Maplewood’s previous city manager, Michael Reese, left city employment at the end of September 2023. At the time neither he nor anyone with the city — including the mayor and council members — would say anything other than that he was gone, and that Police Chief Matt Neighbor would be acting as the interim city manager.
Knapper has said that the city manager issue would be addressed at the city’s work session meeting, which will meet on Tuesday, December 12 at 5:15 p.m. At the regular meeting, starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, following the work session, a resolution naming Amber Withycombe as Maplewood’s new city manager is scheduled to be voted on.
On November 30 St. Louis Post-Dispatch political reporter Joe Holleman published a column about how the mayor and council members had resisted any comment to him for three weeks.
On December 6 Holleman reported that Maplewood’s financial records showed a payment to Reese of more than $131,000 as he left the city.
Also on December 6 council member Matt Coriell posted a timeline of the city’s process for hiring a new manager, but didn’t mention Reese or a payment to him.
On December 11 Maplewood Mayor Nikylan Knapper, on her political candidate facebook page, published a letter to residents also outlining the process and not going into anything about Reese, which she said she is not legally able to do.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
There needs to be some investigation into potential fraud and corruption going on with the mayor and the council. With 130k going out the door and absolutely zero answers and accountability I have to wonder what other types of cronyism and grift might be occurring that we don’t yet know about. The meeting last night offered zero information and it looks as though our elected leaders is content to bury their head in the sand. Is there not one council-person that can provide more information? Please don’t forget about the every day citizens of Maplewood.
Agree 100%, I will not support the mayor nor my council rep if clarity can’t be given. Too many red flags with our Mayor.
Having two graduate degrees both of which were outside of my professional experience while I was obtaining them, I can’t imagine during EITHER of them that I even remotely considered myself qualified for a top of the heap executive position. And I’m sorry Council Watcher…but simply swooping in and saying, This is how its run…nothing to see here is flimsy at best and slightly gaslighty to boot. As others have stated here…you have provided incorrect information that Ms. Withycombe had finished her degree and again I maintain my stance that while she may bring experience in the non profit sector, she certainly brings zero professional experience in the public administration field.
I enjoy the part where CW accuses a city council member of joining the council because she’s racist. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this narrative get thrown around from The Mayor’s hard core supporters simply because someone called out the Mayor’s actions. I remember hearing the exact same narrative about former council women Jenny Schmidt and Sara Crosley after they stepped down in protest of how the Mayor filled committee and commission positions. It’s a shame that people aren’t just allowed to disagree with the backroom dealings of a mayor without the opinion being painted by race.
Lastly, abstaining from a vote is only abstaining for about a 5 second process. That in no way means that she didn’t unduly influence the rest of council to fast track her friend during work sessions. Abstaining from a vote means nothing when you know you already have majority. I just want to know what flavor kool aid the majority of the council is drinking?
We have an incompetent Mayor with a weak, scared and intimidated council. Mayor Knapper is self serving & sneaky and will devalue anyone that disagrees with her. She is phony as they come & very toxic. As a women of color please quit claiming racism & be transparent.
Very well said and very true! If your incompetence is blatantly obvious, start screaming racism so everyone will look the other way. Ask why her pick for council resigned. See if you get a straight answer. Her first major legislation was being able to wear your hair in city hall any way you want without criticism.
Read Council Watcher’s comment in a Trump voice. Works really well!
“You know, folks, let me tell you something about the outgoing city manager. Unbelievable, really. Always threatening to sue the city. It happens so much, you wouldn’t believe it. But, let me be clear, never for anything nefarious. No, no, never. And what do they do? They settle with him, big surprise, for a whole year’s salary. Can you believe it? A lot of administrative stuff, folks. Standard, really.
Now, they slap on this non-disclosure agreement, and believe me, you gotta keep things under wraps. But let me tell you, folks, nothing to see here. Boring. Just administrative stuff. The real action is with the incoming city manager, tremendous qualifications, just completed a masters in public admin. This Sleepy Joe Holleman, folks, talking nonsense. Obviously, it’s driven by the weakest link in the city council and some citizens who, by the way, could be getting sued. Can you believe it? Violating an NDA and leaking a non-story to the press. Sad!
