Des Moines City Councilmember Indira Sheumaker has not attended any city council meeting or communicated with any city official since March 6. Sheumaker, who represents Ward 1, has also not been in touch with constituents during that time, according to two community groups in the ward. On Monday, Mayor Frank Cownie sent a certified letter to Sheumaker about her absence.
“Your Council colleagues and I need communication of your intentions regarding your office and the duties of the office at the earliest practicable moment, but in any event, no later than August 28, 2023,” Cownie wrote in the letter, first published by Axios Des Moines on Thursday morning.
If there is no response by Monday, Cownie said the council “will presume you have abandoned the office and will proceed accordingly.”
The letter was returned undelivered. Cownie said in a written statement on Thursday that the post office reported that its attempt to deliver the letter to Sheumaker at her last known address were unsuccessful. The mayor said that last week “multiple attempts to hand deliver a message, utilizing a professional process server” also failed.
The letter and message came after five Ward 1 residents filed an official complaint with the council earlier this morning, asking the council to remove Sheumaker due to what they called her “willful and habitual neglect, as well as refusal to perform the duties of the office.”
“The Ward 1 residents — everybody that I’ve talked to — are not mad at Indira and have no ill will against her. They just want a representative for Ward 1,” Dave Hellstern, an attorney representing the five residents, told the Des Moines Register after the complaint was filed. “They are concerned about Indira, but at this point, they need representation on the City Council and felt like they’ve given her more than enough time.”
Sheumaker is in her first term on the city council. She defeated incumbent Bill Gray in the November 2021 city election, running on a strongly progressive platform focused on social justice. It was her first campaign for public office.
Sheumaker was 27 when she took office in January 2022, becoming the youngest member of the council, as well as its only person of color. She was appointed to serve on three committees: the Homeless Coordinating Council, the IMPACT Community Action Partnership and the Metro Waste Authority. Her term expires in January 2026.
Sheumaker was also absent for an extended period last year. She did not attend council meetings for a two-month period starting in May. Before returning to the council in July, Sheumaker issued a statement explaining she had been diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety, which had been exacerbated by COVID-19 and the isolation from friends and family caused by the virus.
“My individual health does not negate the reality of the world we live in, and my commitment to the people of Des Moines remains strong,” Sheumaker said in that statement. “I will continue to work to build up communities, develop systems for people power, and create a world where we don’t have to rely on one individual for our goals to be achieved.”
In the undelivered letter to Sheumaker, Cownie said the council “has heard from a number of your constituents who indicate that you are not returning their phone calls or email; have not attended neighborhood meetings, and are non-responsive to demands for service from First Ward residents. No explanation for your failure to discharge the duties of your elected seat has been offered.”
Cownie said, “we are concerned for your well-being and concerned for the adequacy of First Ward representation in your ongoing and continual absence.”
If Sheumaker does not respond by the Aug. 28 deadline, and the council decides to remove her from office, it can do so with a two-thirds vote. In the citizen’s complaint filed with council at the beginning of August, the petitioners ask that after removing Sheumaker, councilmembers vote to put the vacant seat on the ballot in the November election, so Ward 1 residents can elect someone to fill out the remainder of Sheumaker’s term.
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox.
