Opponents of Waldport’s mayor have been given the green light to gather signatures to try to force her out of office. It means that for the second time since August, Waldport voters will be asked to sign a petition to recall an elected city official.
In recent months, relations between Mayor Heide Lambert, city council and Waldport City Manager Dann Cutter have been strained.
In early 2025, Cutter accused the organizers of the annual Beachcomber Days festival of financial misconduct, and thereby, the requested funding and support for this year’s festival was denied.
Some citizens who were upset with the decision sent hand-written complaints to the mayor.
On March 25, when the mayor found the letters opened in her city hall mailbox, she confronted the administrative staff. The letters were addressed to her, and she questioned why they had been opened.
Interactions between staff and the mayor became heated, according to staff letters sent to the city council. Administrative staff said they told the mayor that the established procedure for written complaints is to open the letter, scan the document, and forward it to the city manager.
Staff members said the mayor was abusive and out of line when she attempted to direct the actions of city staff and contradict protocol.
The city council conducted an executive hearing with the mayor about the disturbance.
The council then decided to use a 1996 amendment to the city charter to remove the mayor from office. The law was intended to prevent elected officials from personally directing the actions of city staff, effectively, an anti-cronyism measure that would prohibit a mayor or council member from telling city workers to pave their driveway, for instance.
On April 3, the city council voted unanimously to relieve the mayor of her duties.
Lambert submitted a letter to the council saying she intended to continue as mayor and attended the next regular city council meeting on April 10. Lambert sat in her usual chair.
She was asked to leave the seat but refused. Members of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office then escorted her from the chambers and cited her with disorderly conduct, though the Lincoln County District Attorney declined to file formal charges.
Lambert then took legal action and filed a formal Writ of Review in Lincoln County Circuit Court, a move that asked the court to review the rationale for her dismissal as mayor. Lambert argued she was denied due process.
Judge Sheryl Bachart requested the needed documents from the city to conduct the review and also issued a Writ of Stay, which put the mayor’s dismissal on hold until the court could fact find and formally rule on the issue.
On May 27, the Waldport City Council voted unanimously to reinstate Mayor Lambert to office. The resolution cited a reluctance to pay legal fees to continue the case against the mayor. The resolution also explicitly stated that the city would not pursue disciplinary action against Lambert.
The group Justice for Waldport formally organized on April 4, the day after Lambert’s removal from office. In November, after collecting more than the needed number of signatures for six city council recall elections, the petitions ultimately failed on a technicality.
Last Thursday, Waldport resident Susan Swander filed the needed paperwork to begin collecting signatures to initiate a recall of Lambert. Lambert says she was surprised by the filing, given the recent unity with council members regarding the opposition to a potential ICE detention facility in Waldport. The mayor says she plans to stay in office.
“Voters deserve to have fact-based information,” she said. “This entire petition is reliant on just opinion, and it's actually incomplete characterizations of the events or of me, and there's totally a lacking of documentation or evidence.”
The petition to recall Lambert lists many reasons for the recall, including accusations of making misleading statements, creating a hostile work environment, and that she “regularly participates in a podcast in which the host who denigrates the US military and police officers.”
Lambert said she’s hopeful that organizers will not be able to gather the needed number of signatures to force a recall vote.
“If this is their argument to remove me, I don't know if they're going to get the signatures that they need, because mostly they're accusing me of doing my job,” she said. “I'm trying to get transparency and a five-year-old audit in the public's eyes, and if that is what is offending the staff and creating all this turmoil, I hope that they just don't get the signatures.”
