Warren Mayor Stone announces appointments; City Council hesitates to approve them

Warren Mayor Lori Stone outside the Warren Community Center before the June 25 city council meeting. (PHOTO BY SUSAN SMILEY)

Warren Mayor Lori Stone announced 14 appointments to five city boards and commissions Tuesday evening, but the City Council says the appointments require their approval and not all of the announced appointments are valid.

Stone announced appointments to the Downtown Development Authority, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Commission, Board of Review and Sidewalk and Tree Commission in a press release sent by the communications director of the city, Clarissa Cayton, at 7:22 p.m. on June 25, when the Warren City Council was holding a regular meeting.

Appointments to certain boards and commissions, such as the DDA, must be approved by the City Council before they are official. For others, like the Parks and Recreation Commission, the city council has two meetings to reject proposed appointments.

“We received multiple appointments with no backup information,” said Warren City Council Clerk Mindy Moore. “I received a response from the administration saying that we were not going to get any further information but that if we wanted to have the information removed from the documents given to us, we could go to the district attorney’s office. city to consult them. »

Stone stood on the sidewalk outside the Warren Community Center entrance to the auditorium where city council meetings are held and handed out stacks of materials to councilors entering the building before Tuesday night’s meeting.

Warren Mayor Lori Stone speaks with Councilman Dave Dwyer before Tuesday’s City Council meeting. (PHOTO BY SUSAN SMILEY)

Councilman Gary Boike said the packets contained redacted applications for people Stone later announced she had appointed.

Stone did not attend the city council meeting and did not enter the Warren Community Center.

After a discussion on the appointment process as set forth in Section 7.6 of the City Charter, the City Council voted to request that administration electronically send unredacted information on current and future appointees to the council municipal.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the City Council is entitled to this information,” said City Council special counsel Jeffrey Schroder. “The mayor cannot appoint someone to the DDA without the city council making a motion of approval; the city council has the right to ask questions and ensure that people are qualified to be appointed.

Moore said there are residency and other requirements for the various boards and commissions and it is the City Council’s responsibility to ensure those requirements are met by appointees.

“For example, the Downtown Development Authority is supposed to have two members who own businesses within the DDA and one member who represents the Warren Consolidated School District,” Moore said. “We need to know what box the appointees tick. »

The City Council fought with former Mayor James Fouts when he requested information that was not immediately provided and requested and received an order from the Macomb County Circuit Court stating that administration Municipality of Warren has 10 days to provide the municipal council with all the documents it requests.

This court order is still in effect and applies to the current administration. In her press release, Stone said she formally informed the city council of the appointments on June 18.

Eight of the 14 appointments announced were mandate renewals; six are new appointments,

Gregory Jackson, Nick Lavdas, Joe Vicari and Mike Wiegand were reappointed to the DDA while Mike Tyro and Mary Miller were reappointed to the Sidewalk and Tree Commission. George Chapp, Heather Craig and Mike McCrillis are new appointees to the Parks and Recreation Commission and Andrey Duzyj, Michael Holowaty and Syed Hoque have been appointed to the Planning Commission. Sarah McCullough is a new appointment to the review committee and Faisal Ahmed is a reappointment.