Hooper mayor will keep powers, for now, amid rift with city council

HOOPER, Utah — More than 100 people crowded inside Tuesday’s meeting as Hooper City Council members accused Mayor Sheri Bingham of stonewalling them.

“This was kind of a wakeup call for all of them to say like, ‘Hey, we can all play nice, we can make good decisions together,’” said resident Nathan Denny. “We came here because we love Hooper.”

Politics

Hooper City Council voting on whether to reduce mayor's power

Mythili Gubbi

Councilman Ryan Hill said the mayor’s family problems have bled into the community.

“Stop the back-biting, the division, the polarization,” he said to the mayor. “It's become a cancer in our community. It's put neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, brother against brother. It’s the root cause of what's going on in our city tonight.”

Mayor Bingham told frustrated residents this was never her intention.

“I am really sorry,” she said. “That was never, ever my intent, ever, because why would something that I love so much ever be anything that I would want to hurt?”

Council members raised issue with the mayor firing the city’s attorneys recently without consulting the council.

“The timeframe is a little suspect to me, and I just feel that there was some bias when you terminated them,” said Councilwoman Debra Marigoni. “It just doesn't time out, right? With the comment that was made that you didn't care for in the firing the next day.”

The ordinance council members voted on was to take away the mayor’s executive and administrative powers, reducing her role to just ceremonial duties and anything the council allows her to do.

“We're driving a really expensive car with no insurance,” said Councilman Bryce Wilcox. “That's basically what we're doing.”

Ultimately, council members voted to table the ordinance.

“I think it's sad to see what's been happening,” said resident Kamille Tubbs. “I feel there is a division, but nothing that couldn't be worked through.”

The city council will have a closed-door meeting with the mayor to hash out the issue, and they will vote on the ordinance in three months at a council meeting on June 5.