At least a week before action on manager

It will be at least another week before the City of Sisters is able to determine a course of action in handling workplace issues raised by some employees regarding City Manager Andrew Gorayeb.

Mayor Chris Frye told The Nugget he expects to receive the report this week from an independent investigation into the employee complaints. The council will likely review the report in executive session some time next week. The review timeline is complicated by the fact that Councilor Nancy Connolly is currently out of the country, and her participation in the process will have to be via a scheduled conference call.

Frye could not say for certain when an executive session could be scheduled, because it will be dependent on coordinating with Connolly. It appears unlikely that action will be taken immediately upon review of the report.

"It'll depend on what's in the report," said Frye. "Then we'll decide what people want to do, what we can do and then go from there."

Frye told The Nugget that he has not seen a draft of the report.

It will be up to the council to decide how to proceed after reviewing the report, but Frye noted that they will receive legal guidance from the city attorney and the city's insurance carrier.

Gorayeb was placed on paid administrative leave on February 25 as the City requested the outside investigation. Gorayeb told The Nugget at that time, "My hopeful expectation is that I will be exonerated and this is something procedural that had to happen because of the nature of things."

City Recorder Kathy Nelson and Public Works Director Paul Bertagna have been handling leadership duties at City Hall in Gorayeb's absence.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 5415499941