Waldport Council Fires The Mayor

According to Waldport City Manager Dann Cutter he recently received complaints from his staff regarding how they were treated by Mayor Heide Lambert. She was reportedly upset regarding some mail that she had received that had already been opened. She asked staff to scan the letters, which were reported to be complaints about the city manager from members of the Beachcombers Days committee. The matter escalated and resulted in the Mayor leaving and staff filing complaints. Cutter said he took those complaints along with complaints that he had received about himself from community members to the council. He said Lambert's actions created a violation of the Waldport City Charter rule 21, which prevents the direction of city staff by an elected official.

Upon review of the process and legality of the complaint and in the oversight of the city attorney after the hearing and deliberation there were concerns of potential lawsuits against the city based on the Mayor's behavior and her refusal to appologize Lambert was given the opportunity to resign but refused and Council voted unanimously to remove the Mayor from office for her actions, as is authorized under the City Charter. "This is a very tough time for the city of Waldport" Cutter added. Citizens who voted for Lambert are upset about the decision. It is being questioned if the city charter can override state law, which would require a recall, after the elected official has been in office for at least six months.

City Manager Cutter noted that this did not need to happen. "They did not take this step lightly, but upon examination of the evidence found that the Mayor’s actions were a clear violation of this rule, and contradictory to instruction previously received and the Charter, exposing the city to legal action by the employees regarding the hostile environment created." When asked why she did not receive some type of warning regarding her actions Cutter said the council looked at the fact that she had been a city council member before and had previous experience as a government leader that she should know that she should have known better. The council will be discussing their next steps at their regular council meeting this Thursday.