February 25, 2020 4:30 a.m. 
Roseburg City Councilor Ashley Hicks was sanctioned by fellow councilors for violating council rules during a lengthy contentious meeting Monday night.
The Ward Four councilor, in her third year in office, will lose her council travel privileges for the rest of the year, except for the annual League of Oregon Cities conference, which city code says all councilors are able to attend, according to Council President Bob Cotterell. Hicks will also lose her chairmanship of the Historic Resource Review Commission, which she only recently began leading.
Over seventy residents turned out for the nearly two and a-half hour meeting, only ten minutes of which, was not focused on Hicks.
The council determined that Hick’s didn’t follow municipal code by failing to separate her personal views from a majority of the council, when she spoke out in support of her idea of putting a homeless shelter on city owned land off General Avenue. The issue led to a group of residents from Shadow Ranch Mobile Park coming to the January 27th council meeting, worried that the city was ready to take action on the idea. Monday night, one resident told councilors that he thought Hicks was speaking for the council on social media posts that were advocating for the proposal. At the end of the January meeting, councilor Brian Prawitz said those posts had “stirred up” those who attended, which led to Monday night’s discussion.
Twelve people spoke regarding Hicks methods of doing things overall during a public comment time, separate from the discussion regarding potential sanctions. Those who spoke were split with some supporting Hick’s and others opposed.
Mayor Larry Rich explained the charges against Hicks regarding the Shadow Ranch incident. Rich claimed Hicks expressed her opinions in a way that didn’t follow council procedure of first explaining the council’s position on an issue, then making her personal comments separate. Rich said Hicks had spoken to both City Manager Nikki Messenger and City Recorder Amy Sowa regarding the property on General Avenue and went on to create fear by her social media posts. He said that led to himself and a number of council members getting phone calls and email concerning the shelter idea.
As council members spoke regarding “the facts” of the situation as they understood them, some praised Hicks work in cleaning up areas along the South Umpqua River, but others criticized her style of dealing with things and said she did violate council rules. Cotterell said he received 34 phone calls regarding the controversy. Hicks spent twenty-five minutes defending her actions, A clearly frustrated Hicks criticized other councilors and staff alike, at one point saying, “you’ve been sanctioning me since I got here”.
After Hick’s had finished her remarks, citizens were again given the opportunity to speak, and the intensity of emotions flared up further. One speaker said Hicks had “scared the living crap” out of Shadow Ranch residents. Another called the evening a “hysterical witch hunt” against Hicks. Downtown Roseburg Association President Susie Johnston-Forte said the evening had “veered off topic”.
Councilors were given one more opportunity to share their thoughts and then Cotterell made a series of three motions, each of which passed on a 6-2 vote. Only councilor Andrea Zielinski voted with Hicks against the sanctions. Zielinski cast a softer tone throughout the evening, at one point looking at Hicks and saying “we need you on the team”.
What was likely the most unusual council meeting in years, wrapped up just before 9:30 p.m.