Northfield mayor loses desk and key

When Northfield's embattled mayor refused to resign Saturday, the college town's City Council told him to clean out his desk and turn in his City Hall key.

The unusual move came less than a week after an outside investigation found that Lee Lansing had abused his power for personal and family gain. It caps a tumultuous year for the usually bucolic Rice County town that's home to St. Olaf and Carleton colleges. Earlier this year, the mayor sued the city, and the police chief said up to 250 young people could be using heroin or another narcotic.

At Saturday's 8 a.m. showdown, which played out in packed council chambers, the City Council voted unanimously to censure Lansing for alleged ethics violations and to call for his resignation.

The council can't force Lansing to resign, however. The mayor, who has served since 2005, said that he wouldn't and that he planned to remain as mayor until his term expires at the end of 2008.

But the council underlined its displeasure by demanding Lansing give up his City Hall desk and master key to the building. He did not return the key on Saturday.

"The stunning thing is that the mayor doesn't get it," Council Member Noah Cashman said of the mayor's reported ethics breaches.

"This is not some rinky-dink violation."

For many Northfield residents, there seem to be two Lee Lansings: the cheerful businessman who has greeted customers at his family's downtown hardware store for decades, and the city leader who reportedly misused his office.

"I served on the council for 10 years, and I'm very concerned about the state of our leadership," resident Peggy Prowe said before the meeting. "If our mayor did dishonest things, he should resign, because he can't lead the council. There's no trust."

But many residents defended the mayor in testimony that, at times, turned tearful. "It hurts my heart to see the divisiveness on the council," said David Roberts. "I'm not a churchgoing person, but it's Christmastime."

"This is all focusing on his actions rather than the rest of the council or the city administrator," said Kiffi Summa, who regularly attends council meetings. "The actions of these three groups have been too interwoven to separate out anyone for blame."

The vote came just days after investigator William Everett, who was hired by the city this fall, told the council that Lansing violated the city's ethics code when he lobbied to have the city relocate its municipal liquor store to property owned by his son, David.

'I encourage your censure'

Lansing apologized at the meeting and said he never intended to abuse his post. "I encourage your censure," he told the council. Lansing admitted that when decisions at City Hall didn't favor his son, "I became extremely overprotective and defensive."

But if his behavior has weakened the community's confidence in city leadership, he said, "I cannot rectify that from the sidelines."

Some residents said it was too late to make amends.

"If he doesn't step down, then it is up to the citizens to mount a recall," said Cashman. An attorney, Cashman said he believes Lansing may have broken state laws as well as the city's code.

Cashman disputed Lansing's contention that he never meant to do wrong, describing Lansing's allegedly inappropriate memos and conversations as "intentional, deliberate and persistent."

The council told city staff members to forward the results of Everett's investigation to the Rice County attorney to determine whether any laws have been broken.

Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster expressed surprise at the move, saying he thought the Goodhue County attorney's office was handling the matter.

The Goodhue County attorney's office is already working on an investigation that started after Police Chief Gary Smith, who has since accepted another job, turned in a preliminary probe this summer into actions by City Administrator Al Roder. Beaumaster asked Goodhue County to take charge to avoid a conflict of interest.

Goodhue County Attorney Stephen Betcher said his office would add any items sent by the council to the list of Northfield issues included in the investigation, details of which he has never made public.

Council members Saturday voiced their frustration at a season of investigations that has cost the city tens of thousands of dollars, arguing it was largely at the mayor's behest that the council sought outside help.

Several council members also criticized the mayor for making what they characterized as unsupported accusations about Roder. Everett's report dismissed two such allegations made by Lansing.

"Everybody's been pointing fingers," said Cashman, but "there really has been one issue over the course of the last eight months to a year, and that's the mayor's behavior."