Contingency Planning
February/14/2010 15:51
The February 11th edition of the Grosse Pointe News reports on the “Contingency planning underway” at Shores city hall. Mayor Cooper is quoted as saying "We need answers because we need to run the city … if we're all recalled and there's no city government, what happens? Who makes the appointments? ... If we have no government after May 4, there is nobody to make a decision.”
First, Mayor Cooper, you can rest assured that not all of the council will be recalled. The two new council members who were not part of your anointed slate and who kept their promise of fiscal responsibility to those who elected them by voting not to raise taxes will be around to serve out the duration of their terms.
It seems to me that rather than being overly concerned about trying to anticipate the outcome of the recall process, that Mayor Cooper and his incumbents would better serve the people by staying focused on the task to trying to dig the city out from the deep financial hole they have created. However, self-preservation and a last ditch attempt to keep their council seats clearly seems to be their primary focus at this stage
I am surprised that the incumbents feel the need to vote to hire expensive ($220 an hour) legal help. Don’t they have confidence in the very provisions of the new city charter that they foisted on the populace, along with its new higher 20 mil property tax limit? Look at the specific charter section (Section 3.15 Filling Vacancy in Council) that deals with filling vacancies, it seems pretty clear to me:
“ A vacancy in the Council resulting from a member’s death, resignation, forfeiture of office, or removal from office, or from the Mayor pro tem becoming the Mayor under Section 3.8, shall be filled by a qualified person upon the majority vote of the remaining members of Council.”
Mayor Cooper’s assertion that there would be “no government” if all the incumbents were recalled smacks of elitism, and is an obvious desperation scare tactic. His statement is simply not true. State law and our local charter provide for filling any vacancies that may be created by the recall.
Exactly how these temporary council members will be appointed is another smokescreen issue. Those appointed to fill any vacancy created by a May recall would serve only until a special election is held in September. How these temporary vacancies may be filled is far from being the most critical issue facing the Shores.
Whether if appointed by the remaining council members, or by the governor, or by the Wayne County Elections commission, or even if we drew lots from the names of any interested Shores residents who desired to serve, all Shores voters should answer the following question: Regardless of the manner of selection, could we do any worse than what the incumbents have given us?
When you look at the incumbents’ collective legacy of hollow promises about transparency, higher property taxes, unprecedented deficit spending, unsustainable municipal employee salaries and benefits, and the Shores being placed under fiscal watch by the state, I sincerely believe the answer to the question is no.