No conspiracy, believe me. Just regular city business. But you know, they try to turn it into these shadowy briefcase deals. It’s a disgrace. And this racist, yeah, joined the council to prove something. Desperate, really. Trying to undermine our city’s black leadership. But let me tell you, many are saying, Withycomb, the incoming city manager, tremendous woman. Going to do an excellent job, folks. Believe me.”
Jon-Erik out here again. You all forgot about my Trump voice game.
This “Community Leader JE” is impersonating me, which is deeply weird and unsettling. I assume this is because I was quoted in a Joe Holleman story critical of the mayor and council and I was described as a “community leader”. If I was ever actually a community leader I sincerely apologize to the community for helping to “lead” to a situation where our elected officials on council are at best naive, inept, and lacking in good judgment, and at worst corrupt and manipulative, and intimidating, to a situation where I get impersonated by anonymous commenters on this site.
There are some people in this town that have been genuinely mislead by people we trusted. It’s not a good feeling to be lied to, and sometimes we cope with that feeling by doubling down, convincing ourselves that there must be some mistake, or some reason/good explanation for what is happening. Especially when you are surrounded by others who are well intentioned and who are contradicting what your actual lived experience is. And Maplewood is really a very small town and it is easy and tempting to be quiet and keep your head down to get along with our neighbors. There are people supporting current city leadership who this describes—and I hope that you can do some soul searching and contemplation on how we’ve arrived at this current moment.
Then there are supporters who are sociopaths like “Community Leader JE”. You have worms in your brains and I’d take out an order of protection against you if I knew who you were.
I don’t know what being quiet is really getting me anymore and it has helped bring us to this point, which is why I spoke to the Post Dispatch on record and am speaking here, under my real name.
100%–these blowhards operate in EXACTLY the same way their MAGA counterparts do-deflect-gaslight-personal attacks-rinse and repeat.
It’s pathetic and gross and intelligent people see right through it–which drives them nuts.
They’re chugging the Kool-Aid right now.
And THERE it is. Knapper’s camp is claiming racism, just like she has a history of doing with other organizations she’s volunteered in. Remember that one time she brought in the NAACP to lecture the city council on microagressions after they disagreed with her? It’s a move she has used in the past with much success as window dressing for questionable moves she’s made, when she doesn’t “get her way” or when she fails to play well with others. Just ask Michael Reese.
Hi Sandi Philips, glad to see your being transparent with your comments.
Positively Trumpian move. It’s like when the Mango Mussolini himself appointed Ivanka and Jared Kushner to important roles in the administration. Sure is nice to be buddies with this Council! Like, 6 figures nice. We better hope they stay friends or we will have to pay another $131,000.00 to get the next nodding bobblehead.
The outgoing city manager likely threatened to sue the city over something (happens a lot actually, almost never over anything nefarious) and the city likely settled with him for the amount of 1 year salary. A non-disclosure agreement would absolutely be in place for the previous sending managers request, or he wouldn’t be able to get a job anywhere else after pulling a stunt like that. All of which is to say…. Nothing to see here. Boring. Admin stuff.
The incoming city manager has a recently completed masters degree in public admin, and is well qualified. Joe Holleman’s drivel, so obviously driven by our city council’s weakest link and the citizens she brought in to oversee the process (atleast one of which is going to be sued out of the city for violating an NDA and leaking a non-story to the press) is based on literally nothing.
No conspiracy here. Just standard city business conflated into shadowy briefcase deals by a racist who joined council desperate to prove that the city’s black leadership isn’t up to the task.
Withycomb will do an excellent job.
The idea that they settled for that much money with absolutely nothing nefarious is laughable and naive.
Singling out the one council member who has been trying to have open discussions or bothered to question the mayor and rest of council instead of blindly following tells us everything we need to know about who is commenting here.
It takes a lot of courage to anonymously call someone a racist on the internet. It says a lot more about the merits of your arguments then it does anything else.
