Politics & Government
Royal Oak to Explore Options to Fill Surprise Vacancy
The Royal Oak City Charter does not describe an exact process for filling Mayor Pro-Tem Patricia Capello's seat after she resigned Monday night.
The Royal Oak City Commission will decide how to fill an unplanned vacancy following the surprise resignation of Mayor Pro-Tem Patricia Capello.
Capello is relocating to Texas and tendered her resignation at Monday's city commission meeting. She has approximately six months left on her term.
The city charter provides a vacancy be filled by appointment of a majority vote of the remaining members of the commission, but it doesn't describe the exact process or specify a time frame, according to City Attorney Dave Gillam.
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"The commission can decide on a long drawn out process or have a discussion at a public meeting and make an appointment," Gillam said.
Another more formal option would be to ask for letters of interest and conduct interviews, he said.
Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
'Bullying' investigation back on the agenda
Another issue commissioners have to consider is whether or not to carry on with an independent investigation to determine if Mayor Pro-Tem Capello violated the city's ethics policy.
Two weeks ago, the commission voted 5-2 to look into accusations of multiple ethics violations against Capello, which stemmed from complaints of alleged "bullying" by former employees at the Royal Oak Animal Shelter.
Outside counsel has been retained but has not done a lot of work on the investigation at this point in time, according to Gillam.
The investigation has been added as an agenda item by City Manager Don Johnson to the commission's special budget meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Vacancy proposal goes before voters in November
On Nov. 5, Royal Oak voters will have the opportunity to define the process to fill a vacancy.
In April, based on a recommendation of the Charter Review Committee, commissioners authorized the city attorney’s office to move forward with ballot language to have the commission fill a vacancy within 60 days or incur a special election.
The next meetng of the Charter Review Committee is May 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Mahany-Meininger Center, located at 3500 Marais Ave.
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