Comments on: Council Agenda Item: Mayoral Nominations

By: Karen Hart

Karen Hart — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:54:14 +0000

Staff should never be appointed to boards & commissions, other than to serve on technical committees. They have enough on their plates as staff, and the possibility of conflicts of interest arising are real. Plus, they can become beholden to those who appoint them, affecting their independence. Furthermore, it becomes awkward for them to interact with their staff colleagues, because they are no longer colleagues, but possibly people — as members of the board/commission — who can hire or fire their colleagues. Very inappropriiate. Such boards and commissions should be made up of citizens. There are plenty around with appropriate skills and knowledge.

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:27:21 +0000

(re #5) Yes, but the resolution itself says simply that city employees should not be nominated to such boards and committees, without specifying any exclusions. It reads: “That Council opposes Mayoral nominations of City of Ann Arbor employees to office appointments.”

The version linked to above seems to be version 1 – we are now up to version 2.

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:10:11 +0000

Re: [4] "... would this affect the appointments of Steven Powers and Tom Crawford [both of whom are city employees – city administrator and city CFO, respectively] to the EDC? " The state enabling legislation for the Economic Development Corporation explicitly contemplates city employees as members of an EDC, but restricts their number [emphasis added]:

(2) The board of directors of the corporation shall consist of not less than 9 persons, not more than 3 of whom shall be an officer or employee of the municipality. The chief executive officer and any member of the governing body of the municipality may serve on the board of directors. These directors shall be appointed for terms of 6 years, except of the directors first appointed, 4 shall be appointed for 6 years, 1 for 5 years, 1 for 4 years, 1 for 3 years, 1 for 2 years, and 1 for 1 year. The corporation shall notify the chief executive officer of the municipality in writing upon the corporation's designation of the project area as provided in section 8(1), and there shall be appointed promptly after that notice 2 additional directors of the corporation who shall serve only in respect to that project and shall be representative of neighborhood residents and business interests likely to be affected by the project proposed by the corporation and who shall cease to serve when the project for which they are appointed is either abandoned or, if undertaken, is completed in accordance with the project plan. Directors shall serve without salary, but may be reimbursed their actual expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties, and may receive a per diem of not more than $50.00. The meetings of the board of directors shall be public. Directors shall be public officers.

[.pdf of Act 338 of 1974, Economic Development Corporations Act]

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:36:57 +0000

Question: would this affect the appointments of Steven Powers and Tom Crawford to the EDC?

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:56:42 +0000

Added to the text of the news brief: “Update: As of Friday, Dec. 16, the resolved clause has been revised to read: “Therefore be it resolved, That Council opposes Mayoral nominations of City of Ann Arbor employees to office appointments.” Sabra Briere (Ward 1) has also been added as a fourth sponsor.”

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:55:18 +0000

Here is an examination of the issue (incompatibility of office) that seems to cover the ground rather well. [link]

By: Chuck Warpehoski

Chuck Warpehoski — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:49:20 +0000

I’ll be interested to see how this plays out.

I can see value in a limited number of city employees being on other boards to create a sort of intergovernmental cooperation, but these numbers should be very limited.

I do think there is a problem with appointments that reflect a too narrow of a range of perspectives. Gary Boren’s non-reappointment from the DDA board is a good example of that. I’m not convinced that banning city employees from appointments addresses the problem.