Waldport City Council Recall – Organizers Gathering Signatures Ahead of Early October Deadline

by Brian Bahouth

The story behind the effort to recall six Waldport City Councilmembers is sordid and raucous and ongoing.

The story begins early this year with a decision to deny a City of Waldport grant to the annual Beachcomber Days festival.

Waldport City Manager Dann Cutter accused the organizers of Beachcomber Days of financial misconduct, and thereby, the requested funding and support for this year’s festival was denied.

Back and forth accusations of unadjudicated malfeasance have ensued and continue. The civic dialogue on social media has been nothing short of nasty.

Some citizens upset with the Beachcomber Days decision sent written complaints to the mayor.

On March 25, when the mayor found the letters opened in her city hall mailbox, she confronted the administrative staff. The letters were addressed to her.

Interactions between staff and the mayor became heated, according to staff letters sent to the city council. Administrative staff said they told the mayor that the procedure for written complaints is to open the letter, scan the document, and forward it to the city manager.

Staff members said the mayor was abusive and out of line when she attempted to direct the actions of city staff and contradict protocol.

The city council conducted an executive hearing with the mayor about the disturbance.

The council then decided to use a 1996 amendment to the city charter to remove the mayor from office. The law was intended to prevent elected officials from directly directing the actions of city staff, effectively, an anti-cronyism measure that would prohibit a mayor or council member from telling city workers to pave their driveway, for instance.

On April 3, the city council voted unanimously, (6-0) to relieve the mayor of her duties.

Heide Lambert submitted a letter to the council saying she intended to continue as mayor and attended the next regular city council meeting on April 10. Lambert sat in a council member chair.

According to accounts, Lambert was asked to leave the seat but refused. Members of the Lincoln Count Sheriff’s office then escorted her from the chambers and cited her with disorderly conduct, though the Lincoln County District Attorney declined to file formal charges.

Lambert then took legal action and filed a formal Writ of Review in Lincoln County Circuit Court, a move that asked the court to review the rationale for her dismissal as mayor. Lambert argued she was denied due process.

Judge Sheryl Bachart requested the needed documents from the city to conduct the review and also issued a Writ of Stay, which put the mayor’s dismissal on hold until the court could fact find and formally rule on the issue.

On May 27, the Waldport City Council voted unanimously (6-0) to reinstate Mayor Lambert to office. The resolution cited a reluctance to pay legal fees to continue the case against the mayor. The resolution also explicitly stated that the city would not pursue disciplinary action against Lambert.

The group Justice for Waldport formally organized on April 4, the day after the expulsion of Mayor Lambert from city hall chambers. Tony Thimakis is chief petitioner of the recall.

“I got involved when they removed the mayor from office,” Thimakis told me sitting in his kitchen. “Six people decided that they could remove an elected official just on their own authority, and I complained to the city. I don’t believe it’s right. Nothing I can find says it’s a legal way to do it. Everything points that the only way to remove an elected official from office is a recall.”

The mayor and select city council members did not respond to a request for an interview before publication of this article, but I did speak with Waldport City Manager Dann Cutter.

Cutter began volunteer municipal service in Waldport in 2000. He was on the Planning Commission for six years, and then spent 12 years on the City Council, and then was elected mayor. He was hired as city manager roughly three years ago. I asked Cutter to describe the mayor’s ejection from City Hall.

Cutter said the council made the decision after the hearing with the mayor regarding her confrontation with staff.

“At that time, the council then decided that, okay, this is an opportunity to, unfortunately, let the mayor go. That’s a big step, and it’s a step that I think if the council were to go back and look at, they might look at some other ways of doing it, given everything that’s happened. But at the same time, it’s important to recognize that the council was doing so to protect the staff, not me.”

I asked how the police became involved in removing the mayor.

“A very abrupt step to remove the mayor was taken, and at the time, we thought, okay, things are going to be, you know, settle back down, and we’ll get back into a strong working relationship.

“And then the mayor decided to come in and sit down at the council meeting,” Cutter said. “And regardless of whether her ouster was, you know, correct or not, we couldn’t just have her run the council meeting after that action was taken, and we had talked to the sheriff’s office and said, okay, hey, something needs to happen. You need to either ask her to move out of her seat or something. And they chose to have her cited for criminal mischief. Unfortunately, the district attorney did not agree.”

And no charges were ultimately filed against the mayor. Cutter told me the move to oust the mayor was not an affront to the democratic process.

“A thing for Waldport citizens to understand, it wasn’t to try to take away their vote. The Walport citizens voted this measure to remove a council member or a mayor in in 1996. It was really enforcing a decision that they made 30 years ago that said, hey, there may come a time when somebody acts out of bounds and you need to rein them in.”

Since the mayor has been reinstated, Tony Thimakis has attended City Council meetings and says there seems to be a toxic and irreconcilable working relationship between the mayor, city councilors, and city manager.

 “I’ve been to the city council meetings. There’s tension in the air. I mean, there is no trying to work together. It’s like little kids in a corner, you know, they just don’t want to play with each other. And you can feel it when you’re there. They make no effort.”

In a way, Dann Cutter agrees with Thimakis. Cutter said it has become difficult to run the city government as currently seated. Since the council voted to reinstate the mayor, Heide Lambert is on the record saying she wants a return to professional normalcy in city government, but Dann Cutter says the working relationship between city council, his office and the mayor is badly damaged and not getting any better.

“We are seeing continual very hostile behavior from her (the Mayor) at meetings, diminishing my role in almost any action, and trying to downplay the ability of the council to make any decisions,” Cutter said.

Justice for Waldport volunteers are actively gathering signatures. The group would not discuss the number of signatures collected so far. Thimakis described what he’s seeing and hearing when out knocking on doors.

“From what I’ve seen, probably most of the people in the city have no idea what’s going on. When we’re talking to them, I’m finding out when we tell them what’s happening, they are just appalled, and they don’t know, so they’re not on social media. There’s a vocal group on both sides on social media that are probably making this look much worse than it is, but a lot of people have been hurt.”

Lincoln County Clerk Amy Suthwell told me she encourages petitioners to gather many more signatures than needed because not all voters meet the criteria.

Recall organizers have until October 12 to gather 192 signatures for each city council seat. If Justice for Waldport gathers enough signatures and submits them to the Waldport City Recorder by the deadline, the Lincoln County Clerk will then verify that the signators are valid, active Waldport voters.

If the county clerk certifies the requisite number of signatures, the Waldport City Recorder will then notify the council members being recalled that they have five days to either resign or submit a letter of justification. Either way, a vote is then scheduled to occur within 35 days.

The ballot would not present contrasting candidates but would pose the question of whether to retain or remove the councilmember. The recall process and associated paperwork must be enacted for each councilmember to be recalled.

The mayor is technically a councilmember but is not an object of the recall effort.

If the recall elections result in a loss of quorum on the Waldport City Council (three plus the mayor is a quorum), then the Lincoln County Commissioners would appoint only enough councilmembers to create a quorum. For example, if all six recalls were successful, commissioners would make three appointments . If only three or fewer are successful, no appointments will be necessary.

Dann Cutter said the situation is all but irreconcilable, and Tony Thimakis agrees. The back and forth salvos on social media have damaged reputations and community relationships.

For Thimakis, the City Council’s move to oust the mayor warrants a recall, even if they rescinded the decision.

“I think it’s important it goes on a ballot. I mean, whether you agree or disagree, we get it on a vote, then at least we decide. And I believe my vote’s important. I mean, that’s why I got upset when they removed the mayor. We have a voting system. I try and tell my kids they need to vote. So for somebody to take that right away, that’s a big deal.”