Postponed election stirs tension over history and future of Wellington Heights

CEDAR RAPIDS - A dispute over a postponed election for leadership of the Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association has resulted in the former president's ouster, stirring new debates and reviving old ones as residents try to strike a balance between honoring the neighborhood's history and pushing for a progressive evolution.

Members this week elected local developer Eric Gutschmidt as president of the city's oldest neighborhood association, the organization that connects its residents with city resources. He ran unopposed after the group's board members unanimously removed former President Bob Grafton from his seat, citing his abrupt rescheduling of a Feb. 9 meeting where eligible voters were to elect new leaders - sparking outcry from residents who felt they were being denied a vote.

'I think now that we're kind of entering a unique time where more progressive leadership is necessary and is called for,” said Gutschmidt, who owns and leases property in Wellington Heights but doesn't live in the neighborhood.

Before voting occurred Tuesday, board members shared minutes from the Feb. 25 meeting where they voted Grafton out. According to the group's rationale, Grafton:

' Demonstrated a 'lack of accountability” to the board for decisions made on behalf of the group

' Canceled the leadership election without consulting the board

' Did not notify the board of a news story regarding the postponed election

' Founded a separate organization with similar goals to the association

' Ignored requests to provide 'sensitive financial information” to the association's board.

Grafton, who said he served for two years as president, four years in other board roles and two years in an alternate role, in an interview disputed these claims and said he felt 'blindsided” by his removal.

He said he advocated for an in-person voting option and to use an online voting platform to facilitate the election during a longer 24- to 48-hour voting period to include those who work multiple jobs or late shifts. With COVID-19 precautions in place and much activity taking place online, Grafton said this also created a difficulty of verifying voter eligibility.

Voters must live, work or own property in the southeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood, which is in a low-income census tract and has a racially and ethnically diverse population.

Amid fury over the postponed election, Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker and Cedar Rapids City Council member Ashley Vanorny, along with local advocates Turé Morrow and Tamara Marcus, submitted a letter Feb. 19 to the neighborhood association requesting that a new election be scheduled 'without delay.”

The association 'has done an incredible job of building a positive reputation within the Cedar Rapids community and we fear that these recent decisions may severely impact the trust in this organization,” the letter stated. 'While we understand that there may be concerns about the inaccessibility of the election, you were using a method supported by advocates, amid increased participation.”

The abrupt postponement was not communicated to the public in advance by board members who Grafton says were tasked with doing so, he told The Gazette, contradicting the board members' claim they also were not informed.

'I grew up poor. I know how it is to struggle and not have resources and opportunities,” Grafton said. 'That is why I felt the voting was not inclusive. It was more exclusive.”

Grafton said there has been animosity toward him stemming from the perception by some voters that he delayed the election to retain power.

'I just wanted to make my neighborhood that I've lived in for 36 years better and bring people along with me, and I was looking forward to another six years of doing that,” Grafton said.

He raised concerns in a Feb. 22 letter to the Cedar Rapids City Council and city manager about Vanorny's friendship with Gutschmidt and the 'potential optics of her motives” for signing onto the letter sent days earlier to the association.

In the message, he took issue with a May 2020 request from Gutschmidt to the city to rezone a lot at 1725 Fourth Ave. SE to build a duplex. Vanorny and council member Scott Olson were the only members supporting the request, with the rest of the nine-member council voting to deny it. There were concerns expressed it was too dense for the neighborhood, did not conform to neighborhood design and would take up parking along that street.

At the time the rezoning request was made, Grafton sent a letter to the city opposing it.

Phillip Platz, now vice president of the association and acting president after Grafton's ouster, was among several community members and association board members supporting the rezoning.

Although Grafton mentioned the rezoning in his letter to the council, he said it would be speculation to assume that drove board members' decision to remove him from his post.

Vanorny said the rezoning request was not a factor in her signing onto the letter, but rather it was concerned constituents who reached out.

'They were asking for this to happen and not being heard, and that is a matter I take personally and that is the start and the finish of why I was involved at all with the neighborhood association that was outside of my district,” she said.

Vanorny represents council District 5, which is largely to the south and southwest of Wellington Heights.

Gutschmidt said the rezoning request did not play a role in his decision to run for the presidency.

'My personal passion for Wellington Heights is certainly separate from my business interest in Wellington Heights,” Gutschmidt said.

Grafton is a 'preservationist at heart” who did a great job of stewarding the neighborhood and its association during his tenure, Gutschmidt said.

As a landlord and developer who owns several properties in the neighborhood, Gutschmidt said he has often had to disassemble people's negative belief about Wellington Heights that it is a crime-ridden neighborhood.

It is a great mixed-income urban neighborhood that's close to parks and the hospitals downtown, Gutschmidt said.

Council member Dale Todd, who represents District 3 that includes Wellington Heights and who once led the neighborhood association, told those in attendance at Tuesday's meeting that he would challenge residents to engage in working on issues affecting Wellington Heights.

'Neighborhoods and neighborhood associations go through cycles and you're going through one. There are good times and there are bad times, but I don't have to tell you all that there is a lot of work to do,” Todd said. 'Because of the rich history of this association, we were the leaders. We were the ones that other associations aspired to be. I want to see us back in that position.”

Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com