Committee recommends James Sasaki to county road commission after bid to substitute Andrea Lalonde fails

The Legislative & Governance Committee moved Jan. 13 to recommend to the full Oakland County Board of Commissioners the appointment of James Sasaki to the county road commission for the term listed in the committee packet. The committee vote on the nomination was recorded as 6 yeas and 2 nays.

The nomination drew contention when Commissioner Lipps moved to amend the nomination and replace Sasaki's name with Andrea Lalonde. The committee debated whether the Sasaki nomination had followed the committee's usual solicitation and vetting process; Commissioner Nelson said Sasaki's name "did not go through the committee process" and noted the name was brought forward during a caucus meeting that is not recorded. Committee staff later located an application from Sasaki dated 2023.

A formal amendment to replace Sasaki with Lalonde was seconded and put to a roll-call vote. The amendment failed after the clerk recorded "an insufficient number voting in the affirmative;" the record shows the amendment did not secure the required affirmative votes. The committee then voted to recommend Sasaki's appointment to the full board; the clerk recorded the final tally as 6 yeas and 2 nays.

Earlier in the item the committee voted to divide the question on resolution 2024-4840 so that the road commission nomination would be considered separately from the other appointments contained in that resolution. The committee then recommended the remaining appointments on resolution 2024-4840 (with the road commission item removed) to the full board.

The committee's recommendation advances Sasaki's nomination to the full board for final action.