Boike sworn in, not allowed to sit with council
Body procures temporary restraining order against Fouts
Gary Boike was sworn in as Warren’s newest city councilperson by the city clerk Tuesday, but when he approached the Warren Community Center stage that evening, there was no chair for him at the council table.
“I was told there would be a name tag and chair for me; the name tag was there but the chair was removed,” said Boike.
He is challenging Council President Pat Green’s tenure on the council. He maintains Green is only allowed to serve for 12 years, not 13 years as Green believes. Boike, who previously ran for an at-large term on the body, says Green’s term ended on Nov. 14; Green’s four-year term is set to end in November 2023.
Last month, Boike wrote a letter to Warren’s legal department asking to be appointed to the position he believes to be vacant as he received the most votes after Green and Councilwoman Angela Rogensues in the November 2019 election for councilpersons at large. The two candidates receiving the most votes of the four candidates running earned atlarge seats on council.
Green served two four-year terms and one partial term on city council before being elected to the Michigan State House of Representatives in 2016 after serving one year of a third term. Warren council persons are term limited to three four-year terms or 12 years, whichever is greater, according to the city charter.
Boike said Green told him he had to leave the stage Tuesday because he was not an elected official and gave him a copy of a temporary restraining order issued by Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Julie Gatti that afternoon naming Warren Mayor James Fouts as the defendant. The order calls for Fouts to be restrained from interfering with Green’s current term in any way including the termination of pay or benefits.
Boike is not named in the restraining order or the complaint, but left the stage and took a seat in the audience once he was given a copy of the restraining order. He said Green and Council Secretary Mindy Moore were polite and that he was not trying to disrupt the meeting.
“Mr. Green and Ms. Moore were cordial to me and I did not take them asking me to leave the stage personally,” said Boike. “I told them I was not there to pick a fight and that the matter would be handled in court and we will see where that takes us.”
City council attorney Jeffrey Schroder of Plunkett Cooney called Boike’s attempt to sit with city council a “prank.”
“He jumped on the stage five minutes before the meeting; this was done like a prank,” said Schroder. “Why wouldn’t the clerk send a memo over to the council office saying that a new member had been sworn in?”
Moore and Schroder said Fouts was named in the lawsuit instead of Boike because until Nov. 15 when Boike tried to sit with council on the stage, he had taken no action other than writing a letter to the city attorney’s office saying he was interested in being appointed to Green’s seat should it be declared vacant, so there was nothing to restrain.
At a special Nov. 10 meeting, city council approved a resolution to authorize Plunkett Cooney to take legal action in the matter of the challenge to Green’s tenure should the issue arise. Moore said the wording of Mayor Fouts’ veto of that action prompted council to request the temporary restraining order.
In the veto, Fouts stated: “Council action is contrary to City Charter mandate regarding the 12-year service limitation for Council members. As Mayor, I adhere to Charter and will not process payroll or expend taxpayer revenues on an officer ineligible for benefits or salary.”
It was Fouts’ stated intention to stop paying Green for his services on city council that prompted the request for the temporary restraining order.
Schroder said he is not certain if any legal action will be taken against City Clerk Sonja Buffa or Boike but that it will be up to the city council if it wants to instigate litigation against one or both of them.
There is a show cause hearing scheduled for Nov. 21 in front of Judge Gatti regarding the complaint filed on Nov. 15 against Fouts.
The mayor said he does not believe he should be named in any litigation having to do with Boike’s challenge.
“This is a dispute between Mr. Green and Mr. Boike and it is a serious issue,” said Fouts. “This is about two people who both believe they have the right to the same seat on council and my office has no stake in the dispute.
“I think the courts will straighten this out.”
Although Boike was not allowed on stage during this week’s council meeting, he spoke during audience participation.
“Mr. Green, I respect you and we just have a difference of opinion on this matter,” said Boike. “I didn’t come here to make a scene so we will let the courts decide who is right.”