By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
November 14, 2007

The Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facilities board of directors has enlisted the services of a professional search firm in its quest to find a new administrator.

On a parallel track, all but 21 of the 68 jail employees have been questioned about allegations of past mismanagement practices.

On Thursday, the NORCOR board met with Lara Cunningham, managing director for Waldron and Company. The Lake Oswego-based company is being paid $18,500 to seek out applicants for the position of administrator. Another $3,000 has been allocated to defray the travel expenses of candidates being asked to interview in Wasco County where the jail is located.

Cunningham anticipates that Waldron will spend about 45 days recruiting applicants from the northwestern region of the United States. She plans to turn submitted resumes over to the NORCOR board for review by mid-January. About one month later, the field of candidates will be winnowed down to the top three to five contenders. A selection is expected to be made by the end of February.

The annual salary range set by NORCOR for an administrator is $70,000-85,000, dependent upon experience. Cunningham asked the board to review the payroll amount to ensure it was competitive with similar facilities.

“We’re going to be tapping on the shoulders of people who are not necessarily looking (for a new job),” she said.

“If what we’re looking for and the salary doesn’t match we need to talk about that early on.”

Cunningham also requested a list of skills that NORCOR officials believed the ideal administrator would possess.

Gilliam County Sheriff Gary Bettencourt, representing the advisory sheriff’s board, said a background in law enforcement would be preferable. But he also believed that business experience was equally important.

“We need consistent application of policies and procedures,” he said.

Hood River County Commission Chair Ron Rivers, who sits on the NORCOR board, said the new administrator should be adept at marketing. He said more bed space could be rented out to Mid-Columbia, state and federal agencies to offset operational costs.

“I see this person as an ambassador for NORCOR. He/she should be selling the attributes of this facility,” said Rivers.

Gilliam County Commissioner Frank Bettencourt, also a member of the board, said the administrator needed to set firm rules of conduct for employees and inmates.

“We need someone who can be the boss. I believe if a person says ‘no’ then there shouldn’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind what he/she means. I think we’re lacking that,” he said.

Sheriff Bettencourt said the new administrator should be a good communicator who handled crisis in a proactive manner.

“Our employees deal with a lot of negativity from inmates that don’t want to be here and they have to be constantly on guard,” He said. “It will take a special something to keep them happy with the job.”

Will Carey, attorney for NORCOR, summed up the group’s comments by telling Cunningham, “We just want a well-run institution that has a good reputation in the community.”

He suggested that retired Gilliam County Judge Laura Pryor take on duties as interim administrator of NORCOR for the next four to five months. He said Pryor had been instrumental in getting the jail constructed and was knowledgeable about its operations. The board agreed to offer her the same monthly salary of $6,000 that had been extended to Darrell Hill, former Wasco County Sheriff.

Hill returned to retirement at the end of September after supervising jail activities for six months. He was asked to provide oversight until a replacement was found for Paul Barnett, who retired almost two years ago.

During the interim between Barnett and Hill, Capt. Larry Lindhorst acted as administrator. But he and other supervisors were accused of mismanagement by some employees in a letter sent to Rivers in late January.

Rivers said no negative reports emerged under Hill’s watch so he believed the issues were being dealt with as the search began for a new administrator. He said tension re-emerged after Lindhorst was promoted to the job by an interview panel in August.

Rivers received letters and/or telephone calls of protest from 10 employees after that decision was made. He called for the selection process to begin anew after jail officials learned that Lindhorst had been hired illegally. He was chosen out of three finalists in a closed executive session of a meeting that was not advertised to the public.

Hood River County’s Chief Deputy Jerry Brown was asked by the NORCOR sheriff’s board to look into the complaints raised by employees. He is being assisted in the task of interviewing all staffers by one deputy each from Sherman and Gilliam counties.

At the Nov. 8 special meeting, Sheriff Bettencourt said the results of Brown’s work would soon be incorporated into a report. He said the NORCOR board would be apprised of the findings in December so that decisions could be made about how to address any identified problems.