Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler will no longer be able to recommend appointments to the city’s volunteer boards and commissions for the remainder of her term.
In a quick 6-1 vote Monday, the Shawnee City Council decided to preemptively block any future appointments Distler may put forth between now and the conclusion of her term at the end of this year. Distler is not seeking reelection in November.
The council, in taking the action to block future appointments, also declined to vote on the mayor’s recommendation to fill existing vacancies on the Shawnee Planning Commission and the city’s Code Board of Appeals.
The move, however, could violate state law and it remains to be seen if the council will be able to continue to block Distler’s appointments in the coming months.
How are people usually appointed?
- Shawnee has several volunteer boards and commissions, each with different mandates, including the planning commission and the Downtown Shawnee Partnership.
- Prospective members can apply for a position and are then usually selected by the mayor.
- The mayor’s recommendations for appointments or reappointments then go to the city council for approval, typically with little fanfare and no pushback.
- Term lengths for members vary from body to body, and some boards meet more frequently than others.
Gillette called Distler “a lame duck”
There was some back and forth between Distler and members of the council about why she’d recommended Matthew Ledbetter to fill a planning commission vacancy over another applicant, Dave Myres.
Council President Eric Jenkins said Myres had previously run for city council and had long been interested in sitting on the planning commission.
Distler said Ledbetter had been waiting for a seat on the commission longer, and she recalled, the council has hesitated in the past to appoint individuals who had previously run unsuccessfully for elected office.
There was some discussion with staff about what information was included in the council packet about the applicants and the mayor’s recommended appointments.
Then, Councilmember Tony Gillette made a motion that was not on the previously published agenda to “suspend all nominations until a new mayor is elected.”
“We have a lame duck mayor for the next four or five months,” Gillette said, citing a precedent often referred to as the “Biden Rule.”
In 1992, then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden argued that a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy should not be filled in the months leading up to a presidential election. That argument was used by Republicans who delayed voting on President Barack Obama’s nomination for a high court vacancy in 2016, a seat later filled by President Donald Trump.
“I think it’s essential to the institution of this city and to the very health of our community not to launch our city into a partisan, divisive, combative battle at the very same time in front of our Shawnee voters when there’s going to be an election,” Gillette said.
“Lame duck” refers to an elected official whose successor has already been elected, which does not technically describe Distler because the election for who will replace her isn’t until November.
Council approves appointment suspension, 6-1
- Councilmember Tammy Thomas seconded Gillette’s motion.
- It ultimately passed 6-1, with Councilmember Jill Chalfie casting the lone “no” vote.
- Councilmember Angela Stiens was absent from the meeting.
- Mayor Distler said the council was being inconsistent in their approach to these appointments after approving a handful of them just last month.
Chalfie hit back at council’s decision
Later in Monday’s meeting, Chalfie expressed her disbelief at the council’s action.
“Maybe the council wants us to lay out what else the mayor is not allowed to do in the last four months,” Chalfie said. “Is the mayor allowed to sign contracts in the last four months? Is she allowed to go represent Shawnee because clearly she’s not allowed to make appointments.”
Chalfie is also not seeking reelection.
“I sit up here tonight voting, thinking ‘Well, I guess I’m not supposed to be voting,’” she said. “‘Residents of Ward 4 maybe don’t get a second representative right now, they have to wait until they elect a new one.’”
Councilmember Mike Kemmling pushed back, saying it’s incorrect to assume a councilmember should stop voting with time left in their term.
“The only motion I heard and the only one we voted on I think was on appointments to the boards for the next handful of months,” he said. “I apologize to anyone who didn’t understand that — I thought we were being really clear.”
Is what the council did legal?
- The city council’s decision not to vote at all on the mayor’s recommended appointments last night could violate state law.
- Kansas law 12-16,128 stipulates that a city council must vote within 45 days on whether to approve a mayor’s appointments, after which those appointments are automatically approved, even without a vote from the city council.
- The same law further specifies that if a city council decides not to approve a mayor’s appointments, then the council must make a finding that those volunteers are unqualified or unfit for the appointments — and pass a resolution declaring that finding.
- The Shawnee City Council could have violated the same law last month when it declined to approve another of the mayor’s appointments. At that time, the council did not pass a resolution declaring the appointee unfit or unqualified for the position.
Shawnee leaders have clashed over recent appointments
- Last month, the city council declined to reappoint long-time Shawnee Planning Commissioner Alan Willoughby, accusing him of “electioneering” and later, “politicking.” The mayor was absent for that vote because she was on a “Sister City” trip in Europe.
- That same night, the council approved other appointments the mayor recommended, including three to the planning commission.
- At the June 26 meeting, Mayor Distler expressed her disappointment with the council’s decision not to reappointment Willoughby. That led to a subsequent disagreement between Distler and Jenkins about whether it was appropriate for the mayor to make comments about council action after the fact, with Jenkins characterizing her comments as an attempt to “chastise the council.”
- Some of those conflicts continued into the early July council meeting as well, with Gillette saying he’s “sick and tired” of the planning commission appointment discussion.
What happens next:
- Now, any vacancies on the city’s volunteer boards and committees will go unfilled at least until December or January, when the next mayor of Shawnee is sworn in.
- Kemmling and former Councilmember Mickey Sandifer are vying to replace Distler as mayor in the November general election.
- Of the roughly half dozen boards and commissions, there are two existing vacancies, plus two openings on the Downtown Shawnee Partnership that could be filled, according to the city’s website. And terms for 11 positions expire at the end of 2023.
More on this: Shawnee council opts against reappointing commissioner, citing past ‘electioneering’
