Anderson City Council censures member Susie Baugh

The Anderson City Council has censured council member Susie Baugh due to allegations that she violated legal and ethical standards and improperly used her elected position for matters tied to a proposed youth treatment facility. 

A censure is essentially a formal rebuke, and does not remove Baugh from office. Elected officials can’t be removed from office by other members of the legislative body, but they can be removed from committee assignments, which is what occurred for Baugh.

The decision to censure her was made at a regular meeting Tuesday night, with all four of the other council members supporting the censure.

The push to censure Baugh came from multiple council members who expressed concern that Baugh “attempted to misuse public funds based on false information” and “participated in, planned, and submitted a false official document to the State, violating legal and ethical obligations,” among other actions, according to the censure resolution. They also said she used her former mayoral title to solicit state funding for the project.

The project that council members were referring to is the Pathways to Leadership Campus, a proposal brought forth by the Redding-based Family Dynamics Resource Center and Anderson Community, a local church led by Baugh’s husband. 

Council members said Baugh’s actions misrepresented the city and were self-serving. 

During last night’s city council meeting, Baugh spoke for about 20 minutes in self-defense, denying the allegations. She also read multiple letters written in her support, including ones from her husband and another from Family Dynamics Executive Clinical Director and Supervisor Dr. Sandra Wilson.

Wilson’s letter asserted that Baugh had no involvement in the preparation or submission of funding application materials, saying that Wilson was the one who had mistakenly labeled Baugh as mayor in the application without her authorization. Her husband’s letter made similar statements. 

Baugh also read a letter she had written, rejecting the assertions made in the censure resolution. She said she doesn’t plan to resign from her position as council member despite being encouraged to do so by some other council members and members of the public. 

“I remain proud of my service to this community,” Baugh said in her speech, “and will continue to conduct myself with honesty, dignity and respect for both the office I hold and the people I serve.”

Council member Mike Gallagher pushed back against Baugh’s statements that she was not involved in the project’s application for state funding by pointing out that Baugh’s name was listed throughout the notes of the funding application, which also showed that she had attended multiple meetings for the project. 

“You were involved,” he said. “It’s right here in black and white, like I can see your name, and you’re referenced as the mayor.”

Along with the censure, Baugh has also been removed from her committee assignments, including from the Shasta Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, and AT HOME Shasta. 

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