Joshua Paladino and his family. Courtesy | Facebook
Ward 4 councilman Joshua Paladino will become acting mayor of Hillsdale when Mayor Adam Stockford resigns Dec. 2, following a vote by the city council on Monday night.
Paladino — who earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from Hillsdale College — defeated Ward 2 Councilman Will Morrisey in a 5-4 vote to become the city’s mayor pro tem. Paladino will serve as acting mayor until the current mayoral term expires in 2026, according to City Attorney Tom Thompson.
Morrisey, a former politics professor at the college, held the second-in-command position for six years until Paladino replaced him Monday night.
“I congratulate Councilman Paladino on his election to the position of Mayor Pro Tem,” Morrissey said
Paladino said he knew at least five members of the council would vote against Morrisey, The Collegian reported Nov. 7.
“Morrisey declared and no one else did, so I did,” Paladino said. “Morrisey is a good man, a good teacher. But we’re just looking for a new generation of leadership and some new ideas for city government.”
Paladino currently teaches American politics at the college and for its online dual enrollment program while also working as a political research analyst. While at Hillsdale, Paladino served as the Opinions Editor for The Collegian in 2018, his senior year. Paladino was elected to the city council in 2022. Paladino and his wife, Brigette ’18, married in 2019 and have two kids.
At the Nov. 18 meeting, newly elected council members Jacob Bruns (Ward 1), Matthew Bentley (Ward 2), and Bob Flynn (Ward 3) were sworn in. Bruns is a Ph.D. student who moved to Hillsdale in 2020 to attend the college. Flynn worked as a host on WCSR for 46 years before his retirement in March.
Stockford announced he would resign at the council’s next meeting in two weeks because he is moving his family out of the city to a new house. Only eight members will sit on the city council for two years due to his resignation, unless the city holds a special election, Stockford said, creating a “4-4 council.”
“It can be a beautiful thing,” Stockford said at the meeting. “It’s a lot of deadlock and a lot of stuff doesn’t get done. In government, that is lovely.”
Stockford told The Collegian the split is between the “young guys” — Paladino, Bruns, Bentley, and Robert Socha (Ward 4) — and the “old guys” — Morrisey, Flynn, Greg Stuchell (Ward 1), and Gary Wolfram (Ward 3).
“It’s pretty clear throughout the county from what I can see,” Stockford said. “The young guys want lower taxes, less interference in their personal lives, smaller government. The older ones are retired and well off, want to force taxes on the residents for ‘the greater good’ projects, cool with federal and state subsidies.”
The vote was taken by a secret ballot, in accordance with the city’s charter, and Paladino said he would like to change that charter provision.
The city attorney said there is no provision for special election for the office of mayor.
“The charter says a midterm vacancy in the office of mayor is filled at the next regular state election,” Thompson said.
But Paladino said he is unsure whether the city will hold a special election, which could end his tenure before 2026.
“It might be two years,” Paladino said. “The charter said the ‘next regular election.’ I was interpreting that to mean we’re not going to call a May election if there’s nothing else on the ballot because it’s expensive to run an election. But in August or November we have an election, so putting an extra name on the ballot isn’t a difficulty.”
Paladino said this confusion could come from the interpretation of the term “regular election,” which could mean any election the city is holding but could also mean 2026. The city usually runs a primary narrowing the race to two mayoral candidates before a general election, Paladino said, and that could complicate a special election for mayor.
“I don’t think we’ll have an elected mayor until 2026 as things currently stand,” Paladino said.
If the council has the power to call a special election, Paladino said he might support one.
“I don’t like the idea of someone who’s an acting mayor serving the role of mayor,” Paladino said. “You should have the legitimacy of having an election.”
But Paladino also said holding an election before 2026 still may not give the mayor the same legitimacy as a regularly elected one.
“One of the other problems with special elections is you get lower voter turnout,” Paladino said. “So then you still don’t quite have that legitimacy of a regular November election that people are aware of and know about.”
The council will meet Dec. 2, when Stockford submits his formal resignation letter and Paladino, the mayor pro tem, assumes the position of acting mayor.
As acting mayor, Paladino said he will ask the Board of Public Utilities to remove fluoride from the city water supply.
“I would like to act on that immediately based on all the evidence that we’re seeing of neural developmental disabilities, arthritis, etcetera,” Paladino said. “That’ll be number one. Then after that we’ve got to get structural things managed and get committee assignments.”
One of Paladino’s long-term priorities is reforming the city charter, which he said has some provisions that conflict with state law.
“The purpose of city politics should be to put the residents, the citizens of Hillsdale, first in all decisions we make, not corporate interests, not college interests, no interests,” Paladino said. “The primary purpose is protecting the residents who live here, and that means a clean, safe, affordable, and beautiful city.”
He also said his other main priorities are ending special assessment districts, establishing transitional housing for homeless people away from downtown, and expanding the overcrowded county jail.
Stockford called Morrisey and Paladino “two of my favorite people” as the council prepared to vote.
“Both of you have supported me through multiple elections,” Stockford said. “Both of you have had my back.”
Before the council voted in a mayor pro tem, Stockford gave the council some advice.
“It’s always been my dream that we saw more young families moving to Hillsdale,” Stockford said. “That’s something in the past few years we’ve seen a lot of. We’ve got young guys who just got elected to council. But I see this strain in the community saying that these young people are bad or that they’re right wing extremists. It’s very disheartening for me to see because these young men that are starting to get involved in government are the future of this community.”
Stockford also offered advice to the Hillsdale community as a whole, advising that people practice civility and respect for the town and the community.
“The last thing I want to say to the people of this town is don’t cannibalize this community,” Stockford said. “This is a good community.”
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