Baker City Council considers suing governor

kerryinbox
Aug 25, 2021
4 min read

The Baker City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening, Aug. 24, to have City Manager Jon Cannon obtain legal counsel for a potential lawsuit the city could file or join challenging Gov. Kate Brown’s recent mandates regarding vaccinations for health care workers and face masks for students and school staff. Councilors also voted unanimously to keep City Hall open regardless of future restrictions from the governor prompted by the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Councilors approved those motions after seeing a group of people outside City Hall who object to the governor’s mandates, and hearing from some of those people during the meeting.

Cannon discussed the language of the vaccination mandate, which requires health care workers, including firefighter/paramedics from the Baker City Fire Department, to be vaccinated by Oct. 18 or potentially lose their jobs.

Cannon noted that cities and other employers that violate the state rule could be subject to civil penalties of $500 per day. Cannon said he’s concerned about those penalties, but also about the city incurring legal costs in a potential lawsuit. “I’m not saying it’s not a fight worth doing, I’m just saying our pockets aren’t that deep,” Cannon said.

Mayor Kerry McQuisten said the governor’s mandates have put cities and other employers in a difficult situation — “between the devil and the deep blue sea” — by forcing them to potentially choose between facing civil penalties and losing critical employees who don’t want to be vaccinated.

Councilor Jason Spriet suggested seeking out other cities and agencies that either might want to join a lawsuit as co-plaintiffs, or that have already started legal proceedings that the city could participate in.

Citizen and councilor comments Twelve people voiced their opposition to the mask or vaccine mandate, or both.

Stephanie Johnson of Richland told councilors she has been a registered nurse for more than a decade. Johnson contends the governor’s mandates violate residents’ constitutional rights. “These rights are not given to us by our government or by medical authorities,” Johnson said. “We are born with these rights and it’s the duty of the government to protect them, not chip away at them in the name of science or for the good of our health.”

Another registered nurse, Diane Merchant from Richland, discussed natural immunity compared with vaccines. She said many people who worked through the pandemic last year were infected with the virus either on the job or in the community. “When governor Kate Brown said we would all be mandated to take the vaccine or lose our jobs, there was no mention of natural immunity,” Merchant said. Merchant, who has been a nurse since 1999, said she has read studies about vaccines and does not feel “evidence or best practice has been put forth.”

Jodi Furtney, owner of Charlie’s Ice Cream Parlor in Baker City, spoke against the mandates. “As the months have progressed through this, I keep thinking that I can’t be any more shocked than I already am, and the punch in the stomach can’t be any more painful than the previous punch,” Furtney said. She contends the governor’s mandates are turning people who don’t want to get the COVID vaccine into lawbreakers.

Alisha Alderson discussed the effects the vaccine mandate could have on the community. “We’re currently experiencing a statewide nurse staffing shortage in Oregon,” said Alderson, whose husband, Shane, is a City Council member. “Taking away the rights of health care providers to choose what’s right and ethical for them and their families will lead to an even greater shortage of providers.”

Alisha Alderson said the Oregon Nurses Association is rallying against the mandate. She asked the council to urgently consider all options for the protection of health care providers rights.

City Councilor Joanna Dixon said she opposes both the vaccination and the mask mandates. “I for one will absolutely not ask any of our city employees to take a vaccination against their will,” Dixon said. “I also don’t think you need to have to wear a mask against your will. The idea of our children being forced to wear masks for five to six hours in school infuriates me. To see the children out on the playground with masks on is asinine. There is nothing better for your health than fresh air, sunshine, and exercise. And, myself, wearing a mask makes it hard to breathe. And we can’t have that happening to our children any more. My thought is just to push it as far as we can push it. I think (Brown) going to be so overwhelmed, the agencies are going to be so overwhelmed, that they’re not going to be able to do anything.”

Jordan Hovingh of La Grande said she is a disabled, chronically ill mother of one. She said her daughter is in fourth grade, and that some teachers in La Grande have resigned due to the vaccine mandate. Hovingh said she has been on her daughter’s Parent-Teacher Organization, and all but three members have resigned due to the vaccination mandate, which also applies to volunteers who work in schools. “Come October, that number will be one board member left because of the vaccine mandate,” Hovingh said. She said her doctor advised her to not get the vaccine as it was too dangerous for her. “After Governor Brown’s announcement and her mandate, I called my doctor to get a medical exemption so I could continue to volunteer at my daughter’s school,” Hovingh said.

Lloyd Nelson, a chiropractor at the Family Wellness Center, said he has been working with local residents for 36 years. Nelson said he is concerned that if he doesn’t comply with the vaccination mandate, he could lose his license. He said he worries about his patients. “What are they going to do if I’m driven out of the state or asked to retire or lose my license?” Nelson said.

Baker City Fire Department firefighters, including Casey Johnson, president of the firefighters local union, helped organize the rally outside City Hall.

Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby said police unions across the state are challenging the vaccine mandate.

Outside City Hall, Jayden Freeman, who brought an American flag, said he is “supporting the idea that medical freedom is part of American freedom. I don’t think we should have the government forcing us to take a vaccine or whatever just to participate in real life.”

Shyanne McCoy said: “For me, it’s just the fact that the nurses have been working this whole time without the vaccine and now they’re mandating it, and that’s not fair to them.”