Clayton City Councilmember Holly Tillman referred to the nomination process for mayor and vice mayor as groundhogs’ day all over again as she was bypassed for a leadership position on the City Council.
This is now the fourth time she has been passed over by other members of the city council. It also comes as Clayton trio continued to play games at the dais after earlier this year opting to Give the Mayor Control Over Agendas, Does Away With Hybrid Meetings, thus reducing transparency to the public and limiting what members of the council can place on an agenda. The city continues to work through staffing and morale issues.
On Tuesday, Mayor Kim Trupiano nominated vice mayor Jeff Wan as the next mayor who accepted the nomination. It was approved in a 5-0 vote.
Wan then took over the meeting and led the discussion for vice mayor where he nominated councilmember Rich Enea.
In 2025 Tillman was also bypassed
Councilmember Tillman who last year opted for a six-minute speech simply offered a single line when nominating herself.
“I’ll do what I did last year, this is like groundhogs’ day only a year later and I nominate myself,” said Tillman.
In response, Debbie Toth, the President and CEO of Choice in Aging, advocated for Tillman as vice mayor noting the council has bypassed her in the past noting Tillman is a fair person and does what is right.
“She is prepared and she is a fair human being,” said Toth. “She does not take the path of least resistance. I would say her barometer is this is right or this is wrong and we go with what is right. If she finds that something is not right, she course corrects and has humility. She also leads with strength and justice. I think by not having her in a leadership role on your city council you are doing a disservice to the City of Clayton. You are also doing a disservice to this woman who spends a lot of time and energy and effort giving to this community. I hope you consider what is right, what is just and it is what it looks like when you rollover and don’t do what you do for your other colleagues who may not work as hard and who may not be as admired and respected in the community. Holly Tillman shows up for all members of community. Holly Tillman shows up for those with the greatest need and she shows up to do work without a previous agenda and I see it everyday.”
Lauren Kindorf said Clayton is made up of many residents and they all deserve to be heard and respect. She spoke in favor of Tillman and called the council actions “silly”.
“I feel like what has gone on the last few years with the City Council, you are disrespecting not only a councilmember who does a great deal throughout the community and highly respected by many voters and when you disrespect one you disrespect many,” said Kindorf. “We all deserve to be heard, I am really upset, especially when someone puts in so much work for the community… its just human decency to respect our council and our citizens.”
After public comments, the council moved to a vote without any discussion.
Enea was approved in a 4-1 vote with Tillman dissenting.
Wan and Enea offered the following comments:
Mayor Jeff Wan – Commentary
“Its hard shoes to follow because councilmember Trupiano is better at this than I could ever hope to be so hopefully I can do as good as job as she did. We set out on a pretty ambitious course of work over the past several years and the end is in sight on some of the key projects and goals we set out so I really look forward to bringing those to fruition this year. With the work with all of the staff, all of our council, the community, I think we are on the verge of doing some pretty cool things. So I look forward to doing that this year with all of you. Its going to be good times.”
Vice Mayor Rich Enea – Commentary
“I am really honored by the council to appoint me as vice mayor. I have been doing this for a year here, we have accomplished so much as an entire council. I am saying the word council, all five. We have a two-year budget that we have never done before in Clayton. Its balanced. We are doing so much stuff, I can’t name it all. We have way more to go but we are doing it. As far as the community goes, I appreciate Laurens’ comments about the community, but its an entire community of 11,000 people. When I ran last year, I came in first. I was proud of that because I have been in the community a long time. I know a lot of people to, but that is not what gets you onto a council. What gets you is the work you do during the year and what you have done in the past. Its about trust and I enjoy it… we are out in the community every single day. You may not see us, you may not know that. But we are out there and knowing what is going on in the city.”
Enea continued noting he had coffee every Thursday with the public always being invited and has 10 regular members. He added Tillman is also involved in the community.
“Its not one against the other, it’s more of an equal terms and we belong to different circles,” stated Enea who spouted off his resume. “I started off this year, I don’t care what previous councils has done in the past because I sat out there for two years as a planning commissioner and went to the council meetings and there was a discontent but now the city is running smoothly and I look for everyone to be a mayor and vice mayor and I look for it to be rotated. I am sure that is going to happen in the future.”
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