Molalla Pioneer

By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer

At Molalla Communications Company’s 50th annual membership meeting on Friday night, with more than 900 people in attendance, MCC board members and management handed out prizes, discussed the company’s financial success in 2006, and took a membership vote that passed amendments to the cooperative’s bylaws.

They also voted in Ron Jones as a board member, replacing Dick Lefever who resigned for health reasons on March 20.

However, they did not address concerns raised by some audience members regarding allegations of mismanagement and favoritism in the workplace.

Several citizens took the floor during the new business section of the meeting to ask that the board address claims regarding unfair practices in hiring and firing of employees and determining salaries and benefits that were made in an anonymous e-mail sent out to hundreds of MCC members last Saturday.

Audience member Peggy Smith asked, “Instead of finding out who wrote the e-mail, why aren’t you more concerned as to whether it’s true or false?”

Tod Northman, attorney to MCC, declined to respond to the question.

“If you have particular concerns to raise with the board, you can do that, but not at the annual meeting,” he said. “… Running the cooperative on a day-to-day basis is not an appropriate topic for a membership meeting.”

MCC board chairman Ed Lettenmaier told the audience the board would be willing to set up an open meeting where the public could voice concerns, although he added that many of the questions being raised, as personnel issues, were privileged information.

Smith remained skeptical that her concerns would be addressed.

“They shut me up by bringing in a lawyer. They shut me up and a lot of other people too,” Smith said. “If we are a part of MCC, why was I not heard tonight?”