Gene Parker, longtime city attorney for The Dalles, has announced he will retire in March 2020, giving the city time to find a replacement he can help train.
He’s been with the city for 28 ½ years and has worked on several projects that “I believe have significantly benefited” the city, he said in his retirement letter.
Those include revising the city charter, codifying city ordinances into a municipal code, selling the former city shops and assisting with preparation of the enterprise zone tax abatement agreements with Design LLC regarding the Google properties.
He also cited the remodel of City Hall, building of the Union Street undercrossing and the new ship dock, moving the police department to its current location across the street from City Hall, and various Urban Renewal projects, including the Granada Threatre and the renovation of the Commodore building.
Parker, 64, said he told new Mayor Rich Mays when Mays was still an unopposed candidate that he planned to retire, and “he thought it would be helpful to have a pretty long lead time.”
He also talked to Mays specifically about having an overlap for a time with the new city attorney.
In retirement, Parker plans to do more golfing and traveling.`
Overall, he said he’s enjoyed his job. “There’s some days it’s been not so good, but every job has that. There’s no perfect job. I’ve enjoyed working with the staff here and various mayors.”
He said he feels the city has been fortunate to not have the major conflicts that have faced other cities. “Where you read about them and go, ‘Wow, glad I’m not there.’”
After a short period in solo practice in his hometown of Dayton, Parker came to The Dalles and worked for two law firms before becoming city attorney.
His private practice work included handling death penalty cases. “They carry a lot of pressure and stress and I decided maybe I don’t want to continue doing that, and this opportunity came with the city and I think I’ve had a long-term interest in government.”
He’s tried to make the city’s ordinances more user friendly, and has particularly enjoyed working in land use, which has become “a little more complicated.”
He’s also recently stepped back into some criminal prosecution, something he hadn’t done for 10 years.
Changes that have come in the legal arena include the legalization of marijuana—“the money the city’s seeing from that is something we might not have anticipated”—and the creation a few years ago of a mental health court.
“That’s been a change for the real positive,” he said of the program started by then-Municipal Court Judge Tom Peachey.
The biggest change has been the introduction of computers, he said, and the replacement of paper files with a digital format.
Parker regrets getting the city involved in some cases. One involved a neighbor dispute over how many wind chimes were appropriate to own.
One of the involved homeowners had 40 to 50 wind chimes and “when the wind blew it got rather loud,” and it soured the former friendship between the two neighbors, Parker said.
“We didn’t pursue the enforcement” under the city’s noise ordinance, after city officials went out and tried to measure the loudness with a decibel meter. “It was not a good one to get involved with, I kind of learned the hard way. That was kind of sad.”
“I think [retired Police Chief Jay Waterbury] thought, ‘What did you get me into? Why am I out here?’ I don’t think he ever forgave me for that,” he said.
He said there have also been some occasionally trying people to work with. “There might be some cases where if I recognized the number I might be a little slow to answer.”
One time, the city council didn’t take his advice and ended up getting sued. It involved demolishing the downtown grain elevators. He recommended going with the most responsive bidder, an out of town business. A local contractor was picked instead, and the other bidder sued and won.
Then the grain elevator burned, leading to a more expensive cleanup.
Parker is not a pound-the-table kind of guy. “I’ve had that pointed out to me on more than one occasion—to be more assertive.” He’s tried to speak up more, but “that really is not my personality. Maybe sometimes it would be better to have that in some situations, but you are who you are.”
Once, he briefly argued to the state supreme court on a case involving the way taxes were collected. He was one of several attorneys arguing the case. “I don’t remember saying anything brilliant, actually. You only have a few minutes and you just hope you don’t get thrown out of the building.”
He enjoys the research aspects of his job. “I generally enjoy trying to look at things. I confess some things are very complicated or difficult and can get frustrating. The law has a lot of complexity, that’s the way it is.”
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