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Wayne County Ethics Commission chair urges action on long-pending ordinance changes, recommends leadership slate
Summary
Departing Chair Thomas told the Wayne County Ethics Commission the proposed ethics-ordinance amendments have been pending for two to three years and urged the board to press for movement; he recommended Vice Chair Lewis for chair and Mister Schaeffer for vice chair at January’s meeting.
Chair Thomas spoke at length at the commission’s December meeting, saying the board’s proposed amendments to its rules and ethics ordinance have been “pending for 2 years” and, earlier rounds dated back three years. He described staff and a subcommittee’s work and urged the incoming leadership to keep pressing county offices for action.
"Those proposed amendments have been pending for 2 years," Chair Thomas said, naming Vice Chair Lewis, Mister Schaeffer and commission staff member Mr. Longstreet as having done substantial research on how other jurisdictions handle similar rules. Thomas said the subcommittee sought national and local comparisons, including practices used by the city of Detroit, and that staff provided legal research to inform changes.
Thomas recommended the board continue the effort and said he would prefer clarity even if the response were negative. "I would have preferred to be very candid with you. I wouldn't have been happy with it, but I would have preferred if they said, 'We're not going to make any changes,' and just end it," he said. He urged the board to keep the item on future agendas and press for movement.
Thomas also urged members to consider leadership changes at the commission’s January meeting, recommending Vice Chair Lewis be elected chair and Mister Schaeffer be elected vice chair. "She's done an excellent job as vice chair. She's very bright. She keeps up with things," Thomas said of Vice Chair Lewis.
The commission heard no update from Miss Parisian on the amendment’s status beyond the acknowledgement that no substantive progress had been reported to the board at this meeting.
Thomas also noted that Prosecuting Attorney Kim Worthy had not yet appointed the office’s representative to the commission and encouraged the incoming chair to send a polite request for an appointee so the board would have a full complement of members for future meetings.
The meeting closed with routine scheduling and logistics items and no formal vote on the ordinance amendments; Thomas said the matter will return to the board’s agenda for further attention in 2025.
