John Day City Manager Melissa Bethel, right, administers the oath of office to City Council President Sherrie Rininger following her appointment as the city’s mayor Sept. 23, 2024, at the John Day Fire Hall.

JOHN DAY — John Day has a mayor for the first time since the recall of Heather Rookstool in mid-January.

Council President Sherrie Rininger was appointed mayor at the Sept. 23 meeting of the John Day City Council. Rininger will largely maintain the same role she’s had with the council, having led the meetings since Rookstool’s ouster at the beginning of the year.

The council voted 3-2 to appoint Rininger as John Day’s new mayor. Councilors Dave Holland and Chris Labhart were the “no” votes. Councilors Ron Phillips, Eric Bush and Ed Newby voted in favor of the appointment, with Rininger abstaining.

Rininger, Bush and Phillips all fended off recall attempts in a special election on Sept. 17, holding their seats by wide margins.

Rininger’s appointment came after a second motion and vote. The first motion made did not specify that Rininger would resign from her role as a city councilor, presumably leaving her as both a John Day city councilor and the city’s mayor.

The vote itself and the conversations that led up to it were contentious, however.

Power play

Holland classified the move as a power play, accusing those favoring Rininger’s appointment of manipulating circumstances so they remain in control of the council no matter what happens in the November election. Holland also classified the appointment as a vengeful move by those supporting the action, arguing that the council had previously agreed to wait until after the general election before deciding what to do about the city’s vacant mayoral position.

Holland also pushed back against Bush’s assessment that the result of the recent recall election essentially means the councilors who kept their positions have a mandate from voters to carry out their agenda, arguing that two-thirds of the city’s registered voters did not cast ballots in the recall election.

“In my opinion, this was another preplanned thing that happened without discussion,” Holland said.

Labhart also expressed disappointment that the council would not wait until after the election to appoint a mayor, accusing the councilors who voted for Rininger of going back on their word.

Elections and consequences

Bush said things have changed since the council agreed to wait until after the general election to appoint a mayor, saying the lopsided result of the recall left the targeted councilors with a mandate. Rininger expressed frustration at what she classified as lies and dishonesty associated with the recall effort, saying some signatories of the recall petition against the trio were lied to and tricked into signing the document.

“Elections have consequences,” Bush said. “We offered an olive branch and got recalled.”

Following the vote, City Manager Melissa Bethel administered the oath of office to Rininger, officially designating her as the mayor of John Day.

The council then voted for a new council president, with Holland nominating Labhart due to his experience as both a former council president and mayor of John Day. The motion did not receive a second, which Holland said didn’t surprise him.

Newby then nominated Bush for the role. The motion received a second and the council voted 3-2 to make Bush the next president, with Labhart and Holland voting “no” and Bush abstaining.

Rininger, in her first official act as mayor, directed Bethel to open applications for the council seat left vacant due to her ascension to the role.