Today, 7-31-2026, at noon, the City of North Plains is holding a Special Meeting to hire an interim City Manager. This meeting comes after the new City Manager, Gary Marks, walked away after 8 days on the job, claiming the City was highly dysfunctional and suffered from high turnover at the City Council. Marks was taking over for controversial City Manager Bill Reid, and North Plains failed to provide required Audits to the State of Oregon over the past few years, mainly under the leadership of former Mayor Teri Lenahan, and drove the City towards a plan for massive urban growth, which divided residents. Those efforts led to public backlash, and a new Mayor and new leadership came into power, but things have been a mess internally ever since. It is easy to imagine what Marks might have seen or read once he sat down in that City Manager’s chair. Claims of all sorts of issues have bubbled up for years; a City Manager would become liable for the acts of previous leaders if they failed to act. Perhaps the job was just too risky for Marks?
Today’s Meeting will be on Zoom and live in person at North Plains City Hall. Written Public Comment Will Be Accepted today.
- See the agenda here
- Join via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
81572897204?pwd= AdDUI3UGvOJDjUgy4LybYbK5
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Meeting ID: 815 7289 7204
Passcode: 058780 - Submit public comment to info@northplains.gov
The internal mess left by years of what appears to be financial mismanagement is so bad that leading the town has become very difficult. The City has lost several City Councilors to recent resignations, and now Mayor Aaron Dumbrow has resigned as well. Dumbrow was recently appointed to replace former Mayor Ariel Goodwin, who had resigned for health reasons last year.
“I cannot continue to lead the city based on the numerous legal and council rule violations by the previous and current council,” Aaron Dumbrow wrote in a letter to the community. He wrote that his reason for leaving was “based on the numerous legal and Council rule violations by the previous and current Council.” He did not give any specifics.
The Herald has covered North Plains on and off for years, and my personal experiences and information about the town have taught me that a small handful of powerful people have been running this town for years. Tenants I had in property we owned in town were personally discriminated against, and when we tried to get help or redress, we met the wall of power. Only significant legal action could have resolved that situation, and the people in power knew it. So this is nothing new to me, but that was 20 years ago.
Regardless of who is in power now, the influence of some property and business owners seems to be continuing to manipulate what is going on inside City Hall. Being a Councilor or Mayor does not mean they run the City; this is true for North Plains, Hillsboro, and almost every town. And a group calling themselves the “Real Friends of North Plains” has been publishing a blog site and sending communications to the people of North Plains that appear to be inaccurate and designed to influence attitudes toward expanding North Plains’ urban growth boundary. Funny thing is the “Real Friends” have no one authoring their write-ups, have hidden who owns the website, have no address or phone number – it is almost as if the “Real Friends” are not real at all. More on these influencers in the coming days.
They say that positive growth comes after a period of pain. Well, here is to all the brave City Councilors staying on and doing the painful work to get past what appears to be financial misdealing and years of institutional dysfunction and severe mismanagement. Reid’s inability to produce acceptable audits is all one needs to know. Follow the money, and that probably answers questions and opens up liability for someone. Maybe that someone(s) are causing chaos so it won’t be found out? Gee, who does that sound like?
Best of luck to North Plains and the wonderful people who live there.
