Des Moines council member Indira Sheumaker's emails show drop-off of replies in late February

Former Des Moines City Council member Indira Sheumaker appeared to stop responding to emails from colleagues and constituents more than a week before she stopped attending council meetings in early March, a review of her public emails shows.

The council member received and responded to messages from peers and the community at the start of the year, according to emails sent to Sheumaker on her government account from Jan. 1 through April 30. The Des Moines Register obtained the emails through a public records request.

The last time an email chain showed a reply from Sheumaker was on Feb. 23, more than a week before the last work session and council meeting she attended, on March 6. Because the Register received only the emails sent to Sheumaker; she may have sent or replied to emails that were not provided in the request.

The Register's records request, made to the city of Des Moines on May 2, yielded nearly 5,000 pages of emails. The Register was charged about $525, which the city said was based on staff time to fulfill the request, including legal review.

Sheumaker resigned from the council on Wednesday.

At 27, Sheumaker became the youngest person and second Black woman to serve on the City Council, representing more than 53,000 people in Ward 1 on Des Moines' northwest side. She also sat on the city's Homeless Coordinating Council, IMPACT Community Action Partnership Board and Polk County and Warren County Emergency Management boards.

Just months into her role in 2022, Sheumaker's attendance at City Hall came to a screeching halt for nearly two months, an absence she later attributed to isolation from loved ones due to COVID-19 compounded by "severe" clinical depression and anxiety.

Sheumaker disappeared again this year after the March 6 council meeting. In April, her father told the Register she had been hospitalized but declined to say why or for how long. A source confirmed to the Register that Sheumaker's hospitalization was due to mental health challenges.

Reasons for her continued absence remain unknown.

Sheumaker missed a total of 32 of the 83 meetings since the start of her term in January 2022, which includes budget, quarterly, special and regular council meetings and work sessions. During her absences, she continued to receive bi-weekly payments of $1,110, a weekly stipend of $75 to cover council expenses, health care and dental insurance, and retirement contributions, according to the city.

A growing chorus of voices in her ward had begun calling for her to step down. The Des Moines City Council in late August attempted to deliver a letter to Sheumaker that gave her until Aug. 28 to explain her extended absence; otherwise, it would be presumed she had abandoned her seat. The City Council was poised to vote Monday on a measure regarding her future on the council. Instead, it will take the time provided by Iowa law to determine next steps, a statement from Mayor Frank Cownie said.

Here are some key takeaways from Sheumaker's incoming emails and available responses:

Sheumaker responds to concerns, accepts engagements in early 2023

Emails to Sheumaker from the start of 2023 show the council member frequently engaging with constituents, asking questions of city staff and accepting invitations to speak at community events and meetings.

In multiple instances, Sheumaker served as a liaison between community members, city staff and other local leaders. She helped answer questions about programs such as the Improving Our Neighborhoods initiative and the historic preservation plan, and allayed residents' concerns about issues such as road construction hindrances on Arlington Avenue in River Bend and road/pothole repairs on Davisson Road in Beaverdale.

Sheumaker sent emails trying to help the local nonprofit Urban Dreams continue operating while between spaces; planned a meeting with Des Moines Water Works CEO and General Manager Ted Corrigan to talk about options for testing or replacing lead service lines; and accepted invitations to speak at neighborhood meetings and events such as the “Unhoused” panel at Simpson College and a Black History Month speaker series at her alma mater, Hoover High School.

Correspondence from an administrative assistant at Drake University's college of business shows Sheumaker was working to become a certified public manager through the university's Center for Professional Studies.

She also received responses from city staff answering her questions about the city's Section 8 housing assistance program, streets with the greatest crash risk and whether out-of-service fire trucks affect the department's response times.

In one instance, Sheumaker defended a statement she made in December after Des Moines police officers shot and killed a 16-year-old. She called the death at the hands of police a "failure in our system."

In an email to Sheumaker, a resident said she showed a "lack of leadership" and "diplomacy" by putting her personal bias over the representation of her constituents. Sheumaker responded to the resident, thanking the person for reaching out and asking for continued feedback.

No email threads appear after a reply on Feb. 23

On Feb. 23, Sheumaker sent a short reply to the city manager's executive assistant about her availability for a council quarterly planning session. It came from a personal account, according to the documents.

No other email threads with replies from Sheumaker were provided in the records request. City staff and constituents have told the Register she had not responded to their questions or to regular city business during her absence. The first they'd heard from her, they said, was through the resignation letter delivered Wednesday.

But from the late February response through April 30, the end date of the records request, emails kept coming in to her account.

Ward 1 residents sent requests involving a tenant's issue with a landlord, parking ordinances on residential streets and concerns about lack of crosswalks on Douglas Avenue.

A school coordinator asked Sheumaker to speak at Samuelson Elementary School's career day, a Drake student asked for an interview on environmental justice, and city staff asked her to review Ward 1 applications for the Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization program, which has provided funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, or ARPA, for reinvestment in buildings primarily in neighborhood commercial areas.

An email from a city staff member shows Sheumaker missed at least one planned meeting March 22 with city staff and the developer to discuss the future affordable apartment complex at the site of the former Plaza Lanes bowling alley in her ward. Plans include housing for veterans experiencing homelessness. After the meeting, the staff member working on the project provided her updates to the plans.

Community members began to take notice of Sheumaker's absence starting in late March. She received about seven emails calling for her resignation, including one that noted, "To keep voters in the dark is also not acceptable." Multiple messages sent by one constituent used harsher words: "Stop stealing from my community step down it's obviously you can't handle the pressure or the job!"

Messages of support also surfaced from both peers and residents. One city employee wrote to Sheumaker offering support and empathizing about how "local government work is incredibly challenging at times."

A message from a community member with the subject line, "sending love," said, "The role you have taken on is pretty damn hard - it comes with much scrutiny and I'm sure it takes a toll. We appreciate all you have done and continue to do for our community."

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: Indira Sheumaker's emails show drop-off of replies before her absence