Depoe Bay Economic Development Committee in Tatters after Mass Resignations
Depoe Bay Economic Development Committee Chair Michael Kiefer speaks to the city council on April 15. The EDC is now a nonfunctioning body after Kiefer and a majority of committee members resigned and the city council chose not to replace them. (Photo by Larry Coonrod)
By Larry Coonrod
DEPOE BAY— Internal strife leading to several resignations in the past few weeks have left the city’s economic development committee with just two remaining members and its future very much in doubt.
Member Ken White resigned April 17. Committee chair Michael Kiefer resigned from the EDC and planning commission on April 29. Members Michael Granat and Pat Dunlop followed, resigning in a May 1 letter highly critical of the committee and some council members. Granat and Dunlop said that certain city councilors frequently injected their desires into committee discussions making “the EDC into a rubber stamp parliament.” Granat and Dunlop also accused Kiefer of “deeply” damaging the committee.
Vacation Rental Tie In
The pair pointed to a September 2013 EDC meeting where a city councilor in the audience suggested expanding the city’s transient rental ordinance to allow vacation home rentals in residentially zoned neighborhoods. Shortly afterward, Kiefer, then on the planning commission, was appointed to the EDC, elected chairperson and begin pursuing the vacation rental changes, making a formal proposal to the council on April 15.
“We do not see this as a coincidence, but as a roundabout way to advance an agenda item without the appearance of originating from the city council,” Granat and Dunlop wrote.
Former EDC members Ken White and Bob Blessinger signed a statement of support on the Granat and Dunlop letter.
The resignations leave the EDC committee lacking a quorum, with only City Councilor Robert Gambino and EDC member Noelie Achen remaining. Asked by fellow councilors what happened at the EDC, Gambino said he would not discuss it in public.
Attack on Councilor
Kiefer clashed with Councilors Barbara Leff and Dorinda Goddard at the April 15 meeting over an EDC project to produce a Depoe Bay promotional video.
Leff and Goddard were concerned over Keifer’s telling local videographer Howard Shippey what could be included in the video without consulting the council or other EDC members. Kiefer said he instructed Shippey that the video could not include shots of specific businesses or chamber events such as the crab feed and wooden boat show or salmon bake.
Kiefer elaborated, saying he did not want any video of the harbor basin that showed Dockside Charters, which Goddard co-owns.
“If you look down in the harbor, there is a gigantic sign on a building down there (Dockside’s),” Kiefer said. “It would not be fair to any other business in this town if that gigantic sign was in this video.”
Kiefer segued into an accusation that Dockside Charters’ boats were deliberately approaching whales closer than allowed by federal regulations.
Embarrassed by Attack
Granat and Dunlop cited Kiefer’s accusations in their resignation letter.
“We are further embarrassed by his decision to use a public forum, speaking on behalf of the EDC, to target a local business and accuse Councilor Goddard of turning a blind eye to criminal activity,” they wrote.
Councilor Zeke Olsen said Tuesday after the announcement of the EDC resignation that he too was shocked by Kiefer’s April 15 attacks on Goddard, Leff and another earlier in the evening on former mayor Bruce Silver.
“We couldn’t believe what happened,” Olsen said.
No EDC Replacements
Olsen could not find a second among his fellow councilors on a motion to post openings for EDC replacement members. Which means that for the time being, the committee is a nonfunctioning body.
Olsen said that with Kiefer’s resignation he hopes to talk other EDC members into reconsidering their resignations.
“The EDC does too many important things,” Olsen said. “We’re not going to let it die.”
Contact Larry Coonrod by emailing editor@lincolncountydispatch.com.
