Recall-targeted Shores council
is looking for two new members
Grosse Pointe Shores officials are trying to fill City Council seats left empty by the abrupt resignation of two members amid pressure from a citizen recall movement.
Mayor Pro Tem Brian J. Hunt and Councilman Fred Minturn announced their resignations at the Feb. 16 council meeting, days after recall petitions aimed at them, Mayor James Cooper and two other council members were certified for an election later this year. The recall movement began after the council voted to raise taxes by 1 mill, in response to falling revenues.
“I resigned because there’s a group of residents that want to move the city in a different direction and in good conscience I couldn’t take it there,” said Hunt.
“I want Grosse Pointe Shores to remain the premier community that we have enjoyed for the past 10 years. A premier community we all enjoy to this day, with premier community services.”
Hunt said that distinction has its price.
“If someone wants their trash picked up in West Bloomfield, they have to hire a contractor. In Grosse Pointe Shores, city services will pick up the trash from your living room if you want them to. My choice in June was to keep Grosse Pointe Shores a premier community.”
Hunt said last year's tax increase is the first that the city has seen in a decade.
“Instead of increasing taxes, we trimmed the budget, but we had come to a point where we had to increase the millage because of the decrease in real estate values.”
Minturn said he chose to step down to spend more time at home with his cancer-stricken wife and focus on his recent promotion to CEO of MSX International.
“This conflict with the Shores recall has become more time-consuming. The people spearheading the recall have a long-running debate with the city," said Minturn.
“I got caught up in a decade-long dispute that began before I got there and will continue after I’m gone. If it helps to reduce the strife – if my stepping down helps defuse the situation – then I am happy to do it,” said Minturn.
The city is now requesting that interested residents fill out a vacancy application and letter of interest by March 11.
The council plans to discuss filling the vacancies at the March 16 meeting, but not everyone on the council is in full agreement on how that will be done.
“When a seat is vacated, I believe that the voice of the public should be heard,” said Dan Schulte, the council's newest member, who is not facing recall.
Schulte said that while there was a lot of talk about the recall causing turmoil in the city, he believes the process will bring to light things that need to be examined, and perhaps be a catalyst for change.
“I think that when you see as many people as there were signing those petitions that a large percent of the population has spoken,” said Schulte.
He suggested that the council depart from the charter requirement for filling the seats – which calls for a simple majority vote – and try instead for a unanimous one. It would be a healthier process, Schulte said.
Schulte added that he believes that the charter should be rewritten.
“I don’t think that the Grosse Pointe Shores charter was written in the best interest of the citizens. I think that an intelligent person can go through that charter and change it and make improvements in one afternoon. That’s how disappointed I am in that charter.”
Dr. Robert Lee, who began the recall effort, said that while he was surprised and disappointed by the recent resignations, he is satisfied with the effect that the recall effort has had on the city.
“I am very gratified with the results so far. I think that recall campaigns are very difficult but our residents are very engaged with a high level of concern because of the precarious situation the city is in,” said Lee.
The current council "has Grosse Pointe Shores on the State of Michigan’s fiscal watch list – go to the Michigan Department of Treasury website – there are 20 cities listed as in a very perilous financial state. Residents of our community were shocked to find that our city was deemed in the same financial position as those of Ecorse and River Rouge,” said Lee.
“I think these resignations have put a twist on things, but the effort to recall the other two members and mayor will continue. The mayor is vulnerable because he is the captain of the ship and bears the ultimate level of responsibility that the city has found themselves in,” said Lee.
