New state election laws taking effect in January are forcing Oxford Village to change when it holds its elections and how long its council members will serve.
For some council members, these changes could mean extra longer terms without voter-approval.
Under the Election Consolidation Act approved by the state Legislature earlier this year, villages can hold their elections in either the September of odd years or November of even years.
Villages have until Dec. 31 to choose. Those failing to take action by the deadline default to November even-year elections, which means the township would conduct their elections.
Although officials have not yet made a formal decision, village Manager Joe Young said council seems to favor the September odd-year option because it allows the village to retain control.
Either way, Oxford Village will no longer be able to hold annual elections in March.
As a result, the length of council members? terms of office must be changed to two and/or four years.
Currently, council members are elected to staggered three-year terms. Elections run in three-year cycles whereby one council member is up for election one year, two council people are up the next year and two the following year.
‘There’s no majority of the council being elected at any given time,? Young said.
In order to maintain some sort of staggering, Young said council may try to formulate a rotation whereby two members are elected one year and three at the next election.
During this transition from three-year terms with annual elections to two and/or four-year terms with odd-year elections, some village council members may have to serve longer terms in office than they were originally elected to.
Councilman Matt Weber, whose term was supposed to expire in March 2005, could end up serving until September 2005 ? an extension of six months. When his term is up for election, Weber’s seat could be given a four-year term.
Councilmen Steve Allen and George DelVigna are each facing possible 18-month extensions of their existing terms.
Both councilman’s terms were set to expire in March 2006, but because there would be no village election in that even year, they would have to wait until September 2007.
‘That’s not good,? Allen said of his possible 18-month extension. ‘It’s a real sticky situation.?
The way it looks right now, four council members could end up running in the September 2007 election.
Renee Donovan and Dave Bailey’s terms were supposed to expire in March 2007, but their terms could be extended by six months to September 2007.
If Allen, Del Vigna, Donovan and Bailey all end up running in September 2007, in order to keep the elections staggered, the possibility exists that two could run for two-year seats, while the other two run for four-year seats.
Resident Sue Bossardet, a former village councilwoman, was not pleased with the idea of extending current council terms.
‘The public elected all of you for a certain amount of time,? she told council at the Nov. 23 meeting. ‘They did not elect you for four years (or) six years.?
Bossardet urged council to find a way to avoid extending the existing terms for such long periods.
Manager Young noted that under the new election laws, cities are allowed to have annual elections. Oxford Village is pursuing getting the law changed to allow villages that same privilege.
He said newly-elected State Rep. Jim Marleau (R-Lake Orion) has offered to submit a bill to the state Legislature allowing villages to continue holding annual elections.
Seven out of 10 villages in Oakland County, including Oxford and Leonard, conduct annual elections in the month of March.