JOHN DAY — In a move that will bring joy to some and concern to others, ex-John Day City Manager Nick Green is asking to terminate his consulting contract with the city of John Day. Green was expected to formally make the request during the Tuesday, Dec. 12, session of the John Day City Council.

Green was slated to make between $150,000 and $200,000 for one year of consulting duties for the city.

Green’s request comes following a change in the makeup of the city council and the imminent swearing-in of mayor-elect Heather Rookstool. Green agreed to be a consultant for the city during the June 14 city council session following his resignation as city manager earlier in that same meeting.

Green’s duties as city consultant with his consulting firm, Catalyst, were broad and included administration of the city’s grants portfolio and debt management for the city’s loan portfolio. Catalyst was also responsible for coordinating bridge loans for city projects, including the wastewater treatment plant, and financial management of the city’s urban renewal agency.

After Green announced his intention to resign as city manager, the city council asked him to continue to work as a consultant due to fears some of the grant-funded projects started during his six-year tenure could fail without somebody with Green’s expertise shepherding them to completion. Green’s offer to step down just six months into a yearlong consulting contract gives new life to those fears.

An email from Green to City Attorney Jeremy Green, interim City Manager Corum Ketchum and Mayor Ron Lundbom, sent on election night, has been making the rounds on social media and explains Green’s reasons for resigning.

“There is only one councilor left come January who I originally started with in 2016,” the email reads in part. “My intent in remaining as a consultant for John Day was to see our projects through to completion, but it’s hard not to see the No vote on the pool, the recall of pool proponents and the major shift in political position as a clear message from John Day residents that they want to go in a different direction.”

Green goes on to say the incoming city council should be able to work with a staff of their choosing. He offers to stay on as consultant until the end of the year but adds the council is welcome to terminate his contract earlier.

Ketchum said the loss of Green creates a problem for the city due to his wealth of institutional knowledge regarding city projects. At a minimum, he said, the city will have to hire contractors to manage the city’s sizable grant and loan portfolio as well as a new city planner to ensure projects like the wastewater treatment plant are completed.

The call to terminate Green’s contract isn’t up to Ketchum, however. The city council will need to make that decision once the proposal is placed in front of them.

“It’s up to the council. They have to agree to let the contract end early,” he said.

Green stated that his reason for wanting to terminate his consulting contract has nothing to do with a fear that the city’s budget isn’t right. Rather, he said, he doesn’t want the incoming city council to feel locked into decisions the previous council made.

“Out of respect for the incoming councilors, I think they should have the choice about who they work with and not be held to a prior council’s decisions where possible,” Green said.

Green submitted a financial report on the city’s grants and loans with his election night email.

“I want to make sure everybody goes into this with their eyes wide open,” he said. “That both the incoming councilors, who had a lot to say about the city’s finances, and the current councilors understand what’s at stake and that they make an informed decision.”

Statements by incoming councilors and Mayor-elect Heather Rookstool about their desire to look over the budget and perhaps cut or change the scope of some projects worries Green. While he acknowledges that the council has that right, he said he’d advise them to not go through with those plans because project cancellations could hurt future efforts to obtain grant funding.

“All that would do is kill the projects. It would not result in any funding becoming available for general expenditure,” Green said.

“We’re already at risk of signaling to our investors who we’ve developed very strong and robust relationships with that we’re no longer interested in progressing and they can go ahead and send their money somewhere else.”

There are some city projects that simply can’t be undone, Green said. The urban renewal agency is under a legally binding contract between housing developers and the city. Any deviation opens the city up to breach of contract suits from developers who have significant financial obligations to the developments.

The wastewater treatment plant is something that needs to be completed, according to Green. The current facility is old and poorly maintained. Any failure of that plant will result in one-third of Grant County’s untreated waste seeping into the John Day River.

Green pushed back at critics who attacked his policies during the run-up to the election.

“Public sector finance isn’t easy,” he said. “They’re (the voters) listening to the only people who are talking. The people who are talking are not well-informed.”

Despite his offer to terminate the consulting contract, Green said if the new city council decides that hiring contractors to do the work that his consulting company currently does is too expensive, he’d consider another agreement with the city.

“If they came back in six weeks … and said, ‘We want a contract for your services,’ I would certainly consider that,” he said. “My heart has always been with John Day, and I want John Day to be successful.”