WALLOWA The Wallowa City Council voted July 29 to reverse itself and not draft a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the position of City Auditor until after the long-scheduled city audit set for Aug. 11. Only two weeks earlier, on July 15, the council voted to have an RFP prepared by Aug. 1.

Mayor Vikki Knifong said a major factor in the change of plans was legal advice supplied by City Attorney Roland Johnson, who was not at the earlier July 15 meeting.

Contrary to the prevailing argument at the July 15 session, Johnson said the fact Knifong had signed the latest contract with the CPA firm of Seydel, Lewis, Poe, Moeller & Gunderson LLP, from La Grande, without the consent of the entire city council did not render it to be an invalid contract.

The decision to have Johnson draw up the RFP after the audit date, says Assistant City Recorder Carolyn Harshfield, was reached on a 3-2 vote. Favoring the change were Mayor Knifong and councilors Lisa Mahan and Garrett Lowe. Casting dissenting votes were councilors Kevin Silveira and Red Evans.