Residents press council on policing and alleged misconduct; debate over verifying councilmembereligibility flares

Dozens of residents used the meeting's public-comment period to press the council on public-safety staffing and alleged misconduct by an elected official. Comments ranged from praise for police patrols to detailed accusations against Councilman Joseph Lowry (transcript spelling varies between Lowry/Lowery).

Jack Mazzola, a resident, opened public comment by praising the police: “I just wanna congratulate chief Aragon, his staff, and all of our officers who've been doing a really good job bringing crime down.” Several other speakers followed with complaints and allegations.

Carl Beard urged Chief Aragon to investigate allegedly missing or stonewalled harassment reports involving a councilmember: “...we're compiling a political file on all these complaints. And from what I'm finding out, a lot of this stuff never was documented,” Beard said, and asked why reports were not forwarded to the district attorney.

Harvey Freebird described behavior he characterized as stalking and urged a mental-health intervention for the councilman: “This man is sick in the head...I would strongly encourage mayor and the council to require a mental health intervention for councilman Joseph Lowery,” Freebird told the council.

Several speakers, including Cathy Heron Keith and Tammy Gary, said they supported community policing while also describing alleged incidents of over-policing or profiling; June Lundy said she felt threatened after a traffic stop and said officers treated her like a criminal.

Councilwoman Kimberly Yancey said the pattern of accusations and social-media activity was distracting the council from more urgent work like stormwater and street maintenance and asked the council to resolve whether the councilmember is disqualified under the city charter. She cited Charter Section 2.04 (qualifications) and asked staff and the city attorney to obtain official records so the issue could be settled: “If he's not, we should not allow the residents to come against him in that fashion...If he is, then we are violating our own charter.”

Councilman Joseph Lowry responded from the dais, saying he is eligible and that continued attacks amount to a smear campaign: “I am 100% eligible to be on council...Everybody up here knows the answer.” He said critics were exercising free speech outside the dais but urged that the council focus on city business.

City Attorney Gus Neville and other council members cautioned that the city is not a judicial body and that eligibility challenges are handled under state procedures. Neville explained that the usual remedy for a question of eligibility after certification is a quo warranto action, typically filed by the district attorney, county attorney or attorney general, not the city council.

After debate, a motion to authorize private resident Joe Compion (a council member volunteered to act as a private citizen) to request and collect certified records from Washington state and Oregon about a standing judicial ruling was proposed. The motion failed on a 2—3 vote. The transcript records multiple calls for the item to be handled with legal care and to avoid repeated council discussion exhausting staff time.

Why it matters: The exchange mixed community safety concerns with repeated allegations about an elected official's conduct and eligibility. Legal advisers told the council the city's options for removing a seated official are limited; the council received citizen requests for verification and debated the proper, legally compliant channel for doing so.

Ending: Councilmembers asked staff and counsel for clarity on what official records the clerk may already hold and whether a proper public-information request should be routed through the city attorney or pursued by private citizens or prosecuting offices; no formal council action to remove or suspend any member was taken.