Rachel Dolezal, the embattled former head of the Spokane, Washington, chapter of the NAACP, was removed from the city’s Police Ombudsman Commission on Thursday.
Dolezal was forced out by a unanimous vote of the six city council members in attendance at the meeting.
Dolezal, who has been under intense public scrutiny in recent days after being accused of falsely claiming to be black, served as a chair on the independent, all-volunteer citizen council.
Dolezal’s removal was unrelated to the controversy surrounding her race. Rather, she had been accused of violating ethics rules by publicly naming residents who had made complaints against police officers.
The city council also accepted the resignation of commissioner Kevin Berkompas, who was implicated in the probe as well.
A third commissioner who had been under investigation, Adrian Dominguez, asked for additional time to review the report by independent investigators, as he is traveling. A June 24 hearing has been set to determine Dominguez’s fate on the commission.
The investigation into the matter yielded eight total findings: Seven involved Dolezal, six involved Dominguez and four involved Berkompas.
Dolezal’s term was set to expire on Sept. 15, 2016, while Berkompas and Dominguez were expected to stay on until 2017.
“We are deeply disturbed by the facts contained in the report of findings from the independent investigator,” Spokane Mayor David Condon and Council President Ben Stuckart said in a joint statement posted on the city’s website Wednesday. “The conduct is unacceptable and falls far short of the community’s expectations of volunteers who sit on City boards and commissions.”
Dolezal resigned as Spokane chapter president of the NAACP on Monday, amid accusations that she’s been pretending to be African-American despite the fact that her Montana birth certificate identifies her as Caucasian.
In interviews since her resignation, Dolezal maintained that she identifies as black, despite the claims of her parents and pictures from her past showing her with lighter skin and blonde hair.
She has also stated that she’s “definitely not white,” and that there’s “no biological proof” that Larry and Ruthanne Dolezal, who have repeatedly refuted her claims, are her actual birth parents.