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Quorum shortages are stalling Flint City ombudsman selection, board chair says
Summary
Flint City’s Ethics Accountability Board says persistent absences and three unfilled seats have prevented the body from securing quorum to forward ombudsman recommendations; the board plans to seek changes to qualification language to expand the applicant pool.
Flint City’s Ethics Accountability Board told council members it cannot move forward with selecting an ombudsman because it has been unable to reliably reach quorum. The board reported eight appointed members but said recurring absences left it short of the charter-mandated complement needed to act.
The chair of the board said, "We just now have eight people within the last three months," and described several recent absences as due to travel, legal matters and illness. Council questioning pointed out that those reasons do not amount to habitual absenteeism, and pressed whether the board could meet quorum when needed.
"We're not able to achieve quorum and we need these three seats, which is charter mandated, in order to meet quorum," the chair said, noting that the board needs the three additional seats filled so it can consistently reach the six-member quorum required under the board’s rules. Officials confirmed during the exchange that quorum is six members and that the board has held two meetings so far this year in which roughly three members were absent.
Members also discussed the ombudsman selection process itself. The chair said the board intends to change the written qualifications for the ombudsman so a larger applicant pool will be available for interviews. "Instead of HR saying, 'Well, you only have four or five people after 30 people have applied, and they only approve five,'" the chair said, the board wants to revise qualifications and then send its recommendations back to council for approval. The chair added the board cannot advance that change until it reaches quorum and formally votes to forward the recommendation.
Council questioning repeatedly urged the board to put no-shows on the record and press appointed members to attend, saying the lack of attendance is delaying city business. One council participant also invoked the charter’s appointment language while addressing a named person in the record, emphasizing the board’s appointment responsibilities.
The exchange ended without any formal motion or vote recorded in the transcript. The board’s plan, as described, is to revise qualification language and, once quorum is achieved, send its recommendations to council for consideration.
