With dozens of attendees filling the Bob Lyle Community Center, members of the Morton City Council convened for their regular monthly meeting on Monday, July 27.
During the nearly two-hour meeting, a number of subjects, both positive and contentious, were discussed.
Contention surrounded a censure attempt levied against Morton Mayor Rick Mead, which failed, following a previous failed censure attempt against Morton City Councilor Jeff Johnson levied by former Morton City Councilor Jason Knutson.
While Knutson was on the council in June, he resigned at the end of the month. This prompted a search for an appointee to fill his position, which was posted to the city’s website and its social media page. At the July 27 meeting, it was revealed only one qualified candidate had applied.
That candidate was Charlie Clevenger, and during Monday’s meeting, the council moved to appoint Clevenger to the vacancy and approved his appointment unanimously.
During the meeting, the council moved to amend city codes pertaining to dangerous dogs and citizen complaints.
As for the citizen complaint code, Morton City Clerk LuAnn Ward explained the only change was the stipulation that she emails any citizen complaint as soon as it is received to the councilors and mayor, where before she simply made copies of the complaint and placed them in the mail boxes for the councilors and mayor at Morton City Hall.
“Some of you, I’m not going to single anybody out, but some of you have catalogues in there (the mail boxes),” Ward said. “This way, they’ll just be emailed to you and you’ll get them quicker because you’re going to get them as soon as I do.”
Councilors also discussed dangerous dogs on the loose in Morton, a problem that resulted in a Morton Police Department officer being bitten and taken out of service for several months while she recovered.
With roaming dogs being a major problem in the rural Morton community, the new code mandates that “it is unlawful for the owner, keeper, custodian or person having charge of any dog to allow such dog to run at large within the corporate limits of the city.”
The new code also lays out procedures for dangerous dog declarations, giving Morton police the authority to impound dogs considered dangerous if their owners do not come into compliance with the new regulations.
If a dog is considered dangerous, the owner must purchase liability insurance and must keep the animal confined in a “proper enclosure unless the dog is muzzled and restrained by a substantial chain or leash and under physical restraint of a responsible person.”
Members of the East Lewis County Chamber of Commerce (ELCCC) were also at the meeting to request re-allocating Morton city tourism funds they had been granted earlier this year. Originally, the ELCCC had been planning to throw a record-setting potluck-style picnic event; however, plans fell through and on Monday the ELCCC asked if it could use the $1,200 originally granted to pay for portable toilets to help fund a community field day event in partnership with the Morton Community Bible Church.
The field day is scheduled for Aug. 29 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton, and features family-friendly games such as tug-of-war, sack races, “giant soccer,” cornhole, kick ball, bocce ball and more, along with a movie screened at the park. Dinner will be served courtesy of the ELCCC and the Pastor’s Pantry.
Councilors approved the ELCCC’s tourism fund reallocation request, and the ELCCC also unveiled a new food pantry cabinet, one of two which are now located in town — one outside of Nerd Pros in downtown Morton and the other at the Morton Community Bible Church. The pantry boxes were built by ELCCC Board of Directors member Bill Cornwell, who owns The Shaker Craftsman in Randle together with his wife Rhonda Cornwell, the ELCCC board president.
Councilors also held some discussion at the beginning of the meeting on how to hold official public town hall-style events without violating the state Open Public Meeting Act (OPMA). Specifically, Morton City Councilor Jason Sawyer proposed adding a stipulation that no more than two of the five Morton City Councilors could attend a town hall to avoid having a quorum and the town hall then constituting an illegal meeting.
Ultimately, after around 25 minutes of discussion, councilors asked their city attorney for more clarification on their options concerning this issue.
Censure attempt and councilor’s resignation
As for the censure attempt against Mead, Councilor Peter Hansen opened the discussion and explained he opposed the attempt as he did with the previous month’s censure attempt against Johnson.
He took issue with a recent decision to report a discussion between Mead and Sawyer about a contract for the caretaker at Jubilee Park to the state auditor’s office. He felt the matter should’ve just been discussed at a council meeting.
“The auditor then had to spend additional time reviewing that issue as part of the audit. I struggle to understand what that accomplishes when this council could’ve discussed it first, and if there truly had been a violation, taken appropriate action ourselves,” Hansen said. “A censure is a serious action a council can take against an elected official. It should be reserved for clear misconduct, supported by the evidence, not just opinions and feelings. Based on the information and being witness to the incident, I have not seen evidence that the mayor engaged in misconduct.”
Sawyer, who mounted the censure attempt, stated he did try to have discussion during council meetings, but faced opposition to his attempt from other councilors. He claimed Mead had attempted to withhold certain public records he had requested.
“On May 26, council meeting, I spoke to fellow councilors directly about a concern that I had regarding city business conducted without city council approval. The mayor insisted that the internal email be read aloud, against my request. I asked that it be handled discreetly and professionally,” Sawyer said. “Then I made an appeal from the decision of the chair. The mayor broke parliamentary procedure and did not allow for the council to vote to allow the decision of the chair to be reversed.”
He also accused Mead of personal verbal attacks and intimidation at following meetings, including an instance where Mead told Sawyer “you like to deceive us.” Sawyer then had some back and forth discussion with Johnson, who wanted more information on the park caretaker contract issue.
“I was simply bringing to (our) attention that there is a contract in place that the council did not vote on, that I still have not received the information about the council having voted on anyone in Jubilee Park,” Sawyer added. “And I was attacked. And if you don’t see that as an attack, you like to, what was the word here, ‘you like to deceive us,’ and I’m wasting the city’s money by discussing this stuff with the auditor.”
Sawyer added he feared for Clevenger, the newly appointed councilor, if he had a disagreement with Mead or any other councilor over an issue in the future. Ultimately, the censure attempt against Mead failed by a vote of 3-1, with Sawyer being the lone supporter.
After the vote, tensions remained, with Hansen going back and forth with both Sawyer and a member of the audience — Lewis County commissioner candidate Kyle Wheeler — with Mead having to gavel the meeting back to order several times and Morton police preparing to remove Wheeler upon the mayor’s request, though tensions settled and Wheeler was allowed to remain.
At the end of the meeting though during public comment, Morton resident Kara Chestnut chastised the entire council for their behavior.
“You recently received a citizens complaint from me that summarized the attacks that I have seen against Councilor Sawyer, and provided examples of the multiple escalations that have occurred in (these meetings),” Chestnut said.
While ordinances passed earlier this year establishing rules of decorum for both the Morton City Council and meeting attendees gave her “hope” that things would change at Morton council meetings, the recent meetings have dashed those hopes.
“The tension among members of this council and the mayor is palpable. It is creating a hostile environment … You are appointing a city council position because Councilor Knutson, who was elected by the people, was bullied and harassed into quitting. Councilor Sawyer received at least 25% more votes than any of you. Two of you were unopposed, which effectively means you just had to vote for yourselves to get on council. What I would really, really like to see, is that you respect all of us, and that you respect your team members. Just because you don’t like each other, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to like each other, but you do have to respect each other and the will of the people who voted for the council,” Chestnut said. “I am livid with all of you and I am embarrassed for all of us, and I think that you can do better. I think that every single one of you can do better.”
As for Knutson’s resignation, in a June 25 email to both Mead and Ward, Knutson explained he was resigning due to some “health conditions.”
“I cannot perform the duties needed to support this community, and I need to focus on my family. Thank you and have a great day,” Knutson wrote.
However, a search on a Morton community social media group did show some online harassment.
