Boards, Commissions and Qualifications

At least four currentappointees to boards and commissions in the city of Lansing haveapparently violated requirements in the city charter for serving on aboard, a joint City Pulse/WLNS Channel 6 investigation has found.

Andin response to issues with alleged charter violations, theadministration of Mayor Virg Bernero — and including the city clerk,treasurer, and city attorney — is conducting an internal investigationof all of the hundreds of appointees in the city to ensure that theymeet the charter’s requirements.

Thecontroversy over Second Ward Councilwoman Tina Houghton, whoregistered, ran and was elected to office while owing property taxesand who was appointed to the city Parks Board while owing propertytaxes, revealed an apparent lack of a system in Lansing city governmentfor checking the qualifications of elective and appointed officials.When asked at the time, Bernero said he had “bigger fish to fry” thanwatch over the qualifications of every appointee.

RandyHannan, Bernero’s deputy chief of staff, said that until recently theadministration relied on appointees to report whether they violated thecharter’s requirements. Hannan said that there was no reason not totrust citizens interested in volunteering their time to work ingovernment.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Hannan said when asked about self-reporting. “These are people who are everyday folks in the community. We would have no reason to doubt people.”

WhenHoughton was appointed to the Parks Board in November 2007, she had notpaid her taxes due for the summer. Ingham County records showed thatshe did not pay those taxes until May 2008.

Alleged default

The charter requiresappointees to be city residents without felony convictions or electionlaw violations for the last 20 years and not to owe the city money.City Pulse and WLNS-TV checked all current appointees to the 22 Lansingboards and commissions under the purview of the City Charter todetermine if any had lapsed in property tax payments during their term,had ever been convicted of a felony or were not city residents.

The list ofappointees to every board and commission was obtained from the LansingCity Clerk’s office. The date of each appointee’s most recentreappointment was checked using Lansing City Council meeting minutes,which, in some cases, also provided an appointee’s address. Appointees’names were checked against property tax records kept by the city ofLansing and Ingham County. Felony records were checked using the stateof Michigan’s Offender Tracking Information System, and residency waschecked using the Ingham County Clerk’s voter registration database.

Almost all appointees met every qualification set forth in the charter. But some did not.

The investigation found these apparent current or past violations:

—Board of Police Commissioners Chairwoman Maria Olivia Mejorado wasdelinquent in paying $1,889.37 in summer and winter property taxes from2009 on her house at 1200 Climax St. in Lansing. Mejorado wasreappointed to the board in June 2009. Mejorado was unable to bereached despite numerous phone calls and several visits to her home.

—Income Tax Board of Review member Gloria Nostrant owes summer 2009taxes on three properties she is listed as owning. Nostrant had notpaid $946.28 on a home at 1135 Cleveland St., $966.07 for a home at1137 Cleveland St., and $1614.90 on a business at 1240 E. Grand RiverAve. According to City Council meeting minutes, Nostrant wasreappointed in June 2009.

Nostrantsaid Monday that her daughter was supposed to pay the property taxes onSaturday. Nostrant said that she been in Florida off and on recentlydealing with a family health issue, which is why she left her daughterto pay the taxes. Nostrant said that realized that she’s still a memberof the Income Tax Board of Review, but said that she can’t rememberattending a meeting in about 10 years.

“I should really just call and get my name taken off the list,” she said.

—Board of Zoning Appeals member Robert Burgess was found to have beenlate paying $403.72 in 2008 winter taxes on a home at 6253 CoulsonCourt. Burgess was appointed to the board in December 2002.

Burgesssaid that the property taxes that he owed on his Coulson Court homewere paid once he realized that they were late. Burgess said that hehad moved out of his house and lost his principal residence exemptionand did not realize that the taxes would go up.

“I got the (late) notice and it was paid right away,” Burgess said. “As far as I know, it was paid.”

According to Ingham County Records, the outstanding taxes were paid in June 2009.

Additionalapparent violations of the charter include Linda Sims, a policecommissioner, who had not paid about $20 in summer 2009 personalproperty taxes for her business, S and S Services, which were due atthe end of August. Sims did not wish to comment on the late taxes, buttold a reporter that she would pay them immediately — according to cityof Lansing records, she paid the taxes on Feb. 19.

MarkHiaeshutter and Julie Teed were listed as members of the DemolitionBoard and the Traffic Board, respectively, but have since moved fromLansing and have become registered voters in other municipalities.However, both Hiaeshutter and Teed told reporters that they hadresigned. In fact, both stated that they knew the requirements setforth in the charter, which is why they resigned from their respectiveboards. Teed said that she resigned over one year ago, and Hiaeshuttersaid he resigned in October. Their names, however, still appear on thecity’s list of members of boards and commissions.

