Voters to decide Veterans War Memorial location
Proposed ordinance to appear on Nov. 2 ballot
The fate of the location of the Royal Oak Veterans War Memorial will be in the hands of city voters.
City Commissioners voted Wednesday night to put a veterans group’s ordinance proposal before voters Nov. 2 that seeks to keep the memorial where it was located in 2007.
Residents who supported the veterans petition drive against moving the memorial 40 feet criticized city officials over the move at the end of Wednesday’s special meeting.
The issue is now overtly political and some supporters of the veterans petition drive had petitions certified last month to run against the mayor and four city commissioners in this year’s election.
Last week, a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld an Oakland County Circuit Court decision ordering the city commission to either adopt the veterans ballot proposal or put it up for a city vote.
The city’s only recourse was to put the question on the ballot or attempt to file an expedited appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Workers have already moved the memorial about 40 feet as part of the park design for the 2.2acre downtown park called Centennial Commons. Construction is underway at the site.
A group called Save the Veterans Memorial collected enough petition signatures to get the issue on the ballot back in April.
However, former Interim City Attorney Anne McClory McLaughlin found the group’s petition language “legally insufficient.”
McClory McLaughlin raised a number of legal objections to the proposed ballot language and she directed the city clerk not to certify the veteran petitions back in April.
The veterans group then sued the city and has prevailed in court.
Attorneys for the city said Wednesday that legal challenges to the proposed ordinance, according to the recent court rulings, can be
made only if, and after, the ordinance is adopted by voters.
“There are a lot of legal challenges this ordinance could present,” if it is approved, McClory McLaughlin said.
City officials object to the proposed ordinance and have said it would limit the use of the city land on which it was installed by city ordinance voters passed in 2007.
The memorial is located on land south of the city library between Troy Street and the 40-foot-tall Star Dream sculpture and fountain.
Former city attorney David Gillam, who wrote the 2007 ordinance, last year told commissioners the memorial could be moved as long as it remained within the boundaries.
However, city officials have said the language of the proposed veterans’ ordinance would limit use of the land only to memorial activities, and give legal standing to any resident or business to sue the city if Royal Oak officials fail to keep all other activities away from the wide swath of land.
“The language of the (veteran) petitions did not adequately explain what the (proposed) ordinance would do,” said Mayor Michael Fournier.
Redesigning the Centennial Commons park to return the memorial to its former location would cost about $400,0000, said City
Manager Paul Brake.
If the memorial is returned to its former location, the size of the downtown park would be reduced by about 20 percent. Most of the park is being built on land where the former city hall and police station stood.
Bill Harrison, a party to the lawsuit against the city, accused officials of spending an hour of their meeting to “spew out misinformation.”
“I’m just appalled at the action you have taken,” he said during public comment.
Wallis Andersen, also a
party to the lawsuit, said the city survey to get views on the downtown park and moving the veterans memorial was flawed.
The downtown park “task force was selected to not have people who disagreed with you,” she said.
City Commission Patricia Paruch and others noted the task force’s numerous public meetings and a 1,500-person survey done before finalizing the park design in January 2020. Some other commissioners questioned why the veterans group waited more than a year to start a petition drive against the design, which included moving the memorial.
Mayoral candidate Tom Roth, commander of the American Legion Frank Wendland Post 253, accused city officials of spending tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight the voters’ rights to decide the veterans’ proposed ordinance.
The city government “needs to do a better job listening to and addressing the concerns of people who live here and make the city great,” Roth said. “Government service is about serving the people, not pursuing your own personal agenda. Perhaps some of you have been in office too long to remember that.”
Fournier suggested the timing of waiting to start a petition drive against the downtown park design may have been undertaken to create chaos with the project.
“I don’t know what the motivations are,” Fournier said. “I think the voters will see through this. I’ve had a significant (number) of veterans come forth expressing concerns” about the proposed ordinance.
Redesigning the Centennial Commons park to return the memorial to its former location would cost about $400,0000, said City Manager Paul Brake.