An investigation that, at least in part, led to the resignation of Keizer City Manager Chris Eppley cost the city more than $7,900.
Eppley fired a gun inside his city hall office in early March prompting the Keizer City Council to call for an investigation less than a week later.
Jim Ferraris, a recently retired police chief, conducted the inquiry into the incident.
Keizertimes requested a copy of the invoice the city received from Ferraris Investigations & Consulting. The request was promptly fulfilled and the invoice includes an itemized list of expenses. The paper did not receive a response to a request for the investigation report by press time.
The city was charged $5,750 for the investigation, prep, report writing, interviews, transcript review and phone calls. Reimbursement for travel time and mileage (the invoice states 876 miles were logged during the investigation) amounted to $1,425. Transcription services were billed at $786.10.
The total billed to the city was $7, 961.70.
According to the Oregon Secretary of State business registry, Ferraris Consulting’s principal place of business is in Powell Butte, 141 miles from Keizer. The business’ registered agent is a company on River Road in Keizer and its mailing address is in Wilsonville.
It was announced Thursday, April 1, that Eppley had offered his resignation, which the council accepted. Eppley is expected to receive six months salary and a year’s worth of insurance coverage in exchange for not filing a lawsuit against the city.
A statement read by Mayor Cathy Clark implied that Eppley’s due process rights might have been violated when a portion of his incident report on the matter was made public.
