Council Chooses Dane Slater to Serve as Troy Mayor Until November 2013

After spending more than an hour deadlocked in a study session Monday evening, the six remaining members of Troy City Council finally chose to keep Acting Mayor Dane Slater as mayor until the Nov. 5, 2013 city election.

Slater will replace former mayor Janice Daniels, who was recalled by a 52 percent majority vote on Tuesday.

Each of the six council members voted for two of the three council members who had expressed interest in the position – Councilwoman Maureen McGinnis, Councilman Wade Fleming and Acting Mayor Dane Slater – with Slater garnering six of the 12 total votes. McGinnis and Fleming each received three votes.

Council will vote on the resolution officially appointing Slater as mayor until November 2013 at the Nov. 26 City Council meeting. Council will also likely appoint Wade Fleming as Mayor Pro Tem at the same meeting.

Council used the same voting tactic to choose incoming Troy City Manager Brian Kischnick, who assumes his new role next week.

However, Monday's choice was not without contention, despite several council members' earlier call to work together.

"I don't see a way to break a 3-to-3 discussion," Henderson said as it became clear half of council would vote for McGinnis while the other half would vote for Fleming.

"Mathematically, don't kid ourselves," Fleming said, referring to Slater's suggestion that everyone vote for two out of the three interested candidates. "This is a set-up."

"This isn't a setup – this is the way we did it before," Slater said. "I really take offense to the word set-up. I really take offense to that."

During the deadlock, Councilman Doug Tietz suggested putting the three names in a hat and pulling out a winner, though some council members said they felt they owed it to residents to come to an agreement.

"I don't want it that bad," McGinnis said. "I'm not going to make a mockery of it to have my name out there."

"This is exactly what people didn't want to see," Councilman Jim Campbell said. "We've reached a pinnacle. ... It's our job to do this, and we've failed to do it."

Council members finally agreed to cast two votes each, ultimately choosing Slater to serve as mayor for the next year. His appointment as mayor will be contingent upon the acceptance of his city council resignation, City Attorney Lori Grigg Bluhm said.

Before council chose him as Daniels' successor for the next year, Slater was named Mayor Pro Tem and sworn in as Acting Troy Mayor at the beginning of the Monday evening Troy City Council meeting as part of the annual mayor pro tem rotation, which happens each November. He replaced McGinnis, who was sworn in as acting mayor on Friday and served just three days as mayor.

Council will now proceed with the process of appointing a replacement council member to fill Slater's soon-to-be-vacant seat. More information about the process and deadline to apply for the position will be released soon, Bluhm said Monday.

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