Mike Weston

The Port of Astoria is negotiating a separation agreement with Mike Weston, the former interim director and current director of business development and operations who is the target of a lawsuit by fired Port employees who allege abuse of authority and whistleblower retaliation.

Weston primarily handles management of the Astoria Regional Airport. Jim Knight, the Port’s executive director, said Weston would leave by the end of the month. Contacted this morning, Weston declined to comment.

“It might be a while until we get some stability at the airport, with Mike Weston’s imminent departure,” Knight said during an afternoon goal-setting workshop for the Port on Tuesday.

Weston, a former Clatsop County planner, joined the Port in 2010 as a property manager and ascended to director of business development and operations in 2012. When former Executive Director Hank Bynaker resigned in September 2013, Weston took over as interim executive director, while covering multiple other positions.

Former Port Finance Manager Colleen Browne and former Facilities Manager Tammi Herman filed suit against the Port and Weston in February, claiming Weston abused his authority as director and retaliated against them for whistleblowing on his improprieties. Knight fired both shortly after he took over as the new executive director, and Weston reverted to his current position.

After their suits were filed, Port Commission Chairman John Raichl initiated a third-party review of allegations against Weston. The report, performed by human resources consultants from the Local Government Personnel Institute, sustained allegations that Weston, while he was interim director, was untruthful to the commission, engaged in deceptive contract modifications and had unethically taken a tenant’s abandoned property for his personal use.

At Tuesday’s regular meeting, the Port Commission authorized Knight and the Port’s counsel to finalize a settlement with Browne, although Knight did not disclose the specifics.

Herman’s case continues. Her lawyer, Anne Foster, recently filed an amended complaint adding Raichl as a co-defendant.

Herman’s amended complaint alleges she was not told about the release of the third-party report into Weston, first reading about it in The Daily Astorian, which obtained a copy in May after a prolonged public records request. Meanwhile, she said, Weston was given several private meetings to tell his side of the story regarding the report.

“At the beginning of August (2014), Weston asked Commissioner Raichl to help with all decisions relating to the firing of Ms. Browne and plaintiff,” Herman’s amended complaint alleges. “Based on information and belief, since that time, Commissioner Raichl approved each and every decision relating to plaintiff’s employment at the Port.”

Herman’s amended complaint also seeks an additional post-employment retaliation claim, alleging Commissioner Bill Hunsinger shouted from his truck, “you’re a piece of s—,” to her in September, as she and her co-workers waited during the lunch hour near an intersection in downtown Astoria.