PLYMOUTH — In a meeting marked by sharp debate and multiple 3–1 votes, the Plymouth Town Council voted Monday night to require the long-running Plymouth Food Pantry to vacate two town-owned properties and to remove the “Bearolina” logo from all official vehicles, buildings, and the water tower — moves council members said were necessary to bring the town into legal compliance.

The decisions followed months of public records research and mounting tensions over outdated leases, branding authority, and the town’s efforts to “start fresh” by enforcing state and municipal rules long ignored.

The Zoom recording, which is available on the town’s Facebook page, was mostly of a camera pointed at another camera or at the administration table. The town said it was a technical glitch that they hope to have resolved soon.

Council Cites “Non-Compliance” in 3-1 Closure Vote

She said the second property at 118 Washington St. had an approved lease but had failed to renew it as required.

“They did come before council to be leased,” she said, “The lease was not renewed. We were told that it would be discussed with their attorney. That was in July. This is now November.”

The property is home to The Bear Towne Market. According to the county’s tourism website it is a “venue that accommodates an outdoor marketplace, small theater productions, holiday festivities and other events that allows community participation and complements community and economic development in downtown Plymouth.”

Calling the situation “illegal and not binding under the law,” Davis made a motion “for them to remove themselves from these properties.”

Councilwoman Donsenia Teel seconded the motion.

Mayor Brian Roth asked for clarification before the vote.

“So is the objective at this point to get them to come in and get the paperwork up to date, or is the intent to get them out until this can be resolved?” he asked. “These are probably going to end up on [the attorney’s] desk at some point if we have to give an eviction notice.”

Attorney Bob Shaver, substituting for Town Attorney Arnita Dula, noted that the issue of what will actually happen to the organizations involved in the matter could be discussed at later meetings.

Davis responded firmly that the objective was compliance, not compromise. “You just don’t come in and occupy a town building, hold town keys, and do whatever. It’s not compliant,” she said. “We also know that some of these things, some of these leases were illegal. We want transparency and we want compliance.”

She added that the town had reached out months earlier. “If we tell someone in July to come in and renew your lease to be compliant and what is today, November, and you still refuse to, that is not being compliant. We’re not kicking people out because we’re mean guys,” she said. “We’re saying we’re asking people to comply.”

No timeline was given as to when the food pantry has to hand over the keys. Moreover, since Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner, the food pantry … let’s say it plays an important role in assisting folks during the holidays. Rather than say Bah-humbug as Scrooge might say, Mayor-elect Davis is comfortable with the word “compliance.”

Councilwoman Byers Voices Concern for Volunteers and Residents

Councilwoman Mary Ann Byers pushed back, urging compassion for the volunteers who operate the food pantry and the families it serves.

“These are volunteer people that serve our community with food throughout the year and very needed people that look forward to going to the pantry when they get supplies in and so forth,” Byers said.

Davis insisted the town’s actions would not stop food distribution efforts.

“We’re not stopping it from the community getting food,” she said. “That’s not the narrative we’re going to present tonight. We’re asking them to be in compliance.”

Byers urged the council to “approach them and work with them,” saying, “Since they’re volunteers, they may not have been aware.”

But Davis replied that staff and volunteers had already been privately told about compliance issues and “it was greatly disregarded.”

Roth tried to moderate the discussion, asking whether the town wanted to “get them to the table” or to “say you can’t use the property anymore.”

Davis replied: “End game is us complying. You just can’t do that [occupy a town building without a lease]. It’s been going on for a long time.”

Motion Passes 3–1: Organizations Ordered to Vacate

After prolonged confusion over whether the vote covered one or both addresses, Davis clarified that her motion applied to both 118 and 818 Washington Street.

“Vacating is for 811 and 118,” she said, referring to the two locations.

Byers raised practical concerns about the food still stored on site. “You don’t have a limit as to when they can get out because they have freezers out there with food in it,” she said.

Despite the concerns, the motion carried. Roth confirmed for the record: “We have motion and second… all those in favor, please raise your hands.”

The motion passed 3-1 with Byers casting the dissenting vote.

As the vote concluded, Davis reaffirmed her broader intent: “This is just the beginning. But we will let the rest [of the non-compliant properties] for the next council meeting. Do know that for the town of Plymouth, we will be in compliance with everything that we do.”

Council Votes to Remove “Bearolina” Logo from Town Property

The compliance theme carried into the second major decision of the night — the removal of the Bear Paw “Bearolina” logo, which has been used on town vehicles, signage, and the water tower for several years.

