Jessica Stalder resigns from Laramie City Council
The councilor is leaving before the end of her first-term. During her tenure, Stalder sought to amend city code, and came under fire for her close connection to the notorious landlord Max Bossarei.
Laramie City Councilor Jessica Stalder has resigned from her post, taking part in her final council meeting Tuesday.
Stalder was elected to the council in 2018 for a four-year term. The Ward 1 vacancy will be filled via an application process.
Stalder is the executive director of the Hospice of Laramie, as well as a single mother. She said those other demands on her time need to take precedence.
“In healthcare, people are so burned out, and I want to help in that capacity. I truly feel like that’s where I’m needed and that’s what I’m genuinely called to,” Stalder said. “So, at the end of the day, when I have to make a decision, it’s a pretty easy one. The decision to leave city council was tough. Quitting doesn’t sit well with me. But when it comes down to it, I need to be at work and I need to take care of patients.”
Stalder described an incident from a recent council meeting, which she attended from her work office via Zoom.
“There was a situation at work where I had to run down the hall and be with a patient, and I just wasn’t present,” she said. “And the work we do is really heavy, so when I got back to my desk, I wasn’t present either because I was thinking about work and the patient. And I just realized, you’re not particularly effective when you’re multitasking like that.”
Stalder faced sustained criticism earlier this year for her connection to Maximus Bossarei, a landlord notorious among Laramie’s renting and legal communities for his business practices, rundown properties, and alleged “dodging” of court summons.
Stalder initially downplayed her connection to Bossarei, but subsequent reporting detailed the former councilor’s various and deep connections to the landlord. A follow-up story uncovered documents showing that Stalder has explicitly represented Bossarei’s company, MBRE, on multiple occasions — directly refuting Stalder’s claim that she does not “work for him or his company.”
Stalder refused to comment on her involvement with Bossarei’s company, arguing the issue was unrelated to her role as city councilor.
As the daughter of Laramie Police Chief Dale Stalder, Jessica Stalder has also been criticized by police reform activists for voting on issues related to police oversight.
Last summer, in the wake of local marches for police accountability and transparency, the city council began discussing the possibility of a civilian oversight board. Stalder introduced a motion to instead make the oversight board an ad-hoc committee of the council.
This inspired outcry from angry members of the public present at the meeting. Eventually, Councilor Stalder recused herself from the vote, though she said she did not think she needed to.
The issue has come up again, as the council developed and approved plans for a police-community relations working group, which will serve the council in an advisory capacity. Stalder said she carefully considers potential conflicts of interest, and has felt comfortable voting on the matters she has.
“It’s not just my dad; I have several other family members that work for the city, so there were a lot of situations where I consulted with the city attorney and the mayor prior to the meeting,” she said. “I just tried to do my best and recuse myself when it was appropriate.”
Stalder said neither the Bossarei issue nor the conflict-of-interest accusations played into her decision to resign.
“I knew what I was signing up for,” she said. “As a public figure, someone can have a protest on your front lawn about the color of your bath towels. I’m not too worried about the public scrutiny.”
Stalder said she ran for council with one issue in mind: amending city code. She said she was hoping to make it easier for developers to develop in Laramie.
“So I kind of went into it with a singular focus, and I realized really quickly that it’s very much more complicated than that,” Stalder said. “Obviously, I wish I could have filled out my time. There are a lot of things in the works I would have liked to be a part of.”
In a statement delivered via her councilor Facebook page, Stalder encouraged interested members of the public to apply to fill the new council vacancy.
“I have appreciated and enjoyed getting to know many new people during my time on City Council,” she writes. “I find that even when we don’t agree, approaching issues with kindness and a genuine desire to understand leaves everyone better off. I will continue to serve Laramie in any capacity I can.”
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Not sure what part of entering conflict with kindness is demonstrated by trivializing the public voice to that of scrutiny over bath towel choice.