Baker City Council in Turmoil over Mayor seat. Councilors & City Manager Speak Out
By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Friday, June 16th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY – This week’s Baker City Council Meeting was short lived when four members of the council chose not to participate in the meeting when councilor Beverly Calder claimed she was still mayor.
Calder was voted in as Mayor of Baker City in January 2023 by fellow councilors, however in April 2023 the council voted to remove Calder as Mayor and voted in Matthew Diaz. Information on that meeting and vote to remove Calder can be found at https://elkhornmediagroup.com/matthew-diaz-takes-reins-as-mayor-of-baker-city-after-beverly-calder-voted-out/
In Baker City, councilors are voted into their seats by the citizens, however the Mayor and Co-Mayor are voted in by sitting councilors.
This week Calder chose to “take a stand” and take her seat back, resulting in four fellow councilors, Mayor Matthew Diaz, Counselor Johnny Waggoner Sr, Councilor Dean Guyer and Councilor Nathan Hodgdon, not attending the meeting, thus denying a quorum.
Councilor Beverly Calder, Councilor Jason Spriet and Councilor Ray Duman remained at the meeting and attempted to move forward with the meeting. However, without a quorum the meeting was in “violation of state law and city charter”, according to City Manager Johnathan Cannon, who then chose to remove himself from the meeting, which he deemed to be unlawful.
Elkhorn Media Group has since reached out for comments from City Manager Cannon and all seven councilor members.
Below you will find statements from Manager Cannon and Councilors Hodgdon, Waggoner Sr and Calder. At this time no further statements have been made by the remaining councilors.
**Note that statements on this incident are being presented in the order in which they were received to the Elkhorn Media Group Newsroom.
From City Manager Cannon
“Four city councilors chose not to attend the scheduled City Council meeting on June 13, 2023. This resulted from a dispute in that Councilor Beverly Calder indicated she is the rightful Mayor of Baker City instead of Mayor Matthew Diaz. The four city councilors did not walk out of the meeting, three departed before the meeting began and one did not enter the Chambers. With only three of the four councilors in the room, a quorum was not achieved meaning a meeting of the Council could not be held. Councilor Calder referenced the City Charter and indicated they could hold a meeting, however the section of the Charter so referenced only allows a meeting to occur with less than a quorum in order to compel absent councilors to attend a meeting as provided by ordinance. I am unaware of any ordinance in the city that provides an enforcement mechanism for the provision which would compel the city councilors to attend. It seems that compelling city councilors to attend is the only situation where councilors can hold a meeting of the City Council without a quorum. When Councilor Calder indicated and proceeded to hold a meeting of the city council in violation of state law and the City Charter, I could not in good faith remain and participate in an unlawful meeting. I said as much in the meeting and left. City staff followed my lead and left the meeting following my departure.
Today, the City Attorney at my request issued a legal opinion regarding the selection of Mayor.”
The legal opinion is attached.
From Councilor Nathan Hodgon
“Regarding the dispute over the mayor seat, I take issue with the flimsy excuse that Councilor Calder was merely trying to uphold the charter because in her very next breath she violated it by attempting to hold a meeting and asked for motions without a quorum. If she wanted to revisit the topic, then her experience on council should have guided her to raise the topic for discussion and review which we could have done. The fact she unilaterally has attempted to usurp the role 2 months later without due process shows just how transparent her reasoning was even to her. What she did was illegal by any reasonable standard and may have cost her any standing she would have had in a discussion during a lawful council meeting. This action was profoundly unmayor-like and only confirms the wisdom in removing her in the first place. For the sake of the city and her own sake, I hope she sees reason and makes amends for her outrageous actions.”
From Johnny Waggoner Sr.
“I see Councilors Calders actions as here way to stay in the spotlight. She has said, she decided to sit in the mayors seat, as part due to conversation with City residents who told her they believe she is still officially mayor despite being removed from that position on April 11th by a majority of city council members. The city attorney statement is out there. I’m unsure who her personal attorney is that’s giving her advice. So until it’s settled I will not be attending any city council meetings that Mayor Diaz is not the chair of. Unless it’s an emergency situation such as budget. Councilor Calder can cry me a river until that time, or go tell it on the mountain it’s her choice.”
From Beverly Calder
“I love Baker City and was honored to be chosen as mayor, according to the rules of the City Charter last January. My goal was to help the council restore our sense of community by creating more engagement and more open communication. I worked to inspire cooperation and participation and sought to bring community voices and values into each council meeting.
Our council was able to appoint volunteers to fill every commission. We chose goals focused on building partnerships, improved livability, increased communication,
and sustainable funding. We adopted rules to include more citizen participation and courtesy amongst the council. We did all of this in the first 100 days of my term as Mayor.
It was obvious there had been coordination between members of council and the city manager when Councilor Guyer made a motion on April 11th- in the last 5 minutes of a 3 hour meeting – to remove me as mayor. His stated reason was because he did not approve of a letter to the editor I had written, a letter written to inform the citizens of discussions coming before the council. In fact, Dean Guyer told me last fall that his priority was to protect City Manager Jon Cannon.
The council has public meetings so that the community has time to review the items of discussion and participate in the decisions before the council. The council rules define how items are placed on the agenda and how the community may participate. The rules of council also address the matter of the council supporting decisions made by the council.
On Tuesday night, I made a decision to stand up against the bullying that does not belong in our council chambers. I felt I had an obligation to every little girl, every young woman and every person that does not feel represented, nor respected, in our community to have the courage to speak up and take a stand.
I will continue to serve my community with honor and I will always strive to represent the best interests of the entire community.”
Additional comments from councilors will be added as they are received.
A video of the short council meeting can be found at https://bakercityor.portal.civicclerk.com/event/167/media?fbclid=IwAR2nkzk7XARj1b4P8e4mU4te_2wQoytBbUOBe_5b0ZlY9uq4PCCxmksAN_I
On Thursday, June 15, 2023, the Baker City Council was able to come together for City Council Special Call Session where they voted Jon France as Interim City Manager. France was one of four applications. Current City Manager Jonathan Cannon announced his resignation earlier this month.
