During the Jan. 25 Ridgefield City Council meeting, residents and some councilors shared confusion and concerns about the recent change of leadership on the council and how the decision played out.
At the Jan. 11 council meeting, in a 4-3 decision, the council appointed Councilor Ron Onslow mayor, ending Jennifer Lindsay’s tenure in the position, followed by another 4-3 vote to appoint Lindsay mayor pro tem. Onslow previously served as Ridgefield’s mayor from 2008-18.
Onslow, and councilors Clyde Burkle, Rob Aichele and Lee Wells all supported Lindsay’s ouster, with Lindsay and councilors Matt Cole and Judy Chipman were opposed. Wells, Lindsay, Cole and Chipman then voted to appoint Lindsay mayor pro tem, while the remaining members favored Aichele’s appointment to that position.
Some residents voiced their dismay about the turn of events during public comment of last week’s meeting. Resident Peter Zwingli criticized the council for a lack of transparency.
“If these votes are recorded, they were not shared in the Jan. 11 meeting or on the recorded record, nor could I find it on the city’s website,” Zwingli said. “None of the counselors who chose to speak [in] the meeting shared any reason to justify the change, nor was there any debate, at least not a public one.”
Ridgefield resident Heather Gordon, who was present for the council’s vote two weeks prior, felt some of the council acted inappropriately afterward.
“After the council voted Mayor Lindsay out, the new mayor praised his male colleagues on council for their many accomplishments and then commented ‘Jennifer has improved a lot,’” Gordon said. “That kind of insulting and tone-deaf commentary has no place at council. It’s patronizing and not worthy of city leadership.”
Sherry Stose, who has lived in Ridgefield for 18 years, told the council that the vote to oust Lindsay did not reflect her performance as mayor.
“Lindsay performed her duties as mayor flawlessly. There should not have been any reason to not reappoint her to a second term,” Stose said. “What was your thought process? Sadly, my first thought was discrimination. Discrimination is an ugly word that should not be used lightly. Where I stand, signs point there. Or was it favoritism? If that’s the case, shame on those four counselors who were part of that.”
Cole was the first council member to respond to the criticism, stating he thought it “peculiar” the council would break precedent by not re-appointing a sitting mayor to a second term in favor of someone else. He could not recall that ever taking place before.
“I think that we’re at a critical time with a big school bond on the table, a lot of development, a lot of new partnerships being forged, a lot of activity [has] happened,” Cole said. “And I think that continuity of leadership is important. I think it’s important that you elect somebody to represent your city in leadership who represents the people, who connects with those people. Those are all reasons why I advocated for the vote that I did.”
Chipman also shared her dissatisfaction with the mayoral shakeup.
“I share all of the concerns that were shared with the council tonight,” she said. “I went home in grief over the way that the council had treated our former mayor by not honoring the great work she had done here for two years, and I also have had many people contact me about this.”
Chipman stated this was the first time since taking office two years ago that she has felt council members were at odds with one another. She told the public that, after the Jan. 11 vote, she had sent a letter to the four councilors who did not support Lindsay’s re-appointment asking their reasons. She stated no one replied.
Wells stood by his decision to appoint Onslow.
“As for the vote on the council, I voted my conscience,” Wells said. “I voted by some of the requests I heard from city residents, and so I stand behind my vote [and] both votes that I took.”
Aichele said that Rob Onslow’s experience was the reason behind his vote.
“As far as my vote goes, I, too, have heard from constituents,” he said. “I voted for Mayor Onslow for his accessibility, his communication skills and his experience.”
Burkle thanked residents for sharing their concerns before stating he voted with purpose.
“I appreciate Mayor Pro Tem Lindsay for everything she has done. She did a terrific, wonderful job, but I did vote for Ron Onslow, and I’m proud of that,” he said.
As mayor pro tem, Lindsay spoke last on the matter.
“I understand that [in] a democracy [that] majority rules, and that’s sometimes how it goes, and I understand,” Lindsay said. “Earlier this week, people were asking me why, and it was really hard to be able to say, ‘I don’t know why,’ because apparently there was a lot of discussion within the community that there needs to be a change. This discussion never happened with me. … If there was this big undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the community, it wasn’t getting to the rest of our council.”
Lindsay said, because the vote was unexpected, the transition of power was that more difficult.
“So, [while] I respect their votes and what they said, it’s just unfortunate that if there was this much dissatisfaction with my job performance that I was not made aware of it, and I was never even given the ability to address it with any of them.”
Onslow was absent from the Jan. 25 City Council meeting.