Aquestion of residency came as a result of a property record found forEthics Board member Edwar Zeineh. A property listed as being owned byZeineh at 609 Isbell St. lists his address as being in East Lansing.According to Ingham County records, Zeineh is a registered voter inLansing, but he did not return calls seeking comment on why he islisted as living in East Lansing. A woman at the East Lansing home toldreporters that Zeineh had not lived there for some time, and a man at ahome owned by Zeineh on Tecumseh River Drive confirmed that he wasliving there.

Zeinehowns two other properties in Lansing — one on Jones Street and theTecumseh River Drive home — both of which list his address as being onTecumseh River Drive.

However,Zeineh resigned from the Ethics Board on Monday, telling the LansingState Journal that he had done so for “personal reasons.”

As a part of theprocess of checking appointed officials in Lansing, elected officials’qualifications were also checked, including the city clerk, mayor andall eight City Council members. None werefound to be lacking in qualifications according to the city charter.

Boards help city run

Thecity of Lansing has or is a part of 36 boards, commissions andauthorities. On those governmental boards are over 200 citizens, cityofficials and experts appointed by the mayor or City Council. Statestatute governs some boards. Others operate outside the scope ofLansing city government like the Capital Area District Library board orthe Potter Park Zoo board.

TheLansing City Charter governs a majority of these boards. The charter,slaved over by a commission set up in 1975, and killed twice by votersbefore it was ratified in 1978, sets guidelines for the selection andqualifications for appointed and elected officials.

The application form for boards and commissions spells out the requirements:

— City residency for at least a year before appointment.

—No indebtedness to any city agency for “any judgments, fees, parkingtickets, assessments, unpaid taxes or any monies due to the City.”

— No felony convictions or election law violations or “violations of the public trust” in the last 20 years.

Theform says those qualifications are spelled out in the charter orordinances. The form also says applicants must be registered voters,but City Attorney Brig Smith said the requirement will be removed fromthe form.

The response

Thecity administration, which appoints most, but not all, appointees tocity boards and commissions, responded to questions over thequalifications of appointees by saying that it will conduct its owninternal review of every appointee.

CityAttorney Brig Smith said that his office, in conjunction with the cityclerk, treasurer and the mayor’s office, would aid in the investigationand anyone found in violation of charter qualifications would be givenan opportunity to fix it.

“The administration has redoubled its efforts,” Smith said.

Incase an appointee is discovered to owe property taxes to the city,Smith said a letter would be sent asking them to “cure the default” orresign.

Smith saidthat his office has not yet contacted any appointees regarding default,but he could not speak for the mayor’s office.

Hannansaid that it was “late last year” that the administration decided toundertake a review or every appointed official, but he would notspecifically say whether it was in relation to Houghton. Hannan said hedid not know whether the investigation had produced any results. Hesaid that Joe McDonald, a special assistant to Bernero, was conductingthe investigation.

“In instances where we find a situation thatneeds to be remedied, an individual will get a letter indicating thatthey need to take an action to resolve whatever the issue is,” Hannansaid.

At-LargeCouncilwoman Carol Wood said that she had asked for a review of allcity appointees around the time questions were being raised aboutHoughton.

“There needs to be at least a yearly way to look at that,” she said of appointees’ qualifications.

Woodsaid that she had met recently with the City Clerk Chris Swope andSmith, who told her that the investigation was still being worked on.

Hannansaid that the results of the internal investigation would likely becompiled or tracked in some manner, but would not be handed out to thepublic. He did not know whether an internal investigation would becarried out on an annual basis.

“I don’t think we’ll call any people out,” Hannan said.

The questions of default

A recent ruling by Attorney General Mike Cox is having an impact on how Lansing defines “default.”

Asthe city of Port Huron was undergoing a charter revision, resident KenHarris was worried that charter commission members were ignoring theissue of “default.” Harris had done a little research on the matter andfound that Michigan’s Home Rule Cities Act — a 1909 state law, that, inpart, lays down basic guidelines for how cities canconstruct their charters — requires that cities have a “default” clausein their charters. But even though it is in the Home Rule Cities Act,Harris could not find a definition. So, last summer, he asked hislegislator, state Rep. John Espinoza, D-Port Huron, to find it for him.Espinoza sent the question to Attorney General Mike Cox, and on Feb.10, Cox’s decision was released.

Coxruled on a section of the home rule act that spells out the limitationsof power for cities. Included in this section is a line that says acity cannot “make a contract with, or give an official position to, onewho is in default to the city.” Cox goes on to rule that the term “indefault” in the act means that “at the point in time the contract orappointment is to be made or given, the person has failed to meet afinancial, contractual, or other obligation to the city after adequatenotice of the obligation and an opportunity to cure it were provided tothe person and the obligation is not the subject of a pending judicialor administrative hearing.”

