Former city administrator sues over termination
Published 1:30 am Friday, July 17, 2026
Former Oak Harbor City Administrator Blaine Oborn is suing the City of Oak Harbor, alleging he was fired because of his age and in retaliation for opposing age discrimination, according to court documents.
The lawsuit also claims city officials damaged Oborn’s reputation after his termination, making it difficult for him to secure comparable employment. Oborn is seeking unspecified damages and has requested a jury trial.
The late Mayor Bob Severns hired Oborn in August 2018. Oborn remained city administrator until February 2024, when Mayor Ronnie Wright terminated his employment. During his tenure, he faced a vote of no confidence, a lawsuit and staff complaints.
Previously, Oborn’s attorney sent a demand letter making similar claims to the Washington Cities Insurance Authority, the city’s insurer.
A request for comment from the city went unanswered.
According to the lawsuit, Oborn objected to Wright’s decision to terminate former Fire Chief Ray Merrill because he believed the decision was based on Merrill’s age.
The lawsuit also alleges Wright asked Oborn to “fire all older, paid-on-call firefighters and hire younger, full-time firefighters to replace them.” Oborn objected, calling the request “unreasonable,” which he claims angered Wright, the lawsuit states.
The city ended the fire department’s paid-on-call firefighter program in January 2025, about a year after Oborn’s termination. Previously, Merrill and current Fire Chief Travis Anderson explained to the News-Times that high costs and a nationwide volunteer shortage necessitated the program’s conclusion.
Both Oborn and Merrill were at least 60 at the time of their terminations. Merrill’s termination, specifically, occurred contrary to the WCIA’s advice and despite him fulfilling his duties, the lawsuit states. It came as a surprise to some council members, according to a previous News-Times story.
Merrill told the News-Times on Thursday that he agreed not to raise concerns over age-related discrimination as part of his separation agreement. And while the city used money from the paid-on-call program to hire more career staff, he explained that “some of the paid-on-call (firefighters) that were terminated were not old” and “other factors went into” the decision.
The lawsuit alleges Oborn’s concerns about “financial malfeasance” by former Public Works Director Cathy Rosen also contributed to his termination. An audit of the city’s Clean Water facility in 2020 revealed that “Rosen had inappropriately allocated City monies to cost overruns generated by Hoffman Construction while working on this project,” the lawsuit states. Rosen oversaw the facility at the time.
Later, Rosen filed a lawsuit that named Oborn as a defendant and described him as having “religious and/or moral beliefs that women should be subservient to men,” according to Oborn’s lawsuit.
Rosen received $200,000 as part of the city’s settlement, according to a previous News-Times story.
Regarding claims of Oborn’s discriminatory behavior towards women, the lawsuit states that “there is no factual evidence supporting this false allegation.” Rodney R. Moody, Oborn’s attorney, declined to provide a statement addressing these claims because “the complaint speaks for itself” and he is “not going to try this case in the media.”
The lawsuit references several News-Times stories. It incorrectly states that editor “Jesse Stencil” described Oborn as sexist and misogynist. The News-Times reported those allegations as claims in Rosen’s lawsuit and attributed them to court documents.
Oborn claims false information spread about him after his termination has made it difficult to secure comparable employment.
He has unsuccessfully applied for at least six positions in the state similar to that of city administrator. Oborn claims that city representatives, including Wright, “have issued communications which disparaged Oborn,” according to the lawsuit. He also claimed in the lawsuit that former Mayor Pro Tem Beth Munns and former Councilmember Joel Servatius conducted an employee survey in Severns’ absence in November 2020 to intentionally “cast Oborn in a negative light.”
In one incident detailed in the lawsuit, Councilmember Barbara Armes, a reference for Oborn, allegedly told a prospective employer he “was fired because he was used to working independently and could not adjust to working with Mayor Wright.” The lawsuit alleges Armes received that information from current City Administrator Sabrina Combs.
The lawsuit states that “conflicts between Oborn and Mayor Wright began shortly after” Wright assumed office.
