Smiley accepts Mejia resignation in special called meeting

The city of Smiley will take applications for a new city secretary through Wednesday, April 20, after formally accepting Rebecca Mejia’s resignation during a special called meeting on April 13.

Mayor Mike Mills said the council discussed the position during a nearly 30-minute executive session, but decided not to take immediate action.

“They do not want to hire right now,” Mills said of the council. “They want to hold, they want to get everybody's application. Some applications they said weren’t turned in. I don't know; we didn't have a timeline on that.

“No city secretary will be hired at this time. I have applications right here and we did have one person turn one in who is already qualified for everything, but they want to wait for somebody to come in today. So, what we're gonna do is just gonna wait. We'll see if she turns in an application and go from there.”

Mejia, working her last official day as city secretary, advised council members they needed to set a deadline for applications as the position was originally advertised as having applications “being accepted until filled.”

“A person who had been here earlier to turn in an application came after City Hall office was closed for the day, so you need to set a time and an application deadline,” Mejia said.

“It is very important to have a city secretary because my last day is today and the city secretary performs a lot of duties and important documentation work.”

Council members decided to extend the deadline to April 20 in order to get applications in for review before their next regular meeting on Thursday, April 21.

“If anyone wants to turn in an application by the 20^th so they can look at it, please do so,” Mills added.

Mills said the city has already hired a part-time clerk who will handle duties in the absence of a city secretary, while municipal clerk Laura Schroeder will also take over some of the duties and be in the office for more hours if necessary.

The council also voted to remove Mejia from the city’s bank accounts and signatory documents and to temporarily add Schroeder until a new city secretary can be hired.

Mejia had told council members at their March meeting she would be resigning effective April 13 because she had felt unsafe on the job and alleged someone from the volunteer fire department had been stalking her.

At the end of the meeting, Mills thanked Mejia for “always being there and helping me and helping everybody in the city.”

“I really don't want you to leave,” he said. “I think you've done a great job here. I am sorry people have to put you in that position feeling that you're unsafe or giving you a hard time for trying to do your job.

“I'm gonna miss you. I know where you are at, so I am going to be asking you questions (when I need help). Thank you very much. Good luck with anything you do and I’ve got your back on that.”