City Commission to appoint another new member
Randy LaVasseur resigned last week with plans to move north
Royal Oak’s city commissioners at their meeting next Monday will discuss how to fill the seat of former Commissioner Randy LeVasseur, who resigned suddenly last week.
A real estate attorney, LaVasseur notified the city clerk Nov. 23 of his resignation before the commission met that night. He was absent from the commission meeting prior to that.
“After more than 32 years as a resident, I will be leaving Royal Oak,” LeVasseur said in his resignation letter emailed to City Clerk
Melanie Halas. “My wife and I have chosen to move a bit to the north, where we will have a longer commute but enjoy being surrounded by nature.”
LeVasseur said this week he is moving to Oxford in Oakland County, about 40 minutes north of Royal Oak.
“My wife and I … were planning on upgrading our home (in Royal Oak) a little bit, but with COVID-19 and everything we decided we wanted to be surrounded by water and nature and things like that,” he said.
LeVasseur was elected to a partial term on the commission in
2017, then won a full four-year term in the November
2019 city election.
“I think we were all a little surprised and shocked” by LeVasseur’s resignation, said Mayor Michael Fournier. “He had just gotten elected to a four-year term a year ago. I wish him and his family well and appreciate his public service. Anybody who serves on the commission faces plenty of criticism, and anybody who steps up to serve deserves some gratitude.”
LeVasseur and the late City Commissioner Kim Gibbs — who died at 48 in August after being found in a diabetic coma at her home — were political allies and friends.
Gibbs and LeVasseur, both Republicans, typically voted together, often in opposition to the five-member majority of Dem
nically non partisan, commissioners and many of their supporters are generally aware of the commissioners’ political affiliations and positions. In a 5-1 vote a couple months ago, with LeVasseur against, the City Commission appointed Brandon Kolo to fill Gibbs’ empty commission seat.
Part of LeVasseur’s decision to resign included a
lack of political allies on the commission.
“I knew my vote was very much a minority one and not going to make very much difference,” he said.
Though LeVasseur disagreed with the majority of his colleagues on the commission on budget and tax issues, it never reached a significant level of incivility.
“I found (fellow commissioners) to be pleasant people, but we just had a different perspective,” he said.
Fournier said commissioners next Monday will
discuss how to go about appointing LeVasseur’s replacement.
“We’ll probably open it up to accept applications and then take a week to review them,” he said.
Review of applicants’ submissions are expected to be completed in the coming weeks. Fournier hopes the commission can name a replacement before the end of the year.
“There’s a lot of work the city needs to get done, but if we need more time we’ll take it,” he said.