Morrow County Commissioner David Sykes, center, posts the colors Nov. 7, 2024, at Heppner High School in honor of Veterans Day. Sykes served in the Navy as a petty officer third class from 1968-72, during the Vietnam War.

IRRIGON — David Sykes, commissioner for Morrow County, abruptly left the board of commissioners’ regular meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18, in Irrigon while experiencing a medical emergency.

The meeting adjourned for a few minutes, with county counsel Justin Nelson announcing Sykes was being brought to the hospital in an ambulance for additional assessment, though he was walking, talking and alert when he left.

Sykes, who is about halfway through his term and serves as the board’s chair, was reading a proposal to fellow commissioners Jeff Wenholz and Roy Drago Jr. when he paused a few times, stuttering, before standing up and leaving the room.

According to Morrow County Administrator Matt Jensen, it was due to “a known medical condition.”

“The chair was able to walk to the ambulance on his own power and was able to communicate directly with first responders,” Jensen said in a statement. “Once Chair Sykes’s immediate well-being was assured, Commissioner Wenholz respectfully reconvened the meeting as vice-chair with the support of Commissioner Drago.”

This story will be updated if more information on Sykes’s condition is released.