ENTERPRISE — An Enterprise woman plans to ask the City Council to establish a “Citizen Review Board” to oversee the Police Department and to express her concerns about a potential conflict of interest because the city administrator and police chief are married.

Tami Nuxall will address the council Wednesday, Oct. 4, during its next meeting.

Nuxall said the review board is needed because complaints about the Enterprise Police Department are not reaching the council’s Police Committee.

The council will hold its October meeting Oct. 4, rather than Monday, Oct. 9 because that day is the Columbus Day holiday and meetings and other prior commitments conflict the rest of the week.

The meeting will be at City Hall at 102 E. North St. with a work session beginning at 6 p.m. and the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.

Request to speak

Nuxall requested to be placed on the agenda and city Administrator Lacey McQuead granted the request.

At issue is an incident that occurred on Aug. 14 during which Nuxall said police officer Jacob Curtis pulled his sidearm and pointed it at Nuxall and children who were with her. She contacted Police Chief Kevin McQuead about the incident the next day, and McQuead defended Curtis’ actions, saying that the officer’s weapon was out for a short time and mostly at the “low-ready” position. McQuead told Nuxall that, in his view, Curtis’ actions were appropriate.

The incident began late in the evening of Aug. 14. Nuxell said a man named “Mike” — she said she doesn’t know his surname — showed up at her home and got her and three children with her to go to the store. All five packed into the cab of her pickup.

Nuxall said she believes Mike was sent by her ex-husband to keep an eye on her and the kids. The couple divorced in 2015, she said.

“He’s truly out to get us,” she said. “We live in fear, especially if he’s out of jail.” At the time of the incident, Nuxall said, she believed that the ex-husband was out of custody. She said last week that the FBI recently informed her that the ex-husband has since been apprehended.

Officer Curtis noticed Nuxall’s pickup when it left the area of the Little Store on North Street. The pickup went down Depot Street, where it allegedly ran a stop sign. Curtis followed the pickup to Nuxall’s residence, where he saw a man jump out of the pickup and run off in the dark.

Curtis said he saw the man exit the passenger side of the pickup and he talked to Nuxall, who was then sitting in the driver’s seat.

But Nuxall said Mike saw there wasn’t room to exit on the driver’s side so he climbed over her and the kids to get out of the passenger side.

She called Chief McQuead the next morning to discuss the incident.

“When he perceived a threat — a man jumped out of the vehicle and fled — he drew his weapon,” the chief said of Curtis. “Once he perceived that there was not a threat, he holstered it.”

The chief said Curtis’ weapon was out for a short time and mostly at the the “low-ready” position. But Nuxall said Curtis pointed his firearm at her and the kids, scaring them all.

Curtis repeatedly asked Nuxall the name of the man who fled and she said all she could tell the officer is that she knew his first name was Mike.

She said that because she couldn’t give a last name and because she was then in the driver’s seat, Curtis issued her citations for failure to renew the vehicle’s registration, failure to carry proof of insurance and failure to stop at a traffic-control device.

“Curtis told me that if I gave him the name of the guy who was driving, he wouldn’t write me any citations,” she said.

At a court appearance Sept. 6, Nuxall pleaded not guilty to all three counts. A trial was scheduled for Dec. 13.

McQuead also told Nuxall she could take her concerns to City Hall or to the City Council, which has a Police Committee. Nuxall was hesitant to pursue the issue to City Hall because Lacey McQuead, the city administrator and head of human resources, is married to Kevin McQuead. Nuxall said she believes that’s a conflict of interest.

However, when Kevin McQuead applied for the position of police chief, Lacey McQuead told the Chieftain that she has nothing to do with oversight of the Police Department; that oversight, she said, is left up to the Police Committee, of which she is not a member.

Review board

Nuxall said a review board is needed because she has heard of up to a half-dozen complaints against the police this year, none of which has reached the Police Committee.

“It would take in all the complaints about the Police Department,” she said of the review board. (Complaints) “are cropping up everywhere.”

She said by directing complaints to a review board, they could be documented and “we would know what the results would be.”

City attorney Wyatt Baum also responded to Nuxall, saying he had learned of her complaint and its subsequent investigation. In a letter to Nuxall, Baum said the city “endeavored to ensure proper protocol was followed and appropriate action was taken. After reviewing all available information, the city has determined Chief McQuead acted appropriately and followed established procedures and protocols in addressing your concerns with Officer Curtis.”

As for Nuxall’s concerns over potential conflicts of interest in the McQueads being married, Baum assured her that the city has controls in place to address situations should a conflict arise and they were used throughout this process.

The city attorney suggested Nuxall could address further concerns to the court “at the appropriate time.”

Other businessOther business on the Oct. 4 agenda includes:

• Council action on Community-Economic-Tourism Related Activities grants for $2,000 each. The city has received applications for CETRA/Motel tax grants to support Oregon’s Alpenfest, the Wallowa Valley Ice Rink in Enterprise and from the Eagle Cap Shooters Association to help fund hunter safety courses the association oversees.

• A resolution for a capital asset expenditure for the Public Works Department.

• A request for a speed sign.

• Discussion of rules of procedure for council meetings.

• Department reports.

• Setting the next council meeting for Nov. 13.