By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Saying she no longer had the “passion or energy” to be a member of the Yachats city council, Ann Stott resigned Tuesday after serving 2 1/2 years.
Stott, who twice ran unsuccessfully for mayor, tendered her resignation in a letter to fellow council members. Mayor Craig Berdie announced Stott’s resignation at Wednesday’s council meeting. Stott was not present.
“She will be missed,” Berdie said. “Councilor (Greg) Scott reached out to her and she said her decision is final.”
Stott shared her resignation letter with the YachatsNews before elaborating on what led to her decision to step away. While her letter said it had been a “privilege and an honor” to serve as a council member, Stott wrote “I no longer have the passion or energy necessary to adequately do the job, and therefore I am resigning my seat immediately.”
“It saddens me to witness the community of Yachats continue to struggle with a city manager form of government after more than seven years,” Stott said in the letter. “I sincerely hope it doesn’t take another seven years to finally develop an appropriate policy making/administrative relationship between the council and manager.”
Stott, a retired high school civics teacher, moved from Utah to Yachats in 2017 to pursue her “lifelong adult-dream” of retiring on the Oregon coast, which was no simple feat because “I was a public-school teacher so I wasn’t exactly rolling in dough,” she said.
The self-described “government junky” began attending council meetings shortly after her arrival. One of the issues being debated at that time, which continues today is what is policy versus administration?
“In the letter I made a statement at the end,” Stott said. “Yachats has had a city management government for seven years, and has really struggled with it. Which is sad. It’s not that difficult.”
The most common form of government in the country for mid-sized and smaller municipalities is to have a professional city manager, Stott said, because one is needed where elected officials come and go and there is no bureaucracy big enough to handle the turnover.
“But understanding that difference between policy and administration has been a real challenge for this community to understand,” Stott said in an interview. “And I think a lot of that is that because so much of it is volunteer-based, and so much of the past has been ‘Let’s jump in and just do it’ as volunteers.
“And once we had a professional full time city employee as manager, well then all the projects and all of the things needed to go through that centralized city manager,” she continued. “And it’s been a struggle to get it functioning like it should.”
The struggle of that “line being blurred” has been a frustration to Stott. But as mentioned in her resignation letter, she also lost passion and energy for the job.
“I was no longer even interested in reading the documents that I’ve always got in and read without any issues,” she said. “They were just words on paper to me. So, it was just time. They need someone there that will do the job right.”
November election loss stung
Stott began questioning her role in government after losing her bid for mayor to Berdie in last November’s election. Voters were frustrated with the city council at that time, which she said she understands, and that being associated with that didn’t help.
“And Mr. Berdie felt like we weren’t managing the city manager well enough and that we weren’t getting projects done,” Stott said. “And that was kind of the message and where we differed a little bit on things.”
Stott ran for mayor in 2018, was elected to the council in 2020 and then ran again for mayor last November, losing to Berdie by 105 votes.
“To be honest, I was shocked,” Stott said. “When I saw the results, I thought it was a mistake. I was waiting for them to reload and then I did the math and I was like ‘Jeez,’ most the votes are in, and so I was shocked. It was a resounding statement and I had to respect that.”
Stott said she tried to be a voice for the appropriate way of governing but was never able to develop a voice that fit for the current council.
“And I started to basically become less and less engaged and I realized it about April or so and then finally it happened – I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
The city will be seeking a new council member through posts on its website and its newsletter, Berdie said. There will likely be a four-to-six-month period before candidates will be interviewed and chosen during public meetings.
Berdie added that he sent a note to Stott thanking her for service.
“Basically, I said ‘We appreciate your divergent voice and your willingness to bring us back to reality that we are a small community when we tend to get too complex. And for your knowledge of government and our processes.’”
In the meantime, Stott is moving on with the life she dreamed of when she retired in Yachats.
“I’m glad to report that all is well with me,” she said. “In fact, I am in a very good place. I came here to be with the ocean. And I say with the ocean because it’s a part of me. And city council has really interfered with that. I’ve got to get back to the ocean and right now it is as simple as doing a daily walk with my neighbor and his dog, walking along Ocean View Drive and seeing the waves crash.”
Stott is disabled and uses a walker during those strolls. She said politicians siting health as the reason they retire is overused but admits the walks are for her health because seeing the ocean gives her energy.
“I just feel amazingly different since I started doing that and not worrying about city council stuff,” she continued. “I’m just going to get back to why I moved here.”
When asked what she is most proud of during her time on the council, Stott referenced recently resigned city manager Heide Lambert.
“To me the most important accomplishment was hiring Heidi Lambert,” Stott said. “She did so much for the city that people have no clue about and will never know. And I just can’t say enough about her time and what she did. I can’t take credit for what she did, but I can take a fifth of the credit for hiring her.”
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com