In a demand letter to the Washington Cities Insurance Authority in April, former Oak Harbor City Administrator Blaine Oborn’s attorney claims that Oborn’s termination was unjustified due to fabricated claims, age discrimination, reputation damage and other reasons.
In an email from Oak Harbor’s communication officer, Magi Aguilar, the city refused to comment on “potential litigation.”
The letter lists three exhibits: Oborn’s separation agreement, his original employment contract and an April letter from Mayor Ronnie Wright. While the Whidbey News-Times attained a copy of Oborn’s demand letter through a records request, these additional documents were not provided by the city. Despite the News-Times requesting them specifically, the city claimed they do not exist.
Oborn was terminated in February after Wright came into office. Oborn’s time as city administrator was marked by a vote of no confidence by the city council, a lawsuit and staff complaints.
Oborn’s letter, however, describes him as a successful administrator who accomplished much during his tenure. He joined the city, hired by former Mayor Bob Severns, in August of 2018 and personally worked to ensure voter approval of the transportation sales tax, the opening of the splash park, creation of the parks and recreation department, receipt of millions of grant dollars, the purchase and redevelopment of the Brownfield property and voter approval of a second fire station bond and the fire staffing levy.
“I was doing really well with the city and my time there and just unfortunately the mayor has been challenging to work with,” Oborn said in an interview.
Oborn also felt that he was potentially discriminated against due to his age. Prior to Oborn’s termination, Wright let go of “an older fire chief,” Ray Merrill, and he also replaced Oborn with a younger person with less experience.
According to the letter, Wright has communicated to the city council that he is looking for younger candidates for city positions. The letter claims that Wright intends to build a team composed of younger individuals whose lack of experience will create a workforce more amenable to his direction.
Oborn likens Wright’s direction to that of former Mayor Scott Dudley, who fired seven city leaders after he was sworn in in 2011.
“The mayor is kind of like Dudley, I guess, in being a liability to the city,” Oborn said.
Oborn also claims his termination could have been retaliatory to his whistleblowing related to the alleged misallocation of funds by the city’s former public works director, Cathy Rosen.
Rosen, however, resigned in 2021, long before Wright came into office.
In September 2020, Rosen was still the public works director when she and former city engineer Joe Stowell filed a lawsuit against the city, Oborn and Severns.
After the city received a demand letter from Rosen foreshadowing the lawsuit, Oborn led an audit of the city’s clean water facility project that allegedly found that Rosen was inappropriately allocating savings to other costs.
In addition, the demand letter points to a hiccup in the city’s hiring of Sabrina Combs to replace Oborn. Following an executive session earlier this year, the Oak Harbor City Council approved the appointment of Combs as the new city administrator “when the position becomes available.”
According to Oborn’s demand letter, the city’s separation agreement did not comply with his employment agreement and, as a result, Oborn retained his position on March 1.
The letter states that the separation agreement violated his employment agreement by reducing his vacation cash out, a violation of the three-month, no-fault termination clause when a new mayor takes office and refusing to provide six months’ severance pay.
The letter cites damage to his public reputation and the resulting stress asks that Oborn remain on paid administrative leave with full benefits until a proper negotiation ensues.
Oborn’s attorney, Patricia Rose of Seattle, said the city has been minimally responsive to Oborn’s demands, but his team does not intend to sue at this time.
