Charter Commission hears concerns over BWL, board and commission appointment process

(This story was updated to include a statement by the City Attorney's Office on why two members of the Lansing Board of Water & Light whose terms expired are still serving.)

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 28 — The Lansing Board of Water & Light’s decision to approve rate increases through 2025 loomed large over last night’s Charter Commission meeting.

BWL’s Board of Commissioners voted 7-1 last night to increase the average monthly energy and water bill by about $10 starting Oct. 1. The decision occurred within an hour of the Charter Commission’s regular meeting at City Hall. The charter article that lays out how the city organizes and appoints members to various boards and commissions, just so happened to be the focal point of the evening’s agenda.

During public comment at the Charter Commission meeting, Randy Dykhuis , president of Capital Area Friends of the Environment — who led a campaign against the rate increases in part due to environmental concerns — asked members to consider establishing an environmental sustainability department.

He suggested that the Charter Commission look at diffusing the mayor’s power over appointing members of boards and commissions in favor of having them share that duty with the City Council. He also urged the body to implement term limits for those appointees through the charter.

On the latter, Dykhuis clarified that he wasn’t asking for term limits for elected positions, but rather just for members of boards and commissions like the BWL.

“Term limits are terrible things for elected seats, and they're a danger to democracy. But we're not talking about elections here, we're talking about appointments. I think that's a different kettle of fish,” Dykhuis said.

Randy Dykhuis

Dykhuis noted that two BWL board members’ terms expired at the end of June, yet they still voted on the rate increase last night. They are 4th Ward representative Sandra Zerkle, who has served since 2006, and At-large member Tracy Thomas, who has served since 2008. They both voted for the rate increase.

As of this morning, neither had their term expiration dates listed in their biographies on the BWL website, while the rest did.

“They still sit there, and we don't know when or if they're going to be replaced or whether they're going to be reappointed. I think that that does a disservice to the city and to the folks who are BWL owners — us, the residents of the City of Lansing. I think it’s high time that somebody else has a chance to serve in that capacity there,” Dykhuis said.

City spokesperson Scott Bean said today that both are in the reappointment process now.

Bean said that he wasn’t certain if those appointments would be ready by the next City Council meeting on Sept. 9.

As for why the two BWL board members could still serve Bean said, “All members of boards and commissions serve until they are reappointed, replaced, or resigned, and council now requires all reappointed members of all boards to go back through the application and vetting process again," Bean said.

When asked to clarify the matter, the City Attorney’s Office noted in a written response that, “in the absence of provisions to the contrary, at the expiration of a term for a board member, the person occupying that position may hold over until either a successor is appointed or the board member holding over is reappointed.”

“Michigan courts have recognized and adopted this as the standard,” the statement said, citing the 1980 Cantwell v. City of Southfield decision. The response also noted, “There is no language or provision in Charter or Ordinance to the contrary for City board and commissions. As such, in the present instance, any action by the Board of Water and Light that is voted on by a member holding over after the expiration of their term is still valid."

“It is standard practice for commissioners to continue to serve in their role until they are reappointed by City Council, or a replacement has been appointed to fill their role,” BWL spokesperson Amy Adamy told City Pulse by email today.

After reviewing Article 5, Commissioner Jody Washington echoed Dykhuis’ call for term limits.

Appointments, Washington said, “are used as political favor.”

 “We really have an opportunity here to clean up some slimy politics in our process, and these should be appointed by Council, not the mayor,” she said. “We also need to look at the function of the boards. The way they are being run now, not all of them, but many of them, are pointless. We need to see if they need to exist, because all of them don’t need to. Or we need to give them more teeth.”

Charter Commissioners Jody Washington (left) and Ben Dowd.

Commissioner Ben Dowd cited the charter’s outline of the duties and powers of the Board and Water & Light as the “biggest section” of the article.

“We've talked about having people present to us, and I would be very interested in having somebody from the Board of Water & Light come and talk through this charter with us. What's actually happening that's on paper here? Are there things that that need to be amended? We could look at that,” Dowd said.

“I'd ask us to really consider how we can make sure, from an equity standpoint, that we put some securities into the charter,” Dowd added. “I think there has been enough outcry from the community of different practices of the BWL. We need to hear from the community on that, of course, but I think it'd be great to have a presentation from the board there.”

Following a significantly quicker review of Article 6, which covers city employees, a speaker who identified himself only as Walker kicked off the public comment period.

He echoed a concern that’s been brought up at several previous meetings, regarding Article 2 Section 103, which states that “any person who has been convicted of either a violation of the election laws of this City, this State or the United States of America or a violation of a public trust or any felony shall not be eligible to hold any City office for a period of 20 years from the date of the conviction.”

In the November 2022 election, 55.4% of Lansing voters approved a charter amendment that eliminated the same restriction for members of city boards and commissions. Walker urged the commission to do the same for felony restrictions for elected officials.

A resident who identified himself only as Walker discussed removing a restriction that prohibits anyone with a felony conviction from being an …

“I think it should be destroyed. We're living in a time where an individual with 34 felonies can be the president of United States, and now we're saying one can stop them from public office in our city,” Walker said. “It's time that we wake up and realize these criminal convictions are garbage. They come from an era of racism, and this is a hardcore reality. In the 1960s, there was a lot of mass movement of blacks for upward mobility, and the FBI director decided that the way to stop this was felony convictions.”

As a result, he said, “we have too many people who have felonies.”

“Nelson Mandela could not be a city employee. He did 25 years. It's time that we wake up and let people serve their time and move on,” he said.

Resident Bruce Scott also spoke on the same topic. He said he hopes to see Article 2 Section 103 “eradicated” from the charter.

“I'm asking for it to be redacted. I'm asking for it to match the Constitution's policy, which says that you can serve in office even if you have a felony,” he said.

Bruce Scott echoed Walker's concerns about the charter's felony conviction provisions.

In the final round of commissioner remarks, member Liz Boyd noted that the commission has discussed changing that provision.

“We've heard from other people about that, and I think it's something that this Commission is committed to addressing as we look at redrafting or drafting potential changes,” she said.

Washington said she was “in full support of getting rid of that at all costs.”

“I worked for corrections, and once somebody's felony is done, it's done. They've done their time, paid their price and it needs to go away. Otherwise, there is no redeeming your life,” she said.

Finally, in response to a comment at last week’s community meeting with the Churchill Downs Community Association, commission member Guillermo Lopez — a member of the Lansing School Board of Education since 2000 — said he’s spoken to Superintendent Ben Shuldiner about hosting sessions to encourage student engagement in the process.

Commission Chair Brian Jeffries also gave an update on the process of hiring Grand Rapids-based law firm Cummings, McClorey, Davis and Acho. The Commission voted 8-0 to hire the firm to help draft the revised charter document on Aug. 13, but Jeffries said the paperwork is still being processed and that the city was waiting for a W-9 form from CMDA at the moment.

“I'm hoping within the next two weeks, or at least by the next regularly scheduled meeting, we'll have our attorney,” Jeffries said.