Mayor Takes Leave In Hayden Sperle Cites Personal Problems; Council Member To Fill In

The mayor’s duties here will be performed by a City Council member at least until January.

Next month, Mayor Mike Sperle will meet with the council to decide whether he will come back to the job. Sperle is on a council-approved leave.

Sperle’s leave began in October, and is scheduled to end next month.

The council approved the leave after Sperle, who has been in office for a year, said he was having personal and marital problems.

“I don’t know if it was depression, but I just wasn’t me,” Sperle said.

He asked council members if it would be better to take a leave or resign and hold a special election. Sperle said he told them, “‘I’m not sure what to do, I’m not in a good decision-making state.’ I left it up to them.”

City Administrator Bob Croffoot said things have been going smoothly despite the mayor’s absence. “I hadn’t heard any complaints about it,” Croffoot said, noting that the leave is unusual. “You do get people (saying), ‘Who’s the mayor? Where’s the mayor?’ that kind of thing.”

The City Council and staffers all seem to agree the leave is justified. The man Sperle defeated last year for the mayoral seat, Gordon “Gordie” Andrea, disagrees.

“I’m wondering where the hang the mayor is,” Andrea said. He wants to see a special election.

Andrea spent six years as a Hayden City Council member before running for mayor against Sperle last year.

“He wanted the job so bad, and if you’re gonna run for mayor and you’re gonna win…then do it,” Andrea said.

Andrea admits taking a six-week leave himself while a council member, but said he missed very few meetings during his years in office.

Until January, council member Darlene Ferrians has taken over Sperle’s duties.

“It’s good training,” the retired GTE employee said. “We’re not a real bureaucratic place. That’s why I don’t mind taking over for Mike.”

The mayor’s position in Hayden is not a full-time job. The mayor typically gets a $500-per-month salary, including during an approved leave. Instead of a salary, though, Hayden pays Sperle’s monthly health insurance premiums. Those come to about $470 each month, city clerk Lila Truesdell said.

“We assume these things happen and we all take it in stride,” Truesdell said. “I don’t know what they do in other cities, but Hayden isn’t other cities.”

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