Judge to mediate city govt. crisis

The City of Sisters has engaged Senior Judge Paul Lipscomb to work with the Sisters City Council and City Manager Eileen Stein to resolve issues that gave rise to the city council's recent consideration of a motion to terminate the city manager's employment.

In a surprise move at the close of the city council's workshop on the Cascade Avenue project last Thursday, the retired judge, a Sisters Country resident for 15 months, stepped forward and offered his services at no charge to help mediate and facilitate the highly publicized rift among council members concerning the tenure of City Manager Eileen Stein. After performing some due diligence on Friday, the council has accepted Paul Lipscomb's offer.

Following several weeks of open - and often contentious - public debate, the council agreed to search out a facilitator or mediator to help them proceed.

In contrast to their highly emotional meetings earlier this month, council members were noticeably more careful, cautious, subdued and gracious as they approached the last item on their workshop agenda: discussing the process and timeline for the selection of a mediator they could all agree on.

City Manager Eileen Stein presented the council with a list of potential mediator/facilitators that she had gathered from a variety of sources. Background information was included.

The councilors explored the difference between facilitation and negotiation, with no clear result. Mayor Lon Kellstrom suggested that the council members attempt to agree upon two or three candidates that could then be brought in for one-hour interviews with the council.

"I think it is very important that we get face-to-face (with the candidates) and see if the chemistry works," said Kellstrom, noting, "I didn't make this suggestion to slow things down."

Councilor Pat Thompson said, "I'm concerned about the timeframe. I want to make sure this happens sooner rather than later. These are all highly recommended professionals; I don't think that there will be a lot of favoritism one way or the other. To my point we should have already had this meeting."

Kellstrom retorted, "Three business days, Pat... that is not even realistic."

Stein outlined the process as she understood it from the candidates she had spoken to.

She said, "They are going to interview each individual separately and confidentially. From that they will identify common issues; communications, structural issues. Out of that will also come probably a set of working agreements among the council members. There could be a set of very specific performance measures or directives for the city manager. Ultimately there would be a set of agreements that all parties agree to."

Based on the input from the candidates, Stein estimated that the process would take at least 12 to 15 hours of the consultant's time. With some of the quoted rates as high as $250 to $300 per hour, this could easily result in a $5,000-plus price tag. A number of observers told The Nugget that they believed the process would take longer and cost more than that estimate.

Pat Thompson told his fellow councilors that one of his greatest concerns regarding the crisis is that contention, dysfunction and community rancor have delivered a blow to the spirit of volunteerism that is vital to the well-being of the Sisters community.

That spirit of volunteerism came to the fore again as the discussion was winding down.

Judge Lipscomb, who had been sitting in the back of the workshop for more than two hours, raised his hand. He offered to help the council understand the difference between a mediator and a facilitator - and then he volunteered to do the mediation/facilitation himself at no charge.

"A facilitator will work with your group, and draw out from the group solutions and suggestions, and help you process that information. Basically this is the facilitation of a process for you folks working together to a consensus," said Lipscomb.

"Depending on how deep your divisions are, you might want somebody to do some mediation work first, somebody that can go from mediation and blend into facilitation. (Someone) to set up some agreed-upon rules... so these wounds don't fester and become worse over time," he said.

"I have been an elected official; I have worked with boards and commissions.

"If you are looking for a volunteer, I think I've got the skills, and I would be willing to help you out," he said. "I've got my next week open, which is unusual for me.

"I don't know any of you. I've never met any of you. I'm not trying to sell my services here folks. I usually charge $300 an hour. But, I'm new to this community and I love this community," concluded Lipscomb.

Judge Lipscomb is currently engaged as a mediation, arbitration and reference judge in Deschutes County and throughout the state of Oregon. He has been self-employed in this capacity since his retirement from the bench in June, 2008.

Judge Lipscomb was previously the presiding judge of the Marion County Circuit Court, a position he held continuously since 1994. Judge Lipscomb was a trial court judge for 22 years, having first been elected in 1986. 

Recently, Lipscomb and his wife, Donna, built a home just outside Sisters, where they enjoy three young grandchildren who come to visit often.