Welp. That’s that. After a turbulent 10 months in the Richmond Heights’ mayor’s chair, Mayor Miesha Headen has been booted out of office by residents in a 1,573 to 1,163 recall vote.
Council President David Roche will assume Headen’s seat and has 45 days to appoint a new council member.
The News-Herald’s Andrew Cass reported that Headen learned the news at a council meeting Tuesday evening.
“Headen left the city council meeting without talking to reporters,” reported Cass, “but handed her key to Police Chief Gene Rowe before exiting City Hall.”
Headen told Scene in an interview last week, “unequivocally,” that should Roche win, the entire recall process would have resembled a coup in a banana republic.
Opponents have told a different story, arguing that Headen did this to herself, that whether or not she supported (and represented) change, her unwillingness to cooperate and aggressive leadership style led to so much bad press that residents were compelled to take action.
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2014.
Such a sad story. The city of Richmond Heights is so diverse. People are entitled to their opinons and freedom of speech. With that being said, I personally think that the city should start fresh with a whole new body of council. If we can spend 21,000 of tax payer money to pay for a recall why not start clean with new council. Richmond Heights spending is out of control. The Greenhouse should be turned over to the Historical Society for renovations and used for social events and put that money back into the community. We should all get along in a PEACEFUL MANNER. I have lived in this city for 7 years and have seen NO PROGRESS !! I hope this new mayor will bring positive change and good businesses to our city. Let’s see what he does for the next 10 months!!!
i can wait to put my house up for sale and move out this racism city. The old boy network is still alive in this city. I have this to say in last than two years this place will be so ran down and looking like East Cleveland. Too many people in that city hall is getting taking care of.
The entire orchestrated public embarrassment of a proud black woman made me shutter and cringe about how disappointed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be with the behavior of the majority white city council. They PURPOSELY chose to have the recall election on the day of a city council meeting so that Miesha would have to learn the election’s outcome in plain sight. They could sit and watch her squirm and suffer. It’s a modern day public lynching, that’s what it is.
The media sat there and exploited it 1000%. I saw a young white boy sitting in the front row holding what I thought was a black dildo, as if to taunt the mayor. In fact I later learned it was some type of boom microphone to record the proceedings for public radio. Still disgusting nonetheless. He didn’t ask the questions that needed to be asked.
The worst of the worst of the worst was the white girl from the newspaper. You would have to see her to believe her. She probably spends more on her hair, make up and clothing on an annual basis than Mexico spends on rice and beans. In the right lighting, you’d mistake her for a working woman, if you catch my drift. She’s been mean and nasty to the mayor from the getgo. I hoped the mayor would have put her in her place last night but it didn’t happen.
I got news for all these suckers. It ain’t over. Miesha is comming back and no racist media lynch mob is going to stop here.
DeWayne,
I do not wish to tell you that you are wrong for feeling the way you do. I understand many people are disappointed with the way things turned out. I think you would be surprised to know that many people on the recall side are disappointed with the way things turned out as well. Many of the recall members were supporters of the Mayor who later became upset with the Mayor’s gruff management style and the seemingly erratic personnel choices that she made. But, those are moot points now. We all have to move on.
What I would ask you to remember, is that now that the recall is over, we are ALL just citizens of Richmond Heights. We should ALL be working together to make our city the best that it can be. Even though I supported the recall, I would be proud to stand side by side with anyone from the Mayor’s side to work for the betterment of the city. That means, also addressing the concerns of the African American community that is such an integral part of our city. You have felt ignored and that’s not right. There needs to be a way to bring ALL of the community together to work for a better city. I would hope that we can all work together to meet that goal.
As far as the timing of the election and the Council meeting. Those are a coincidence, not a plot. Elections are ALWAYS held on a Tuesday. Council meetings are likewise held on Tuesdays. There was a very narrow window of dates that the election HAD to be held by. Additionally, there was legislation that NEEDED TO BE PASSED on Tuesday to meet State and County requirements. That is in addition to the two proclamations that were delivered to Mr. Paluf and Anita Caswell. Keep in mind, up until the results were announced, NO ONE knew what the results were going to be. It could just as easily been the Council President announcing the Mayor’s victory. Had that been the case, the news would have been there to record THOSE events.
As for Ms. Headen’s return. I personally think it unlikely that she will return to politics in Richmond Heights. I have always believed her vision extended beyond our city to the County, State or Federal arenas. I could easily see her campaigning for a position in one of those venues. I believe Council and the city learned some valuable lessons, both from Ms. Headen’s tenure and from her recall. I think those are lessons that can be used to make the city better. I hope that Ms. Headen can likewise learn from her mistakes so that she can become a better candidate and public servant down the road.
I hope you guys know that david roche voted against recreation and for the kiwanis club during budget cuts, can you guess why, lol
By the Kiwanis “club” you mean the lodge? That is logical since the Kiwanis Lodge is an important community center for the city. In fact, that is where the “town hall” meetings were held. The pool is a very expensive proposition and rarely makes money. It almost always operates at a loss. During the budget crisis two years ago, it only made sense to close the pool which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and keep the Kiwanis Lodge open which only costs a few thousand dollars to operate. That is no nefarious plot… just simple economics. I bet Ms. Headen voted the same way.