Power Council Lawyer Apologizes Over Secret Deal Controversy Erupts When Details Of $280,000 Severance Emerge

The Northwest Power Planning Council’s attorney has apologized for leading the panel and the public astray over a severance package given a former director.

Council members said Friday they are happy to take another step toward quieting the conflict that erupted after a secret severance agreement for former executive director Ed Sheets began to emerge.

The severance package reportedly gave Sheets $280,000 and added a $10,000 penalty if its details became public.

Sheets’ attorney last week said he would accept the council’s new severance policy, which would limit the award to $111,500.

Ken Casavant, the council’s vice chairman in Pullman, said he favors further scrutiny of the council by the General Accounting Office to help resolve the issue.

“That will allow the four-state panel to get on with its original mission. I certainly am myself in favor of a GAO audit because the public will be better served by having someone take a look,” Casavant said.

Council attorney John Volkman said in a memo to the council Friday he had misread the Federal Privacy Act and mistakenly believed public employees’ salaries could not be made public.

“One of the questions that has bedeviled us in the controversy over Ed Sheets’ severance package has been whether we can tell news media what Ed’s salary was,” Volkman wrote.

Volkman had said the privacy act prevented the release of such information.

“We have just turned up a federal regulation that makes clear that this advice was wrong,” he said.

“My earlier advice to you had a basis outlined in the attached research notes but it was mistaken and I apologize for it,” Volkman said.

He had earlier ruled out releasing either Sheets’ specific salary or the personnel policy governing severance. The policy was released late last week, outlining changes imposed by the council after learning of the Sheets package, including a cap equal to one year’s salary.

Sheets worked for the agency 15 years and was its first executive director. His salary on July 1 was $111,500, according to records.