City attorney says state law blocks making Kalamazoo Civil Rights Board a local enforcement body; commissioners push education and a review committee

At a May 12 Committee of the Whole meeting of the Kalamazoo City Commission, City Attorney Aaron Liao told commissioners the city lacks legal authority to convert its Civil Rights Board into a quasi‑judicial enforcement body and urged more community education on chapters 18 and 18a of the city code.

The question matters because residents who addressed the commission asked for stronger local enforcement of the city’s anti‑discrimination and fair‑housing ordinances; Liao said state constitutional language and multiple Michigan Attorney General opinions reserve civil‑rights enforcement to the State Civil Rights Commission and its operational arm, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

Liao read a proposed amendment that had been submitted by a civil‑rights board subcommittee and then explained legal limits: “The board may hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony, require the production of evidence, and issue appropriate orders, including dismissal of a complaint,” he read, but added that the state Civil Rights Commission’s authority is drawn from the Michigan Constitution and related opinions that have long treated civil‑rights enforcement as a statewide function. Liao said the State Civil Rights Commission has not…