More recently, a closed-door meeting was held in an effort to iron out some of the issues between Mayor Sheri Bingham and other members of the City Council. According to Bingham, who declined to share details about the meeting, recent conversations among council members have been productive. She added that managing the city’s affairs remains the primary goal for all involved.

“From my perspective — and I have talked to other council members and I think they feel the same — I think it went really well,” Bingham told the Standard-Examiner.

Council member Debra Marigoni largely agrees with Bingham’s assessment, while acknowledging that the body still has work left to do.

“Things have run a little more smoothly,” Marigoni said. “We’re still working on some items and trying to get a few rough areas worked out. We’re not in a perfect place yet, and I don’t know that any city council is, but we’re still working on that and hoping to get things to where our city deserves.”

Had it passed, the ordinance would have fundamentally altered Hooper’s government, effectively stripping the mayor of executive powers and leaving the position mostly ceremonial in nature. That action was proposed amid Bingham’s decision not to retain the city’s longtime attorneys. Meanwhile, council member Ryan Hill opined during the February meeting that tensions within city government could be traced to a family dispute between Bingham and council member Dale Fowers, a former Hooper mayor and Bingham’s brother.

“We felt that things weren’t going in the right direction and we were concerned about that,” Marigoni said of the decision to consider the ordinance. “Our intent was to get the city back on a better path, because we feel the citizens of the city deserve the very best that we can give to them.”

For her part, Bingham believes that the personal issues and the public’s perception of them may have been “blown out of proportion,” but she noted that things have nonetheless been trending in a better direction since the meeting last winter.

“My brother and I ended up taking a little bit of a hit with everything that was going on,” Bingham said. “But that was OK. You know, there’s always room for improvement. I’m certainly working on communicating better and I feel like, for the most part, we really are working together better.”

The City Council voted in March to once again retain the services of Hooper’s attorneys, Reed and Brandon Richards. As for the body itself, both Bingham and Marigoni believe that it’s functioning as it should.

“I’m really optimistic that we will be able to work things out,” Bingham said. “I feel like there’s better communication that’s going on. So, I feel really good about it.”