Being one of the few people of color who live in Kettle River, 42 miles southwest of Duluth, Councilmember Monique Doward wants to improve her hometown. For example, she tried to apply for a grant to fix the city playground. “The kids deserve it,” Doward said, showing off the sinking play structure during a recent MSR visit.
Though she submitted the application, Mayor David Lucas had it withdrawn because their colleagues hadn’t approved it and they didn’t have the matching funds. “We have a very small budget and we have a very tight budget,” said Lucas.
“We’ve been spending on city attorneys that we could probably use somewhere else,” added Lucas, referencing the lawsuits and complaints filed by Doward that the city has needed to defend itself from.
Doward’s lawsuits, complaints, and attempt to fund a new playground are among the reasons her colleagues decided to censure her on May 21. She is the fourth known locally elected official in Minnesota to be censured this year. While she believes race played a factor, her colleagues say she simply isn’t following the rules.
The road to censure
Doward and her family moved to Minnesota after they were ravaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018. They found a house in Kettle River, not knowing much about the town.
“It was a real true house for 40 grand, and it was like, ‘Alright, I’m getting this sucker, we’re not gonna be homeless no more, children,’” said Doward.
Doward’s troubles started relatively soon after she was elected to the city council. In one incident, she voted to appoint a colleague to serve on the planning commission.
“She calls screaming and yelling because she didn’t get a packet, so we explained to her that she was no longer on there because there can only be one councilor and the mayor,” City Clerk Kathy Lake said in a phone interview. “It has escalated ever since.”
In June of 2022, the city council passed a resolution permitting Doward to access city hall only when Lake is not alone, as they each sought legal action against one another. In February 2023, Doward countersued Lake, alleging she threatened to “pop” her.
“I was talking to another resident, and I told [the resident], ‘I’m gonna pop you one of these days,” said Lake. The case is pending.
Officials also accuse her of making false accusations, including that council members were racist, for which Doward was censured in July 2022. Doward believed she was censured because she contacted the State Auditor about the city’s credit card use.
In addition to Doward’s lawsuit with Lake, she also sued the city and her colleagues in state and federal court, claiming employment and civil rights discrimination. Those lawsuits were dismissed because she failed to cite specific law violations. Judge Eric C. Tostrud warned Doward she could be sanctioned for harassment.
Meanwhile, Doward was censured again on May 21. The censure resolution said she unilaterally changed the hours of operation and threatened to change the locks at city hall, insisted that she review documents she already has access to, brought frivolous lawsuits and complaints against the city and her colleagues, and solicited money for the city and worked on an emergency preparedness plan without her colleagues’ approval.
Claims of discrimination
Doward wasn’t at the meeting because she said she was at a first responder’s training in Duluth, and her ride could not return to town in time. The city has previously accommodated Doward’s requests to participate remotely.
Doward once tried to participate remotely from home but balked because state law requires the address of her home be advertised to the public. She tried to have the location changed to a McDonald’s in nearby Moose Lake, but the city couldn’t because they had already provided an advanced notice required by state law of where the meeting would take place.
Doward was advised she could join the meeting from the Moose Lake McDonald’s, but she couldn’t participate. She believed her powers had been stripped.
The city council subsequently stopped allowing Doward to participate remotely. “She actually showed up to a meeting without telling us that she wasn’t gonna do remote,” said Lucas, adding the city has to pay out of their limited budget to set up a Zoom meeting.
Meanwhile, Doward says she was getting rides because her SUV is unreliable. On May 10, the city towed her van, which she uses for gardening, hauling, and loan signing. Mayor Lucas said the city needed to tow her van because it blocked a water shutoff line.
Mayor Lucas says Doward hadn’t been paying her water bill so the city needed to shut her water off. The city also said in 2021 that her water meter was malfunctioning, and because they weren’t able to replace the meter, they were charging her the minimum allowed under state law.
However, she verified with city workers that the meter worked properly and allowed them to read it. Doward also contended her colleagues illegally raised the water rates by a resolution and not an ordinance.
The city also said the van was parked improperly, even though Doward says it was parked on her property. Doward filed complaints with the state Attorney General’s office and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, alleging the towing was unlawful. The city says they acted lawfully.
She did prevail once when she found Lake unilaterally changed an ordinance to prohibit free-range chickens. Lake was suspended for five days and put on one-year probation, and the city council canceled a pay increase.
Despite the animosity, Doward says she likes her adopted hometown and wants to recruit residents to take over the city council later this year. “So we can actually get positive things going on in the city.”
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