New Mount Shasta Councilmember Has Family Connection to City Finance Director

By Anastasia Sprout | Mount Shasta Observer

Mount Shasta’s newest City Councilmember, Todd Anthis, has a family connection to one of the City’s key financial officials: Finance Director and City Treasurer Malisa Dodd.

Dodd, who publicly uses the name Malisa Waite, is married to Scott Waite. Scott Waite is the brother of Brett Waite Anthis, Todd Anthis’s wife. That makes Dodd and Anthis sister- and brother-in-law.

The relationship is noteworthy because Anthis joined the Council during an unusual period for the City’s Finance Department.

On July 13, the Council’s Future Agenda Items included “Funding of Forensic Analysis of Finance Department,” which had been requested by Council members Tessa Clure and John Stackfleth.

On August 12, Acting City Manager Kim Fowler confirmed in an email to this writer that Dodd remained the City’s Finance Director and Treasurer but was “currently on a temporary leave of absence.”

On August 17, the Council approved a $10,000 budget adjustment to hire a temporary, on-call Finance consultant at $195 per hour. During the public discussion, City officials explicitly connected the consultant's work to the previously proposed “Funding of Forensic Analysis of Finance Department.”

The consultant was expected both to help cover Finance Director duties during Dodd's absence and to examine the department. Asked whether the consultant would perform day-to-day duties “in addition to doing this sort of forensic work,” the response was, “The short answer is yes.”

The Council subsequently removed the forensic-analysis item from its Future Agenda Items. Acting City Manager Kim Fowler told the Observer that the item was considered “satisfied” by the hiring of the temporary consultant. It was also recorded at the August 17 meeting that, “On July 23, 2026, the Finance Director took a leave of absence for a time period of up to 12 weeks.”

On August 31, the City Council appointed Todd Anthis to fill the vacant Council seat. Anthis's appointment is temporary; the vacant seat is part of the November 2026 election cycle.

The family relationship does not, by itself, establish a legal conflict of interest or suggest wrongdoing by Anthis or Dodd. It does, however, raise a practical governance question: How will the City handle Council matters involving Dodd or the Finance Department when one of the five Council members is her brother-in-law?

Anthis also brings substantial local business interests to the Council. During his appointment interview, he said he owns or operates Shasta Inn, Strawberry Valley Inn and Harvest Restaurant and described decades of experience in hotel development and operations. He also told the Council that he had “done the books” for most of his hotels since 1999.

Going forward, the question may be less about the existence of the family relationship than about disclosure and participation: whether the relationship was disclosed to the Council during the appointment process, and how Anthis will handle future discussions or votes directly involving Dodd, her position, the Finance Department, financial reviews or related contracts.

During the public portion of Anthis's August 31 appointment interview reviewed by the Observer, Anthis did not disclose his family relationship to Dodd, and Council members did not ask him about it. This does not establish that Council members were unaware of the relationship or that Anthis was legally required to disclose it.

The Interim City Council appointment, along with consideration of other candidates, can be seen at the City of Mount Shasta YouTube channel here:

A request for comment from City Treasurer Malisa Dodd was made but a response was not received by publication. Other requests for comment are pending. If we do receive responses we will update the article.