Beaverdale group to Des Moines City Council member Indira Sheumaker: Attend meetings or resign

Des Moines' Beaverdale Neighborhood Association is asking City Council member Indira Sheumaker to resume attending meetings or resign after nearly four months of absences.

Despite Sheumaker's empty seat at Monday night's City Council meeting, neighborhood association president Marcus Coenen addressed his comments directly to her.

"At the beginning of your term you took a personal oath of office in these chambers that you swear to be the voice of the people in their interest and to their needs when the people are otherwise silenced or ignored," Coenen said. "The board of the Beaverdale Neighborhood Association is concerned that your lack of participation in any city meeting for the last several months has impacted the residents of Beaverdale and Ward 1, not furthering their interest and needs for the work that you were elected to do."

His comments come amid rising concern over Sheumaker's long-term absence, lack of communication and hospitalization this year. Coenen's message follows the Lower Beaver Neighborhood Association's call last month, for Sheumaker to resign or for the council to remove her by July 17. The Lower Beaver group has since taken down its statement, noting that as a 501c3 organization it cannot engage in political campaigning nor can it file a petition, according to president Jeremy Geerdes.

Sheumaker did not respond to the Des Moines Register's request for comment.

The last City Council meeting or work session Sheumaker attended was March 6. The Register in April reported Sheumaker had been hospitalized for an undisclosed reason. Around the same time, community members posted a petition online asking her to step down. It has since received more than 400 signatures.

Neighborhood association president: Indira Sheumaker's absences, silence impact city business

Coenen, who in April told the Register that Sheumaker had a good working relationship with the neighborhood association and attended its meetings, said Monday he was initially under the impression the absences would be brief, but that their prolonged nature and lack of communication have impacted city business. He ran against Sheumaker for Ward 1 representative in 2021.

He said the neighborhood association reached out to Sheumaker during the July 6 council meeting, asking if she would contact the group and indicate what her next steps would be. So far, they have not heard from her, he said.

Unlike the Lower Beaver Neighborhood Association, the Beaverdale group is not seeking her immediate removal.

"We understand this is a stressful position," Coenen said. "It was a challenge and we understand that, but we still need to be able to do work with the city and the neighborhood."

What does Iowa law say about the removal of a council member?

According to the city's legal department, Des Moines has no ordinances regarding the removal of a council member.

Iowa law states any appointed or elected officer may be removed from office by the district court for reasons such as "willful or habitual neglect or refusal to perform duties."

For county and municipal officers, the petition for removal must be filed by the county attorney or the Iowa attorney general who may be directed to do so by the governor. Polk County Attorney's Office spokesperson Lynn Hicks added that five registered voters within the municipality may also file a petition for removal.

Hicks told the Register the office has no plans to get involved in the city government issue and said County Attorney Kimberly Graham believes whether to pursue removal should be left up to Sheumaker's constituents.

"Our office’s goals are to create a safer, healthy, thriving Polk County and to work to eliminate racial and income disparities in the justice system," Hicks wrote in an email. "We must focus our limited resources on addressing an increase in serious and violent crime."

The City Council may also vote to remove a member with a two-thirds majority vote, Iowa law states.

Has the council discussed Sheumaker's removal?

At-large council member Connie Boesen said there haven't been any conversations about moving toward a vote, but mentioned exploring other options such as an attendance policy, which the city does not currently have.

For her part, Boesen said she would rather wait to hear from the constituents in Ward 1 than potentially vote as a council.

"I think it's more impactful from them because they're the ones who voted" her into the position, Boesen said.

"We don't know why she's not attending, which could impact a decision," she added. "So I just think we need more information."

Sheumaker, 28, was elected in November 2021, beating incumbent Bill Gray to represent Des Moines' Ward 1. She ran on a platform of defunding the police and is the first Black woman to sit on the council in decades.

Sheumaker also had a string of absences last year from May 23 to July 18. At the time, she said she suffered a "huge dip" in her mental health after she caught COVID-19 and was isolated from family and friends.

Register reporter William Morris contributed to this story.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Group tells Indira Sheumaker go to city council meetings or resign