Mason City Council condemns former member

MASON, Mich. (WLNS) — The Mason City Council voted 5-to-1 to adopt a resolution that condemned the actions of former Mason City Councilwoman Rita Vogel.

The lone dissenting vote was Councilmember Jerry Schaffer and he told his colleagues it wasn’t about supporting Vogel or opposing the resolution’s intent. It was a matter of having the resolution reviewed by legal counsel.

Schaffer asked the body to set the resolution aside until the next meeting “to consult with the city attorney to see if this meets any liability standards for either council members of the city. I think that this opens a precedent that is not welcome.”

The motion failed.

Mayor Russell Whipple said a legal review was unnecessary in his opinion.

“I did not ask the attorney to review this,” Whipple told the body during the meeting and confirmed with 6 News afterward. “I can tell you that this action is a completely political action. It has really nothing to do — It’s no different than a resolution of censure, except you can’t censure somebody who’s not a member.”

Whipple stressed to the public the condemnation resolution was about actions, not the person.

Vogel resigned last week after 8 years on the council.

Vogel’s social media posts were the key focus of the outrage and frustration from her former colleagues. In the week before her resignation, councilmembers said, she unleashed a torrent of posts on various social media platforms including Facebook. Those posts attacked the staff of the city, implied a sexual relationship between the mayor and city manager and inappropriately targeted the minor children of city employees, the resolution claims.

The allegations implying a sexual relationship between Mayor Whipple, and City Manager Deborah Stuart drew the most ire in public comments—including from Whipple’s wife.

Stuart read this statement into the record:

Today I struggled with what to say, if anything, regarding this action.

I knew when I took this job that my work would be questioned publicly and that I needed to have a tough skin. My team has demonstrated again and again that we can take feedback and critiques even when delivered harshly. Questioning our work product is appropriate and part of being professional public servants. However, there are appropriate ways to do that, and they do not include personal attacks especially involving our families.

Over the last week alone, former City Councilmember Vogel on her official City Council Facebook Page made statements with no facts that disparaged employees, reference a city employee’s minor child, mislead the public purposefully, implied corruption throughout our organization discrediting our police department, and accused me of an inappropriate relationship with the mayor.

I state here on the record that the claims of an inappropriate relationship are false, and I believe she made that statement as a weapon of intimation. These types of false rumors and claims invoke a deep-rooted perception that women are only successful if they use inappropriate relationships to achieve that success.

City Manager Comment 8.26.24 Download

I believe former Councilmember Vogel acted with malice, as she knew the things she stated were untrue. She had reckless disregard for the damages that could result in sharing such known untruths. This included a conversation that I had to have with my 13-year-old to explain this.

From my perspective, your consideration of this resolution has little to do with former City Councilmember Vogel, but much more to do with the values you hold as a body and the work environment that you tolerate for a City Manager. Only you can hold each other accountable. Only you can set the norms for what is appropriate or will be appropriate moving forward. Only you set the guidelines for appropriate, respectful ways to disagree.

This is not about someone being absent or piling on as some have said, this is about sending a message about what behavior is right and wrong to the people that work for this city. If you say nothing, you are saying we should accept personal attacks on our families and ourselves. I don’t think any of you would sign for a job that included that.

I ask all of you to please consider thoughtfully the message you are sending tonight…to our team, to our community, and to your future Councilmember.

Deborah Stuart, Mason City Manager, Statement to Mason City Council Aug. 26, 2024

Linda Schepis, who has lived in Mason for 45 years, came down to city hall to oppose the resolution. She was unaware of the social media posts from Vogel when she spoke, but noted she doesn’t agree with Vogel all the time, just as she doesn’t agree with other councilmembers’ actions either.

“I feel like it should be left up to the voters. Rita is on the ballot already,” Schepis told 6 News after the meeting.

While Vogel has resigned from the city council, her name remains on the ballot for November 5. She is one of 7 vying for four seats on the council. Councilmembers Leon Clark and Elaine Ferris, as well as Mayor Russell Whipple are also standing for re-election. Other candidates include Daniel Giganti, Thomas Husby and Shawn Sodman.

She was defiant in response to questions sent by text.

“It seems like they are going nuclear over the rumor stuff,” she wrote in text messages to 6 News Monday evening. “Must mean the rumors are true. This kind of deflection for resigning doesn’t make sense. I want to clarify that I never said there was a sexual relationship. I believe it’s crucial to focus on the facts rather than the assumptions.”

For Mayor Pro Tem Leon Clark, Monday’s passage of the resolution condemning Vogel’s actions was overdue.

“For those that think that this is a retaliatory or head hunting resolution, I would say that probably the one mistake that we’ve made is we’ve let this go on far too long,” Clark told the assembly in Council Chambers Monday night. “And we should have should have made this kind of statement.”

Most of the room applauded after the resolution was passed.

This post has been updated to include video of Mason Mayor Pro Tem Leon Clark’s full statement at Mason City Council Aug. 26. This post has also been updated to reflect Mayor Russell Whipple’s assessment the resolution did not condemn a person, but rather a person’s actions.

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