Daniel suit on staffing reversed
The Oregon State Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday, April 11 that the Josephine County Board of Commissioners has the authority to set the salaries and number of deputies within the sheriff’s office.
Last week’s ruling vacated and reversed a lower court judgment that favored Dave Daniel, former sheriff, who sued the commissioners during 2005.
The dispute originated shortly after commissioners Jim Raffenburg and Dwight Ellis were sworn in to their positions. Daniel attempted to promote Sgt. Howard Banks to the rank of lieutenant, and the commissioners denied his request.
“That basically started the whole thing,” Daniel said Monday, April 16. “Because they wouldn’t bend at all, and they wouldn’t talk to me about it, I had to take them to court.”
Ellis said Friday, April 13, that the commissioners were entirely within their authority to make such decisions.
“(Daniel) came back and said to us that once we approved his budget, he could do anything with it that he wanted to. We didn’t agree with that,” Ellis said.
“Our contention,” he added, “is that once the budget was approved, we also approved the number of positions and deputies that he had and any changes he wanted to make other than that had to come to us with a personnel change or request form.”
That original dispute lead to the filing of three lawsuits and much public acrimony between Daniel and the commissioners.
Daniel said the commissioners were attempting to micromanage his department, and that court action was very necessary to defend the sheriff’s authority over its operations.
“Their job is to supply funding for the different county departments,” Daniel said. “They got a big head and decided to run all the different county departments, so we butted heads.
“I felt like I was pushed into a corner and had no alternative but to file a suit against them because they controlled all the money.”
A Jackson County Circuit Court subsequently ruled in Daniel’s favor in all three cases. Ellis said that the commissioners were advised by their attorney to appeal the ruling regarding Bank’s promotion.
We felt all along that the Circuit Court judge hadn’t come to the right decision,” Ellis said. “That’s why we appealed it.”
Daniel said the recent ruling is “terrible” and will undermine sheriffs throughout the state.
“It sets a terrible precedent,” said the former sheriff. “A case like this impacts all the sheriffs in Oregon because it’s basically taking away (our) sheriff’s independence.
“The commissioners should not be involved in trying to run the sheriff’s office. This ruling gives them more authority to tell the sheriff who he has to have where. It’s a very bad ruling.”
Daniel said the decision should be appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court. However, he cannot be a party to any such litigation, because he is now a private citizen.
“The problem is, I’m no longer the sheriff, so I lost my standing in the case,” Daniel said.
Current Sheriff Gil Gilbertson said late last week that he still is reviewing the ruling, and plans to consult an attorney and the state sheriff’s association.
“I don’t want to make any rash decisions, so I want to look at this thing in its entirety,” Gilbertson said. “Before deciding which way to go with this, I want all the facts. But I want to be very careful when I analyze it so we don’t waste the public’s money or recklessly throw away the authority that was granted to us by law.”
Ellis said he is pleased with the appellate court ruling, and that Gilbertson and the commissioners have a good enough relationship to work through any potential disputes.
“I expect no lawsuits out of the current sheriff,” said Ellis. “We can sit down and talk with (him) and settle most of the disputes and questions we have between our two offices.
“We’re just going to do business as we usually do and work with the sheriff for any changes he wants to make,” Ellis said.
Gilbertson said that he is optimistic that any potential future disagreements between him and the commissioners could be settled outside a courtroom.
“The last thing I want to do is have any litigation or lawsuits,” Gilbertson said.
