Oregon council holds special meeting to transition law director, organize for 2026

Members of the Oregon city council held a special meeting on Jan. 5 with the purpose of swearing in members of council, reorganizing council, accepting the resignation of law director Melissa Purpura, and appointing an acting law director.

State representative Josh Williams was present to swear in Paul Gibbs, Paul Drake, and Dennis Walendzak at the beginning of the meeting.

Following that, council member Beth Ackerman nominated Drake to serve as the new council president, which Walendzak seconded. Drake was then approved as president.

“I’d like to thank council for this opportunity to be council president,” Drake said. “Just for the record, to let people know, I'm not perfect. I'll do everything I can to make sure I fulfill the duties of council president. I look forward to working with everybody. I look forward to somewhat of a normalcy in just getting back to coming in, having everybody smile, have fun, and making the best of it. We all know who sits up here. It definitely is an honor to be an elected official. I just want to thank everybody.”

Drake then immediately took over by leading appointments of standing committees.

• The drainage, roads, bridges, and lands committee will be chaired by Dave Andrus with Drake and Kathleen Pollauf on the committee.
• The finance committee will be chaired by Steve Hornyak with Ackerman and Walendzak on the committee.
• The economic development and planning committee will be chaired by Walendzak with Ackerman and Andrus on the committee.
• The public utilities and environment committee will be chaired by Ackerman with Gibbs and Walendzak on the committee.
• The parks and recreation committee will be chaired by Drake with Gibbs and Hornyak on the committee.
• The police and fire committee will be chaired by Pollauf with Drake and Hornyak on the committee.
• The water and sewer committee will be chaired by Gibbs with Andrus and Pollauf on the committee.

Purpura resigns

The city’s law director, Purpura, had her resignation accepted by council, effective Jan. 10.

“I do want to thank her for her time with the city,” mayor Steve Salander said. “She's been here a good long time, and we do appreciate her service, and I do appreciate her very much.”

With that, Salander announced the appointment of Chynna Fifer of Williston, Ohio as the acting law director for a term of 120 days with the ability to extend if a full-time replacement isn’t found in that time frame.

Per her LinkedIn, Fifer has served as the full-time managing attorney at Advocating Opportunity (AO) for the past two years. Prior to that, she spent six years as the full-time chief prosecutor for the city of Perrysburg.

Fifer’s appointment is effective Jan. 12.

Hornyak asked that, since Purpura also served as the de facto HR director for the city, if those duties will be handled by Fifer moving forward in the interim or if that will reside with someone else.

Salander said it will be in Fifer’s hands and is in the job description for the permanent replacement for now, but he is open to discussing potential changes in the future if worthy.

Upcoming

Following the special meeting, council held its latest committee of the whole meeting. The next regular council meeting is slated for Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. in council chambers.