The Adrian City Commission has been tasked with filling the vacant seat left on the board after John Dudas resigned just over two weeks before the November, 2019 city election.
The Adrian City Charter outlines when an open seat may be filled by the Commission. The detail that essentially decides which method to use is how many days until the next election the resignation took place.
Dudas resigned on Friday, October 18th, within 120 days before the next election. The Charter prohibits the Commission from appointing someone, or holding a special election, within that time period. The timing of the resignation also did not allow for ballots to be recalled and have names added because of the election law.
Adrian City Attorney Tamaris Henagan decided, under the direction of the Commission, to take a two-pronged approach. The first prong would be to seek relief, via the Lenawee County Circuit Court, from the current charter and either appoint someone or hold a special election to fill the seat until the rest of the term is fulfilled (2021). The second prong was to amend the charter…which is a lengthy process, but one that the Commission…and Henagan…thought should be done because parts of the Charter pertaining to filling vacancies has not been updated since 1957.
The judgement, given by Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge Michael Olsaver, sided with the current language in the Charter. When the Commission does not have the authority to call a Special Election or appoint, then the seat will be filled at the next subsequent regular Adrian City Election, which in this case is November, 2021.
Judge Olsaver said that since there is a mechanism to fill a vacancy on the Commission, he could not grant the declaratory relief that the Commission was seeking. He did acknowledge that they interpreted the Charter correctly, and that asking the court was the right thing to do.
Since the relief was not declared, Henagan is still pursuing the second prong, which is moving along as planned. Over the past few months, she has been in contact with the State of Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the Governor’s Office trying to amend the City Charter. An amendment has been approved by both offices, and has been submitted to the Lenawee County Clerk’s Office to be put on a Special Election ballot in May, 2020. A resolution to hold a Special Election by the City Commission must be passed for the process to continue. The group has received copies of the amendments for their review.
Henagan told WLEN News that if the resolution is passed, the Commission could appoint someone to the vacant seat as early as June of this year.
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