lena richardsons actions to delay appointments

As we stated in our recall petition, SCM alleges that Mayor Lena Richardson deliberately delayed the appointment of Council vacancies and acted without integrity to re-appoint Kathy Nuckles to the City Council. We believe that after reading through the details below, no reasonable person would disagree with us. 

We remind everyone that Kathy Nuckles has quit her elected position twice, most recently on July 1st, 2025. Ms. Nuckles (along with then-Mayor Jon Ball) made unsubstantiated allegations against the City Administrator in a public meeting, and further allegations against the City Administrator in media interviews. 

We provide a brief timeline of Richardson’s actions below. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for additional details and quotes from Richardson. 

• Mayor Richardson was appointed on July 10th, 2025 by a two-person Council (Councilor Steve Mitchell and Councilor Paige Winfrey). 
• At the same meeting, six qualified candidates had applied for the vacant City Council positions. 
• Mayor Richardson immediately made a motion to delay Council appointments for six weeks, to August 20th, 2025. 

• Mayor Richardson extended the Council appointment deadline again, to September 5th, supported by Councilor Mitchell. 
• Her motion was made five minutes before meeting ended, with no prior public notice.
• Councilor Winfrey objected to the extension
• One more qualified candidate applies, bringing the total to 7.

• Mayor Richardson claims to have a timeline, claims she isn’t questioning the qualifications of applicants, but admits she hasn’t read any of the applications.
• Several residents speak against the delays in non-agenda public comments.
• One more qualified candidate applies, bringing the total to eight.
• Councilor Winfrey formally objects to delays and rescinds her prior votes to delay

           READ COUNCILOR WINFREY'S FULL STATEMENT HERE.

• Mayor Richardson extends the deadline for a third time, to Sept 12th, again supported by Councilor Mitchell.
• Mayor Richardson says “I want everybody who is qualified to apply” 
• No apparent effort is made to review the existing candidates
• Councilor Paige Winfrey makes a motion to stop the delays and commit to selecting candidates on Sept 18th.

• Former Council President Kathy Nuckles (who has previously quit her elected position, twice) applies for one of the vacancies

• The meeting is adjourned early, after a disruption
• No Council appointments are made

• City Council finally makes appointments to the vacant positions 
• There was no attempt to interview any of the candidates in advance, except for – allegedly – one of them. 
• Over the course of the past three months, the Council chose to implement no process for an unbiased selection of candidates. 

                      During the public meeting, there was no process to question candidates, no effort to listen as 

                      candidates advocated for their abilities, and no public discussion of the pros and cons of any 

                     candidate, except for Councilor Mitchell’s long-winded defense of Kathy Nuckles. 

• Mayor Richardson and Councilor Mitchell then chose to re-appoint Kathy Nuckles, with Winfrey dissenting.  Jeffrey Vanier was selected for the other vacancy.