The effort to recall the mayor of Waldport has ended.
Petitioners seeking to recall Mayor Heide Lambert announced Tuesday they were aborting their effort just a day before they were required to submit petitions with at least the 192 signatures necessary to force a special election.
“Since the Mayor has declared that she will not run again and given the short time frame she has left in office and in consideration of the toll of a recall election, the committee has decided not to submit our petition,” chief petitioner Susan Swander said in a news release. “Though we have spoken to many and gathered signatures, after discussions with city leaders, the recall committee has decided not to move forward right now to save the time and cost of a recall election so close to the regular election.”
Petitioners had 90 days from the filing on Dec. 11 to collect signatures from registered Waldport voters.
Swander did not comment on whether enough signatures had been gathered when asked Wednesday by the Lincoln Chronicle.
“We decided to drop it because we knew she wouldn’t resign and so we didn’t want to force the city to spend the money on a special election,” Swander said.
Lambert was elected to a two-year term that began Jan. 1, 2025. The city council removed her from office last April 3 following a 6-0 vote that she violated the city charter for directing employees. She was re-instated by the council May 27 and it dropped charges that she violated the city charter.
The council’s decision came after an order by Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Sheryl Bachart to reinstate the mayor pending a legal review. Lambert has filed a lawsuit against the city for her removal.
The reason initially given by petitioners for attempting to recall Lambert was that she had created a hostile environment by raising her voice to city staff, interfered with the duties of the city manager and called Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies on city staff. They also claimed Lambert has made misleading statements regarding her involvement in a federal lawsuit against the city of Yachats while she was city manager there, accusing her of racial discrimination, workplace retaliation and denial of disability rights.
While Lambert has repeatedly said that she was dropped from that lawsuit Yachats officials confirmed Wednesday that she has not been.
Lambert took to her personal Facebook page Tuesday to repost the message by petitioners saying they were dropping the recall because she had declared she would not run again. Lambert said whether she runs again for mayor is “a decision I get to make, not them … but they continue to speak for me. I think it’s wishful thinking on their part.”
“I still haven’t decided if I will run again, they are trying to decide for me!” she replied to a Facebook comment.
The filing deadline for city offices is not until August.
“With the other 6 councilors currently being petitioned to be recalled, a lot can happen between now and then!” Lambert wrote.
Lambert later added that recall efforts ended because petitioners could not collect enough signatures and that they do not want to hand in the signatures collected because it would be public information, and that they were likely signed by “paid employees of the city and their family members (and council) because of the lies the city manager (and council) has spread over the last year.”
During a Jan. 28 interview on Newport-based radio station KYAQ, Lambert did say she would not run for mayor.
“I will be out of office next January,” Lambert said early in the interview. “A new mayor will come in.”
The show’s host did not pick up on the comment again until later in the interview when he asked if she was going to run again?
“No,” Lambert said. “I’m not.” She then laughed.
The radio host called it an “exclusive” revelation before going on to ask her if she would run for re-election if there were different council members.
“Maybe in a different election, you know maybe I would come back,” Lambert said. “Actually, I think that maybe I would at that point. But as far as, I’ve heard of a lot of good people in Waldport who do want to run.
“I think that that’s what I really believe in, is that we do need different people … and to take turns at it, not dominate it. And so yeah, no, I don’t, a year from now this will all be behind me …”
Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Garret@lincolnchronicle.org
