Wilsonville Spokesman Online

E-mails shed light on proposed letter to the editor

City staff felt they were responding to Family Fun Center's request

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 12/31/2009 9:55:05 AM

Recently-released e-mails show that city staff felt they were responding to a request when they wrote a letter to the editor for Family Fun Center management.

Public documents obtained by the Spokesman show that Public and Government Affairs Director Mark Ottenad wrote the letter after a discussion with Darren Harmon, manager of the Family Fun Center in Wilsonville.

This month the Family Fun Center has been at the center of a controversy surrounding the lack of permits over its current signage, and how city staff has handled the situation.

Ottenad earlier this month sent Harmon a completely written letter to the editor that would show Harmon supported the sign code, appreciated city staff and was critical of the company that put up the new signs.
Harmon did not submit the letter to the Spokesman.

When Ottenad was contacted about the letter controversy, he didn’t respond.

City Manager Arlene Loble refused to comment about the specifics of the situation and denied the Spokesman’s request for the e-mail and letter.

The Spokesman filed a public information request using the Oregon Public Records Law for the e-mails and any other emails from Ottenad or Loble regarding the Family Fun Center on Dec. 7. The city sent the documents to the paper on Dec. 14, seven days later.

The city not only sent over the e-mail Ottenad sent to Harmon that contained the pre-written letter to the editor, but also an e-mail exchange between Ottenad and Loble on how to respond to the Spokesman’s questions.

Initially Ottenad wrote a statement for the newspaper, explaining that as the former Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce executive director he regularly drafted letters to the editor and articles for the press for local businesses.

In his response he also writes, “In discussing with Darren the sign situation, he indicated that he was considering sending a letter to the editor. Given the noon deadline for letters was imminent, I offered to draft something for his consideration based on the themes I understood him to be saying.”

In the statement Ottenad also apologizes for writing the letter.

However, when Ottenad asked Loble, his direct supervisor, if he should submit the statement, Loble responded “forget, don’t send anything” in an e-mail reply.

Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce officials, who initially voiced concern over the letter to the editor controversy, said that when the situation was explained to them, they understood what happened.
“Frankly, we got a good explanation of what happened so we are dropping it,” said outgoing chamber president Scott Starr, whose term ends Dec. 31.

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