Resident Seeks Court Order to Prevent Dearborn From Replacing Marge Powell on Civil Service Board
A longtime Dearborn resident is seeking a court order to prevent the City of Dearborn’s Civil Service Commission from replacing Commissioner Marge Powell with a new member until a proper hearing can be held.
Powell’s status as a commissioner – a position she has held for 17 years – was called into question by Dearborn Council President Tom Tafelski last May. Tafelski discovered Powell had not taken an oath for her most recent four-year reappointment – a violation of Dearborn’s City Charter – one day after the Civil Service Commission by a 3-2 vote tabled a request from Tafelski to re-assign/classify an employee from the City Council office to the City Clerk’s office.
Powell, a former Dearborn councilwoman, was reappointed in May 2009 and had been serving for a full year before Tafelski’s “discovery.” The City Charter requires an oath of office take place within 10 days of an appointment. The Civil Service Commission oversees the hiring and appointment of persons to various city government positions and their salaries.
Morris Goodman
Dearborn resident Joanne Arrick, the plaintiff in this matter, and her attorney, Dearborn resident Morris Goodman, are seeking a temporary restraining order against the City of Dearborn to prevent the Civil Service Commission from appointing someone to the Commission until Powell can be sworn in or pending the Dearborn City Council voting on whether it will extend the time for Powell to take the oath of office for being a Dearborn Civil Service Commissioner, according to court documents filed in Wayne County Circuit Court.
“. . . There have been a number of Commissioners in the last 5 years or so on a number of Commissions who did not take their oath of office within 10 days of their appointment and were not deemed to have voided their office and were allowed, without city council being asked to extend the time for them to do so, to take their oath more than 10 days after they were appointed, including Commissioners on the Library and Planning Commission,” Goodman states in the court documents. “The above fact, not conjecture, shows that, in this case, there is unlawful selective enforcement of a rule that has been violated with impunity by other Dearborn officials in similar situations.”
In fact, the court documents state that Dearborn’s acting fire chief was informed in January of 2010 by the City Attorney’s office that he “should have been sworn in three years previously, but although no oath was taken at that time, he was sworn in subsequently after the omission’s discovery in January of 2010.”
Arrick said she is taking this action because she feels there is a double standard on how the Powell matter was handled by Dearborn city leaders. At least three other people have been allowed to retain appointed city positions despite missing the 10 day window to take the oath of office.
“My concern is more about the process,” Arrick tells Deepsaidwhat.com. “I am not comfortable with how things have been worked with the matter. It doesn’t seem like the proper way to work. Government ought to work more fairly than what I saw.”
The case has been assigned to Wayne County Circuit Judge Brian Sullivan who is expected to issue a hearing date on Monday (9/27).
September 27th, 2010 at 7:45 am
Is it any wonder that this city is falling apart!! The city council should have taken care of this weeks ago and now it will be going to court which will be costing the taxpayers additional money. UNREAL. Well maybe not.
September 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am
isnt it ironic that they are so pressed to enforce the charter in this case, which is a simple oath of office, but they refuse to enforce the city charter that the people of dearborn voted on for minimum staffing in the police department, oh lets see, over five years ago. the citizens are still not being served to its full capacity. or how bout the cities police chief, when will we be graced with his presence as a citizen of our fine city. doesnt it make you wonder, how committed this man is if he feels that living in detroit will better serve his needs. i would think that someone that runs the department would have a better feel for its residents if he indeed lived here, which by the way was one of the stipulaitons that the mayor put in the application process, but im sure he forgot about that too, just like he forgot about the city charter. i wonder how much gas equates to 44000 miles being put on the chiefs car in the last year and a half, but hey who cares, i guess we arent really in a budget crisis, but we are told to watch every penny. really makes you wonder…………
September 27th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Good for Joanne Arrick and Morris Goodman. Fair treatment is not too much to ask!
September 28th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I’ve worked with u Marge, as well as other city employees, why can’t you and your people read between the lines — different strokes, for different folks, that’s what its all about.
September 29th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Are you kidding me! Many of the police officers in the city are corrupt like the building inspectors. You police union does not deserve another chance to refill those vacant positions. Speaking of miles on cars. Every DAMN time I see a fire truck at Kroger’s it is running idle. How many miles in idling are accumulated by Firefighters, Police Officers, and other city workers? The 44,000 miles is just a crumb of the whole pie. By the way why is it everyday at lunch I see various police interceptors pull into their garages and shut the doors? Aren’t these folks suppose to be patrolling the city? I think the Charter should require GPS pingers in ever vehicle and a device that shuts down the vehicle after idling for 10 minutes.
September 29th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Marge is in the same position as coach joe paterno and coach bobby bowden,she is about 104 years old like they are and should have steped aside 12 years ago and basically the fans and boosters want her out of there.
The party is over marge,do the classy thing and just step aside.
October 4th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
If they wanted Marge to leave, she is no spring chicken, they could have done it in a sensetive and human way, ask her, and then THANK HER for all the years of service to the city of Dearborn.
The way it is tried, is under all form of dignity and heartless…