To the editor:
I am a 28-year, full-time resident of Yachats who has witnessed the governing abilities and acts of many different Yachats mayors and City Council members over that time. At various points during these years, I have spoken out, questioned, proposed changes, and so on at City Council meetings and in correspondence with members of the council.
I have never before, however, been alarmed about the functioning of the mayor and council as I am now. It’s an alarm that motivates me to suggest a recall petition for each of them. The individual petitions advocate the individual recall of the mayor and each Yachats City Council member in light of the following facts:
- The mayor and council effectively orchestrated the departure of the previous city manager (Shannon Beaucaire), the administrative assistant (Anita Sites), the facilities manager (Heather Hoen), the chair of the Parks and Commons Commission (Dawn Keller).
- The mayor and council chose to pay Tom Lauritzen, a resident of Yachats, $55 an hour as a financial consultant, a salary that in yearly terms that exceeds the yearly $48,000 salary offered to a former city administrative assistant to become part of the Yachats City Hall staff again, and that far exceeds the yearly salary of the current deputy city recorder.
- The mayor and council continue to be derelict in their duties, failing to rectify the consequences of the actions they have taken and to initiate actions that allow the city government to function smoothly and efficiently.
In consequence of the above facts, to which more could be added, the mayor and council have effectively decimated city government, overloading both the interim city manager and the deputy city recorder with responsibilities, concerns, issues, and work far beyond what is normal to their positions.
The mayor and council have, in effect, shown their incompetence to work on behalf of the city and indeed to fulfill the Yachats City Council’s vision statement that was formulated in 1996, that is printed on every monthly city Newsletter, and that was created as an “Active Vision to Create Community.”
Newspapers and news reports confirm the incompetence of the mayor and council.
They write, for example, of ongoing dissent at city meetings (Newport News-Times, Aug. 18, 2021): “Less than a week after multiple members of the Yachats City Council voiced frustrations about the current council’s inability to proactively fill key job vacancies at city hall more than six months into its tenure, a special meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 11, called to speed the process of hiring a permanent city manager and an administrative assistant to help with multiple city functions, erupted into further chaos.”
They write, for example, of the council’s “ongoing thrashing around” (YachatsNews.com, Aug. 19, 2021): “The Yachats City Council resumed its public thrashing around Wednesday over hiring a former contractor to handle some bookkeeping and administrative functions at City Hall after she turned down a job offer that contained a council-mandated salary that she considered too low.”
They write, for example, of departures and resignations that throw the administration “into turmoil” (“Sudden departure of two Yachats City Hall staffers stalls re-opening plans for Commons, throws administration into turmoil,” YachatsNews.com, May 27, 2021): “Hoen told YachatsNews that office dysfunction, the lack of specific job descriptions, and the inability of city managers to deal with or correct personnel issues led to her departure. “
They write, for example, of the council’s “scrambling to fill finance position” (Newport News-Times, July 23, 2021): “A late addition to this week’s Yachats City Council meeting agenda caused the council to take a hard look at itself, and face a few of its deficiencies.”
If you are interested in supporting these petitions to recall the Yachats mayor and each member of the City Council, kindly contact me at msj@pioneer.net
— Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, Yachats
