HOOPER, Utah — Three months after a city council in Weber County considered removing the mayor's powers, the council members in Hooper have still not acted and are figuring out how to deal with the situation.
At Thursday night’s meeting, the city council decided to have a closed-door meeting the following Tuesday to discuss some of the issues and try to come to an agreement.
On Feb. 25, the Hooper City Council discussed a motion to make Mayor Sheri Bingham just the ceremonial head of the city. They decided that day to table that motion and revisit it in three months after some closed-door meetings with just the mayor and council members.
WATCH: Hooper mayor will keep powers, for now, amid rift with city council
Mayor Bingham said she tried to have those meetings, but they kept getting canceled. But since the motion approved was to have that discussion before making a decision, the council is working on a way to make that happen.
"What we're talking about here, what we're going to discuss, I can’t get into details, but there are some significant budgetary, employee management issues that need to be brought up,” said Councilman Bryce Wilcox. "There's some ordinance violations that are well documented and need to be brought up; there’s also some litigation."
“We elected the city council to make decisions that are in the best interest of the citizens of Hooper. If they have come to the point that they feel it is in the best interest of the community to shift the mayor’s powers, I think we need to trust they have a good reason,” said Hooper resident Montay Dixon. “I appreciated the things Councilman Wilcox said tonight about the litigation against the city due to the mayor’s action, the issues with city employees, the budget, and violation of city ordinance. The public isn’t entirely in the dark about what’s happening. I hope the council can do what’s right for Hooper when they vote.”
City council could vote on whether the mayor keeps her powers or not as soon as the next meeting on June 17.
