Bryant to continue as City Attorney

Sue Stafford | Last updated Jun 30, 2015 12:0pm0

Long-time Sisters City Attorney Steve Bryant will continue in that role for the City of Sisters.

Acting as the Contract Review Board, council members voted 4-0 Thursday night to approve a new three-year contract with Bryant, Emerson & Fitch for City attorney services and authorized the City manager to execute the contract. The previous contract was effective July 1, 2012 until June 30, 2016 with two possible one-year extensions.

There was no discussion regarding the contract approval.

Recently, Bryant was called into question for alleged conflict-of-interest claims regarding his firm's relationship with Kevin Cox and Ageia Health Services, applicant for development of the senior living facility at McKenzie Meadows Village.

In a letter from Bryant to the City regarding the conflict-of-interest allegations, Bryant stated, "...my office does not represent Kevin Cox or Ageia Health Services, LLC in connection with any matters involving the City of Sisters, including any development application or other 'disputes.' Mr. Cox and Ageia Health Services, LLC have been and continue to be represented by Laura Cooper, an attorney in Bend, Oregon, regarding their development application.

"Another attorney in my office does represent Mr. Cox relative to some personal matters and to the formation and management of his corporations. None of that work involves any issues concerning the City of Sisters and there is no conflict in our representation of the City..."

The full text of Bryant's letter to Councilors may be found with the online version of this story at www.nuggetnews.com.

(Editor's note: The original accusation of conflict of interest came from attorney Michael Repucci, representing senior living facility developer Mark Adolf, as noted in the June 24 story "Planners approve senior living facility." Mike Morgan and Ed Protas made an issue of the accusation in an email to the City. Bryant's letter is in response to the Morgan/Protas email).

In other business, two members were appointed to the Planning Commission.

Roger Detweiler, out-of-city member, is a retired attorney and former executive director of multiple professional and nonprofit organizations. Daryl Tewalt, in-city member, has served on the Planning Commission for almost 10 years and was reappointed for another term.

Bryant letter to City Council

Council,

The City manager asked that I respond to you directly regarding the conflict of interest and related allegations raised by Mr. Morgan and Mr. Protas.

First, and to be absolutely clear, my office does not represent Kevin Cox or Ageia Health Services, LLC in connection with any matters involving the City of Sisters, including any development application or other "disputes." Mr. Cox and Ageia Health Services, LLC have been and continue to be represented by Laura Cooper, an attorney in Bend, Oregon, regarding their development application.

Another attorney in my office does represent Mr. Cox relative to some personal matters and to the formation and management of his corporations.

None of that work involves any issues concerning the City of Sisters and there is no conflict in our representation of the City (in the same way we have represented city staff and city council members on personal matters unrelated to any work we do for the City).

However, given the concerns raised, we have decided to treat the matter as a potential conflict of interest, which can be waived by the City and Mr. Cox.

I understand that Mr. Cox is agreeable to the waiver.

If the Council is in any way concerned about or uncomfortable with this situation, then you can certainly hire special counsel to represent the City concerning the pending development application, though we do not believe that is necessary.

Second, in terms of the planning commission, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Protas are incorrect that I usually attend planning commission meetings when a known contentious issues is involved.

I only attend planning commission meetings when requested by city staff or by the planning commission itself (they make the decision about whether to incur the expense of having an attorney present).

As a result, it is extraordinarily rare for me to attend planning commission meetings even when the matter is expected to be contentious.

If staff have questions in advance of those meetings and hearings they will ask, but as anyone who regularly attends those meetings knows, it is rare for me to be present.

I was not asked to attend the June 18, 2015 planning commission hearing.

City staff are well equipped to handle those situations.

When I have been asked to attend it is because there is typically a specific legal issue that staff or the planning commission want me to address at the time of the hearing.

I was not "MIA", there was no malpractice and the city was not left "high and dry."

Finally, in terms of council workshops and as you well know, I only attend council workshops when requested by city staff or by the council. I was not requested to attend the April 2, 2015 council workshop and so did not attend. Mr. Morgan and Mr. Protas' attempts to impute some other motive or rational is simply incorrect.