A January ruling by a Yamhill County judge that two current and two former members of the Newberg school board willfully violated public meetings laws by deliberating outside of public session will be tested.
That development came about Feb. 12 when attorneys for former board chairman Dave Brown, former vice-chairman Brian Shannon and current directors Trevor DeHart and Renee Powell, as well as the Newberg-Dundee school district, filed objections to Judge Cynthia Easterday’s ruling in a civil lawsuit filed in 2021 by seven members of the community.
The two attorneys representing the four defendants and the district are taking to task Easterday’s ruling and requesting that she provide “other, different or additional special findings of fact.”
In non-legal parlance that means they are asking that Easterday clarify her ruling and amend it to cite the specific facts on which she based her decision.
At issue is Easterday’s ruling in late January that Brown, Shannon, DeHart and Powell met illegally in a quorum in the days leading up to an August 2021 meeting for the purpose to hiring Canby attorney Tyler Smith as supplemental counsel, despite the district having retained counsel on hand.