Wallace M. Telford v. Clackamas County Housing Authority, Ralph Groener, Robert Schumacher, Jono D. Hildner

This case concerns the validity of an employment contract between Mr. Telford and the former Board of Housing Commissioners for the Clackamas County Housing Authority, and the resulting property interest enjoyed by Mr. Telford. The validity of the contract depends upon whether, under Oregon law, Telford was to perform proprietary or governmental functions. The magistrate held that the contract called for governmental functions, and could not extend beyond the Housing Commissioners’ terms of office.

Reviewing the magistrate’s decision de novo, we find that Telford performed proprietary rather than governmental functions. Thus, the length of his contract was limited only by reasonableness and good faith rather than by the Housing Commissioners’ own terms of office. We reverse.

I

Facts

Wallace Telford was the Executive Director and Secretary-Treasurer of the Clac-kamas County Housing Authority from July 1, 1953 to July 28, 1977. He was highly qualified and operated one of the two housing authorities in the nation that required no operating subsidy from HUD (Pretrial Order, Stipulated Facts).

On December 9, 1976, the Housing Authority contracted to employ Telford in that same…