St. Helens City Hall (Staff file photo)

The St. Helens Police Association has issued a sternly worded letter to Mayor Rick Scholl and City Administrator John Walsh, calling for the two to resign immediately.

The letter, dated Jan. 15, is partially in response to ongoing discussions between the city and police department over staffing issues.

The letter states that the union held a special meeting Jan. 13 to discuss ongoing budgetary and management concerns.

“As a result of these concerns, the members of SHPA have unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in both Mr. Walsh and Mr. Scholl,” the letter reads. “Bluntly, SHPA is calling for both of you to resign your positions immediately.”

In an interview with Pamplin Media Group after the letter was sent, police union talked of a possible recall campaign, but did not provide further information. While a recall would be needed for the voters of St. Helens to remove Scholl from his seat, Walsh is not elected and thus would either need to resign or be removed from his position by the city council.

Funding, staffing at issue

The union stated that Walsh and Scholl have not made good on their promises nearly a year ago to increase police staffing, in addition to what the police association calls “gross mismanagement” of city funds.

“…The city promised SHPA and the members of the public that it would increase police staffing during a city council Session on February 16, 2022,” the letter reads in part. “Mr. Walsh and Mr. Scholl, have failed to keep their promise.”

The growing unrest by the police department was initially voiced at a Jan. 10 City Council meeting, when Bryan Cutright, vice president of the police union, called for the resignation of both Scholl and Walsh during a larger discussion of police staffing and replacing the police headquarters.

Walsh, in a statement Jan. 16, defended his and the city’s actions regarding the police department.

“Public safety is important,” Walsh said. “In the last few years, the mayor, city councilors and the city administration team have shown our support for public safety.”

Walsh cited recent efforts, including adding police officer positions, and new detective and supervisor positions.

Other efforts he cited included approving pay raises for all police staff, acquiring new patrol vehicles fitted with the latest technology, purchasing new body worn cameras for officers and increasing the police budget by several million dollars.

Walsh added the public safety is not the only function of the city, and St. Helens cannot spend more money than it brings in.

“The decline of industry, the recent loss of Cascades Tissue, the end of federal COVID stimulus funds, compounded with the impacts of high inflation and a challenging labor market have all contributed to the city’s ability to afford the programs and services our community desires,” Walsh said.

Scholl did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the union’s call for resignation.

Fiscal concerns

In the letter, the union cited questions and a “lack of transparency” about how money was generated and spent by the city’s events coordinator as reason for the vote of no confidence.

“The employees and citizens of St. Helens deserve better,” the union letter said. “We want to know where all the monies generated from Halloweentown since its contractual relationship with E2C and Tina Curry have been spent. … SHPA is calling for a public investigation by an appropriate state agency of the finances of Halloween Town and an accounting to the people of St. Helens.”

Walsh said in a statement that the city dedicates a portion of the transient lodging fees to E2C — which produces events like Halloweentown, Independence Day, Christmas Ships and the Sand Island sandcastle competition — and shares a portion of the revenue back to the city. The city uses the funds that the contractor gives back to the city to support general fund services, including the police.

Walsh continued that in two separate audits, in 2021 and 2022, no issues were brought to light regarding E2C.

“There have been no findings of mismanagement of the funds,” Walsh said.

Leaving the police out of the room?

In the aftermath of the heated special session meeting Jan. 10, the union also voiced concern over recent departmental meetings.

“It has come to our attention that after SHPA voiced concerns last week, you both held meetings with all city departments but excluded all employees of the police department,” according to the union’s letter. “Multiple city employees have reported derogatory and retaliatory statements about members of our association in those meetings.”

Walsh countered, “After last Wednesday’s meeting to discuss police staffing and direction with the new police station project, there was considerable discontent expressed from non-police staff about councilor comments made at the meeting. With several comments made that the police were more important than other departments, many staff heard that they were not as important.”

At the special Jan. 10 meeting, the city council discussed the possibility of increasing the monthly water bill from $10 to $25 to help pay for a new police station.

Walsh concluded his response to the union letter by saying, “We are living in tumultuous times and unfortunately the police have opted towards smear tactics rather than working together through these complex and challenging issues.”