Winner City Council member calls for resignation of town's mayor

Yahoo

09-04-2025

Apr. 8—WINNER, S.D. — A member of the Winner City Council on Monday night called for the resignation of the city mayor, citing inappropriate sexual and racial comments allegedly made by the city official.
The comments came during the public commentary portion of the April 7 meeting of the Winner City Council.
"I'm standing here tonight to ask you, Mr. Mayor, to resign effective immediately," Jeremy Clay, a member of the city council who has been serving since 2018, said at the meeting. "During your time in the official capacity of the mayor of Winner, you've made several sexual and racist statements while conducting official city business."
Clay spoke for several minutes near the beginning of the meeting outlining the alleged offenses of Brad Schramm, who serves as mayor of the community. Those accusations included sexual comments made toward city employees and officials, as well as racial comments made to others.
Clay said Schramm had made sexually inappropriate comments to Felicia Hughes, another member of the Winner City Council, as well as to Harly Koenig, who serves as the finance officer for the city. He told the Mitchell Republic on Tuesday afternoon that both comments were made while conducting city business and that he personally witnessed both incidents.
He also made reference to a pair of racial comments, including use of the N-word, that he had been told about by another city official and through other "city channels." He said he was not present for either of the two racial incidents he cited at the Monday night meeting but believed them to be true.
Clay stated his wish for Schramm to resign his position several times during his presentation, and closed by iterating that point again.
"Mr. Schramm, you are an embarrassment to the city of Winner and a legal liability. I request you, sir, to resign effective immediately," Clay said.
Public commentary at public meetings is generally used to allow the public to speak on matters of city interest that may not otherwise be included on the official agenda. Clay told the Republic that his comments came as a member of the public as opposed to speaking as a member of the Winner City Council.
After Clay had finished his commentary at the meeting, Schramm offered a brief response.
"Thank you for that, Mr. Clay. And if you want to take things out of context, that's your responsibility," Schramm said. "If you're going to disparage me, Mr. Clay, you better have your facts right."
Clay said that he attended a committee meeting Tuesday morning at which Schramm was present and said that the interaction between the two at that time was "civil," but the mayor gave no indication of any intention to resign. The Mitchell Republic reached out to Schramm by phone for comment but had not heard back by the time this article was published.
Clay told the Republic Tuesday that he stands by the comments he made Monday night.
"They're true. I would not have taken to the podium and spread false information. It was time the public heard these things," Clay said. "The entire council is aware of it. And these are just the ones I've heard, there have been many more that I've been told about."
Clay said the city council has no legal recourse to remove Schramm from office, and claimed that if it had such an option, it would have been used by now. He said that the mayor can be recalled by public petition, but said that he would not initiate that process himself.
The main goal was to get the information out in the open at a public meeting, which he did Monday night.
"I'm not going to (initiate a recall petition). I feel like I had a responsibility to the people of the city of Winner to bring it forward and make them aware," Clay said. "I would say it would be up to the public. I feel I did my part, I made the public aware of what's being said."