Tillman Responds After Being Passed Over as Vice Mayor of Clayton

On Tuesday, the Clayton City Council appointed Kim Trupiano as its next mayor with Jeff Wan as vice mayor.

During the council reorganization, Mayor Jim Diaz made the motion to nominate Trupiano as Clayton’s next mayor which passed in a 5-0 vote. Trupiano, who then took the role of mayor, nominated Councilmember Jeff Wan as the next vice mayor.

Prior to the vote, councilmember Holly Tillman offered commentary saying she has previously been passed over twice.

“I’ve been passed over twice, I served as vice mayor in 2022. I did not get to be mayor the following year or the year after that. So, I think that I have earned to be vice mayor for this upcoming year,” stated Tillman who nominated herself to serve as vice mayor for 2025.

During public comments, several commenters offered support for Tillman saying they were “shocked” by the council actions calling it “upsetting”.  Another urged the council to “do the right thing” and was saddened by the actions.

“This is not doing the right thing. This is political retaliation. Jeff and Kim are upset because they felt Jeff was passed over as mayor a while back. Holly has already paid the price once, and now they are making her pay again. That is not doing the right thing,” said the zoom caller.

Tillmans husband Matt called in over zoom urging the council to stop with the divide noting his wife was the second highest vote total in the city.

“What we see going on in our city, there continues to be tremendous divide. This divide will continue to happen unless we do the right decision right now,” stated Matt Tillman.  “This is an opportunity for everyone on council to help prevent this divide to continue as we move forward. There is zero reason why Holly should not be nominate for vice mayor. She has done more than probably any other councilmember has done for this city.”

He continued, “if we are trying to heal the divide within the city, there is zero chance for us to do that if we continue down the path we are going by nominating Jeff Wan as actual vice mayor going forward.”

Without any other commentary, the council voted for Wan as vice mayor in a 4-1 vote with Tillmen against.

Tidbits from the 6-minute statement:

She thanked her supporters and those who voted for her.

She called some of the issues during the campaign were

“This was not an easy campaign to run as every time I took to the podium, part of the reason for all those issues are standing and sitting in the back of the room. I think if we are going to applaud in passing me over then I think you guys need to take a very critical look at yourselves and realize and recognize that you have a lot to do with the city turnover. That is why I am calling for an investigation. So why I can appreciate that a councilmember only thinks its only pay, that is part of the puzzle. You are not privy to what is said behind closed doors, in closed session. The rest of my councilmembers are, that is why it is not being place on the agenda. I think until we get to the root of that, we are going to continue to have turnover. We should all be embarrassed that it’s the legacy we are continuing on with and I would implore all of us to work together to ensure that doesn’t continue to happen. Having the excuse that we are the lowest paid should not be something we are proud of. It should be something we should try and fix.”

She continued by stating if they want to increase pay, they would have to find a way to pay for it—setting them up for success. She urged the council to give the city manager and staff the tools needed to be successful.

“I am excited that there are five of us up here who actually want to address that because that’s the only way we are going to be able to keep staff in the building.  Not continuing to allow residents who are in town to harass them, sending out ridiculous flyers, emails, and PRA requests, inundating staff all day long so they cannot continue to get work done, that is part of the problem we have…oh, you guys are so happy, when you guys eat crow, I can’t wait. Its you four sitting right back there. I am imploring you guys that if you really want to help the city, do just that. Don’t be trouble makers, what you are doing is not helpful. I know 20-years ago, you were called a mover and shaker Mr. Hood. You no longer are. All you are doing is moving and shaking city staff out of town. I am imploring you to please stop doing that.”

She also had a message for Clayton Watch, asking them to remove her email from their distribution list.

“You do not have an unsubscribe button on there, you need to do that. Your PAC needs to do that, it’s illegal. Please do it because right now, you are spamming everybody. I have no way of telling you to do that because there is no button. SO I am publicly asking you to please unsubscribe my email address.”

She urged the council to move forward and work on their goals from public safety, infrastructure, work on ADA complaints, trails and landscaping while addressing staffing.

“I don’t need a title to lead, I do it regardless,” stated Tillman.

For the full Clayton City Council Meeting video, click here

Previous

• April 12 – Former City Manager Offers Clayton City Council Words of Advice
• March 8 – Update: Clayton City Manager Resigns
• Feb 22 – Video: Clayton City Council Demonstrates How Not to Run A Meeting