(Lander, WY) – Following the unexpected and tragic passing of Lander Mayor Monte Richardson last week, the City of Lander convened for a special meeting Tuesday night, in order to name a Mayor Pro Tempore (temporary Mayor).
The temporary Mayor will fill the position until the council votes on a “permanent” Mayor, and the “permanent” Mayor will then serve until the end of the scheduled term in December 2026.
In a 4-2 council vote, current Council President Julia Stuble was chosen to serve as the temporary Mayor. This position will be effective until a special meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, February 25, at which time the council will vote for the “permanent” Mayor.
Before the night’s official discussion began and the final decision was made, Stuble shared the following words honoring the late Mayor:
I want to take a moment to acknowledge that we are in a time of mourning here at the City of Lander in our community. This is our first meeting as a governing body since Mayor Monte Richardson’s untimely death. He was a humble man and an unassuming leader, so he wouldn’t want me to say this, but we’re going to feel his absence tonight and in a thousand other meetings and a thousand other rooms for days and weeks to come. We all know he went above and beyond as a Mayor. And as our leader, he put in the time to genuinely connect with people. He knew that the key to making Lander a wonderful community was to sit down and have a conversation, and that any problem could be solved if he started out with a cup of coffee in his office.
I have immense gratitude for our staff, who, over the past week, have been grieving, taking on extra work, and still making sure that the city runs smoothly amidst uncertainty and loss. So thank you and please thank those in your departments. Monte believed in the staff, as do I and other council members. He was immensely appreciative of your service to community. Before we go to Civil Attorney Adam Phillips, I want to say that the decision to appoint a temporary Mayor tonight was made out of respect to Mayor Richardson and his family. I want us to pay our respects to him and say our goodbyes at his memorial before we moved to fill the vacancy of the Mayor’s office.”
After Stuble’s opening address, Civil City Attorney Adam Phillips explained the situation at hand, first stating that the City’s ordinances are “fairly clear in terms of the vacancy of the Mayor,” as found in Ordinance 12-5-1.
The ordinance states, as written, that “Any vacancy in the office of Mayor shall be filled only from the governing body by a majority vote of all council members. An abstention shall be considered a no vote.”
“Essentially,” Phillips explained, “the council will elect an individual from the council to serve the remainder of the term of the Mayor. In doing so, that individual, when appointed or when elected by this council, has to resign their seat to become the permanent Mayor.”
This action will “trigger a vacant spot in the seat,” Phillips continued, which means the council would then have 90 days to take applications to appoint a new council member.
Phillips then went on to share that traditionally, the council-elected Council President “essentially acted as a Mayor Pro Tem, meaning that when the Mayor was gone or not able to perform the duties for whatever reason, that the Council President was the one who stepped in and took care of everything.”
However, given the current circumstances and after a “thorough review of (the) ordinances,” Phillips found the City ordinances do not explicitly state that the Council President must serve in the capacity of a Mayor Pro Tem.
“There’s actually no description of duties of a Council President or a Mayor Pro Tem,” Phillips commented.
The other issue Phillips pointed out is that the council vote for the permanent Mayor position will not occur until the next regular council meeting, scheduled for March 11. In order to call that meeting and conduct other Mayoral duties in the days leading up to that council meeting, a temporary Mayor would have to be named by the end of the Tuesday meeting.
“The problem is, who takes care of things between now and that March 11 meeting?” Phillips commented. “That was the issue that I started running into, and that’s why you need to have somebody in place to act as Mayor Pro Tem to fulfill all those duties.”
Phillips then advised the following.
“First and foremost, I think you authorize the staff to draft a new ordinance to be able to codify a Mayor Pro Tem so we don’t run into this issue in the future,” Phillips stated, and added that a “large majority” of Wyoming cities and towns have ordinances that outline what to do in a Mayor Pro Tem situation.
“Without having anything codified, that is why we presented the resolution that we did so that we could have a temporary Mayor in place until a permanent Mayor is appointed pursuant to our ordinances,” Phillips explained.
