Matt Bentley hands his candidate paperwork to City Clerk Katy Price March 3, 2025. Courtesy | Isaac Kirshner

Former Mayor Adam Stockford and Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino endorsed Ward 3 Councilman Matthew Bentley for mayor of Hillsdale in interviews with The Collegian this week. 

Bentley will run against former Mayor Scott Sessions in the mayoral race Nov. 4 after finishing second in the Aug 5. primary with 30% of the vote. Sessions finished first in the primary with 37% of the vote.

Stockford, who was mayor from 2017 until his resignation Jan. 1 of this year, said he supports Bentley because the councilman wants to reform or end the special assessment districts the city uses to fund road repairs. A major point of contention in the mayoral race, SADs require individual property owners in a designated district to pay up to $5,000 to fund road repairs on their street. 

“Over my tenure, the city, through the sale of city property and a compromise with community players, created a multi-million dollar surplus, something the city has never had,” Stockford said. “That is the people’s money. Charging the homeowners special assessments of $5,000 apiece — on top of the street’s millage and the maxed out tax rate of the city of Hillsdale — is not only excessive, it’s wrong. Many cannot afford it and shouldn’t have to risk losing their property, especially when the city has the money already to end the assessments, thanks to the hard work of City Manager Dave Mackie and the previous city council and myself.”

Sessions told The Collegian in April he supports the SADs because many residents have already had to pay for repairs on their street.

“I believe it’s unfair to change it halfway, so some people pay more and some people pay less,” Sessions said at the time.

Paladino said he supports Bentley not because he thinks the councilman is an expert on city policy, but because Bentley understands how a city council should function.

“I’m endorsing Bentley because I believe he’s open to deliberation and disagreement in a way that Sessions, as well as several members of the council, are not,” Paladino said. “I think Matt sees council as not merely a time to pass resolutions, appropriate funds, or make purchases but as a time to inform the council members and the public, to see if there are gaps in understanding and try to fill those in a deliberative process.”

Disagreement and debate are an essential part of government, Paladino said.

“I think he will bring us the type of politics where we are allowed to have opponents and we can still be friends in a tight-knit city,” Paladino said.

Bentley called a special city council meeting Sept. 10 to give the public an opportunity to discuss the M-99 road diet, which will narrow Broad Street from four lanes to three, make the middle lane a turn lane, and add bike lanes on both sides of the road. More than 40 members of the public spoke at the public comment meeting, according to Paladino. 

Though Paladino disagrees with Bentley’s opposition to the road diet, he said he supported giving the community an opportunity to discuss the issue.

“If you have a republic of any kind, people need to be able to exercise their reason in public and to be able to do so in a way where you’re allowed to have opponents,” Paladino said.

The city council voted 5-3 in August to move forward with the plan. 

Bentley said he decided to run to oppose the road diet. Now that the proposal has passed, he will have little leeway to change course even if elected mayor. Nevertheless, Bentley said the roads will remain his priority if elected.

“As representatives of the people, it’s the council’s responsibility to be more involved in fixing the roads,” Bentley said.

Both Paladino and Stockford have publicly expressed frustration with the limitations of the mayoral office in Hillsdale.

“Hillsdale is a lovely place with all the potential in the world, but if there’s ever been a community that can’t get out of its own way, Hillsdale is the embodiment of it,” Stockford said. “So many great people with so many great ideas and passion, but also so many willing to make the same mistakes over and over because of the comfort of toxic familiarity. There is no more dangerous statement in government than ‘this is the way we’ve always done it.’”

The mayor is the executive head of the city, according to the city charter, but Paladino said the office is in reality only a figurehead.

“Effectively, the mayor’s only real authority that he exercises in his own right or her own right is chairing the meetings of council, which is a very limited role,” Paladino said. 

The mayor has limited executive authority, subject to the consent of council, to make appointments to boards, commissions, and department positions. 

Bentley said he would be open to considering restructuring the charter to strengthen the office of mayor if he runs again in 2026. But restructuring the city charter to strengthen the office of the mayor would require a 2/3 majority in the council. 

Bentley said he respects both men and will be looking to Stockford in particular for advice if elected mayor.

“I think the biggest challenge of the office is trying to get accurate information to the public in the hyper-political climate that we are living in, where mud slinging, false narratives, and old feuding factions are commonplace,” Stockford said. “If Matt is going to be successful, he’s going to have to gain the trust of his fellow council members and the public, have the courage to stand on his convictions, and not get lost in the tedium of insignificant bickering.”

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