By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
September 17, 2007

Hood River County Commissioner Ron Rivers cannot believe that a controversial jail employee has been selected to oversee its operations.

“We’ve had a very problematic situation at NORCOR (Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facilities). So, if we hire from within, how do we put the bad feelings behind us and make a fresh start?” he asked.

Rivers, a Parkdale orchardist, was unable to be present for the Aug. 23 interview of three finalists. He sits on the NORCOR board of directors but said pear harvest conflicted with his ability to question the top contenders from a field of 10 candidates.

“I never even saw the list of applicants so I had no idea who was on it,” he said. “I got a little excited when I learned what had happened.”

NORCOR Capt. Larry Lindhorst has been chosen to serve as administrator by a special committee. Rivers will carry his objections to that decision before the NORCOR board at Thursday’s meeting. The body of elected officials will decide whether or not to approve Lindhorst’s contract at noon in the juvenile conference room at 211 Webber Road. If the contract is signed, he will report to work as the administrator on Oct. 1.

“The most frustrating thing is that this county never even had a voice in the process. Yet our citizens are paying the second-largest share of the bills,” said Rivers.

He tried unsuccessfully to have retired Wasco County Sheriff Darrell Hill, currently serving as interim NORCOR administrator, postpone the afternoon interviews until evening, or reschedule them altogether. He either wanted to be present or pass on voting rights to Commissioner Maui Meyer, who serves as alternate but also had a prior business commitment on Aug. 23.

Hood River County Sheriff Joe Wampler was invited to be an observer on the interview panel that day. But he was meeting with health, fire and medical officials at the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center to fine-tune response plans for a man-made or natural disaster.

“I trusted the NORCOR board to make the decision and I have to be okay with that decision,” Wampler said.

The interview committee ended up with a 3-2 split vote about who should be the next administrator. Wasco County Sheriff Rick Eiesland favored Lindhorst, along with Sherman County Commissioner Steve Burnet and Sherry Holliday, alternate member from the Wasco County Commission.

Casting votes for other candidates were Amber DeGrange, juvenile director for Sherman County, and Gilliam County Commissioner Frank Bettencourt.

“NORCOR has been operating for almost two years without an administrator. So I didn’t understand why it would have hurt to wait a few more days before we selected someone,” said Rivers.

Hill wanted to have the administrator in place before he returns to retirement on Sept. 30. He supports the decision to hire Lindhorst, the former manager of the Wasco County jail. He said the captain has been with NORCOR since its opening in 1999, so he is knowledgeable about the complexities of running an operation involving numerous contractors, 68 employees and up to 212 adult and 32 juvenile inmates.

“He knows what needs to be done here. He has a history with NORCOR that makes him a very valuable employee,” said Hill.

He contends that any board member who could not be present for the selection process should support the decision of his/her peers.

“You just ruin morale everywhere if you make a decision and then change it mid-stream,” he said.

Rivers said he cannot help but question Lindhorst’s leadership abilities. He said a series of complaints were registered against the captain and other management-level staff by corrections employees in late January.

Shortly after taking office on Jan. 1 and accepting an appointment to the NORCOR board, Rivers was handed a letter compiled by several staffers that outlined numerous acts of misconduct. (See related story for an explanation of these allegations.)

“The board reacted very quickly to the concerns that I brought forward,” he said. “There wasn’t anybody who didn’t want to correct the situation immediately.”

Rivers said the decision was then made to hire Hill, Lindhorst’s former boss, to temporarily fill the role of administrator. Rivers and Hill felt that some of the tensions in the jail had been created by requiring Lindhorst to fulfill duties both as captain and as administrator, which created a very heavy workload.

According to Hill, it took longer than usual to select a new administrator. He said it was difficult to attract qualified candidates for the job that offers a salary of $70,000-85,000, dependent upon experience.

Hill took over in April and fired one female staffer for involvement with an inmate. Another female employee resigned for the same reason in lieu of facing criminal charges.

A male sergeant is currently on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation into an allegation that he exhibited inappropriate behavior with an inmate. A female jailer has filed a notice of her intent to sue the agency because of the stressful working conditions.

In addition to taking care of disciplinary issues, Hill has completed NORCOR’s first policy manual. He was assisted in that project by Lindhorst.

Wampler is seated on a sheriff’s advisory panel for NORCOR so he was aware of the personnel conflicts. He declined to comment on the issues that were being addressed by the NORCOR board.

Hood River Police Chief Bruce Ludwig was unaware that any problems existed. He said the provision of services continued to go smoothly.

“As far as our working relationship with NORCOR, it has been reasonable and professional,” he said.

According to Hill, most of the complaints brought before the NORCOR board were “unsubstantiated because there were no names or dates.” He said the concerns brought forward by employees were not discussed by the interview panelists.

“None of this stuff ever came up. They felt (Lindhorst) could do the job,” said Hill.

Rivers said the anonymity of employees was encouraged during the investigation to avoid any possibility of retaliation. He said recommendations for change would not have been made by Wasco County if there was no validity to the complaints.

He said the hiring of Hill was the first recommendation made by Wasco County. Classes were also scheduled to raise awareness about what types of behavior constituted harassment.

During an interview on Sept. 5, Lindhorst acknowledged that he had once made off-color remarks that could have offended some of his subordinates. He said the working environment of a jail is much more stressful than a regular business office. So, employees sometimes resort to baser levels of humor to cope with that stress.

“That’s something I’ve done in the past. I admit it,” he said.

Lindhorst said once the offensiveness of his behavior was brought to his attention, he immediately made proactive changes.

“I don’t know how I can reassure them (employees); that’s always going to be in the back of their minds,” he said. “All I can do is tell them that what happened, happened. So, let’s start a brand new slate. And, if there are problems, let’s talk about it.”