Council Agenda Item: Mayoral Nominations
The Ann Arbor city council’s Dec. 19, 2011 meeting agenda, published online on Dec. 14, includes a resolution that expresses opposition to mayoral nominations of city of Ann Arbor employees to serve on boards and commissions. The resolution is sponsored by Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2).
The “resolved” clause, as it currently appears on the agenda, simply records the view that those voting in the affirmative are opposed to such appointments: “RESOLVED, Those council members voting in the affirmative to this resolution oppose Mayoral nominations of City of Ann Arbor employees to office appointments.”
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.
Reasons cited in the “whereas” clauses include the possible appearance of conflicting interests and commitments, as well as a clause in the city charter that might be construed as limiting the rights of city employees who are appointed to boards or commissions: “The personnel of the City, other than the elective and appointive officers, shall be deemed City employees.” [.pdf of resolution on mayoral nominations of city employees to boards and commissions]
The resolution comes in the context of mayor John Hieftje’s nomination at the council’s last meeting (on Dec. 5, 2011) of a city employee to serve on a board. Hieftje nominated the city’s transportation program manager, Eli Cooper, to serve on the board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. On confirmation by the city council, Cooper would fill the vacancy on the AATA board left by another city employee, Sue McCormick.
The council will be asked to vote to confirm Cooper’s nomination at its Dec. 19 meeting.
McCormick is leaving her post at the city of Ann Arbor as public services area administrator to take a job as head of the Detroit water and sewerage department. McCormick’s last day on the job is Dec. 16. City administrator Steve Powers announced at the Dec. 5 meeting that the city’s head of systems planning, Craig Hupy, will fill in for McCormick on an interim basis. Powers reported that Hupy had no interest in the permanent position.
Cooper’s city position as transportation program manager falls under the city’s systems planning unit. The council previously appointed Cooper to serve on the AATA board on June 20, 2005. He served through June 2008, and was replaced on the board by current board chair Jesse Bernstein.
When Cooper previously served on the AATA board, along with McCormick, their service prompted an op-ed in The Ann Arbor News criticizing the appointment of city employees to citizen boards. [.pdf of "Let's Stick With Autonomous Appointees for Citizen Boards"]
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.
Here is an examination of the issue (incompatibility of office) that seems to cover the ground rather well. [link]
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.”
Question: would this affect the appointments of Steven Powers and Tom Crawford to the EDC?
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]:
[.pdf of Act 338 of 1974, Economic Development Corporations Act]
(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.
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.