Answers vague regarding planning official’s departure
MacKenzie asked to resign in July

By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:49 AM PDT

Ontario — The city is on the hunt for a new planning and zoning administrator.

Again.

Just exactly why former  Ontario Planning and Zoning Administrator Evan MacKenzie departed is still a bit of a mystery because neither MacKenzie nor city officials are saying much about the episode.

In an e-mail to the Argus this week, MacKenzie said Ontario City Manager Henry Lawrence asked him for his resignation, though city leaders remain tight-lipped on the subject.

“I will tell you that Henry Lawrence asked me for my resignation in mid-July,” MacKenzie said in an e-mail Thursday. “My departure was not immediate, as some might think.”

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After graduating with a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Portland State University in 2003, MacKenzie spent a year as a planner with Baker County. Following, MacKenzie was a planner in Hillsboro.

MacKenzie first joined Ontario city staff Dec. 11, after former Ontario Planning and Zoning Administrator Grant Young left to take a job as Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development northeastern regional representative. MacKenzie also replaced Young in Baker City. 

During his time in Ontario, MacKenzie advocated for bicycle and pedestrian improvements within the city of Ontario. One of those plans was adding a bicycle boulevard to Southwest Second and/or Southwest Third avenues.

This plan is one of many projects currently in the talking stages as part of Ontario’s downtown revitalization plan. MacKenzie was also instrumental in introducing the downtown plan, leading walking tours and public discussions regarding what residents would like downtown to look like.

In a telephone interview Thursday, MacKenzie said he currently has much of the same duties, except now works for the city of Pendleton. Pendleton Mayor Phillip Houk and City Manager Larry Lehman attended an Ontario City Council meeting in August to discuss their own ongoing downtown revitalization project and give city leaders advice on how those ideas could be applied to Ontario’s downtown.

Earlier this week, Lawrence said he could not comment about MacKenzie’s departure because it was a personnel issue. He did say, following the Ontario City Council work session Thursday, MacKenzie had another position in the works when he left.

When asked for further information responding to what MacKenzie said in his e-mail, Lawrence said he had no comment.

Mayor Joe Dominick said he learned of MacKenzie’s new position from Lehman while attending the League of Oregon Cities convention earlier this month.

“I just know that it’s a personnel issue,” Dominick said. “I’m not supposed to comment.”

Dominick said the ads for the currently-vacant planning and zoning administrator position are planned.

The position is also advertised on the city’s Web site. Lawrence is now serving as interim city planner, with the assistance of Ontario planning technician Marcy Skinner, who attended the downtown revitalization meeting earlier this month. Lawrence also said other staff will also be assisting in the interim.

MacKenzie said he started at his new planning position in Pendleton the last week of September but would not comment further on his resignation as Ontario planning and zoning administrator.

“There is nothing else constructive that I would add,” MacKenzie said in the e-mail.

He did say, however, he enjoyed working with everyone in public works and wished them the best.