Ypsilanti City Council members want mayoral appointments to boards and commissions to be made promptly after terms expire. That was the message they sent in approving an appointment policy Tuesday over the objections of Mayor Paul Schreiber.

Per the new policy, appointees will serve for a fixed term, with an extension limited to 60 days. The extension must be approved by two-thirds of the council.

In addition, a vacancy is now defined as the current appointee discontinuing his or her term by death, resignation, removal from office, not seeking reappointment in writing prior to a term expiring or not being reappointed by the mayor or council.

The city clerk will now provide council with a list of appointments on terms set to expire in the following 60 days. People appointed to boards and committees must reside or have a stake in the city for two years unless granted an exception by council.

Mayor Paul Schreiber

Schreiber and Council Member Bill Nickels voted against the resolution.

Schreiber said he opposed it because of instances where City Council rejects or tables a nomination, which could lead to prolonged vacancies on a board or commission. He said finding qualified candidates to fill the posts can be difficult.

“My issue with the resolution is I would like to have boards and commissions be functioning even if there are expired board members,” he said. He added he wanted the two-thirds of the council vote to be changed to a majority vote. But he pointed out that a majority vote could overrule the two-thirds vote on a resolution.

Council most recently opposed reappointing Carmelita Mullins to the Ypsilanti Housing Commission at its Sept. 7 meeting. Mullins’ term expired in January, and her first reappointment was tabled in February.

Mullins has continued to meet with the Housing Commission, despite the council rejecting her reappointment. Council Member Lois Richardson said Mullins continuing to serve against council’s wishes is “a blatant slap in the face to council."

But in an opinion that had to be repeated multiple times to council members, Assistant City Attorney Karl Barr said Mullins — or any other reappointment — can legally continue to serve and vote on a board or commission as a de facto office holder, even if council has rejected the reappointment.

He said there is no legal mechanism to remove a person from the post. The only way an appointment can be removed, Barr said, is by swearing in a new appointee to fill the vacancy or through a quo warranto action, which involves legally removing the person from office.

“If they continue to show up and they continue to vote, those votes are counted, and the jurisdiction around those votes cannot be challenged,” Barr said, citing “longstanding case law” supporting that opinion.

Council Member Pete Murdock said that would mean the mayor could decide not to appoint anyone after a reappointment is rejected, and that person could continue to serve and vote without council being able to do anything.

“That’s undemocratic for one thing,” Murdock said. “If we vote to remove somebody from office, then they should be removed from it. How ridiculous does this get?”

Council Member Brian Robb asked Barr if that meant the new policy would simply be a procedural measure because it didn’t have legal weight.

“Is it your advice that we should not pass these because, with the de facto status, vacancy really doesn’t mean anything … because realistically, without us going to court, you’re saying that the mayor is king,” Robb said.

Barr said he wasn’t suggesting that, and the resolution did narrow the definition of what is a vacancy.

“All I am doing is providing my interpretation and opinion of the legal effect of what could happen after,” he said.

Ultimately, council approved the resolution and Robb said he was pleased despite the legal complication.

“We’ll see one or two cases where this policy perhaps comes into effect in a four-year term, but at least now if you appoint someone and their term expires on May 1, 2012, they know that’s when their term expires,” Robb said.

Council Member Bill Nickels said he was concerned the new policy would create another obstacle in having enough people present at meetings for a quorum by ending terms without reappointment. He said it’s already difficult for some boards and commissions to have enough people present for a quorum.

He added that council’s concerns are legitimate, but the process of making reappointments should be simplified.

“We’re not like Ann Arbor, which has close to 100,000 people living there — we have the same number of boards and commissions here that Ann Arbor has to deal with,” he said. “We have to find people who are both qualified and have the interest to do these kind of things at no remuneration is much more difficult in the City of Ypsilanti than larger communities.”

Murdock said a vacancy on a board or commission reduces the number of people who are needed to have a quorum, and the problem is people not meeting their responsibility of attending the meetings.

The resolution also asked that the mayor nominate the candidates at a meeting then held for action until the following meeting. Schreiber wanted to change the language to say “a” following meeting so he could postpone two Housing Commission nominations until the next council begins after the November election.

He argued the new council members are the ones who will have to work with the nominations, but Mayor Pro-Tem Trudy Swanson-Winston strongly objected. She said current council members who know the history and the candidates would be better qualified to vote on the appointments.

Schreiber agreed to bring the nominations to the Housing Commission to a vote at the next meeting.

Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.