Restraining Order Results In Waldport Council Meeting Cancellation

A long-time community volunteer is pushing back against what she describes as a campaign of public accusations and personal attacks by Dann Cutter, Waldport City Manager, culminating in her filing for an elder abuse restraining order last week. The victim is a resident of Seal Rock and a decades-long volunteer for organizations including 4H, Girl Scouts, the Moose, the Lions Club, and the Beach Comber Days. She says she has been the target of repeated allegations of fraud and mismanagement of funds by Mr. Cutter.

The accusations, which have been aired in public forums and on social media Facebook posts since October of last year, center on the victim's involvement with local nonprofits and the annual Beachcomber Days festival. “I was never accused of a crime. I was never prosecuted, or there was never an arrest, or there was nothing like that, no court, nothing,” the victim stated in an interview with Oregon Coast Breaking News. She explained that her departure from 4H years ago was due to self-reported accounting errors, which she corrected. She also said in the interview that she applied for a grant for 4H archery in Waldport from two different organizations and was surprised when they both came through. She said she returned the second unused grant back to the organization within the grant cycle. She said she was upfront about everything, the 4-H organization has a zero-tolerance policy, which led to her being asked not to continue volunteering. “They never called it firing,” she added.

When asked questions about her role in Beachcomber Days, she emphasized that she serves as secretary and has never had control over the organization’s finances. “I don’t write checks or keep financial records,” she said, noting that a recent CPA review found the group’s books to be in excellent order. Despite these assurances and public explanations of her actions, she said Mr. Cutter has continued to question her integrity and the organization’s management, even after a clean audit. She described a pattern of bureaucratic obstacles and shifting requirements from the city when applying for event permits, which she believes are targeted at her personally.

The ongoing conflict reached a breaking point last week when the victim filed for an elder abuse restraining order against Cutter. “He’s been posting about me personally since October of last year… saying that I stole from kids, that I need to stop stealing from kids. It’s been pretty brutal,” she said. The restraining order was upheld by a judge, and Cutter now has 30 days to request a hearing. The victim noted that this order was given as a result of Mr. Cutters personal actions, not as a city manager. However, the Waldport city council responded to the news of the restraining order on Thursday, August 14th by cancelling their regular council meeting an hour and 20 minutes prior to its start.

Mayor Heide Lambert received a text from City Manager Cutter that the meeting was cancelled due to lack of quorum and futher information would follow Monday evening. On Tuesday August 19th Waldport Council President Greg Dunn posted on the Waldport Facebook page then later on the city's website that the meeting was cancelled and would be rescheduled for September 11th, due to a protective order placed on the city manager. The statement said "Because our Council operates under a council–manager form of government, it is essential that the City Manager be present for official meetings. After careful review of the agenda and upon the advice of legal counsel, it was determined that it would not be responsible to proceed without his participation."

In a statement by Mayor Lambert she stated she has not been consulted or contacted by the council regarding this matter. "The situation between Mr. Cutter and the person who served him with a restraining order does not land within the city's jurisdiction and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it. To the best of my knowledge, however, our city council has not had a meeting in which these issues were discussed. Nor have I, as Mayor, ever been involved in a council vote about directing the city manager to alert the public, via social media or otherwise, about any person or organization. The statements made by Council President Greg Dunn, regarding the city council's involvement in the city manager's actions, are solely his own and in my estimation, inaccurate. I have not been included in any conversation about this serious action taken against the city manager and was not involved in the cancellation of last week’s council meeting or the choosing of a new date.

Other city officials, Mr. Cutter and council president Greg Dunn have not responded to Oregon Coast Breaking News' requests for comments.