The swearing-in of Maplewood Mayor Barry Greenberg was a piece of cake, and a cup of lemonade.
After presenting outgoing Mayor Nikylan Knapper with a resolution lauding her three-year term in the suburb’s top post, the city council took a break for refreshments in the lobby and then handed the meeting gavel to Greenberg.
Greenberg was elected mayor in 2017, after serving on the council for 14 years. But in 2021, he lost to Knapper, Maplewood’s first African American mayor.
But after Knapper’s one three-year term, punctuated by political contention and complaints of cronyism, Greenberg mounted a write-in campaign and easily ousted Knapper.
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Greenberg picked up 63% of the vote and had a winning margin of 419 tallies out of 1,671 cast.
One of Greenberg’s first actions as mayor involved employing a change Knapper had orchestrated during her tenure — allowing a mayor to pull an item from the agenda.
Greenberg said he removed a proposal that would have revamped the bidding process for awarding city contracts.
He said the bill could negatively affect work city employees would be allowed to do, and also could hurt local businesses by requiring union labor to be used on any project more than $10,000. “That amount is too low,” he said.
“I’m not necessarily opposed to” the measure, Greenberg said. “I just want to revisit it.”
The item can be returned to the agenda if the council votes to overrule the mayor, but it made no such move on Tuesday.
As to working with the six-member council that often followed Knapper’s lead — except for Chasity Maddox, who recently offered lone opposition at times — next year’s municipal election could alter the landscape.
And the three members whose terms expire next year each offered a different response when asked about seeking reelection: Nick Homa, “probably”; Eric Page, “I don’t know”; and Matt Coriell, “This is my official no comment.”