Warren City Council president not past term limit, Michigan Court of Appeals opines

After the Michigan Supreme Court last week settled a battle over term limits for the Warren mayor, a ruling Monday addressed limits for the City Council president, too.

The Michigan Court of Appeals opined that Council President Pat Green is eligible to complete his third full term in office because he hasn’t yet served three complete terms on the City Council.

"Once again, the courts have upheld the will of the Warren voters and we are pleased with the results," Green said in a news release. "The city attorney and city clerk have been playing illegal games with term limits for years, and the shenanigans must stop now."

He said he believes the city clerk and city attorney should resign and if they "interpreted our city charter fairly, without bias for or against any candidate or official, then we could have saved hundreds of thousands in legal fees. We could spend the money on our parks and roads, which are in awful shape.”

Warren resident wanted to be appointed to council

The appellate court opinion comes less than a week after the Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the city clerk and the Warren Election Commission after the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Mayor Jim Fouts was not eligible to run this year for a fifth term as mayor.

The question about Green’s term limit was raised in the fall when City Attorney Ethan Vinson indicated resident Gary Boike wrote a letter requesting to be appointed to fill the vacant council seat. The request was based on the idea that, because Green had served 12 years on council in November, he should be required to leave office.

Vinson’s letter stated that, per the city charter, a person was not eligible to hold the position on City Council for more than the greater of three complete terms, or 12 years, in that particular office.

More: Warren City Council member term limit dispute latest kerfuffle to hit court

More: Warren Mayor Jim Fouts won't be mayor, but he's 'not going anywhere'

Green served eight years — two complete four-year terms — from November 2007 through November 2015, and a partial term from November 2015 to November 2016, when he resigned to become a state representative.

In November 2019, Green won a four-year term as an at-large city councilman. He is City Council president and one of six candidates vying to be the city’s next mayor.

In his letter, Vinson said the position Green held was to be vacant on Nov. 14 of last year and that under the city charter, Boike was to be appointed to the position based on votes in the last City Council election.

City Council and its attorney disagreed, saying that Green hadn't served three complete terms in office and that a partial term isn’t a complete term.

The city clerk swore Boike in as a councilman in November, but he was denied a seat at the council table. A Macomb County Circuit judge approved a request from City Council for a temporary restraining order.

Boike’s attorney, Lawrence Garcia, had no comment Monday on the Court of Appeals ruling, but said he would ask whether his client wanted to make a statement.

The Court of Appeals judges wrote that the “plain and unambiguous language” of the city charter "provides that a person is eligible to hold the office of city council for not more than the ‘greater of’ three complete terms or 12 years.

“Although a term in office is four years and three complete terms therefore equals 12 years, the phrase ‘the greater of’ contemplates that a councilmember may serve longer than 12 years if he or she has previously served a partial term. Because defendant has not yet served three complete terms, he is eligible to complete his third full term in office," according to the opinion.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Warren City Council president within term limit, per Court of Appeals