Oregon ethics fee to research journey by 4 Washington County commissioners

The state ethics fee voted unanimously Friday to research whether or not 4 members of the Washington County fee violated state ethics regulation throughout journeys they took on behalf of the county sewer company.

Investigators stated that Chair Kathryn Harrington and commissioners Pam Treece, Jerry Willey and Nafisa Fai could have dedicated violations by receiving airline miles for journeys they took on behalf of the company, Clean Water Services. In addition, investigators stated Harrington and Treece could have violated the foundations by tacking on private trip to the enterprise journeys.

The members of the Washington County Board of Commissioners additionally function the board of the sewer company and generally journey on behalf of that company. Commissioner Jason Snider, who joined the fee in January and has not traveled on behalf of the company, will not be underneath investigation.

The fee’s choice to launch an investigation into board members doesn’t imply it is going to in the end discover that they violated state ethics regulation, solely that it believes that preliminary proof warrants additional investigation. The investigation might take as much as six months, at which level the fee might discover a violation occurred, search a settlement or dismiss the instances fully.

The new investigation comes after the ethics fee voted unanimously in June to research whether or not questionable spending on native meals and journey by former Clean Water Services CEO Diane Taniguchi-Dennis violated state ethics regulation. That investigation stays ongoing. It got here on the heels of an Oregonian/OregonReside collection that uncovered lavish journey spending and sky-high meals bills on the sewer company. The information group discovered {that a} noteworthy quantity of that spending was by Taniguchi-Dennis, who resigned in May.

The points on the middle of the brand new ethics investigation into the 4 board members are extra technical.

During a gathering Friday, Investigator Daniel Pacheco famous that Clean Water Services didn’t seem to have a journey coverage for board members and due to this fact, it might require a deeper look from the ethics fee to find out whether or not the board members accepted unauthorized journey advantages. He particularly famous that every one 4 board members acquired frequent flyer miles after they traveled on behalf of the company.

“The frequent flyer rewards do not appear to be included in her official compensation package,” Pacheco stated whereas discussing the allegations in opposition to Harrington. “In fact, it appears that CWS does not have a travel policy applicable to board members nor compensation agreements and it does not compensate board members directly for their board service.”

Lawyers for the board members famous that employees at Clean Water Services particularly requested board members to supply their frequent flyer numbers when reserving their journey, which left board members with the impression that they have been allowed to obtain these miles.

“Chair Harrington followed what CWS’ practices that were in place at that time regarding reimbursement,” Ashley Marton, a lawyer for Harrington, advised the ethics fee. “These practices were explained to her when she was elected. She now understands that CWS personnel policies that were in place at that time only apply to employees, but the agency has recently adopted new policies that are extended to board members.”

Margaret Olney, Treece’s lawyer, identified that Washington County travel rules permit for workers to obtain journey rewards as a part of their compensation package deal and that private journey taken along with enterprise journeys is allowed underneath that coverage so long as there isn’t any further value to the county.

Olney argued that the Washington County journey guidelines ought to have utilized to the commissioners whereas they have been serving of their position as Clean Water Services board members.

Along with receiving frequent flyer advantages, Pacheco stated Treece tacked on private journey when she visited Copenhagen, Denmark, for the 2022 International Water Association World Water Congress and Exhibition, and when she traveled to Washington, D.C., for the 2023 National Water Policy Fly-In. He stated which will have constituted a violation.

Pacheco stated that Treece spent two additional private days in Copenhagen, and that Clean Water Services paid for her spherical journey flight.

Records supplied to The Oregonian/OregonReside by Clean Water Services present that Treece additionally spent 4 days in New Jersey forward of the Washington D.C., convention. Clean Water Services paid for her to fly into New Jersey, and out of Washington D.C., for the journey.

The company additionally lined a $185 enterprise class seat on Amtrak to permit Treece to get to Washington D.C., for the convention after her private trip, the data present.

Treece advised The Oregonian/OregonReside on Friday that the mixed value of the prepare ticket and flight to New Jersey, have been very near the quantity a single flight to Washington D.C., would have value, and that her choice to buy a enterprise class Amtrak seat was “about timing to get to D.C. for the meeting.”

“I support full transparency and accountability to the ratepayers,” Treece wrote in an e mail Friday. “I appreciate the ethics commission reviewing this matter and will act accordingly based on their findings – including potential reforms to provide greater clarity and structure to the CWS travel policy.”

Pacheco additionally famous that Harrington prolonged her keep by three days when she attended the Copenhagen convention in 2022 and prolonged her keep by seven days when she traveled to the 2024 Utility Leadership Conference in Buffalo, New York. While Harrington paid for the bills she incurred throughout her private days, Pacheco stated “she may have violated the prohibited use of office and conflict of interest provisions in Oregon government ethics law” as a result of Clean Water Services paid for the spherical journey flights to the conferences.

Marton contended that “for the travel to Buffalo, she determined the difference in flight cost for the extended stay and only requested reimbursement for the lower cost of the original flight.”

Records Harrington supplied to The Oregonian/OregonReside this week present that she did in reality cost Clean Water Services for the quantity a flight would have value if she had flown solely to and from the Buffalo convention. However, that quantity included the worth it might have value her to obtain a most popular seat and test luggage. Records from the Copenhagen journey present that Harrington charged Clean Water Services for the flight she took to and from Denmark, although she stayed three additional days.

Pacheco additionally famous that Harrington failed to incorporate the precise quantity she acquired from the U.S. Water Partnership to journey to Singapore and Laos for a water partnership program in 2023 when she filed her 2024 Statement of Economic Interest, which elected officers are required to file with the ethics fee. Marton stated that Harrington included an attachment with the submitting exhibiting the precise quantity she acquired, however didn’t notice she additionally needed to write that greenback quantity on her SEI kind so it might be publicly obtainable. She has since amended the submitting.

The Oregonian/OregonReside requested all data associated to journey by board members of Clean Water Services on April 2, however the company nonetheless has not supplied full data. Harrington and Treece supplied the journey data they submitted to the ethics fee to The Oregonian/OregonReside this week after they discovered that the information group’s request had but to be fulfilled.

Harrington declined to remark Friday following the ethics fee’s vote and Willey didn’t reply to a request for remark. Fai stated she “welcomed the investigation.”

“I think it will provide a lot of clarity,” Fai stated. “In the meantime, the board is taking steps to further clarify the policies and practices we have to ensure they support ethics rules in Oregon.”

— Jamie Goldberg oversees The Oregonian/OregonReside’s politics, training and homelessness protection. She will be reached at jgoldberg@oregonian.com or 503-221-8228. You can discover her on X at @jamiebgoldberg or Bluesky at @jamiebgoldberg.bsky.social.