Mayor Knapper continues to use the race card on anyone that disagrees with her in anyway. Toxic behavior like this is the same used by Kim Gardner in order to avoid exposing incompetence. I can not support this toxicity in our municipal government
Man, going to the racism card so soon is a really good hint that the mayor and council can’t defend what’s going on so you’re just going to insults. As far as Withycombe goes, she has an MPA and no experience. Would you hire someone to CEO of a company that had an MBA and no experience in business? I think not.
Oily Amber Withycombe doesn’t even have the degree yet. She graduates at some point in 2024. She submitted her resume for this job maybe 1/2way through her degree program. That is about as experienced as Knapper——next to nothing.
The descent into Trumpian times continues! Read Council Watcher’s comment in a Trump voice, it works quite well!
“The outgoing city manager, always looking for a quick payday, threw around some threats about suing the city. Sad! Happens all the time, folks, it’s incredible. Nothing really substantial, probably just upset about losing. So, what did we do? We settled, of course. Just one year’s salary. That’s nothing, pocket change, a drop in the bucket.
Now, we had to keep things hush-hush, had to sign a little agreement – you know, what they call a non-disclosure agreement. Standard stuff. You wouldn’t want to go spreading tales around after making a deal like that, right? That’s just business 101. And, let me tell you, there’s absolutely nothing exciting about it. Boring. Nada. Just regular admin stuff.
But here’s the good news, folks. We got a new city manager in town. A tremendous person. Completed a master’s degree in public admin, top of the class. The best, believe me. Sleepy Joe Holleman at the failing St. Louis Post Dispatch, you might have heard of him, he’s writing nonsense. Probably influenced by the weakest link on our city council and a few citizens she brought in. At least one of which we will sue bigly for breaking an NDA. Can you believe it?
No conspiracy here, just some regular city business blown out of proportion by someone desperate to prove a point. They’re saying it’s about race, but it’s not. It’s about getting the job done. And, let me tell you, many are saying, Withycomb, our new city manager, she’s going to do an excellent job. The best job. Believe me, folks.
Also “Council Watcher” – how do you know anything about a citizen getting “sued out of Maplewood” unless you are an active sitting member of the city council? Because that seems like pretty privileged city information. If you aren’t a member of the city council, seems like maybe someone on the council thinks information is only privileged for everyone but their friends.
Did the council member’s racism make Knapper and the council hire her friend instead of even the barest possible effort of posting the position?
Did the council member’s racism make it impossible for Reece and Knapper to work together so she bought him out?
At what point will Knapper set racism to the side and and realize SHE’S the problem? It’s easy to ignore what a virus you are when you can claim racism.
Please. Who are you trying to fool Mayor? There is a lot to see here. An awful lot. 130k lot! Bring on the sunshine suits.
A 5:15pm start time?! How is any working person supposed to attend or watch? This timing is yet another attempt by the mayor and council to limit the public’s participation in their city government. The mayor and council’s disregard for their constituents is really quite astounding.
They don’t want people to attend this meeting. Mayor Knapper and Mark Corriel’s stated timelines don’t even match up. They aren’t really trying very hard to cover their tracks because they don’t care. I feel embarrassed for Maplewood.
They’ll push thru an unqualified candidate for city manager because they want someone who will do as they’re told and that’s not how this city government is supposed to work. For a mayor who ran on transparency, she is not good at it. Otherwise she wouldn’t be hiding all council activity in closed sessions.
Maybe Withycombe is the smartest person here. Biding her time for her own $130k payout. Maybe she’s going to have some student debt to pay off after she finally finishes her public administration degree next year.
It’s so transparent unlike they way they operate with our money and hiring city managers.
This is just gross-no public comment time either? Sounds like Niky “Soprano” Knapper has it all locked up. She should consider moving to IL and running for governor-they have a history of corruption in their state politics.
Oh well-at least she handed out candy canes to people on the Santa Sleigh ride last night!
Just a point of clarification: Council work sessions have always been held before council meetings and never include public comment periods. It’s good to remember that our council is paid very little for the work they do, and it often makes sense to try to combine work session times with regular meeting nights.
Also, public comments are always an option at regular meetings.
Good point. Why no public comment time?
Because someone in power doesn’t want the citizens to exercise their right to express their opinions.
Eileen and JP, It turned out that the work session had a public comment time, which was where all the comments about the city manager took place.
Good to know.