Smithhas been the target of public outcry over his definition of default inrelation to the Houghton matter. He says that Cox’s recent rulingbolsters the definition of “default.”

“Indeed, to read the (Lansing City Charter) andHome Rule City Act otherwise would lead to potentially absurd results,”Smith said regarding Cox’s definition of “default.” “To use propertytaxes as an example, what if the payment is late by one day? What if itis later determined that additional taxes are owed? Both the office ofthe attorney general and the office of the city attorney read the HomeRule City Act and other charter language the same way, and that readingavoids potentially absurd results.”

Smithsaid that the city was not officially adopting Cox’s ruling, but ispersuaded by Cox’s definition of “in default” because the languageappears both in the home rule act and in the Lansing City Charter.

“Thereis no need to adopt the opinion in any formal way other than to use itas a resource in analyzing similar questions, to the extent that myoffice is persuaded by its reasoning,” he said.

Othercities have language that is more explicit in their charters relatingto default. In Jackson, the city charter states that a notice ofdefault for an officeholder or appointee must be filed with the cityclerk and verified by the city treasurer. The appointee or officeholderthen has 30 days to cure the default. In Mason, a default applies notonly to debts to the city, but also the county and the school district.In the case of Houghton, Smith said that she was allowed to run and winoffice because her default had passed over to Ingham County by the timeshe registered as a candidate. Mason also spells out that 30 days aregiven to cure a default.

Theissue of default has been such a debated topic that the Ann Arbor-basedMichigan Municipal League, which lends help to cities undergoingcharter revision, released a “one pager plus” report on default. TheMunicipal League created a sample resolution for villages under theGeneral Law Village act to removed elective or appointed officers whoare default either by not paying their taxes by the last day inFebruary, or another kind of debt.

SusanHannah, vice chancellor for academic affairs at IndianaUniversity-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, has lent charter revisionadvice to the Municipal League, and says that the issue of defaultvaries in its definition and usually applies to larger sums of money.

Hannahsaid that some city charters are too old to be relevant, but said thatLansing’s 1978 charter is relatively new by comparison. When askedabout Smith’s interpretation of the Cox ruling, and the fact thatsmaller amounts of money would be too absurd to consider default, shesaid that Lansing might be able to specify an amount that an appointedor elective official could owe before it meets the definition of“default.”

Acity attorney, she said, could interpret the charter any way he seesfit. The only recourse of a citizen who disagrees with the cityattorney is to bring the matter to the court. The issue of Smith’sinterpretation of the charter that Houghton was allowed to run and winoffice has been challenged twice in court and once before the city’sethics board. The first case, brought by Lansing resident Robert Gray,was dismissed last year. Another suit brought by Lansing resident JohnPollard is ongoing, though Smith has asked for it to be dismissed.Smith, in asking for Pollard’s suit to be dismissed, cited Cox’s recentdefinition of “default.”

Normal public

TinaHoughton does not remember specifically whether she was nominated tothe Parks Board in 2007, or whether she applied. Further, she contends,she did not know at the time of her appointment that she was behind onher property taxes.

“The citizens that want to be on boards are the normal public,” Houghton said. “They have struggles like everyone else.”

But she still believes that appointees’ qualifications should be checked against the city charter.

Houghtonsaid she believes there should be a checklist for each appointee andperhaps a member of city government who makes sure that eachqualification is met. Maybe, she said, the application form forappointees — which is available to download on the city’s Web site —should be made an affidavit. At the time she filled out herapplication, she said, no one explained to her the rules set forth bythe charter.

“Ifilled it out, and I don’t think it ever crossed my mind that my taxesmight be behind,” she said. “At that point, I was just excited toserve.”

But, if an appointee is found to be in default while serving, Houghton said, he should be given the chance to fix it.

“If it had been brought to my attention, I would have (paid the taxes),” she said.

SaidSmith: “Any person identified as having an alleged default to the Citywill be contacted and given an opportunity to cure the default. Thecity is also considering various approaches to improve confirmationprocesses for the qualifications and eligibility of city officials inthe future, including legislation, modifications to city policy, andrevamping the application process for board appointees.”

Wood,who is the longest serving member of Council, having been first electedin 1999, said that during the Hollister and Benavides administrations,a representative from the mayor’s administration would vet appointeesand present their results to Council. She said that under the Berneroadministration, there’s been the assumption that appointees’qualifications are being checked.

“I guess shame on us as a Council for not checking that,” Wood said. “I would assume that (the administration) would check.”

(City Pulse interns Brandon Kirby and Megan Murphy contributed reporting.)