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McLean honors Woodings; new president and pro tem selected for Boise City Council

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean declared July 18, 2023 as Holli Woodings Day during Tuesday's city council meeting to commemorate Woodings' last meeting.

BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.

Before the proclamation and Woodings naming her successor, McLean said that the city council president had left her mark. Declaring July 18, 2023 as Holli Woodings Day.

"We're going to miss you," McLean said. 

The two hugged as the crowd applauded after McLean's proclamation. Other councilmembers made remarks thanking Woodings and saying she is a role model. 

"The first time I actually really met Holli was during my campaign when I called her, really looking for an endorsement, which she refused to give me, that she refused to give everyone in my race," Councilmember Patrick Bageant said. "But she said I'll meet with you ... she sat down and invested in a candidate who had questions."

Woodings said she felt lucky because "it seems like people don't get to hear this many nice things said about them until after they die."

Woodings had previously announced she would not run for re-election this November. Last week, the city of Boise announced she would resign on July 21 ahead of a move to Washington, D.C., with her family.

Credit: Brian Myrick / Idaho Press
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean and outgoing City Council President Holli Woodings look on from the audience during a gathering to dedicate the 8th Street Tunnel Mural at the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial amphitheater in downtown Boise on Monday, May 15.

Ultimately, Woodings nominated current Council President Pro Tem Jimmy Hallyburton as council president. She said Hallyburton had "shown his mettle" as a councilmember. The council unanimously approved him. 

Woodings then nominated Bageant as council president pro tem, which was also approved unanimously. 

"I really appreciate the nomination," Hallyburton said. "I'm not sure if I ever envisioned myself being the council president in my first term, and I certainly didn't envision that happening this way."

Hallyburton is an Idaho native and was raised in Boise. In 2007 he launched the Boise Bicycle Project, where he is the executive director, although he will retire from that post on Sept. 29. There, he has led a team of 17 staff, 802 volunteers, 760 members and a number of community supporters.

Aside from his efforts with the Boise Bicycle Project, Hallyburton has created several national award-winning programs which have helped hundreds of incarcerated women and men reconnect with their community; has created working relationships between neighborhood associations and the Ada County Highway District; and has helped build walkable/bikeable neighborhoods, according to his bio page on the city of Boise website.

In January, Woodings was selected as council president and Hallyburton as council president pro tem, in a week that exemplified the chaos and turnover of the Boise City Council in 2023. A day before, former council president Elaine Clegg was approved as CEO of Valley Regional Transit.

And in that meeting itself, the council said then-councilmember Lisa Sánchez may no longer live in her district. The city later determined that Sánchez did move out of her district, and in doing so she inadvertently vacated her seat. Sánchez has since sued. The lawsuit is ongoing and a trial is scheduled for December.

Since then, Clegg and Sánchez were replaced by Colin Nash, a Democrat in Idaho's House of Representatives, and Latonia Haney Keith, who works at the College of Idaho. Haney Keith previously told the Idaho Press she is not planning to run for city council in November.

Bageant also said he will not run for re-election.

In May, Woodings announced that she would not run for re-election this November, noting a need to take a break from the public eye.

At the time, Woodings said, “A lot has changed in the past couple of years. I graduated with my master’s degree, my husband and I sold our company, our kids are getting older. So it’s just kind of a good time to reexamine what our life looks like and our priorities.”

Woodings, a Democrat, grew up in Boise and is a Boise State University graduate. She has served on the council since 2017.

On her city of Boise profile page, Woodings lists some of her top accomplishments in office as expanding after-school programming to the West Ada School District, working with small businesses and restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic and for being a champion for affordable housing in the city.

This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.

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