Redmond mayor’s wife resigns as Sherwood’s mayor

It was a surprise to many of their fellow mayors when Redmond Mayor George Endicott married Sherwood Mayor Krisanne Clark in late July after the close of the Oregon Mayors Association summer conference in Lebanon.

But now, more than two months later, Krisanne Clark-Endicott resigned Monday as Sherwood mayor, after she and two city councilors became the targets of a recall petition drive.

The group Sherwood Citizens for Accountable Leadership targeted Clark-Endicott, Sally Robinson and Jennifer Harris, the latter two who fled statements indicating they will fight the recall at a special election scheduled for Oct. 17.

The recall group claimed Clark-Endicott had put undue pressure on city councilors in a recent tie vote about a city-owned facility that houses the YMCA.

They also noted that she had begun dividing her time between Sherwood and Redmond and that citizens began expressing concern over her ability to effectively represent the city in a mayoral term that was to last until the end of next year.

In a statement issued Monday evening, after submitting her resignation, Clark-Endicott said the newlyweds had held a family meeting after their wedding “and a unanimous decision was made to make Redmond the new family’s future home,” enrolling their children in the Redmond School District this fall.

“It has been my great pleasure to serve the citizens of the city of Sherwood and message that ‘you can disagree without being disagreeable’,” Clark-Endicott said in a news release.

She noted she was elected twice as a city councilor and twice as mayor ,and pointed to achievements such as opening Sherwood’s first dog park, the Sherwood Center for the Arts, a community garden, park recycling program.

“Recently, a disgruntled group representing a vocal minority in Sherwood validated 1,027 signatures in an attempted recall,” Clark-Endicott said. “By comparison, Sherwood’s registered voter roll exceeds 12,220 citizens.”

“When you ask hard questions and challenge the status quo, you are going to get rocks thrown in your direction,” said Clark-Endicott. “Progress requires risk, and when you come out of the refiner’s fire you are stronger as an individual, a city and a community. I will never stop asking the hard questions.”