Ahead of Willard impeachment hearing, aldermen continue sparring with mayor
Willard Mayor Sam Snider's impeachment hearing is scheduled for Thursday evening. Yet, all has not been quiet leading up to the hearing as another spat brought on by one of the aldermen arose at Monday's Board of Aldermen meeting.
Snider was presented with an impeachment letter signed by all the aldermen on Sept. 25. The letter focuses mainly on Snider's actions, or lack thereof, that have left the city without a city administrator since spring. The impeachment letter came after the board had formally censured the mayor for firing an interim city administrator they had appointed in the mayor's absence. Snider publicly apologized following the censure.
Alderman Corey Hendrickson was not present at Monday's meeting. On Tuesday morning, he sent City Clerk Dona Slater an email with his resignation. She said Hendrickson did not include a reason for leaving in his resignation. His term would have extended until April 2024.
At Monday's meeting, two items regarding the position appeared on the agenda — discussion of a recruitment service and discussion of hiring an interim city administrator. However, Alderman Sam Baird motioned to remove the two agenda items noting that Snider had added them to the agenda only the previous Friday, which Baird said violates city ordinance that requires any additions to be submitted five days before the open meeting.
Practice versus city code
Baird said Snider was not applying the same standards to himself as he had to the board at previous instances.
"You're asking me to follow a rule that you're unwilling to comply with, it does not make sense," Baird said.
Snider said he and city staff always put the agenda together and approve it on Fridays, which is always how it has been done.
Willard City Code states that agendas for any meeting should be submitted by the city administrator to the city clerk seven business days before an open meeting. If the city does not have a city administrator, the agenda should be set by the city clerk with final approval from the mayor, though the ordinance does not explicitly state a timeline for this. In the same section, the code notes that any aldermen or the mayor can request to add items to the agenda, though these requests must be made five days before an open meeting.
The board, with Hendrickson absent, unanimously voted to take the two items off of the agenda.
During public comment, Megan Applegate pointed out that the agenda for the meeting during which the board appointed an interim city administrator previously had not listed the action as an agenda item, preventing the public from even knowing it was happening or having the opportunity to speak on it. According to the minutes, the appointment was brought up as part of "Unfinished Business" by Alderman Landon Hall and voted on unanimously.
Angie Wilson also spoke during the citizen input portion of the meeting, asking the board to withdraw the impeachment letter.
"Even if all the allegations in the bill of impeachment adopted by this board are true, they do not rise to a level of egregiousness that should remove an elected official from office," she said. "Impeaching Willard's mayor would set a precedent that would mark our city as one to avoid as an elected official, a staff member, a business and ultimately a citizen."
Snider became the city's, and likely the county's, youngest and first Black mayor when he was first elected in 2021 at age 25. He was re-elected in April.
Other contradictions
Not all of the allegations in the letter of impeachment are true.
While most points listed in regard to the city administrator position are valid, the letter states Snider repeatedly "refused to consistently advertise" the vacant city administrator position from July to September.
Minutes from the Board of Aldermen meeting on June 12 note a discussion on advertising job postings and the price associated with such, with agreement to post the job on free sites and let them run. That same meeting, during which Hendrickson and Baird were absent, the board voted on seeking professional recruitment services. While the minutes are not clear, this would suggest ending previous advertising was agreed upon to allow for recruitment services. Minutes from the Jan. 23 meeting list approval of the position's job description alongside advertising it.
The letter also claimed that during his mayoral campaign, Snider misrepresented facts on his Candidate's Affidavit of Tax Payments, also known as Form 5120. The form requires all electoral candidates to acknowledge that they are not delinquent on any of their taxes. The impeachment letter accuses Snider of filing the form in 2023 with his 2022 personal property taxes delinquent.
However, Snider signed the form Dec. 4, 2022 and had it notarized Dec. 6, 2022. Taxes are due Dec. 31 and do not become delinquent until Jan. 1 of the following year. According to the Greene County Collector's website, Snider had paid all previous years' personal taxes by the time the form was filed. While Snider was delinquent on these taxes when the impeachment letter was served, he did not commit perjury when filing the form. Snider has since paid 2022 personal property taxes.
More: After public apology at Monday meeting, Willard Board of Aldermen move to impeach mayor
This was not the case for one of the aldermen. Hall's Form 5120 reveals he signed and notarized the form Dec. 28, 2021. His 2020 personal property taxes were not paid until March 31, 2022, according to the county collector's website. This was before the election during which he was elected. While the due dates for 2020 personal property taxes were extended until Feb. 28, 2021 due to technical challenges, Hall would have been delinquent on these taxes when he filed the form.
Hall told the News-Leader that he had moved from an area that did not have personal property taxes and thus was not used to paying them and took a while to get used to the system. The collector's site also lists his 2019 personal property taxes. He noted that the tax portion was only a small part of a list of reasons why Snider was up for impeachment.
City Clerk Dona Slater told the News-Leader in September that the city has been without a permanent city administrator since September 2022. While an interim administrator, Steve Bodenhamer, was put in place in October, he took up a project manager position with the city in the spring, leaving the role vacant once again.
The impeachment hearing will take place at the Community Center next to Jackson Street Park on Thursday at 7 p.m. At the Sept. 25 meeting, City Attorney Ken Reynolds said that if the mayor is impeached, Baird, who is Mayor Pro Tem, would take on his role.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Impeachment letter against Willard mayor includes false allegations
