Is North Plains Trying to Bury Mayor Dumbrow’s Allegations?

The City published the outgoing mayor’s accusation of repeated legal and Council-rule violations. Three weeks later, it has acknowledged his vacant seat—but not his warning.

Aaron Dumbrow did not simply resign as mayor on July 29.

“As a person of integrity,” he wrote, “I cannot continue to lead the City based on the numerous legal and Council rule violations by the previous and current Council.”

The City cannot credibly claim it was unaware of that allegation. Its own announcement quoted Dumbrow’s accusation and linked to his complete resignation letter.

Since then, however, the Council has treated his departure largely as an administrative vacancy.

At its August 11 meeting, the Council formally accepted Dumbrow’s resignation and directed Interim City Manager Ross Schultz to begin the replacement process. The resolution said nothing about the alleged violations that caused him to resign.

The rest of the public paper trail is similarly vague.

The July 31 packet appointing Schultz contained no response to Dumbrow’s allegations. The August 11 agenda included a generic “City Manager Transition Report,” without a written report. The August 17 agenda listed a “Timeline of events” work session and “Interim City Manager Transition,” again without supporting explanations.

Nothing publicly posted indicates that the Council has asked Dumbrow to identify the alleged violations, preserved the relevant evidence, retained independent counsel, authorized an outside investigation or established any process for determining whether his accusations are true.

Perhaps some of this has happened privately. The public has no way to know.

As of August 19, the City’s meeting archive still contains no Council minutes after May 18 and no video after July 6. That leaves residents without a complete public record of the meetings held immediately before and after Dumbrow’s resignation—including the meetings at which Schultz was appointed and the mayoral vacancy was formally declared.

Dumbrow’s warning also did not arrive in a vacuum. Public records previously obtained by TRFNP documented outside coordination concerning Council rules and showed former City Manager Bill Reid raising concerns with City attorneys about possible serial meetings. Former Mayor David Hatcher separately warned of potentially unauthorized Urban Renewal activity.

None of that proves Dumbrow’s allegations. It does establish that they cannot responsibly be discarded without examination.

If the accusations are unfounded, an independent review can say so. If they have merit, residents deserve the facts. What the Council cannot reasonably do is publish an outgoing mayor’s allegation of repeated legal violations, process his vacant seat and then behave as though the substance of his resignation disappeared with him.

Silence is not an investigation. Missing records are not an explanation.

The Council, beginning with President and Acting Mayor Mandy Hagedorn, should disclose what it has done to evaluate Dumbrow’s allegations—or explain why it has done nothing.

Editor's note: an earlier version of the cover image for this story featured a reproduction of the mayor's letter that some readers felt was an inaccurate portrayal. That image has been replaced to feature our own reproduction highlighting the text in question. Mayor Dumbrow's original letter has been in open circulation and is published to the City of North Plains' website. We thank our readers for their feedback.