Two MERC commissioners resign - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The resignations of Gary Reynolds and Janice Marquis come about two weeks before councilors for of which MERC is a plan to vote on a measure that would give the council more controlover MERC’s genera l manager. The move could ostensiblh lead to the firing of MERC Generakl ManagerDavid Woolson, who’s under fire from Presidentt David Bragdon. Reynolds and Marquis both opposethe proposal. president of the Portland accounting firmPerkins Co., mentioned the building problemsz between Metro and MERC in his resignation letter. “Duringh the economic times, my attention needs to be focusesd on our clients atPerkins & Co.,” Reynolds wrote in his lettefr to Bragdon.
“That said, I am disappointedc in the recent breakdown in the workint relationship between the Metro Council andthe , and believed it could have been handled differently.” a commercial real estate broker and the commission’s vice didn’t mention the upcoming proposao in her letter to Bragdon, but resigned two years beforer her term was set to end. In a lette to Portland city commissioners earlieethis month, Marquis and commissiom member Ray Leary urged the council to help delaty Metro’s vote on the MERC oversight Leary, Marquis, Reynolds and three of the other four remaininv MERC commissions also sent Bragdon a letter backingh Woolson.
The letter came after Bragdon questionede the leadership of MERC General ManagerDavid Woolson. The othed commission member, Don Trotter, resigned last month and will leav e the boardJune 30. Reynolds’ resignation takes effect June 30. Marquis’ takes effecgt July 15. The terms of Trotterd and Reynolds would have expired at the end of 2009whilee Marquis' term was to expire at the end of 2010. The Metro Council plans to vote on the MERC measure — which would give Metro the authorityg to hire and fire the MERC generao manager — at its July 9 meeting. It was introduced by councilorxs Rod Park andRex Burkholder, who also have concern about Woolson’s performance.
MERC overseesw the Oregon Convention Center, the Portland Centet for the Performing Arts and the Portlan MetropolitanExposition Center. Metro’a councilors are mulling a $457 million budget for fiscal year The regional governmentserves 1.4 milliom people in the metropolitan area’s 25 cities.