Resident urges Mayor Chilton to resign, accuses council of enabling alleged misconduct

Brady Breheim used the visitor comment period at the April 2 St. Helens City Council work session to call for Mayor Chilton’s resignation and to accuse council members of enabling alleged misconduct tied to a pending lawsuit.

Breheim urged immediate action: "If you were cared about the city, you would apologize and resign effective immediately," he said, and added that he was calling for the mayor to step down that day. He said the council members were "conspirators" who had helped conceal damaging information and asked the council to release a full unredacted report related to the litigation.

Breheim also pressed the council to hire Chief Hogue as the permanent police chief and to force Councilor Massey to recuse herself from any police discussions: "You need to congratulate Hogue for his actions and hire him as a complete police chief permanently. You need to force Massey to recuse herself from any police discussion, period," he said. He told the council the community could seek a recall if action was not taken.

Mayor Chilton and other council members did not take action during the work session in response to Breheim's remarks; time limits for public comment were enforced by the chair. The comments occurred during the public comment period and were not part of any council agenda item.