October 10, 2023 |
Photo – The September 12th Hanna Town Council Meeting – Bigfoot99 file photo
Following last month’s contentious Hanna town council meeting, one resident is taking matters into his own hands with a petition to recall the mayor.
On September 30th, Nathan Seegmiller created a Change.org petition titled Vote of no-confidence of town Mayor Jon Ostling. Seegmiller said after the September 12th Hanna town council meeting, he wanted to see if the public supported removing Mayor Jon Ostling from office.
Around 200 people attended the September 12th Hanna town council meeting, held in the town’s recreation center gymnasium. Most attendees appeared to be there to protest the adoption of Ordinance 401, an amendment to the town’s nuisance code. The amended ordinance gave the mayor the power to hire and fire a code enforcement officer, broadened the scope of what was considered a nuisance, and, perhaps most controversially, raised the daily fine for non-compliance from $100 a day to $750.
During the September 12th meeting, over 20 people addressed the council to express their opposition to the amended ordinance. Most of the speakers agreed that it wasn’t anyone’s business what they did with their yards. They said the fine increase was too high and accused Mayor Ostling of using the ordinance to pad the town’s budget.
After nearly two hours of public comment, the council brought Ordinance 401 up for a vote. The vote died for a lack of a motion. Hanna Town Clerk Vivian Gonzales, speaking to Bigfoot99, said the motion is truly dead and will not be brought up during any future council meetings.
Seegmiller, who works as a corrections officer at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, is a Hanna resident. Seegmiller said when he became aware of Mayor Ostling’s ordinance amendment he had to attend the town council meeting to voice his disapproval.
Seegmiller was one of the people who stood up to ask the council to vote against the ordinance amendment. The corrections officer said he was unhappy with the way Mayor Ostling handled the meeting. Seegmiller said he felt like no one on the council attempted to explain the reason behind the ordinance change.
Seegmiller said he felt compelled to act after the September 12th town council meeting. The corrections officer said Hanna Councilman Roger Hawks suggested the vote of no confidence petition. However, Seegmiller said he isn’t sure how to legally remove Mayor Ostling from office.
Seegmiller said he is still investigating ways to either remove Mayor Ostling or send a strong message to the council that the people aren’t satisfied with the mayor’s actions. The corrections officer said he is working on having a new petition for residents to sign at tonight’s town council meeting.
Seegmiller said he isn’t sure how much support his petition will receive. People have short memories, and Seegmiller said he’s noticed that the ordinance change is no longer in the forefront of people’s minds. The corrections officer said he’ll be at tonight’s town council meeting to gauge the public’s interest in removing Mayor Ostling from office.
The Hanna town council meeting begins tonight at 6:30pm in the Hanna town hall at 301 Adams Street.
