Staff
Citing the behavior of some other councilors toward her, Marybeth Angulo resigned from the Sweet Home City Council on March 8.
Mayor Jim Gourley accepted her resignation, effective at the end of the council’s regular meeting that night. Her move appeared to come as a surprise to other council members.
Angulo is a teacher at Oak Heights Elementary School.
She has represented Sweet Home residents for the past 5½ years, she said.
“I may not have been very vocal within the meetings, but that didn’t mean that I did not formulate an opinion on the issues that came before the council for consideration,” Angulo said last week. “I listened carefully to both sides of the issues being presented, weighed the arguments and comments and then cast my vote accordingly in what I believed to be in the best interest of the city.”
Last March, she informed the council that she would be absent for a significant period of time due to a spinal fusion treatment she was about to receive.
“I trusted all of you understood that I would resume my duties with the city when I was released from the doctor to return to work,” Angulo said. “What I didn’t account for was that some of those very same councilors who wished me well on my surgery would go behind my back and question my dedication to the job.”
What no one realized, she said, was that she had some complications as a result of the surgery. Her incisions did not heal properly, leading to a spinal infection. She was housebound on pain medication. She relied on others to transport her places.
Part of the healing process was to take small trips to regain her stamina, she said. “It was on one of those trips that I was observed by some council members having dinner with my friend. Instead of coming over to where I was sitting and inquiring about my recovery process, they questioned my dedication to the council and went behind my back to the mayor.”
Those councilors did not observe the length of time it took her to walk from the car to her table and then back again, she said.
“I take both my job as a teacher and as a councilor very seriously,” Angulo said. “If I was rendered unable to effectively perform the duties of my job as a teacher, then how could I make decisions on behalf of the city?”
She made the decision to take a leave from the council based on the best interests of the people she served, she said. She was on leave from the School District, and likewise, she was on leave from the city. She received no compensation during that period from the School District or city.
“We are supposed to work as a cohesive group making decisions that are in the best interests of the constituents that we represent,” Angulo said. “The residents of Sweet Home trust that we as a council will represent them and not act upon our own personal agendas.
“I thought we could get past what I perceived to be an act of betrayal against me, but in lieu of some recent events, I find it difficult to effectively be part of a team of individuals whom I struggle to trust and that I have lost faith in.”
The God she serves calls for her to walk in forgiveness of others, she said.
“It is through this letter of resignation that I am finally able to do just that. I can finally say that I hold no ill will toward anyone sitting at this table. I have enjoyed serving as a city councilor and representing the people of Sweet Home. I wish you all the best of luck in the future as you make decisions in the best interests of the residents of Sweet Home.”
Angulo’s term expires at the end of the year, and is up for election in November. The council will decide how to fill the vacancy during its regular meeting on March 22.