Board appoints Thomas Ekanam to Livingston County Road Commission after multi-round vote

The Livingston County Board of Commissioners selected Thomas Ekanam as its appointee to the Livingston County Road Commission after multiple rounds of public, oral voting on Jan. 27.

The appointment was made following public comment from residents who criticized the personnel committee's decision to forward all five interviewed candidates to the full board. Mary Witalik of Green Oak Township told commissioners she supported forwarding the top two or three candidates but objected to sending all five, saying some candidates showed little understanding of the road commission's business and that one candidate expressed opposition to "liberals" holding local positions. "By forwarding this candidate to the full board, it sends the message that the County Commission also believes that close to 40% of County residents should have no seat at the table," Witalik said in public comment.

During the appointment discussion, commissioners described the voting procedure: each commissioner names a single preferred candidate in public; the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voting continues until one candidate reaches five votes. The first round produced no candidate with five votes; after eliminating the lowest-scoring nominees, a second round yielded six votes for Thomas Ekanam. The board amended and filled the resolution language to include Ekanam's name and voted on the amended resolution by voice vote; the motion to appoint Ekanam passed 9-0.

Commissioners and staff thanked the five candidates for participating in the interview process. Counsel also confirmed that state law requires oral public votes for this appointment process rather than a secret ballot.