SHERWOOD — The City Council has passed a resolution expressing disappointment and displeasure in Mayor Virginia Hillman and asking her to do better in the new year.
The resolution alleges Hillman was not truthful in November when asked whether a council-authorized impact fee study had been completed and submitted to the city.
It passed 7-0 with one abstention Tuesday. In a prepared response, Hillman said statements she made at the November meeting could have been confused and misinterpreted, but she did not lie.
The resolution says the mayor misled the council when she denied any knowledge whether the city had received a report from a consulting engineer on a study the council authorized in March on the feasibility of imposing an impact fee on new construction.
“Whereas during a meeting on Dec. 8, 2011, of the Sherwood Street Committee, an advisory committee to the Sherwood City Council, it was affirmed by two different department heads that said report was in the city’s possession as of late September, and that they had met personally on two separate occasions with the mayor for the purpose of discussing the report prior to Nov. 28, 2011.”
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The resolution called Hillman’s actions “misleading” and said she caused undue delay in acting on the study.
“The City Council further requests and insists that the mayor be more forthcoming and honest in disclosing all facts and communications to the City Council that have relevance to the business of the city of Sherwood,” it stated.
“The members of the Sherwood City Council believe that only through open and honest communication and cooperation can the city government of Sherwood operate effectively.”
A parks and roads impact fees study was completed in September by Duncan Associates of Austin, Texas.
Referring to her comments at the November council meeting, Hillman said in a prepared statement Tuesday she meant to say she had not received a copy of the study.
“Upon listening to the audio from last month’s meeting, I can see where my comment could be misleading and was not clear,” she said.
Hillman said she was asked by council member Mary Jo Heye at the November meeting about the city receiving the impact fees study and responded that she had not seen a copy. She said the consulting firm emailed the final draft to staff in September. She said he was not involved in the study other than signing the original contract for services, “nor have I received any type of correspondence from Duncan and Associates.”
“I am not on the streets or parks committee, so I don’t have a dog in this hunt,” Alderman Marina Brooks told Hillman. “You saying you hadn’t seen it made us to believe it wasn’t here.”
“The study had been here for two months,” Heye told the mayor. “You were e-mailed the study and you had two meetings with department heads and you did have the study. You ordered your department heads not to share that information with the council.
Alderman Kevin Lilly said his trust in the mayor had been shaken.
“Trust is something to some degree that has been lost a little bit,” he said. “If we can’t trust what we are being told then how can we move forward? That is a very difficult one for me to deal with. With honesty comes trust.”
Alderman Kenneth Keplinger said he is not sure how he would vote on imposing impact fees in Sherwood but that he wants to review the study and hear feedback from his constituents.
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Greg Rayburn writes for the Sherwood Voice.