The Lorimor mayor — who closed down city hall for nearly two weeks earlier this month, including chaining and padlocking the front door at least once — officially resigned from his post Saturday.
George Lange, 75, closed down Lorimor City Hall and Community Center Aug. 3 directly after placing Lorimor City Clerk Doris Loy on two weeks paid leave. Lange said he closed down city hall that day because Loy refused to turn over her keys to the building.
“She wouldn’t give them to me so I changed the locks. I had no other option. I wanted city hall to be secure,” Lange said.
He said Loy was placed on paid leave because the city’s insurance company refused to fully insure her.
Allan Landers, writing agent for Lorimor’s city insurance policy through EMC Insurance, verified that to be true Tuesday — stating that when the city’s insurance policy renewed in April that Loy was “not bondable.”
“For whatever reason, EMC pulled her bond, meaning the city of Lorimor had no coverage from April to present if she was convicted of stealing something,” Landers said.
Landers said he did make Lorimor city officials aware of this fact upon renewal.
Landers said he didn’t know for sure why Loy was turned down by EMC for coverage. KCCI did report Monday that a 2013 auditor’s report states Loy misspent more than $27,000 while managing finances in Grand River. However, no criminal charges have ever been brought against Loy.
Still, Lorimor residents have organized a petition with more than 75 signatures calling on the state to investigate Loy and potential fraud of city taxpayer dollars.
Loy is back to work today. She was reinstated as city clerk of Lorimor during a special meeting Saturday. Lorimor City Council voted 5-0 to do so. That action did prompt Lange to resign as mayor.
“I will not work with her,” Lange said.
Loy’s attorney Mark Smith of Winterset said Tuesday that his client is fully bonded now through Western Insurance Company in the amount of $100,000. He said Loy secured that insurance while on paid leave.
Sue Schmidt will be acting mayor of Lorimor for the time being. She said the council plans to appoint a new mayor soon to hold the position until the election this November.
Lange is the third person to serve as mayor of Lorimor in the past 12 months.