Winlock Mayor Threatens to Have Council Members Removed for ‘Antics’

Tensions at Winlock City Hall flared for a second time this week, after Winlock Mayor Don Bradshaw threatened to remove city council members who did not follow his direction at a special meeting Thursday morning.

“I will maintain order,” Bradshaw said. “There will be no more antics like the previous two meetings. Anybody that doesn’t adhere to that will be removed.”

After an eventful Winlock City Council meeting on Monday evening — during which the council refused to approve the agenda without room for public comment and refused to rescind a variance to keep a local business open — the council held a special meeting at 8 a.m. on Thursday morning. 

All city council members, with the exception of Connie Sneed, were present at the meeting. Council member Anne Randt said she did not want to discuss the 2019 budget until all five council members were present.

Two council members told The Chronicle Bradshaw sent an officer from Winlock Police Department to deliver the special meeting agenda to each council member’s home earlier in the week. 

When asked if he would like to comment further on how council members were notified, council member Andrew Maloney said, “Speaks for itself, doesn’t it?”

City attorney Erin Hillier did not say anything after Bradshaw threatened to have council members removed from the building for “antics.” Hillier did not make herself available for comment on Thursday afternoon.

“With all due respect, these are not antics, these are questions,” Maloney said.

Bradshaw said Randt “crossed the line as far as separation of powers” when she made a motion during the council’s regular meeting on Monday to terminate the city’s contract with its legal counsel, Hillier, Scheibmeir & Kelly, PS. 

“You the council — not one of you individually or all of you collectively — have the authority to fire anybody in this city,” Bradshaw said. “I alone have that authority. Shouting down the mayor is not acceptable behavior. We will do this in a dignified manner, period. Like I say, if you can’t do that in a professional manner and stick with your oath of office, I will remove anybody from the room, including council members that get out of order.”

None of the city council members raised their voices during Monday’s regular meeting or the special meeting Thursday. 

Bradshaw asked for a motion to approve the agenda. When none of the council members made a motion, Bradshaw said, “Jodie?” to council member Jodie Curtis. Curtis made a motion to approve the agenda. However, none of the other council members seconded the motion and it died on the floor. Bradshaw asked Hillier to comment.

“It being a special meeting, you stick to just what’s on the agenda,” Hillier said. “But they as a council having a quorum, if they want to vote to change that agenda and not have their workshop that they requested, that’s their right to do so. … You could continue to have a workshop, whether you have a quorum or not, you just can’t take final action on it. They have a quorum now and they can take action to modify the agenda if they choose to and not do the workshop or city business.”

The city council removed the budget workshop from the agenda. The council plans to hold a budget workshop at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6.