A Corvallis city councilor says the city’s attempts to remove her from office are unconstitutional. She’s suing the city in an effort to block her ouster.
Last fall, Charlyn Ellis attempted to pass a motion directing the city manager to quickly fill a vacant job that supported the city’s climate action advisory board. She said the continued vacancy was making it difficult for the group to make progress on climate change projects.
Corvallis leaders said her actions violated the charter, which forbids attempts to influence the city manager’s hiring and firing decisions.
Ellis said she believed that section of the charter was designed to prevent cronyism and if the city follows through on their interpretation, it will disenfranchise her constituents.
“I am their funnel into city government,” she said. “When you silence me, you’re silencing the people in my ward.”
The city council was scheduled to hold a due process hearing to decide whether she would forfeit her office on Feb. 5. After her lawsuit was filed, her forfeiture hearing was postponed.
Ellis has asked for a judge to rule on whether that section of the city’s charter, and the city council’s process is constitutional. She is seeking attorney’s fees and $1 in damages.
She said the token financial award she’s seeking demonstrates that in this case, it’s the principle that matters.
“I wanted to make it very clear that city councilors and other volunteers sitting on boards have free speech,” she said.
A memorandum authored by the outside attorneys hired by the city of Corvallis to handle the forfeiture proceedings was included in Ellis’ court filings.
In that document, attorneys argue that her actions, making motions about city manager hiring decisions, and telling members of her committee to attend the city council meeting where she planned to make those motions, interfered with the city manager’s authority.
“Coercion or influence can be either direct or indirect, and in this case Councilor Ellis was attempting to use the Council as her means of coercion or influence,” the memorandum read.
They argued that there were legal ways for Ellis to address her concerns about the climate board, such as telling the city manager that they couldn’t meet because there was no staff person available to assist with their meetings.
They also noted that the charter does not ban people who forfeit their council seat from running for the same office again.
A city of Corvallis spokesperson said the city would not be providing a statement on the lawsuit.
