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Tim Svenson, former Yamhill County sheriff and current OSSA executive director, said he initially wasn’t aware Hollinger was recording him during the presentation he gave at a recent Association of Oregon Counties County College training session. 

And though Svenson later gave Hollinger permission to report back to his Board some of the content of the Q/A, the OSSA executive director said the transcript Hollinger read into the record at the Board’s May 20 meeting was taken out of context.

“The transcription of the Q/A was done in a way to attempt to … show a theme where OSSA is supporting Curry County’s position with their argument they’re having down there with the sheriff,” Svenson told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “And OSSA as a whole has not taken a position on any of the things going on down there. Politics are local. It’s up to the sheriff to deal with that. We don’t get into those types of issues because it doesn’t affect the entire state.”

In a letter to the Curry County Board of Commissioners, Svenson and OSSA President Mark Garton take issue with the “manner in which the recording was obtained and used.” They say that Hollinger failed to notify speakers or Association of Oregon Counties leadership that they were being recorded “contrary to expected standards of respect and cooperation among partners.”

That lack of notice may have also violated Oregon law, which prohibits recording someone without their consent, Svenson and Garton write in their letter. Ward posted the letter to the Curry County Justice Facebook page on Monday.

“At best, the Commissioner’s actions were inappropriate and misleading and at worst appear to have violated Oregon criminal laws,” Svenson and Garton write. “The longstanding partnership between OSSA and AOC is based on mutual respect, professionalism and transparency. Actions like those taken by Commissioner Hollinger compromise that trust and jeopardize future collaboration.”

The Curry County Board of Commissioners disagrees with OSSA’s statement that Hollinger “acted outside of the law” when recording Svenson. In a press release posted to its Facebook page Wednesday, the county stated that Svenson led the discussion in a classroom setting.

The press release cites ORS165.540, the Oregon statute Svenson and Garton referred to in their letter, which states that recording someone is allowable if it’s part of “regularly scheduled classes or similar educational activities in public or private institutions.”

Oregon State University offered the May 15 County College presentation Hollinger took part in, Curry County’s press release states. Hosted by the Association of Oregon Counties, it instructs county commissioners on their roles and obligations as elected officials.

“[Hollinger] received a scholarship to allow him to attend those classes without incurring cost to Curry County. He used an unconcealed recording device set in front of him in the classroom. His actions are therefore protected under ORS 165.540 (6)(a)(B),” Curry County’s press release states.

The county states that Hollinger called Svenson “as a professional courtesy” and asked permission to share the audio file he had created of the presentation. Svenson granted Hollinger permission to quote his responses.

“Hollinger transcribed the entire question and answer in each instance to avoid any context issues or misinterpretations,” the county states.

Hollinger had added his recitation of the question-and-answer session Svenson led to the May 20 Board of Commissioners agenda at the last minute. At that meeting, Hollinger said he and other commissioners had asked Svenson to weigh in on the role of the Board of Commissioners versus the sheriff’s office. Hollinger said he also asked Svenson how the association would handle a situation where the “sheriff didn’t show up for eight months under the direction of the county court.”

According to Hollinger, Svenson’s response was that the Board of Commissioners were well within their rights to ask for the sheriff to report to commissioners about what they approved the funding for.

On May 20, Hollinger also told his colleagues that he wondered what OSSA’s position was on the eight-month long dispute between the Board and the sheriff.

“They have known this dispute in our county has been going on for the better part of a year,” Hollinger said. “Where has the Sheriff’s Association been in providing their duty to our sheriff’s office? In providing that counsel and instructing and educating on the training of policy and the training of [Oregon statute]? Why does he now want to answer the question that obviously favors [Oregon statute]? It’s very black and white, but I would want them to answer that question.”

During his conversation with Redwood Voice on Tuesday, Svenson said that it’s not OSSA’s responsibility to step in and educate a county sheriff on what his or her responsibilities are. Most sheriff’s offices follow county policies, but they also have policies of their own that are often more stringent. 

Svenson pointed out that while county commissioners control the budget for county sheriff’s offices in Oregon, it does not control who the sheriff hires.

Most new commissioners have questions about their role versus that of their sheriff, Svenson said. But he took issue with the criticism Hollinger levied at OSSA about what its position is, or should be, between the Curry County Board and the sheriff.

“We’re here to further promote policy and training for staff all across the State of Oregon, not just for sheriffs, but for command staff and line staff, and we have set policy with the legislature and help create laws and amend laws when needed,” he said. “We’re not the counsel or attorney assigned to manage what a sheriff does locally in their own community. They’re elected by citizens to do the job. I don’t supervise the 36 sheriffs.”

The dispute in Curry is also not the first time county commissioners have been at odds with the sheriff, Svenson said. And in a situation where the outcome could have impacts statewide, OSSA has stepped in, he said.

One issue concerned a county commissioner that had asked their Board to consider an order giving them the authority to take over any elected position’s office in an emergency, Svenson said. That was in response to an issue commissioners had with the county’s elections office, but it impacted the sheriff.

“We said, ‘No, there’s a separation of powers,’” Svenson said. “‘You don’t have the authority to take over the management and operation of the sheriff’s office even within an emergency.’ Our attorney drafted a letter and sent it to that board and said they may want to reconsider and they ended up pulling the board order off [the agenda].”

According to Svenson, OSSA had considered stepping in to mediate between the Curry County sheriff and the Board of Commissioners and had conferred with representatives at the Association of Oregon Counties. But at that point, Curry County had filed a declaratory judgment suit against Ward. While both organizations were open to stepping in and helping to solve the dispute between the two parties, their legal counsel advised waiting until after Curry County Circuit Court had adjudicated the matter, Svenson said.

“The thought process is once it gets through the court process and everything’s said and done, AOC was willing to sit down to assist with [Curry] commissioners and we would be willing to assist with the sheriff to see if there’s a way to mitigate some of this and to move forward,” he said. “At the end of the day we all need to be getting along for the betterment of the community.”

Hollinger’s May 20 report to the Board of Commissioners about Svenson’s presentation came the day Curry County voters rejected a property tax levy that would have supported law enforcement. If it had passed, properties would have been taxed at $1.12 per $1,000 of assessed property value. 

The goal was to raise about $4.28 million annually, which would have paid for five more patrol deputies, one sergeant and two dispatchers and would have allocated $122,605 toward the sheriff’s marine patrol and Search & Rescue divisions.

The Curry County Board of Commissioners is expected to discuss an inter-governmental agreement with the State Marine Board following a May 23 notice that the county’s allocation of federal recreational boating safety grant dollars is being reduced. 

The Board of Commissioners will meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at 94235 Moore Street in Gold Beach. The agenda packet is available at www.currycountyor.gov and meetings are streamed live on YouTube.