By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle
WALDPORT – The mayor of Waldport has been fired.
The Waldport city council voted unanimously to remove newly-elected mayor Heide Lambert from office for violating the city charter after first asking for her resignation during a special meeting Thursday.
The whole affair involves the continued fight between the Waldport Beachcomber Days organization, city manager Dann Cutter and the city council and Lambert’s attempt to have the council – at Beachcomber supporters’ urging – investigate him for misconduct.
The request for Lambert’s resignation involved improperly directing an employee under the city manager’s supervision and came from councilor Greg Dunn at the end of Thursday’s hearing.
“I believe, mayor, you did violate the charter,” Dunn said. “It’s my opinion that you’ve been very deceitful in your actions in doing things that go behind our back, you know — wanting to talk to the attorneys, what you did here in city hall, kind of mirrors the lawsuit in Yachats with hostile work environment. I don’t want that going on. And I don’t want that to continue … I would ask for your resignation.”
“I agree with Greg,” councilor Jerry Townsend said. Other councilors also agreed.
“Would you agree to resign?” Dunn asked Lambert.
Lambert turned to the city’s attorney, who attended the meeting, and asked for her options.
Attorney Corey Blake said if councilors believed the allegations in the complaints filed by office manager Robin Morris and finance manager Ellen Valentine, they could ask for Lambert’s resignation, vote for her removal, or reprimand her.
The letters from Morris and Valentine allege Lambert violated the charter under the section detailing “interference in administration.” It reads in part “No member of the council shall directly or indirectly … attempt to direct any city officer or employee under the (city) manager’s supervision in the performance of their duties.”
The employee letters said Lambert came to city hall March 25 and demanded they carry out specific tasks pertaining to scanning 12 letters of complaint about Cutter and then email them to her and the council.
At the hearing, Dunn repeated his question to Lambert.
“Basically, what I was saying is in lieu of us removing you, I’d like to give you the option to resign.”
“I genuinely feel I made a mistake … I genuinely was trying to collaborate with council in trying to learn my position and I, I’m awed that this is where we’re at right now,” Lambert said.
Councilor Susan Woodruff said she wished the council had seen “any collaboration” from Lambert, who responded she wished she had the opportunity. Woodruff noted it seemed obvious that Lambert, based on previous statements, was questioning council decisions and was “in league with the complaints against the city manager.”
The letters of complaint centered on Cutter’s handling of issues surrounding Waldport Beachcombers Days’ permits at the end of last year. The letters contained only very slight variations, according to council members, who noted they came from people with ties to Beachcombers.
Lambert responded to Woodruff, saying she was simply trying to learn the circumstances of what had transpired.
“It just seems like you’ve been critical of Dann,” Woodruff said. “Obviously you haven’t been here before this year but you can’t imagine the change that we have seen in so much in this city, what he’s been able to do, how he works with people … we’ve checked off so many things we’ve had on our list for a couple decades. And it’s just really troubling to have someone coming in who seems like they have no respect for any of us really.”
“Or trust,” Townsend added.
“Or trust,” Woodruff said. “So it’s really hard to trust you, for us, because of this. Just a strange way to come to a new job and then just start barreling around … it’s really strange for us.”
Lambert said that was not her intention.
“I was just asking questions and trying to get informed … I am not going to resign,” she said. “And if you guys want to vote then that is up to you.”
The council then voted 6-0 to remove Lambert.
“I’m sorry it had to come to this, I really am,” Dunn said. “I think from all of us, we wish you the best of luck.”
“Thank you, I wish you all the best of luck as well,” said Lambert, who then left the meeting.
Events leading to removal
The letters of complaint about Cutter’s handling of Beachcombers issues arrived at city hall over several days, with most arriving March 24. An email notifying council members of the letters was sent that same day. Lambert said she did not receive that email; councilors all said they had.
Lambert went to city hall the next day and discovered the letters, which were addressed to her — some saying confidential — had been opened. In the hearing, Lambert was told that all incoming correspondence to council members are opened, that all are public record and are never confidential.
According to the allegations in Morris’ letter, Lambert retrieved the letters and began “ordering in a demanding tone (to) scan all the council members copies of these letters.”
Morris called on Valentine, who had scanned the letters on behalf of another employee, to join her in explaining the procedures to Lambert. Morris said Lambert spoke to the two women in “a very harsh tone” and continued to question them. Morris said they told Lambert she would need to speak to Cutter.
“I have worked for the city for almost nine years, I have never had a council person speak to me in this manner, question my actions or demand that I do something that is not a part of my job description prior to Mayor Lambert,” wrote Morris, who added in the complaint letter that the incident had “shaken” her.
Valentine began her letter council by saying “I am writing to call to your attention, the unacceptable and aggressive behavior of Mayor Heide Lambert …”
Valentine wrote that Lambert demanded to know why the letters had not been scanned to her and the council. Valentine said Lambert was told they had been and that Cutter or the staff member normally tasked with that would email the letters. Valentine said Lambert then said all the letters were complaints against Cutter.
“How could she possibly be aware of the contents of the letters without having read them is beyond me,” Valentine wrote. She said Lambert “continued to insist, demand and interrogate the two of us.”
Valentine wrote that she is not easily intimidated but that Lambert’s behavior was not only “out of line, but was also a violation of the city charter.” And that when Lambert was told she would need to speak with Cutter she responded “I won’t be speaking with Dann. I will be speaking with legal counsel.”
Valentine characterized the interaction as a “seriously troubling matter.”
Lambert’s response
At the onset of the hearing, which was public at Lambert’s request, it was made clear that if councilors determined that Morris’ and Valentine’s letters were factual, they could respond by disciplining or dismissing Lambert.
Lambert’s written response was included in a packet to councilors that contained information not then made public, along with the letters from Morris and Valentine and the letters of complaint against Cutter.
