The Villages at Mt. Hood, an advisory board to Clackamas County, has been
left without a board of directors following the resignation of three members
and the dismissal of three others by the Board of County Commissioners
(BCC) early last month.

Joe Mazzara, Rob Bruce and Gina Royall submitted their resignations following
a Tuesday, Feb. 2 Villages board meeting while the commissioners dismissed
the remaining board members, George Wilson, Marilan Anderson and Carol
Burk, during a BCC policy session on Tuesday, Feb. 9 by a vote of four to one
(Paul Savas cast the one ‘no’ vote due to the wording of the motion).

The commissioners noted that following the resignations, a number of options
were on the table, including conducting an election at a town hall meeting in
May to fill the empty seats, appointments of new board members by the
commissioners, dissolving the Villages (part of the county’s “Complete
Communities” program) entirely or pursuing a “time out” by dismissing the
remaining board members and restarting the board at a later date. During the
policy session, commissioners noted the support for the Villages on the
mountain, in addition to other strong community organizations such as area
Community Planning Organizations and the Mt. Hood Area Chamber of
Commerce.

In response to mounting concerns with how the board was being run,
commissioners Savas, Jim Bernard, John Ludlow and Martha Schrader
attended the Feb. 2 Villages meeting, held at The Resort at The Mountain,
where they observed other issues, including community members in
attendance bringing in alcohol during the meeting.

“I’ve been in some tough meetings before, but the last one and the one prior
to that was probably the toughest meeting I’ve ever been to,” Bernard said
during the policy session. “I would say that without question, the board is
dysfunctional.”

“The longer we wait, the worse it’s going to get,” he added. “And sometimes
you need to pull the plug, wait for it to recharge and plug it back in.”

“Obviously, by our attendance, we recognize there needs to be a change, a
rather dramatic change,” Chair Ludlow said. “So, like everybody else, I want
to save this, I want it to be viable and effective and fair. But I have no
problem with saying thank you to those three.”

Amy Kyle, Strategic Communication Manager for Clackamas County Public and
Government Affairs, noted county staff is expected to take some time to map
out a path forward, while the commissioners are expected to have a policy
session in May to make a recommendation on an election timeline and
process. She added the county will reach out to community members and
leaders for feedback and concerns, while utilizing county resolution services to
help work through issues.

“We’re already hearing people are concerned about what’s happening next,”
Kyle said. “That’s really exciting, there’s enthusiasm for it. You want it to be
done right and you want it to be in the best interest of the community up
there.”

Meanwhile, Kyle noted the Villages subcommittees will be put on hold until
some further resolution is achieved.

“Everything is on pause until we regroup,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll get more
clarity on those when we take the pulse of the community.”

Mazzara and Bruce, who each served on the board for approximately one
year, noted their resignations stemmed from Wilson (the board’s chair) not
following Robert’s Rules of Order or the bylaws of the Villages, including
signing a contract for the Villages board to pay approximately $1,900 for
refreshments during a Town Hall that had not been approved by the board
and also using the county logo on his personal website.

“It was just blatant disregard for Villages bylaws, county bylaws and state
ethics that were broken repeatedly,” Bruce said. “That’s what brought this
whole thing to a head. It wasn’t a personality conflict; it wasn’t ‘We don’t like
George.’”

Kyle told the Mountain Times that the county is looking into outstanding
invoices from The Resort, but had no further information.

Mazzara noted he came to the Feb. 2 meeting prepared to resign, but he was
unaware of the prospects of Bruce and Royall also resigning.

“It was not a surprise, I knew they were upset,” he adding, noting that he
intends to run for the board again when it is reformed. “I want to see this
thing work. I want to see it flourish because there are a lot of things that have
to get accomplished in the Villages.”

Bruce added that the Feb. 2 served as a tipping point for him with
representatives of the county in attendance.

“At the meeting, (Wilson) was trying to bend the bylaws,” he said. “He wasn’t
stopping, no matter what, even with the county legal there. I couldn’t
welcome that liability in my life any more.”

“It’s not a personality conflict,” Bruce added. “In a social setting, I’ve enjoyed
George’s company every single time.”

Bruce also noted he’ll stay involved in the community “in some way,” even if
he doesn’t run for the board again. In the meantime, he has confidence that
county staff will take the necessary steps to find a solution.

“They’re good people at the county and I trust them,” Bruce said. “I knew
they would handle it the right way.”

Wilson, who served on the board for six years, described the events as “a
focused effort” to discredit him and to make sure he’s removed from the
board.

“Nobody’s told me any violations or deviations from our bylaws, nobody’s
come forward with any charges,” Wilson said of the accusations against him,
while noting the county’s logo appeared on his site because of a grant from
the county. “There’s never been any wrongdoing or any violations
whatsoever.”

Wilson described the commissioner’s’ decision to dissolve the board as
“erroneous” and “overzealous,” while noting it is an example of the county not
supporting the Villages, citing the county’s invalidation of the Villages’ Town
Hall election results in December as another recent example.

“If this election had not been invalidated, we would be dealing with none of
this,” Wilson said. “At our last meeting here, the county took full responsibility
for the elections invalidation. This was a county problem that was started
because of the county’s inaction to support the Villages at Mt. Hood, even
when requested.”

Wilson has also started a petition to reinstate the three dismissed board
members and he has retained a lawyer for a potential lawsuit over the
dismissals.

“I don’t take it lightly; this taints my name and the other directors and our
reputations,” Wilson said, noting that he has not been presented with any
evidence of any wrongdoing. “If they decide that it’s best to dissolve this
board, then I feel obligated to deal with this, to take this to court in order to
exonerate the three of us from any wrongdoing.”

In a subsequent policy session held on Tuesday, Feb. 23, Bernard mentioned
that a petition was circulating, but added, “I already told somebody that I
doubt that we’re interested in doing that.” At the same policy session, Ludlow
recognized Burk and Anderson’s service on the Villages board.

“Their service is valued, appreciated and was not the cause of the BCC action
to have the Villages board take a pause,” Ludlow said.

Wilson noted that instead of going through the process to form a new board,
the commissioners should have allowed the three remaining board members
to stay on and hold elections to fill the empty seats.

“The BCC decision to dissolve this board has certainly done more harm to our
community and demonstrates the lack of support we’ve had by the BCC,”
Wilson said. “When you’ve got individuals who sat on the board who resigned
who were the main problem as to why we ended up here, and once they
resigned the problem is pretty much resolved.”