Lincoln County DA Demands Independent Probe into County Counsel and HR for Alleged Misconduct
LINCOLN COUNTY, Ore. — Lincoln County District Attorney, Jenna Wallace, has reacted with a no-holds-barred attack on the heads of County Counsel, and Human Resources for attempting to block, control, threaten, and silence her while trying to perform her duties.
DA Jenna Wallace Calls for Unbiased and Independent Investigation
In a written statement, Wallace calls on the Board of Commissioners to instigate an ‘unbiased and independent investigation’ into County Counsel, Kristin Yuille, and David Collier, Director of Human Resources.
She has also called on the residents of Lincoln County to demand transparency and accountability from its Board of Commissioners.
Among her allegations are that county employees sign documents on behalf of the District Attorney without her knowledge, that either County Counsel or Human Resources monitor her emails, and that $34,000 was secretly deducted from her office budget.
Wallace says when she raised concerns about how she was being treated and the unethical conduct she was observing, instead of investigating, she was ignored, then dismissed, and told by the Director of Human Resources, David Collier, that if she did not stop, she would be investigated.
Only Board Commissioner Casey Miller Has Sought Transparency
The District Attorney says ‘only Commissioner Casey Miller has repeatedly sought transparency and equality in policy and procedure for all employees of Lincoln County, including elected officials.
He too, says Wallace, has been repeatedly ignored. When his requests did not work, he was ‘ostracized and vilified in an attempt to silence him from uncovering the truth,’ says Wallace.
Since October 2024, Wallace says she has lodged several formal complaints against Kristin Yuille and David Collier concerning allegations of dishonesty, misrepresentation of authority, misconduct, and retaliatory behavior.
‘Over the past six months, Commissioner Miller has relentlessly sought executive sessions to discuss these allegations with the entire Board, but these requests have been ignored or denied by the very individual sought to be discussed.’
Wallace says her most recent request was on 4 March and, on 26 March after no response, she made a public statement in the hopes that the Board would ‘take action, seek the unbiased truth, and order an external investigation.’
But, instead of investigating Yuille and Collier, the chairperson of the Board of Commissioner, Claire Hall, ‘empowered Yuille and Collier to self-initiate investigations into three of my employees without any formal complaint and my knowledge or approval.’
Wallace claims that the investigations were initiated by Yuille and Collier after she raised concerns regarding their misconduct.
The Very Definition of Retaliation
‘This is the very definition of retaliation. And to hear that after all the allegations I have made against Collier, he will decide whether to terminate my employees based on his self-initiated internal investigations is illogical and unethical.’
Then, at the end of last week, Wallace was informed by Commissioner Hall that the Board had denied her request for an external investigation into Yuille and Collier – ‘a decision not made by the entire Board, but by Commissioner Hall alone.’
DA Wallace calls on residents of Lincoln County to demand transparency and accountability of the Board of Commissioners, and to request an independent investigation into County Counsel and Human resources.