During the Battle Ground City Council meeting Sept. 8, council members voted 3-1 to table the proposed interim city manager contract for Rob Ferrier, who currently serves as Battle Ground’s deputy city manager.
Absent from the City Council meeting were councilors Troy McCoy, who is running for Clark County District 5 against Peter Silliman, and Shane Bowman. Both McCoy and Bowman have been outspoken over the council’s recent actions of voting to terminate City Manager Kris Swanson without cause during a special council meeting on Aug. 5.
In Tuesday’s 3-1 vote, Deputy Mayor Aimee Vaile, Council member Victoria Ferrer and Council member Brian Munson all voted to table the contract agreement to a later session. Council member Jeanie Kuypers voted against the tabling and Mayor Eric Overholser abstained from voting.
In an interview with the Reflector on Sept. 9, Mayor Overholser was asked why the contract was on the agenda to just be pushed out to a later date by the present majority.
Overholser stated these discussions take place in open forum and there had not been much headway on the contract agreement since the initial votes.
Also present for the meeting, via ZOOM, was Hilary Evans of Kenyon Disend Municipal Law Firm out of Issaquah. Overholser confirmed they were recommended by a neighboring city municipality and are under contract with the city to the end of the year as new legal representation.
Overholser continued, “I think it's kind of a strange subject. Again, you might have been able to sense the tension in the room. It’s like we can’t go into executive about this except for one little component of it.”
Overholser stated it was on the consent agenda to move forward. He also pointed out that a vote had already been done previously to approve Ferrier as an interim city manager and the feedback from Ferrier was to move forward as long as they could all come to an agreement.
Mayor Overholser clarified the reason he abstained from the vote was his reluctance to table this much longer.
For the other sitting council members that voted to table it, Overholser believes this is rooted in those council members wanting to have clarity and a better understanding of the agreement.
Some of the tension at the council meeting could also be driven by an ethics violation against a sitting council member that was mentioned in the session report by council member Munson.
Council member Munson stated an ethics violation had been filed and received. When asked about this violation, Mayor Overholser stated he could not comment on it at this time but confirmed that the ethics committee made up of him, council members Munson and Kuypers would be reviewing it.
It is unknown at this time if the ethics violation is in direct connection to the termination of Kris Swanson and which council member it involves. The Reflector also recently learned of a litigation hold notice received by the city of Battle Ground from the law offices of Sue-Del McCulloch LLC. This notice, dated Aug. 28, 2026, informs the city that the office is representing Swanson and that the letter constitutes a litigation hold notice and of its “potential liability for breach of contract and employment discrimination.”
The letter makes accusations against the city including termination without legally required notice, breaking of open meeting laws and gender discrimination.
Additionally, the attorney’s correspondence provides their stance on the relationship between Swanson and Police Chief Dennis Flynn, alongside addressing the complaints lodged against Swanson by Lieutenants Jim Keller and Jason Perdue of the Battle Ground Police Department.
These letters followed the June 2026 internal investigation from Sound Workplace Investigations.
During this investigation, lead investigator Paige Dietrich stated that “more likely than not” Swanson had made a comment in a city leadership meeting regarding using code enforcement as a means to force a citizen to sell their property. This comment was reported by the two police Lts. Dietrich would go on to state in her report though she believed more likely than not the comment was made, she did not believe the intent to carry out the threat was valid.
Overholser was asked if comments to this extent, valid or not, are appropriate to be made by sitting city managers. Mayor Overholser stated he could not comment on that at this time. The Sound Workplace investigator also noted that code enforcement had a documented history of being complaint driven, but there was no record of a complaint in this instance.
“Certainly, the initiation of this code enforcement case is unusual, because it was opened at the request of the city manager in February 2025, and the source of a complaint is not recorded,” Dietrich wrote in the investigation.
Dietrich continued, “Witnesses consistently told me that the code enforcement work is complaint-driven, and that CSOs do not have the capacity or resources to pursue proactive code enforcement.”
The complaint letters from the police lieutenants stemmed from an alleged confrontation in which Swanson confronted Lt. Perdue over his participation in the internal inquiry concerning her conduct.
Overholser concluded that he believes the city council has the city’s best interests at heart and trusts the process will show that to be true.
“I know there are some concerned citizens and I understand that,” Overholser said. “I’m hoping that over time the actions of the council are going to show that it is in the best interest of the city in a long-term approach for the betterment of the city for our prosperity. We truly want this to be a place where my kids can grow up here and my grandkids can grow up here and they have a safe place, a prosperous place.”
This report was first published by The Reflector News. James Doyle can be reached at [email protected].
