October 25, 2023 |
Photo – Hanna Town Sign – Bigfoot99 file photo
In Hanna, a proposed change to the ordinance governing employee termination policies failed due to a lack of support.
During the July 11th Hanna town council meeting, Ordinance 402 was introduced and approved on first reading. Ordinance 402 is the amended version of Hanna’s town employee termination rules. At the July meeting, Town Attorney Patrick Bradey said the amended ordinance allows the town to fire non-exempt employees without cause if approved by the town council or the mayor. Attorney Bradey said the change will save the town legal fees involved in a due process hearing.
Employees that would have been exempt from Ordinance 402 were the town clerk, treasurer, marshal, town attorney, municipal judge, and department heads.
Ordinance 402 was read and approved again during the August 8th town council meeting. The third and final reading was scheduled to happen during the September 12th meeting. Following two hours of public comment on the town’s proposed nuisance regulation amendment, Ordinance 401, the council chose to postpone voting on the employee termination changes.
At the October 10th Hanna town council meeting, Councilman Jason Nordquist voted to approve Ordinance 402 for the final time. Per Wyoming law, all ordinance changes must be voted on and approved during three separate public meetings. Mayor Jon Ostling attempted to second Councilman Nordquist’s motion but was informed that he lacked the authority to do so.
The mayor is only able to vote on motions after they’ve been seconded.
None of the other council members seconded the approval of Ordinance 402. Mayor Ostling said the motion died.
Members of the public attending the meeting expressed confusion over what issue the council was considering. Responding to a comment from an audience member, the mayor said the ordinance wasn’t focused on terminating town employees without reason.
Following the death of Ordinance 402, Mayor Ostling asked the audience if they wanted him to read the proposed amendment. Copies of the ordinance were made available for people to read. Councilman Nordquist said the ordinance was not being passed. Councilman Bill Dys attempted to make it clear that the motion died and was not being enacted.
Because Ordinance 402 was brought up for a vote, and failed to garner a second, the amendment cannot be voted on again and is officially dead.
