Special City Council meeting held over removal of city clerk

By Alan Carman
The Imperial Republican
    On Thursday, Jan. 29, a special meeting of the Imperial City Council held at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers.
    The agenda of the meeting included: Consideration and action regarding removal of current appointed City Clerk; Consider approval of severance package for the current appointed City Clerk; Consider approval of Mayor’s appointment of an interim City Clerk; Consider Ordinance #26-01-02 to amend the wages of city officers and employees.
    The meeting was called to order by Mayor Craig Loeffler.  Roll call followed with three board members present. Jan Elliot, Nick Colton and Julie Gockley. John Miller was absent. City Administrator Tyler Pribbeno and the City Attorney were also present. The Council Chambers were full and extra chairs had to be added.
    Public comment was held and many of the people spoke out, asking why the City Clerk had been fired on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. There were several City Employees at the meeting to voice there concerns about Hoskovec being terminated.
    Allegedly, Mayor Craig Loeffler fired City Clerk/Deputy Administrator, Sarah Hoskovec suddenly in her office, with no advanced warning or write-up being officially entered into her personal file.
    No explanation was given at the meeting due to the fact that the meeting was just to get the City Council approval or disapproval of the action.
    New legislation passed in 2024, states that the Mayor can remove appointed officials from office, but must have the consent of the Council. Mayor Loeffler stated he had conversations with council members that had agreed to the firing.
    After several comments from the public and a lot of silence from the council, the meeting took a recess and Mayor Loeffler, City Administrator Tyler Pribbeno and the City Attorney, exited the meeting to discuss private issues prior to any motions being made.
    When the meeting reconvened, the Council members discussed the purpose of the meeting before a motion was made by Jan Elliot and seconded by Julie Gockley, to move into closed session, with the Council, the Mayor, Sarah Hoskovec, Tyler Pribbeno  and the City Attorney for the purpose of the action item of removal of the City Clerk, for the purpose of the protection of the reputation of the city employee.
    All three council members voted yes and the motion passed. Hoskovec objected to the motion, causing the motion to fail and the meeting be kept in front of the public for open discussion.
    Another motion was made by Elliot for the same people to go into closed session with the option for Sarah to request to return to open session at anytime. Gockley seconded, and motion passed. Hoskovec objected again and the meeting stayed in public session.
    A question was asked about the City taking out a million dollar bond and it was confirmed by Jan Elliot that the City of Imperial did take out a $1,000,000 Bond to cover the cost of the City Square.
    That on top of other issues, brought questions to the surface that changes needed to be made and so the changes were for Hoskovec to be fired and for City Administrator, Tyler Pribbeno to be demoted to economic development only.
    Discussion ensued by the council to try and determine if all the proper steps were taken  before the firing. Council members were unsure if all steps in the City Employee Handbook had been followed.
    Colton made a motion to remove Sarah Hoskovec from her position, seconded by Elliot. The motion failed, Colton-no, Gockley-no, Elliot-yes, motion failed, resulting in Hoskovec remaining in her position as City Clerk and Tyler Pribbeno returning to full administrative duties..
    Since the motion failed, everything else to be determined in the remainder of the meeting was a mute point. A motion to adjourn was moved by Elliot and seconded by Colton. Elliot-yes, Colton-yes, Gockley-yes, motion passed and the meeting was adjourned.