Help wanted: Mayor of Claremont

Two months after the November election residents of Claremont still do not know who the mayor will be. But they do know how the next mayor will be chosen.

Claremont’s City Council met Tuesday night, named Councilmember Ryan Hedberg as the acting mayor and voted to accept applications for the mayoral position immediately. Applications must be submitted at City Hall by 3 p.m. on Jan. 27.

The council will then meet, go over the applications, and select the mayor. If all goes according to plan, the city will have a mayor in February and Hedberg will return to his council position.

At Monday’s meeting Hedberg, and all the other council members, said they are not interested in becoming mayor and would not be submitting applications.

The drama over who won the mayor’s race in November began when write-in candidate Casey Striver defeated incumbent Mayor Tasha Dahl.

Questions were soon raised about Striver’s residency in the city and the matter was turned over to City Attorney Mark Rahrick for an opinion.

In December the council determined Striver did not meet the requirements of residency, following the recommendation of Rahrick. Following Rahrick’s recommendation, council members voted to withhold the certifying of the election of Striver as the city’s mayor.

In a memorandum to the council, which he explained during the meeting, Rahrick said that Striver’s name was not on the ballot and therefore he had not filed an affidavit of candidacy. Rahrick said he had talked with both Striver and William French who represents Striver.

Rahrick said that as a result of his investigation into whether Striver met the residency requirements established by the state and had the intention to become a permanent resident of Claremont it was his opinion he is not a resident and therefore unable to be certified as the winner of the election.

Rahrick said he concluded there is no credible evidence that Striver’s home is located in Claremont and there is no credible evidence that he has established a permanent residence in Claremont. It appears, Rahrick said, that he moved into a Claremont resident’s home to claim residency for the election and moved out shortly after the election. An affidavit of candidacy that Striver signed onDecember 13, Rahrick said, does not appear to be accurate.

Striver ran a last-minute write-in campaign to become mayor, claiming he moved to the city recently in order to meet residency requirements.

Since Striver was a write-in candidate, he wasn’t required to file an affidavit attesting to his residency and other prudent information in advance of the election.

On Nov. 14 the city council approved directing City Attorney Mark Rahrick to verify the information Striver would have normally been required to fill out if he had been on the ballot.

Dahl abstained from any discussion or voting on the motion regarding Striver’s residency.

Asked if she would consider taking the mayor role on again, Dahl wrote ahead of the meeting “No and if the Council motions to appoint me I will not be accepting the position.”

“For the past 4 years as a Mayor things ran smoothly with normal hiccups along the way,” Dahl wrote. “It was very seldom that we had anyone attend our meetings or receive any complaints that were decisions of the Council,” Dahl wrote. “ In the past 2 months I have been threatened, I have been slandered, and the amount of lies of lies that have been told about what is happening have been outlandish. It is disheartening that others will take what ever they are told for truth without looking into it at all. I initially put my name on the ballot for a council seat to get involved in the community and help. I will just continue my efforts elsewhere.”