Commissioners Agree On Four To Interview For Open Position

Nearly two months after the death of Commissioner Claire Hall, the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners moved a step closer Wednesday to filling the vacant seat, agreeing to interview four applicants later this month following a meeting marked by procedural debate and pointed public criticism.

Hall died Jan. 4, leaving the three-member board with only two sitting commissioners. Under Oregon law, the remaining commissioners must appoint someone to serve until voters elect a replacement. The position carries a salary of roughly $98,000 per year.

Originally 23 people applied for the vacancy. Earlier attempts to narrow the list stalled when Commissioner Casey Miller and Commissioner Walter Chuck each named five finalists but none of their selections overlapped, leaving the board unable to agree on a path forward.

During Wednesday’s meeting, the commissioners adopted a compromise approach in which each would nominate two candidates to move forward in the process.

Chuck named Cristen Don of South Beach and Matthew Harwell of Newport. Don previously worked for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Harwell is a retired Environmental Protection Agency scientist.

Miller selected Christine (“Chris”) Chandler of Newport and Marcella (“Marci”) Baker of Lincoln City. Chandler is a former executive director of the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County and currently serves on the Oregon Coast Community College board. Baker is a Lincoln City council member and restaurateur.

Don is currently running in the May primary election for the same commissioner position. At the time of this publication Harwell, Chandler and Baker have not filed to run in the primary. The deadline to apply March 10th at 5pm. Interviews are tentatively scheduled for the week of March 16, during a work session.

The meeting also included discussion about how candidate interviews should be conducted. Miller argued that commissioners should have a greater role in developing the interview questions and suggested that topics or questions could be made public beforehand. County Counsel Kristin Yuille and Chuck opposed that approach, saying staff should create the questions and no one should know them in advance.

The vacancy process has also been complicated by differing interpretations of Oregon law governing commissioner appointments. In previous meetings, including Feb. 4 and Feb. 18, Yuille told the board that the statute requires commissioners shall appoint someone to the position within 30 days. Whoever is appointed will serve only temporarily. Voters will ultimately decide who fills the seat in the upcoming election cycle.

Public comment during the meeting reflected continued frustration from some residents over the pace of the process and broader concerns about county governance.

Several speakers criticized legal guidance provided to the board and called for the resignation of Yuille. Another speaker said the county had returned approximately $263,000 in state grant funding after two grant-funded positions in the District Attorney’s Office remained unfilled for roughly 17 months. Commissioners did not respond to those claims during the meeting.

Former county human resources director Sheahan Griffitts, who had applied for the commission seat, also raised concerns about the public release of applicant materials, warning that posting the applicant's information on a “county website on Facebook” could create "potential legal liability to the county."

Despite the tension, the meeting ended with the commissioners confirming plans to move forward with interviews in the coming weeks. We will have more details when that work session meeting is scheduled. Commissioners did agree to provide staff with possible topics for interview questions to be included during the interviews.