In a split vote, the Port of Morrow Commission recently removed Commissioner Kelly Doherty from her role representing the port on the Columbia Development Authority.
Doherty had held the position with the CDA board since March, and was one of two commissioners to oppose her removal during the regular port meeting Wednesday, Oct. 9. Her commission term expires June 30, 2027.
Port Commission Vice President John Murray sided with Doherty, while President Joe Taylor and Commissioners Rick Stokoe and Joel Peterson voted to remove her. In her place will be Taylor, who had been her alternate, with Peterson as his alternate. The commission approved the second vote 3-2 along the same lines.
“I feel that the CDA board would at least get along a little better without all the tension on it,” Taylor told Doherty during the board’s discussion before the votes, “and without you on there because you bring a lot of tension to the whole thing.”
Doherty defends behavior
The decision came after a tense CDA meeting Sept. 20 during which Doherty criticized Greg Smith, the authority’s CEO, who she has said is responsible for an error in a grant the CDA approved in June. That grant included a statement incorrectly claiming the board had approved a salary increase for Smith.
Murray said he had concerns about silencing “somebody that speaks up,” which is why he voted against the motions alongside Doherty.
Meanwhile, Doherty said she stood by her actions during the Sept. 20 meeting.
“Everyone is mad in that whole room. Everyone,” she said. “And they should be, probably.”
Doherty said there was tension between the CDA board from the start of the meeting, and she wasn’t the only one making decisions about Smith, but Peterson said he doesn’t “think all this anger helps matters at all.”
Doherty said what Smith did “could be a federal offense” and claimed the FBI is going to look into the situation. She also said she tried to “protect” Smith by ensuring the board chose to properly follow Oregon laws in evaluating his performance.
During the Port of Morrow Commission meeting Oct. 9, Doherty said she did not talk about Smith’s performance, “not once” during the CDA meeting. She said she only talked about the grant, from the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation.
“The only thing I discussed was the grant,” she said. “I was threatened with litigation, I was slandered, he apologized twice to me. I don’t think I did anything wrong.”
Doherty questions Smith
According to the East Oregonian’s recording, which is published alongside the original article about the Sept. 20 CDA meeting, Doherty did discuss Smith’s time sheets, asking around two hours and 10 minutes into the meeting whether there should be oversight for his hours, since he confirmed he signs his own time sheets.
While time sheets are not explicitly mentioned in the grant, the Port of Morrow is the fiscal agent for the grant in question, which funded $123,350 toward a salary for Smith in his role as CEO and executive director.
Later, Doherty deviated from talking directly about the grant, though the inaccuracy still was central to the tension.
“These were public dollars that were misspent and we all feel like we’ve been lied to,” Doherty said two hours and 17 minutes into the meeting.
She also said she asked for a meeting with Smith, who she said then “went after me to have me removed from the Port of Morrow from the CDA” instead of discussing the error in the grant.
In response, Smith said: “This board was extremely productive in moving forward prior to your placement here.”
Kim Puzey, CDA chair, said the decision had no relevance to his board or position.
“I don’t have any feelings whatsoever,” he said. “Whatever that entity wants to do, that’s up to them.”