“Option one is that you can amend the resolution to say that we’ve already elected a Council President and make the Council President the Pro Tem until the March 11 meeting, which is approximately three weeks away, when a permanent Mayor is put in place,” Phillips advised, which, as stated above, would be decided by council vote.
“Option two is that you take a nomination and you elect a Mayor Pro Tem to serve in the same role, essentially, as the Council President.”
Council member Dan Hahn asked if these options go against state Statute (Wyoming State Statute §15-1-108) in any way.
Phillips stated they did not, but added that the City does have to set a date for when the permanent Mayor would be voted into place.
“We just need somebody to be able to call the meetings. That’s why I strongly urge that we put into ordinance a Mayor Pro Tem with the duties and all that stuff so that we don’t run into this issue in the future.”
Council member Hahn then presented another option: a special meeting could be called for next Tuesday (February 25), at which point the council could vote for the permanent Mayor earlier rather than waiting until March 11, and the meeting would still respectfully take place after Mayor Richardson’s memorial service.
“I don’t see anything pressing that would warrant to have this done tonight,” Hahn stated. “To tell you the truth, I was thinking at that time if the city council would elect a permanent Mayor that would finish out Monte’s term, we wouldn’t be wasting tax dollars and time and money, and it would be done. Everybody could move on.”
“I do agree that that would certainly be a third option,” Phillips replied. “However, we still need to make sure that somebody has the authority to call the meeting, and that’s why, because it’s not codified anywhere, that’s why I felt pretty strongly that we needed to have something in place to be able to give authority to somebody to do things that need to be done.”
Council member Melinda Cox later asked for clarification concerning whether the Mayor Pro Tem and Council President roles would be separate or if they would essentially be combined.
“It’s a good question,” Phillips responded. “My theory is that we combine those two because they were pretty much one and the same.”
Council President Stuble later called to readdress Hahn’s idea of moving the permanent Mayor vote meeting to next Tuesday, and asked if there were any questions before moving forward with the discussion.
“I just think it’s important that we clear up (the ordinance),” Phillips commented. “Sometimes it takes events to help us recognize that our ordinances are lacking. This is one of those where we recognize that our ordinance is lacking.”
“With your approval, the staff can work on a new ordinance to be able to codify Mayor Pro Tem and procedures in the event of something like this happening in the future.”
“So everything we’re doing tonight is basically just putting somebody in Pro Tem until next Tuesday?” council member Josh Hahn asked.
“That is correct,” Stuble confirmed. “And then, at some point in the very close future, we will begin the process of approving an ordinance that codifies the Mayor Pro Tem roles.”
Phillips then added that whoever is selected for Mayor Pro Tem would not have to give up their council seat.
“Whereas in the vacancy, because they are going to become the new Mayor, that is when they would be giving up their council seat,” Phillips explained.
“Then they would fulfill the role of the Mayor until the next elections (in November 2026). If they decide not to run for Mayor at that time, they don’t have a council seat to go back to.”
Setting the February 25 special meeting was then unanimously approved before Phillips explained the Pro Tem nomination process.
Council members were informed they could not nominate themselves, but they could vote for themselves if nominated.
Once the nominees are chosen, after being called for three times by the Council President, the Council then submits their votes.
After nominations were called for three times, John Larsen nominated Stuble, and Josh Hahn nominated Dan Hahn. Both accepted.
The voting then took place, with Larsen, Missy White and Cox voting for Stuble, and Josh Hahn voting for Dan Hahn. Stuble and Dan Hahn each voted for themselves, resulting in the 4-2 count and Stuble being named as Mayor Pro Tem until the permanent Mayor vote takes place next week.
The council then unanimously authorized the following: for the Mayor Pro Tem to be a signatory on all City of Lander accounts, the removal of Mayor Richardson from all City of Lander accounts, and the approval of a waiver of the Lander Community and Convention Center fees for Monte Richardson’s Memorial.
Note: Memorial Services for Mayor Richardson will be held at the Lander Community and Convention Center on Friday at 10 AM. In honor of Mayor Richardson’s legacy, his family has also established a memorial fund at ACFCU to support the planting of trees in the new Popo Agie River Park and Antelope Park. For questions about the memorial fund, call the ACFCU Lander branch at (307) 332-5151.