Tensions flare in Vineyard over 'alignment' of city staff to new City Council

VINEYARD — Tension simmered during the Vineyard City Council meeting this week as its new members discussed staffing issues and whether city employees should be aligned with the new council.

The meeting — composed of mostly new council members after last year's general municipal election — revolved around a subcommittee that would review appointed city positions and staffing. Mayor Zack Stratton called the latest election "a mandate from the citizens to change some things."

Stratton and the three new council members — Jacob Wood, David Lauret and Parker McCumber — were all backed by Councilman Jacob Holdaway, who was a staunch opponent of the previous council and mayor.

But some public comments painted a different story, accusing the council of forcing people to resign over not aligning with the council's new direction.

The discussion is only the latest for a city that over the past few years has been beset with feuds among some of its elected officials over things like finances and transparency.

Losing city employees?

"I felt it appropriate to appoint another subcommittee and in a private and professional way, meet with members of staff and see where they're at — and have conversations with them of kind of where their appetite is for staying around," Stratton said.

The new mayor said the subcommittee would have conversations with staff to ensure there is "organizational alignment" and help the staff be aligned for the "direction we want to go."

During the council discussion, Holdaway referenced past social media feuds, where he claims 12 fake social media accounts attacked and targeted him, four of which, he says, were from city staff members.

"I would never publicly humiliate them, whether whatever they did to me or my family, but changes should occur, and we should handle those in a correct way," he said.

Even though some staff members have worked for a long time for the city, if the new council wants to go in a different direction and appoint new people, it should do so, he said.

"There's many boards that we have within the city that need reappointment to align with the values and goals that you're going toward, and I think it's, I have no problem stopping that," Holdaway said.

Kimberly Olsen, a resident who works in government accounting, said during the public comment period that she has met many of the Vineyard staff, and they are all professional, love Vineyard and always engage in doing what is best for the city.

The council has the right to do its job and change directions, Olsen said, but she told the council that they have some "really good humans" on staff, and she doesn't want the city to lose them over "social media fighting."

"A resignation is not voluntary if leadership actions make the termination appear inevitable, even in the absence of a formal firing," she said. She implored the council to dismiss staff in the way municipal code dictates before questioning if the council had asked or encouraged any employees to resign.

While no names of the alleged employee resignations were mentioned during the meeting, former Councilwoman Sara Cameron also referenced them during her public comment.

Cameron, who initially ran in tandem with Holdaway in 2024 but then distanced herself from him while in office, pointed out how frustrated she was with what she had witnessed during the election campaigns, which led to her resignation in November.

While she wished the council luck, she emphasized that they have lost valuable employees.

"I was very clear to a few of you that some of the things you were campaigning on were outright lies, and you campaigned on it anyway," she said. "So for the public record, I want people to understand that there were a lot of things spoken that weren't true, and you continue to speak them anyway, and that's really, really frustrating to me."

Cameron started arguing against something Holdaway had said about her earlier in the meeting. When he tried to interrupt her, she said, "Don't ever put words in my mouth again."

She continued, "You've done that to me so many times, and one of the reasons why we have this disconnect in Vineyard, is because you continually humiliated and lied about staff over and over and over again."

When he again tried to start speaking, she said, "It's my turn. I want people to understand that what's happening here is not what you profess it to be."

The other council members voiced approval for the committee, saying it's important to speak with current staff and determine what they want to do with their future and to have better alignment in the city. The mayor appointed Wood and Lauret to be on the subcommittee, which was passed unanimously.

City attorney resigns over new council's dynamic

Tuesday's meeting included a closed discussion where the council decided to have Deer Valley Law Firm represent the city in the interim while they search for a new city attorney. Holdaway, prior to the closed session, said he wanted to give the citizens context to the situation and said, "Jayme just up and quit," leaving the city in an emergency situation.

Former city attorney Jayme Blakesley sent a letter to the newly elected officials on Jan. 1 saying his continued service would not be a good fit moving forward because of the new council's dynamic.

"An incumbent council member who will play a leadership role has, on several occasions, taken positions that conflict with established legal requirements, frequently questioned or resisted legal guidance, and communicated publicly in ways that pose increased legal and reputational risk for the city. These patterns suggest that my professional approach and legal obligations as legal counsel will not align with the expectations of the incoming governing body," the letter states.

Blakesley said his resignation would start on Jan. 30 so he could help the city transition to a new attorney. But on Jan. 9, Blakesley sent a sudden notice to the council that he would advance his resignation to start immediately "after hearing about the terminations the mayor and City Council decided to carry out this week and the way those decisions were made and communicated."

"Based on these developments, I do not believe I can continue to serve the city in a manner that is consistent with my professional judgment, responsibilities and obligations," Blakesley's email said.

The council, however, said no one has been terminated.

"There was completely false information about staff being fired (in Blakesley's resignation letter). No staff have been fired," Holdaway said.

He went on to claim that this is not the first time Blakesley has "given false statements" and "lied to other council members," adding that Cameron has been misled by him.

"There's other things the previous attorney has done, and so I think I'd ask that the citizens of Vineyard give us time to go through the record of what has and has not happened and give grace to the previous council because they were told things, and they fervently believed them to be true," Holdaway said.

Audit subcommittee

The council also created a subcommittee to review findings from a recent independent audit the city had conducted. Holdaway, the main proponent behind a state audit last year that found transactions were not being reported correctly by the city, spoke about the importance of the independent audit.

"I'm very passionate about this. This is a very narrow audit, and everything we chose to look at came back extremely bad," he said, adding that there are likely more problems that could have been found, but those were the "only points the previous council would allow us to investigate."

He said all the spending the city had done was voted on and approved, so he isn't claiming wrongdoing, but he says the way in which the city agendas were approved was too generalized, giving the mayor too much power. The audit's findings and recommendations will allow the city to put more safeguards in place for taxpayer money, he said.

Other council members voiced their approval of creating the subcommittee so they can improve the city's policies. The motion was passed unanimously with Holdaway and McCumber being appointed to the subcommittee.

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