All six Hennessey Town Board hopefuls were at last Tuesday night’s meeting in hopes they’d be picked as town trustee.

Some were surrounded by spouses, other friends, family and neighbors and all were applauded for attending.

Instead of selecting a candidate, three of the four trustees made their nominations:

• Trustee Bert Gritz was quick to nominate Tim Riddle, a former mayor and bank manager and Trustee Randy Bohnstedt also voted for Riddle;

• Mayor Harold Shaw nominated Frank Patton, an oilfield company office manager who attends board meetings;

• Trustee David Jones nominated Mark Smith, a family man and friend.

The votes: Riddle, 2; Patton, 1, and Smith, 1.

The others who’d applied to the town and said they’d run for the job if it went to an election were Michael Grace,

[See Hennessey, Page 11 Logan Tillman and Regina Wanzer.

As one of those candidates said: “We’re going to have a lot more split (2-2) votes on the town board for the next seven months.”

There will be three town board seats up for election in the spring:

• A two-year term after former Mayor Clif Vogt June 30 resignation because he was moving away from Hennessey.

• Two four-year terms because both trustees Shaw and Jones will be up for re-election in 2025.

Town administrator’s contract

The split votes didn’t end there as trustees were split down the middle when it came to Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman’s contract.

The agenda called for the board to “take action on ratifi cation of the Hennessey Employment Agreement with Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman.”

However, the vote to ratify was 2-2 with Gritz and Bohnstedt voting in favor while Jones and Shaw moved against it.

“This is complicated,” said Hennessey Town Attorney Jared Harrison when asked to explain the effect of the 2-2 vote.

It’s complicated, because there were “law,” “shall” and “financial” issues that deal with her contract for the town’s two public entities.

“If a fifth member had been appointed earlier, it would have made a difference in the vote tonight,” Harrison said.

The board’s agenda listed an executive session, but members opted to vote without one.

Tillman’s Job Stays the Same

Tillman will continue to have the same job and responsibilities as before.

When asked by an audience member, Harrison clarified that she will also continue to have the same $85,000 base pay she had before last week’s votes.

The Law

State law doesn’t allow municipalities to enter into “multi-year contracts,” Harrison said.

However, Tillman’s contract calls for a “five-year term from the effective date,” which is listed as Aug. 29, 2023, in one area on the contract, but shows it was approved Oct.12, 2023, on the Town of Hennessey and Utilities Authority con- tracts.

The ‘Shall’

The 2023 contract required that Tillman’s contract “shall remain in effect for a five-year term from the effective date. The Town Board shall ratify (approve) this Agreement annually unless it desires to terminate the Employee.”

Salary Will Be Switched to Utilities Authority Tillman’s salary, health insurance, retirement, etc. has been paid through the Town of Hennessey, but it will soon have to be paid through Hennessey’s Utilities Authority.

That’s due to requirements and wording in her 2023 contract, said Harrison, who was hired as the town’s attorney March 13.

Tillman Was Rehired Last Year

Tillman’s 2023 rehiring contract was approved in a 3-1 board vote Oct. 12, 2023.

Voting yes were Mayor Clif Vogt and Trustees Bert Gritz and Randy Bohnstedt. The lone no vote was by Trustee David Jones. Absent for that vote was Vice Mayor Harold Shaw.

It took three executive sessions before the board voted.

Longtime Hennessey Town Attorney John Wynne assisted Tillman and presented her six page contract to the board during three executive sessions.

“It’s unusual that the first draft of the first proposed contract (draft Sept. 8, 2023) was released to the five trustees and someone released it to the public (on Facebook) at the same time,” Wynne said while he waited to go into one of those closed sessions.

“The town and the town administrator are in negotiations,” he told the audience (that numbered about 30, according to the KT&FP story).

“There will probably be changes from both parties.”

Wynne resigned as Hennessey’s attorney in March and planned to retire.

Before Her Contract

Tillman gave her notice in February 2023, was rehired in August and before that had worked without a contract as town administrator for 18 years.

Her pay was $63,000 a year, the same amount that she and Public Works Director Curtis Turner, were paid in 2014.

Turner left the public works department in 2017 and the town didn’t hire a replacement, but added the public works to Tillman’s management job description.

Her pay stayed at $63,000.

Tillman didn’t give a public reason for her resignation last year, but it came after the board had tabled an agenda item to give her a 5 percent raise.

She’d also asked for a board evaluation back then, but didn’t get one.