Winlock Mayor Don Bradshaw speaks during a mayors meeting in January, 2020 at the Lewis County Historical Courthouse in Chehalis.
Winlock Mayor Don L. Bradshaw resigned on Monday, March 2 from his position as mayor for medical reasons that Bradshaw said were induced by a stressful work environment.
“We have a very vicious out of control new city council and they have created such an atmosphere of hate within the staff and they have been attacking me with nothing but lies and phony accusations. I’ve had a couple of heart attacks and I was trying to hang on but my health has failed due to the constant harassment by The Town Crier, Lewis County News spreading lie after lie,” said Bradshaw on Tuesday afternoon.
Bradshaw, who is in his late 70s, said that he suffered a heart attack last week and that he “had to get out of there just for survival right now.”
Bradshaw was elected as a write-in candidate in the Nov. 2017 general election and took office Jan. 1 2018. His current term was to last until Dec. 31, 2021. According to the Lewis County Auditor’s office, Bradshaw won with 37.45 percent of the vote leading current Winlock City Councilor Lonnie Dowell, 33.59 percent and Tim White who received 27.80 percent of the vote. Bradshaw also served as mayor from 1992 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2002, according to a past Chronicle article.
“I wish him well and speedy recovery and I hope he enjoys retirement. That’s about all I’m comfortable saying at this point,” said Mayor Pro-tem Brandon Svenson.
At the Feb. 24 Winlock City Council meeting in the mayor’s absence the council took a unanimous no-confidence on Bradshaw.
“Mayor continues his manipulation and dishonesty. Mayor going around the process by excluding council members on decisions prior to advising the council. Mayor serving his own personal agenda rather than engaging in transparent communications,” said Councilor Anne Randt before making the no-confidence vote at the council meeting. The audio of the Winlock City Council meetings can be found on the website AV Capture.
Going forward, Svenson said that the council is still looking at their options but will probably appoint an interim mayor at their next council meeting, March 9, who will serve the rest of the term that will end Dec. 31, 2021. He told The Chronicle that he is interested in becoming mayor.
“We should be able to keep things moving and this shouldn’t disrupt any plans. Everything should continue as it should. City Hall is still open so there should be no hiccups,” said Svenson.“I’m excited to get after it and continue on. I think Winlock is in store for some great things and I’m looking forward to it.”
