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Saint Cloud council replaces deputy mayor after dispute over proclamations
Summary
After weeks of dispute over how proclamations are handled, the Saint Cloud City Council reassigned the deputy mayor title to Council Member Gilbert following heated public comment and internal disagreement about a proposed pride proclamation and fee waivers tied to a Pride event.
The Saint Cloud City Council reassigned the deputy mayor title to Council Member Gilbert on a unanimous vote Tuesday after several weeks of disagreement among council members over how proclamations and event fee requests were handled.
Council Member Adam Urban moved to reassign the deputy mayor title and said council members had been mischaracterized in public comments leading up to the meeting. "I find these comments not only offensive, but also irresponsible and borderline defamatory," Urban said during the meeting as he laid out his motion. The council voted 5–0 to make Gilbert the deputy mayor.
The personnel action followed a public dispute over whether the council should pause or vote on proclamations after Deputy Mayor Mary Fletcher publicly criticized the council and, according to media accounts cited in the meeting, said "these matters should never be decided behind closed doors." That phrase was repeated in news coverage and drew several weeks of public comment. Fletcher said she supported issuing a deputy-mayor-issued proclamation off-site for Pride month; other council members said they preferred a clearer, council-voted process.
Council Member Jennifer Paul, who had sponsored earlier proclamations on other topics, and others said the dispute had become a distraction from other city business. Paul emphasized that the pause on proclamations was meant to create a consistent, transparent policy and that the pause was not aimed at any single group.
The council first voted 3–2 to add discussion of the deputy-mayor role to the agenda. That procedural vote then allowed the subsequent motion to reassign the title to be considered and approved 5–0.
Council members and staff said they want to move past the dispute and focus on the city's agenda. Mayor Chris Robertson asked staff to follow up on outstanding items that had been raised during the public discussion, including the status of proclamations guidance and related internal procedures.
The reassignment is an internal title change on the council; it does not affect the mayor's duties or council membership. City staff said the council will consider any formal amendments to the proclamation policy at a later, properly noticed meeting if council wants to revise the rules.
