and unethical. This is not true. I was one of the councilors about whom the developer had complained and attempted to have a $20,000 ethics fine placed against me. The Oregon Ethics Commission ruled that my fellow councilor and I had done nothing wrong and had a perfectly legitimate right to vote on the waterfront development. Nevertheless, we both recused ourselves out of an abundance of caution, so there would be no bias at all or even any perception of bias. To repeat I DID NOT VOTE on the hotel project. I recused myself. Rumors to the contrary are false. The Land Use Board of Appeals never chastised me or any Council member for bias; it only remanded the decision back to the city to make sure some legal rules for complete recusal had been followed. Council held another hearing, following the requirements LUBA addressed for complete recusal, and came to the same decision about the waterfront project as before: this development could not be approved.
City Councilor GORDON TAYLOR