Sedan council offers office clerk job to Trishadee Haden at $15 an hour after repeated executive sessions

The Sedan City Council voted Jan. 15, 2025, to offer the city office clerk position to Trishadee Haden at $15.00 an hour after holding a series of executive sessions on personnel matters, Mayor Bryan Blankinship presided.

Council member Angela Evans moved to offer Haden the position “as soon as she is available,” and Council member Adam Clark seconded; the motion carried. The council then moved to adjourn; Janice Fine seconded the adjournment motion and the meeting ended at 6:38 p.m.

The meeting began at 5:30 p.m. with Mayor Bryan Blankinship calling the special session to order and noting council members Sharon Payne, Adam Clark, Kathy Miller, Janice Fine and Angela Evans and employees Lana Robinson and Raven Darnall were present. The council first approved the agenda by voice vote.

During the session the council entered executive session multiple times to discuss terms and conditions of employment for nonelected personnel under K.S.A. 75-4319(b)(1). Each motion to enter executive session was made by Council member Angela Evans and seconded by Council member Janice Fine; the minutes record specific resumption times (no later than 5:50 p.m., 6:05 p.m., 6:20 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 6:37 p.m.). The minutes state the regular meeting continued after each executive session and that no formal decisions were announced during those resumptions.

The hiring action recorded in the minutes is limited to the council’s motion to offer the office clerk post to Haden at the stated hourly rate; the minutes do not record a roll-call vote tally or any additional terms of employment. The minutes identify Lana Robinson as city clerk and include signatures for Robinson and Mayor Bryan Blankinship.

Next steps: the minutes note the offer is contingent on Haden’s availability; no start date or other hiring conditions are specified in the record.