On June 14, 2023, Baker City Attorney Dan Van Thiel, at the request of City Manager Jon Cannon, issued his legal opinion on the question of whether Baker City Council may rescind its vote of January 3, 2023, electing Beverly Calder mayor of Baker City for a term of two years.

Even though the Baker City Charter does not provide an explicit mechanism for removing Calder from her role as mayor, Van Thiel’s opinion says that city council’s power to appoint a person mayor implies the power to withdraw the appointment.

Oh, really?

I think that’s a big leap to put one’s self into the mind of the founding fathers of the Baker City Charter, which dates to 1951.

The framers of the Baker City Charter provided a two-year term limit for mayor as the only mechanism for city council to reassess who should be mayor.

By including a two-year term, the framers ensured a measure of stability in the office of mayor.

Why did the framers of the Baker City Charter bother to include a two-year term, if council could at any point just willy-nilly rescind its vote for mayor? If that were the case, the two-year term would lose all purpose.

Without a guaranteed term, a mayor is hampered in his/her leadership for fear of making a statement or decision that may ruffle feathers of fellow councilors.

Here’s what happened at the city council meeting of Tuesday, June 13. Before the meeting began, Mayor Calder asserted her right to be mayor by reason of the council’s vote appointing her to the position for two years last January 3. Not liking her decision, four city councilors left the meeting, thereby violating their oaths of office.

Citizens are encouraged to attend council meetings and, if they wish, to avail themselves of an opportunity to address councilors. Even though there was a sizable number of Baker citizens in attendance, the four councilors irresponsibly and hurriedly left the meeting without one word of explanation, thereby wasting the time of citizens who chose to attend, and perhaps also participate in, a local government meeting, as is their right.

The four city councilors who left the meeting owe their fellow citizens an apology.

Gary Dielman

Baker City