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Complaints filed against Ashland officials Monday Jan 29, 2018 at 12:01 AM By Tran Nguyen for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Claims against the Ashland Parks & Recreation Commission, the parks director and a member of the ad hoc Senior Center committee have been filed with different state departments, according to records obtained by the Ashland Daily Tidings. The commission, along with parks Director Michael Black, face an allegation of age discrimination, according to a complaint filed with the Bureau of Labor and Industries. The allegation, obtained by the Tidings through a public records request, has also been forwarded to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Oregon Ethics Commission confirmed to the Tidings that an ethics complaint was filed against Senior Center Ad Hoc Committee member Laura O’Bryon. The Ethics Commission representative declined to release further information about the case, saying the documents are confidential during the preliminary investigation process. Filing of the charges comes as the Parks Commission is in the midst of reorganizing its Senior Program, an effort that has been criticized by many community members and Senior Center patrons since the center’s manager, Chris Dodson, was notified in August she should not return to work and her position would be terminated Oct. 1. A group called Ashland Support Our Seniors has since launched a recall effort of three commissioners. Dodson sent a tort claim notice to the city in January alleging wrongful dismissal. In the BOLI complaint, a former Senior Center part-time employee, Dorothy Parsons, alleged she was discriminated against based on her age and ultimately laid off after working at the Senior Center for 15 years. She cited in the complaint that Black said he wanted “new blood” in the center. “On or about August 30, 2017, Respondent began laying off everyone in my department,” all of whom were over 40, says Parsons’ claim, which was received by BOLI Dec. 22, 2017. All information about the case, with the exception of the initial claim, is confidential until the investigation is completed, said bureau spokesman Charlie Burr. Black denied any wrongdoing regarding Parsons’ claim in a phone interview Thursday. “I didn’t lay off (Parsons),” Black said. “In fact, she resigned, effective Aug. 31.” In a letter published in the Tidings Dec. 22, Black stated that the four part-time employees alerted the Human Resources Department of their intent to resign Aug. 30 and “walked off the job” the next day without notifying him. “I did not fire anyone at the Senior Center,” Black wrote. “There were plans to ask a few of those who quit to stick around during the transition.” Parsons, along with the other three former part-time staff, responded to Black’s statement in a letter published in the Tidings Dec. 24. The letter states Black didn’t fire them, but it noted that a notice sent to Dodson Aug. 23 said, “all paid program staff will be laid off effective October 1, 2017.” “He might have preferred if we had stuck around to help him dismantle this program until his arbitrarily selected date of Oct. 1, but what reasonable person would wish to do that?” the letter from the former staff members reads. "We felt that his ‘recommendations’ were in opposition to the mission statement of the Senior Program, and we did not intend to be used during his ‘reorganization’ period and then be canned by him on Oct. 1.” The letter also says that the former part-time staff “resigned en masse in support of our program director.” Regarding the ethics claim, O’Bryon said Wednesday that she hasn’t received any complaint. Ashland City Attorney David Lohman declined to comment on Parsons' claim because of the pending investigation and said the city did not receive any ethics complaint or inquiry regarding an ethics complaint. Lohman also said the city hasn’t received anything regarding a lawsuit since Dodson sent the tort notice. The Senior Program reorganization continues to move forward as the Parks and Recreation Commission last Monday approved putting the Senior Program in its own division within Parks & Recreation, established a new program description and adopted a conceptual job description for a new manager. — Reach reporter Tran Nguyen at 541-776-4485 or [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @nguyenntrann.