Washington removes city clerk

WASHINGTON — Washington City Council members voted unanimously to terminate the employment of City Clerk Amanda Waugh after a closed session on June 24.

Mayor Millie Youngquist and Council Member Illa Earnest said the move was regrettable, but boiled down to “ongoing issues” involving the clerk’s legal obligation to publish certain records like meeting minutes, ordinance changes and resolution texts, which the mayor said were not addressed after being brought to Waugh’s attention.

“She wasn’t dealing with some very important issues. Timely, legal things that were a part of her job,” Youngquist said. “Publishing minutes and ordinances in the newspaper on a timely basis, those things were not being done, always.”

An agenda for the meeting was posted on the city’s website a day prior, but was not sent to The Southeast Iowa Union, as is the city’s standard practice ahead of any municipal meeting that assembles a quorum of council members.

The Union, which is the city’s paper of record for legal notices, is missing minutes from at least one council meeting held this year, on April 2. And the publication went without Washington’s minutes throughout the month of May, publishing the official documentation of May 7, May 21 and June 4 meetings all on June 13, despite a clause of city code requiring clerks to publish such records within 15 days of a meeting.

Certain public notices ahead of city ordinance amendment hearings were also absent from The Union’s pages leading up to scheduled discussions at council meetings. In one correspondence with the paper in early June, Waugh asked questions about the correct point of contact for the city’s legally mandated public notices after sending some of them to the wrong email address.

Council members Fran Stigers, Ivan Rangel and Elaine Moore declined to comment on the decision to remove the city clerk.

Waugh’s departure comes on the heels of another exit, by City Administrator Deanna McCusker who resigned in May to move closer to family. The workloads of both former employees fall to City Finance Director Kelsey Brown, who now also holds the titles of interim city administrator and deputy city clerk.

Brown said council members and Mayor Youngquist had offered to help reduce the three-person workload when possible, but noted that many of her municipal duties could not legally be performed by the elected officials.

Still, thus far, Brown said she and other city employees had “just made it work.” Their fingers remain crossed.

“Hopefully, we can continue just a little bit longer until we can get somebody in either position,” she said. “Some days are better than others. We just had the end of our fiscal year on the 30th, so things are extra crazy in July anyway. And you add all this stuff and, it’s a lot. But we’ll get through it.”

Multiple city elected officials said they were getting closer to picking a new administrator, with a handful of candidate interviews held Tuesday afternoon. The city has not yet advertised an opening for a new city clerk, according to Brown, who said she had not yet found the time to post a notice.

Workload issues aside, Waugh’s quiet exit adds to a growing list of high-profile departures by city leaders this year, leaving vacant seats in their wake. In addition to her termination and McCusker’s move, former Mayor Jaron Rosien resigned from his office in February after a year of unpaid leave spent dealing with legal troubles unrelated to city business. Youngquist’s victory in an election to replace him resulted in a vacant a city council seat she previously held, which the city hopes to fill with another upcoming election after plans to appoint a successor ended in deadlock.

Council Member Patrick Morgan acknowledged the high turnover in city leadership roles, but said it wasn’t indicative of any broader problems.

“Many in the public, I’m sure that they would read or see that there’s been a number of changes here over the last six months, since the beginning of this year,” he said. “This can happen anywhere. This can happen in the professional sector, it can happen with city government, as you’re seeing. So I hope no one’s reading into it.”

Waugh declined to comment on her termination.

For those not tapped into the city’s internal affairs, her abrupt departure came as a surprise. The city clerk was hired just last November, and entered the role after a series of interviews that weeded out 21 other applicants. Some of her selling points included meticulous organization, and generally high energy.

Morgan said the city hoped to move forward as fast as possible in its efforts to replace Waugh and McCusker, but stressed that officials wouldn’t sacrifice quality of candidates for speed of hire.

“We need to move forward quickly,” he said. “Obviously, this puts a burden on other individuals and we’re already short … so hopefully, we’re moving that process along just as quick, but being effective as well.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com