Belleville council approves new mayor’s appointment of candidates who lost election races
Mayor Patty Gregory’s proposal for new department heads and staff appointments, including positions for two candidates who lost in the April 6 election, was approved by the Belleville City Council in a 10-6 vote Monday night.
The vote came after a closed executive session that lasted about one hour and 45 minutes in Gregory’s first council meeting as mayor. Her four-year term began Saturday.
Dean Hardt, who lost the treasurer’s race to Sarah Biermann, was appointed to serve as purchasing agent and risk management director. Seth Miller, who lost the Ward 7 alderman’s race to incumbent Dennis Weygandt, was appointed to be director of human resources and community development.
Gregory supported both Hardt and Miller during the campaign.
Gregory, who defeated Mark Eckert in the mayor’s race on April 6, could not be reached for comment Monday night after the meeting. Over the weekend, Gregory told the BND that Hardt’s eight years as treasurer and Miller’s bachelor’s degree in human resources were part of the reasons why she appointed them to the posts.
The following 10 council members voted for Gregory’s appointments: Bryan Whitaker of Ward 1; Kent Randle of Ward 3; Johnnie Anthony and Raffi Ovian of Ward 4; Ed Dintelman and Shelly Schaefer of Ward 5; Mary Stiehl and Chris Rothweiler of Ward 6; Phil Elmore of Ward 7; and Nora Sullivan of Ward 8.
Six members voted against the plan: Joe Hazel of Ward 1; Carmen Duco and Jamie Eros of Ward 2; Scott Ferguson of Ward 3; Dennis Weygandt of Ward 7; and Roger Wigginton of Ward 8.
While the aldermen met in a closed session for a length of time unmatched for closed sessions in recent years, they did not release many details about their positions during the open session of the meeting.
In an interview after the meeting, Wigginton said he wanted the department head plan to be tabled for 30 days. However, a motion for that delay was defeated.
“I wanted to give all of us a chance to digest it more,” Wigginton said. “These are very important jobs. These are very important appointments.”
Wigginton, who noted that aldermen did not receive Gregory’s plan until Saturday, said he reviewed the resumes of Hardt and Miller and he did not think they are qualified for the positions.
On Saturday, Wigginton, who supported Eckert in the campaign, described the appointments as “political cronyism.”
Hazel said in an interview after the meeting that one of the reasons he voted against the plan is that he was concerned about the costs of the new positions.
Salary amounts for the new positions were not released during the meeting.
Other appointments approved by the council Monday night include:
Scott Tyler, retiring firefighter and former Belleville alderman from 2015 to 2019, as director of health, housing and building. The housing department recently had been included in the residential and commercial development services department but it will now be a separate department.
Garrett Hoerner retained as city attorney.
Belleville attorney Lloyd M. Cueto to replace Brian Flynn as assistant city attorney.
Jamie Maitret retained as finance director.
Jason Poole retained as director of Public Works, and interim director of Parks and Recreation.
Kathleen Kaiser, a marketing agency leader, to replace Jennifer Ferguson as communications director. Ferguson left the job in January.
Gigi Dowling Urban, former education administrator, and Marilyn Vise, former journalist and communications manager, as new administrative liaisons to the mayor.
Sharon Strausbaugh to be part-time coordinator of city’s website and marketing.
Gregory did not reappoint Annissa McCaskill as economic development director and Ken Vaughn as director of maintenance and city buildings. She left those positions open until the city can advertise the jobs and select from the applicants.
Gregory is still evaluating other positions, including police chief, assistant police chief, fire chief, deputy fire chief, city engineer and building commissioner. She said she made no recommendations to reappoint the existing employees or hire new people because she has not had a chance to talk to representatives from those departments about their personnel since her election.
This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 8:00 AM.