The logo, depicting a black bear paw print, was originally adopted during a tourism rebranding effort led by former town and county officials to market Plymouth as an “ecotourism destination,” according to Roth.

But Davis argued the logo was never formally approved by the town council and therefore represented another act of noncompliance. “There’s nowhere that you can just come in and put your stamp, your seal on everything around the town. You have to — there’s a process, there’s paperwork,” she said.

Councilwoman Teel agreed, asking, “Why are we advertising or branding for someone else? We need to be branding for our city, for the town of Plymouth.”

Teel made a motion “that we start removing the bear paw off the town letterhead, off town vehicles, off the town water tower… this is the beginning of the trash cans.”

Davis seconded the motion.

Difference Between Logo and Town Seal

Roth tried to clarify the distinction between the logo and the official town seal. “My recollection of the Bear Paw — there’s a difference between an official town seal right there,” he said, gesturing toward the dais. “That’s the official registered town seal, and that is to be used when notarizing and legal documents and so on. A logo is marketing and branding, and that’s something totally separate.”

He explained that the bear paw logo had been adopted “as part of that branding effort” in an earlier administration. “Mike Wright and Tom Harrison came in and briefed the council,” Roth said. “The community and the council, the staff, management, elected officials were very, very aware in that time period of that branding effort. There was a lot of interest in branding ourselves as an outdoor ecotourism destination because of the river and the bears and the birds and all those things.”

Shaver said that while council could choose to change direction, the existing logo was “not illegal.”

“It’s not illegal to have a bear paw or Chinese checkers or Oreos or whatever corn flakes on a vehicle door if that’s how we want to brand our town,” he said. “If council chooses to go in a different direction, that’s okay. That’s a council decision.”

According to Washington County Board of Commissioners minutes from June 2021, Washington County Tourism and Development Authority Director Tom Harrison introduced the logos and phrase as a replacement the old county and town logos used on documents and government-owned vehicles. In that meeting, Harrison said he would talk with the towns of Creswell, Plymouth and Roper about using the logo and report back to the county.

According to Plymouth’s Council meetings, Harrison presented the logo at the June 14, 2021, meeting. The minutes do not indicate whether a vote on using the logos was taken.

Debate Over Public Input

Byers again urged the council to allow public input before removing the logo, noting that “it’s on cars and it’s on that water tower.”

“Without giving the public a chance to chime in on this, I just… I think it’s,” Byers began before Davis interjected. “You have a public hearing and do what the majority of the public would want,” Byers said.

Davis disagreed that a hearing was necessary, saying, “That’s not required to have a public hearing just on cause of removing.”

Byers maintained, “There’s nothing wrong with a public hearing.”

Davis countered that the Bearolina branding had “no contracts, nothing signed, sealed, or delivered,” calling it “a conversation” rather than an official act.

When Byers suggested that a previous council must have approved it, Assistant Town Manager Sharon Files said, “We’re fair, and the council approved that. I have to research that.”

Byers replied, “It would have had to been approved because it’s on the cars and it’s on that water tower. Tom would not have gone and put it on those without approval.”

Roth then clarified, noting that the public works crew painted the water tower.

Vote to Remove the Logo Passes 3–1

After nearly half an hour of back-and-forth, the council voted 3–1 to remove the Bear Paw logo from all town property.

Mayor Roth confirmed, “Motion carries 3–1.”

The timeline for removal remains unclear. Teel said, “We can’t do a timeline right now because it’s gonna take funding, so we’re gonna have to work on that.”

Compliance Push to Continue

At the close of the meeting, Davis said the two actions — the food pantry closure and the Bearolina removal — were only the start of a broader compliance review.

“For the town of Plymouth, we will be in compliance with everything that we do,” she said.

Byers, who cast the lone dissenting votes, expressed ongoing concerns that the council was acting hastily and without sufficient public engagement.

“There’s a way of handling things,” she said.

Shaver recommended the issues be placed on a future agenda for further review once the town’s regular attorney returns.

“I would suggest you put it on and let your regular attorney give you advice about how you can proceed after having looked at it,” he said.

As the meeting adjourned, the divide between compliance and compassion — between branding and identity — remained palpable in the council chamber.

Davis stood firm that her actions were about legality, not politics. “We’re asking people to comply,” she said. “We don’t think that’s a lot to ask.”