Author: North Coast BBQ

Bye, Bye, Brad!

At the end of the last council meeting, Councilor Mayerle announced that he and his wife bought a new home in another town, and he was resigning as of last Friday because he would no longer be a resident of Manzanita.

He alluded to the private and seemingly secret sale of the mayor’s home on Treasure Cove a few weeks ago. Some people hearing his remarks were confused because the mayor has yet to make a public statement about the sale of her home and the removal of her full-time residence from Manzanita to Wilsonville. It’s unclear what her plans are, where she’s living now or how much time she’s now spending in Manzanita, and I won’t speculate.

Issues of transparency aside, many people in town are sensitive about residency issues since the 2020 election when some people in town were accused of voter fraud by other people in town. Yikes. In fact, the mayor’s husband contacted the State’s election division about residency requirements for voters in 2022.

At the end of the last meeting Mayerle read this passage from the Charter:

Section 32. What Creates Vacancy. An office shall be deemed vacant upon the incumbent’s death, incompetence, conviction of a felony, resignation, removal of residency from the City, ceasing to possess the qualifications for office or absent from the City for thirty days without the consent of the Council…

The wording is interesting. It’s the action by a councilor or mayor that creates the vacancy. The action might be intentional, like moving or resigning or unintentional, like death or incompetence or some kind of hybrid, like being convicted of a felony, but regardless of how it happens, the office is vacant when an action by a councilor or mayor precipitates it.

When you’re a public official some things are no longer just your private business because they determine your ability to govern. Where you live and for how long are a couple of those things.

Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

These are “heavy” times, colloquially speaking.

Forebodings everywhere.

Everything broken.

People on edge, nervous, filled with anxiety about they know not what since it seems to be everything.

The economy, politics, elections, endless propaganda, the war in Ukraine, censorship, the environment, nuclear war, Covid/vaccines, a massive world-wide collapse, the death of democratic possibilities, the loss of all innocence as a very weird and dangerous future creeps upon us, etc.

Only the most anesthetized don’t feel it.

The anxiety has increased even as access to staggering amounts of knowledge – and falsehoods – has become available with the click of a button into the digital encyclopedia.

The CIA’s MK-Ultra mind control program has gone digital.

The more information, the more insubstantial the world seems, but it is not an insubstantiality that connects to hope or faith but to despair.

Across the world people are holding their breath. What’s next?

Case A. Request by Deb Tinnin for 5 years of emails between myself and our current Mayor and Council, past Councils and the City Attorney. She emphasized that she would like this request filled “as soon as possible”.
City Response: The City Manager sends the Council a notice that “Your immediate attention is needed!” and you have a little more than 48 hours to comply with Ms. Tinnin’s request.
City Attorney Review: 478 pages submitted to Ms. Tinnin with NO City Attorney charges for review.

Results: In the City’s haste to comply with this request, non public information of a citizen is released and disclosed on the internet for all to see. No acknowledgment of this error or public apology is given.

Case B. Request by myself for the City Manager’s current monthly salary and benefit costs.
City Response: I’m initially told that the City does not have that information and am reminded that the City has 15 business days to respond to a public records request. After I suggest to staff where this information can be found, the City acknowledges that it does indeed have the information.
City Attorney Review: My one page document containing this public information will require City Attorney review and I will be charged $329.37 before I can receive it.

I made this exact same Public Records request to Cannon Beach and received all of the information requested within 48 hours. No excuses that they did not have the information, no reminder that there is no urgency on their part to fill a public records request, no City attorney review, no City Attorney charges, in fact no fees of any kind.

This is an example of how Club Manzanita operates. Members in good standing get VIP treatment, non members in essence get told to take a number, get your checkbook out and we’ll get back to you.

The right to equal treatment and to not be singled out due to asking questions or making public observations as to how its local government conducts itself is a foundational right of every citizen. Councilor Kozlowski claims that asking such questions amounts to “harassment and intimidation”. Unnecessary obstacles to the release of public records becomes acceptable and the City Manager advises the Council that individuals who exercise their rights should be “discouraged and even ignored if necessary”.

The advantages of Club membership are obvious. Members first get Committee appointments and when the occasion arises, selection to fill vacant Council seats. Looks like the Council will soon be appointing another citizen to fill a vacant Council seat. If this trend continues, Manzanita may soon have a Council the majority of which were not elected to office and all seem to be Members in good standing. Something to think about.

Randy Kugler