Bye, Bye, Brad!
At the end of the last council meeting, Councilor Mayerle announced that he and his wife bought a new home in another town, and he was resigning as of last Friday because he would no longer be a resident of Manzanita.
He alluded to the private and seemingly secret sale of the mayor’s home on Treasure Cove a few weeks ago. Some people hearing his remarks were confused because the mayor has yet to make a public statement about the sale of her home and the removal of her full-time residence from Manzanita to Wilsonville. It’s unclear what her plans are, where she’s living now or how much time she’s now spending in Manzanita, and I won’t speculate.
Issues of transparency aside, many people in town are sensitive about residency issues since the 2020 election when some people in town were accused of voter fraud by other people in town. Yikes. In fact, the mayor’s husband contacted the State’s election division about residency requirements for voters in 2022.
At the end of the last meeting Mayerle read this passage from the Charter:
Section 32. What Creates Vacancy. An office shall be deemed vacant upon the incumbent’s death, incompetence, conviction of a felony, resignation, removal of residency from the City, ceasing to possess the qualifications for office or absent from the City for thirty days without the consent of the Council…
The wording is interesting. It’s the action by a councilor or mayor that creates the vacancy. The action might be intentional, like moving or resigning or unintentional, like death or incompetence or some kind of hybrid, like being convicted of a felony, but regardless of how it happens, the office is vacant when an action by a councilor or mayor precipitates it.
When you’re a public official some things are no longer just your private business because they determine your ability to govern. Where you live and for how long are a couple of those things.
Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com