Lambert stated she was not aware the letters from the staff were complaints.
“I would also like to mention that up until now with nearly 30 years of experience supervising and managing over a thousand employees both in the private sector and the government sector, these are the first letters I have received questioning my leadership abilities,” Lambert said. “In my entire career I have never received a formal complaint from an employee in regards to my management skill.”
Lambert was elected mayor last November, defeating councilor Melaia Kilduff 699 to 533, and took office in January. But she was no newcomer to local government.
She served on the Waldport planning commission and budget committee before being elected to the city council in 2020. She left the council in February 2022 to become Yachats city manager, but resigned after 15 months after a change in the mayor and council there and turmoil with city staff. She now works with Trauma Informed Oregon.
On Thursday, Lambert brought her last two evaluations as a manager, one from Portland State University and one from the city of Yachats “where there was no disciplining or any objections to my management.”
Lambert then read her letter of response, saying she was concerned that her statements and demeanor “though misinterpreted, might have contributed to feelings of unease, and I apologize for not realizing this at the time.”
“Each letter includes descriptions and interpretations of my demeanor, tone of voice, and body language,” Lambert wrote. “In addition, both writers make inferences about my emotional state and what I was feeling, as well as assumptions about my intentions and knowledge of what was included in the mail that I picked up. While I want to be accountable for anything I may have said or done that caused either of these employees to feel ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘intimidated,’ I am baffled by the allegations and do not believe I was ‘aggressive.’ Nor do I think I violated the city charter.”
The letter went on to say Lambert was approached by a community member who had written a letter of complaint about the city manager. Lambert wrote that she hoped to collaborate with the council and the city’s attorney on strategies to mitigate “distress among community members.”
To that end, she first contacted the League of Oregon Cities to inquire about resources to help and was advised to contact the city’s insurance carrier, which handles litigation that affects the city’s insurance. Lambert said that lawyer told her to go to the city clerk and request the complaints be scanned and sent to council members and the city attorney.
When she went to city hall March 25 to follow that advice, Lambert said, Valentine informed her it is the city’s policy to open and scan all letters to council members — regardless of whether they say private or confidential.
“And I admit to being taken aback by that,” Lambert wrote. “In fact, I felt as though my privacy had been somewhat violated.”
Lambert’s written response went on to say she was not experiencing any feelings of anger or hostility toward the staff and that she hoped she and the council could move forward to work on the important issues confronting Waldport.
The council and Lambert then entered into a discussion which eventually led to her dismissal.
That discussion between council members and Lambert centered on what she described as unease and uncertainty how to treat letters of complaint against Cutter after staff directed her have the city manager handle them.
But councilors said Lambert appeared to be acting on her own in by contacting the insurance company and city attorney and not working with the council.
Dunn said that he and Lambert met together twice with Cutter to discuss issues.
“Even in those meetings, you want to take duties away from Dann, saying (he) needed to be pulled away from Beachcombers … to step away,” Dunn said. “It gives the wrong input to people that he must have done something wrong … I think that you’re trying to run a one person show when there’s a whole group of us … and that worries me greatly, that you do that.”
At that point Dunn brought up federal lawsuits from Lambert’s time in Yachats.
“Now, you said you have your reviews — you never had issues before?” Dunn asked. “There’s not an ongoing litigation in Yachats for a hostile work environment, at all?”
“Yeah, I believe that there is, but … I’ve been pulled from that,” Lambert said.
Other councilors chimed in to say that was not the case.
“So, to me it’s like a pattern,” Dunn said. “And that worries me. I just don’t want the city to be caught up in that kind of stuff. And you being a city council member before, you being a city manager, you should know the rules on how to operate. And by you saying ‘Well I didn’t know this or I didn’t know that,’ that concerns me. Are you not reading the rules, are you not reading the handbooks?”
Lambert said she has been, but that in other cities “you don’t talk to the council about complaints.”
“If you’re part of a council you don’t talk to the councilors?” Woodruff asked.
“No, not until you talk to the attorneys and you look at the evidence,” Lambert said.
The council went on to make clear to Lambert that they feel she has no confidence or trust in them or the city manager.
“You stated that ‘We as a council did not act on the complaint filed by Beachcombers,’ which we did,” Woodruff said. “You also stated that ‘Dann needs to step away from this and that our attorney may not know or be able to do his job’ because in your eyes we are going to get sued by Beachcombers.”
Lambert responded that she could see the city being sued and that it was Cutter who said he would sue if his essential duties were removed. “So I felt like I was cornered.”
“It is your agenda that is worrisome,” Woodruff said.
“My agenda was to get information,” Lambert said.
Cutter told the council it was not until Lambert met with Beachcombers that any mention of an investigation into his actions came into play.
“At that time at no point has Beachcombers ever suggested an investigation,” he said. “I would say 12 out of the 12 letters, including (one) that’s not pertinent, all now use that refrain.”
Shortly after that Dunn asked for Lambert’s resignation.
Moving forward
The council will discuss at its next meeting how the mayoral vacancy will be handled. The city charter says vacancies in elective offices shall be filled by appointment by a majority of the council and that the appointee’s term begins immediately after appointment and continues until the beginning of the year following the next general election.
If the vacancy occurs more than eight months before the general election, the appointment shall continue until the successor for the unexpired term is chosen at the earliest practicable special election after the vacancy occurs.
Council can also choose not to appoint someone as mayor and instead wait for the next election.
- Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for the Lincoln Chronicle, formerly YachatsNews, and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
Past stories on this site have detailed the alleged improprieties of the Beachcomber Days leadership. Cutter has been right all along, and now this attempt to subvert him. The Beachcomber group is toxic. The city should have no further dealings with it whatsoever.