Petitioners, MCC go to mediation
0 Comments Published by Pioneer Staff on Tuesday, August 7, 2007 at 4:59 PM.
By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer
In a tentative step towards resolving the issues that led to several citizens to begin petitioning to remove the leadership of Molalla Communications Company, several of the petitioners met with the board and chief executive officer of MCC in a county-mediated session on Monday night.
The parties to this case, who signed a confidentiality agreement, would not discuss specifics of Monday night’s meeting. Petitioner Mike Wagner acknowledged, however, that the meeting dealt with some of the topics brought up in the petition that was presented to MCC staff on Friday, July 27.
The petition, which began circulating last Friday, calls for a special meeting of MCC’s members where they could vote to remove three of MCC’s five board directors – Ed Lettenmaier, Marci Marsh and Kae Wise – and replace them with petitioners Mike Wagner, Michael Raub and Peggy Smith. The petition also calls for removal of Loutzenhiser, vice presidents Chris Michalopoulos and Stephen Jantz, human resources director Christine Cline, network operations and internet service manager Lance Eves and law firm Foster-Pepper LLP.
Under MCC’s bylaws, a special meeting can be called by written request of at least 10 percent of the cooperative’s members – with the membership count standing at 5,228 on July 27. Under section 5.3 of the current bylaws, vacancies on the board are filled by a majority vote of remaining directors.
After MCC officials questioned whether the bylaws would allow the petitioners to name replacements for the directors they are attempting to oust, the petition was rewritten to include another agenda item for the special meeting, creating an amendment to the bylaws stating that in the case of a vacancy on the board, new directors may be elected by members at a special meeting.
Amy Cleary of the Clackamas County Dispute Resolution Center, who is mediating in the case by request of the petitioners, declined to comment on specifics of the dispute, citing confidentiality issues. Under Oregon law, the content of mediated sessions is confidential unless the parties involved agree to disclose part of the proceedings.
MCC’s CEO Steve Loutzenhiser declined to comment for this story.
While declining to discuss details of the mediation session, Wagner said, “I thought it was a productive meeting and we had the opportunity to talk about a lot of different things that were of concern to us. I think we all have the interests of MCC at heart…. As long as we’re talking directly, it’s a good thing for the community.”
The parties agreed to meet again in early September to continue the discussion.
Molalla Pioneer
In a tentative step towards resolving the issues that led to several citizens to begin petitioning to remove the leadership of Molalla Communications Company, several of the petitioners met with the board and chief executive officer of MCC in a county-mediated session on Monday night.
The parties to this case, who signed a confidentiality agreement, would not discuss specifics of Monday night’s meeting. Petitioner Mike Wagner acknowledged, however, that the meeting dealt with some of the topics brought up in the petition that was presented to MCC staff on Friday, July 27.
The petition, which began circulating last Friday, calls for a special meeting of MCC’s members where they could vote to remove three of MCC’s five board directors – Ed Lettenmaier, Marci Marsh and Kae Wise – and replace them with petitioners Mike Wagner, Michael Raub and Peggy Smith. The petition also calls for removal of Loutzenhiser, vice presidents Chris Michalopoulos and Stephen Jantz, human resources director Christine Cline, network operations and internet service manager Lance Eves and law firm Foster-Pepper LLP.
Under MCC’s bylaws, a special meeting can be called by written request of at least 10 percent of the cooperative’s members – with the membership count standing at 5,228 on July 27. Under section 5.3 of the current bylaws, vacancies on the board are filled by a majority vote of remaining directors.
After MCC officials questioned whether the bylaws would allow the petitioners to name replacements for the directors they are attempting to oust, the petition was rewritten to include another agenda item for the special meeting, creating an amendment to the bylaws stating that in the case of a vacancy on the board, new directors may be elected by members at a special meeting.
Amy Cleary of the Clackamas County Dispute Resolution Center, who is mediating in the case by request of the petitioners, declined to comment on specifics of the dispute, citing confidentiality issues. Under Oregon law, the content of mediated sessions is confidential unless the parties involved agree to disclose part of the proceedings.
MCC’s CEO Steve Loutzenhiser declined to comment for this story.
While declining to discuss details of the mediation session, Wagner said, “I thought it was a productive meeting and we had the opportunity to talk about a lot of different things that were of concern to us. I think we all have the interests of MCC at heart…. As long as we’re talking directly, it’s a good thing for the community.”
The parties agreed to meet again in early September to continue the discussion.
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