You can help decide who our next Mayor will be !

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This year for the first time in decades (the exact number of which is still a matter of dispute) voters in the City of Bloomfield Hills will have some say in who their Mayor will be,

That’s because last year the commissioners pulled the rug on Commissioner Pat Hardy and a tradition some say went back thirty years. The City Charter,essentially the City’s constitution, states that the seven days after the election of City Commissioners, the Commission will meet to elect from one of their own a new mayor.

Somewhere in the distant past the commissioners decided to replace the election with a rotation. The next mayor of the city would s be the city commissioner with the most seniority who had either had not been mayor or who had been mayor in the most distant past. Per the rotation Commissioner Hardy was to be Mayor in 2011-12. Instead the commissioners decided to elect Commissioner Michael Zambricki Mayor.How were they able to by pass the tradition of rotating the position of Mayor?

The State of Michigan who’s laws trump everything else in Michigan, regards a City’s Charter as an important legal document. The Charter is signed by the Governor. Changes in the Charter must be approved by the people on a ballot. Those changes must also then be approved by the Governor and the Attorney General. The tradition of rotating the mayor, a defacto change in the Charter without the approval of the people had no legal basis stand on.

There are some who believe tradition is more sacred than law. There are some who believe rotation and election mean the same thing. There are some who argue in this election that the last two mayors stacked the city government with like-minded appointments while also arguing that the position of Mayor is a ceremonial one with no real power. Since the office was “simply ceremonial” slighting Pat was in their minds unforgivable.

 Actually it was politics where sooner or later everyone is slighted and he or she who laughs last laughs best. This year and every year if she musters enough votes from her fellow commissioners Pat Hardy can be elected Mayor. Under the old system the opportunity existed on at four or five year intervals.

Now voters have some input in regards to who the new mayor will be. They may ask the Commission candidates about their vote for mayor and hold them accountable. They may also tell the candidates who they think should be mayor and hope the candidate is listening.It is not much input but it is in this writer’s opinion it is better than nothing.

You haven’t heard the commission candidates talking about who they will vote for mayor which is odd. if elected that vote will be their first official piece of business. If they are running in tandem with another candidate however there may be a pre-arranged group consensus which precludes further input.

My name is Mark Kapel and I am running for City Commissioner. I am not running in tandem and therefore open to any and all opinions on the matter. If I am elected on the May 8th I will spend the week prior to the May 15th Mayor Election getting that opinions and taking it to the City Commission meeting for consideration before the vote.

That is not a campaign promise. I am interested in public opinions, our city government and writing for publications like the Patch so I will probably be doing it anyway. It is just that if elected the wife would cut me some slack on the chore list, if she could discern a meaningful purpose to what I am doing.