Lind council attempts to vacate mayor’s seat

LIND — Lind Town Council members voted 3-0 to vacate Mayor Paula Bell from her position during the April 23 regular town council meeting, citing numerous complaints and claiming Bell violated her oath of office and refused to perform several of her duties.

Council members Robert Dew, Jim Weidemann and Jamie Schmunk voted to vacate Bell’s position. Council member Mike Wold abstained and council member Laura Dew was absent during the vote. The council appointed Schmunk as temporary mayor.

Background

“What's been happening in our town is terrible,” Dew said. “(Bell) lies to the council. She goes behind the council's back. She's not interested in applying for grants for the town, which is what we need … What we want at the end of the day is a mayor who is going to look after the town and be for the people, which she is not. She's always at loggerheads with the council. Nobody trusts her.”

Dew and Weidemann cited misfeasance and malfeasance as grounds for the vote to vacate the mayor’s position, which are terms listed in RCW 29A.56.110 — which deals with recalling an elected officer — referring to any wrongful conduct that interferes with the performance of official duty, the performance of duties in an improper manner or committing an unlawful act.

Bell declined to comment on the situation.

Dew said Bell has repeatedly refused to follow council directives and ordinances.

“She doesn't gravel the roads, the weeds aren’t sprayed; the sewers aren't flushed, which they should be, which has caused a lot of people problems,” he said.

According to the Washington Municipal Research and Services Center’s website, mayors of towns with a council-mayor form of government, such as Lind, have no power to veto ordinances created by the city council.

“(Bell) has been directed to search for grants that would pay for repairing and maintaining our water system, and she takes out loans or tries to take out loans without having searched for grants to pay for it,” Weidemann said. “This town cannot afford to continue down that road.”

Dew and Weidemann also cited the employment of Town Clerk-Treasurer Barbara Pence as another reason for the vote to remove Bell, specifically regarding Pence’s conviction of theft while working as the town of Hatton’s clerk.

According to previous reporting by The Spokesman-Review, Pence pleaded to a misdemeanor of third-degree theft in November 2020 and was ordered to pay $5,000 to the town of Hatton before being hired as Lind’s treasurer in July 2021, while she was still on probation.

Legal Ramifications

Pence said the town of Lind employs Larson Fowles, PLLC, as the town's legal firm and attorneys. However, Larson Fowles attorney Mitchell Heaps said he and the firm do not represent the town of Lind or its council members but solely represent Bell in her position as Mayor — not as personal representation. Heaps said Larson Fowles has always solely represented Bell and Lind’s previous two mayors, not the council.

Dew said he feels Heaps only representing Bell is a misuse of the town’s funds.

According to Washington RCW 35.27.250, the town attorney is obligated to represent all the town authorities and officers, including council members.

“The town attorney shall advise the town authorities and officers in all legal matters pertaining to the business of the town,” the RCW states.

Weidemann and Dew said Heaps refuses to respond to questions unless directed through Bell.

In an email to the Columbia Basin Herald, Heaps responded to the vote to vacate the Mayor’s position.

“The Town Council’s action to remove Ms. Bell is clearly invalid and of no legal force or effect. Mayor Bell was duly elected to that position and took office in 2018; she was reelected to a second term in 2022,” he wrote. “To remove her would require a petition for a recall election, allowing the electorate who voted her in to decide whether or not she should continue as mayor. This Council is familiar with that process because one of its members filed a petition for a recall election against Mayor Bell just last year. That petition was summarily dismissed by the Adams County Superior Court.”

Heaps also sent a letter to Lind’s city council members following the April 23 meeting.

“This firm represents the Mayor of the Town of Lind, Ms. Paula Bell, and serves at her pleasure relative to issues concerning town governance,” he wrote.

In the letter, Heaps said the council does not have a legal basis for declaring the position vacant under RCW 42.12.010, which lists what causes a “vacant” position.

“That provision outlines various causes of vacancy, including removal,” Heaps wrote. “But ‘removal’ is a formal legal process performed by recall under RCW 29A.56.”

RCW 42.12.010 also states the official’s conviction of a felony or any offense involving a violation of his or her official oath will also cause an elective office to become vacant.

Weidemann said he and Dew attempted to prevent Bell from resuming her work at Lind Town Hall the morning of April 24, but Bell refused to leave.

“We went outside and called the (Adams County) Sheriff's Office,” Weidemann said. “When they got there, they said, ‘Well, we'll talk to her and see what's going on,’ and then when they came out, they said, ‘Well, we talked to an attorney, and she has every right to be there and she's not going anywhere. She's still your mayor.’”

Weidemann said the ACSO officers did not state what legal counsel they consulted. The Sheriff’s Department was unavailable for comment regarding the situation.

Heaps’s letter to the council also threatened legal action.

“If you have taken, or plan to take, any actions in the wake of the motion to remove Ms. Bell as mayor, including the seating and swearing-in of her alleged interim replacement, please be advised that those actions are, likewise, frivolous and invalid,” he wrote. “If necessary, Ms. Bell is prepared to seek injunctive relief in a court of law should you attempt to continue your effort to remove and replace her in this manner.”

Lind resident Anna Dobbins was one of the petitioners for Bell’s recall, which was dismissed in the summer of 2023. Dobbins said she doesn’t trust Bell, and is fully in support of the council vacating Bell’s position.

“She's not maintaining our systems,” Dobbins said. “There's a lot of things where she has been directed by council to do things and she didn't want it, so she wouldn't allow it.”

Dobbins said her main reason for wanting Bell removed as mayor is because, according to Dobbins, Bell manages the city’s infrastructure, such as water or sewer systems, poorly, leading to maintenance issues and higher utility costs.

Dobbins said she has spoken to other Lind residents who support Bell.

According to both Dew and Weidemann, they are hoping to find legal representation for the city council.

“We still don't recognize her as mayor. At the next meeting, everything will be addressed to the temporary mayor, who we appointed,” Dew said.

Heaps said via email that the issue was embarrassing for the town and the council.

“Last week’s vote was an embarrassing attempt by the Lind Town Council to circumvent the statutorily prescribed recall process and could be viewed as a violation of their oath of office,” he wrote.

Dew said he is willing to fight any legal action resulting from the situation.

“We will not stop,” he said. “(Bell) has about 19 months still in office. We are still worried, as the council and the town, that in that time we're going to be in real trouble. Otherwise, we would have waited, but we had to stop it now.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com.