MONROE - Mayor Bill Ross pulled Alderman Michael Boyce from the chairman position of the Finance and Taxation Committee Tuesday night, on the eve of one of the committee's most important budget meetings.
The Finance and Taxation Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. today to discuss the 2011 budget with the department supervisors. Based on that meeting, the committee will set the final operating budget in preparation for it to be presented for council approval.
Ross appointed Alderman Dan Henke to replace Boyce as chairman. Boyce remains on the committee as a member.
Ross made the announcement during the Common Council meeting Tuesday, saying the replacement was effective immediately and did not need the council's approval.
Ross also struck from the council agenda his appointment of Boyce to the Ad Hoc Technology Committee and postponed the item until "a later date."
Boyce said he was not told about the change until "immediately before" the council met.
In his announcement, Ross said he had made a mistake when he put a newly-elected alderman in charge of a committee. Boyce was elected to present the Third Ward in April.
"Typically, you give brand new aldermen a year to get their sea legs under them," Ross said in an interview after the council meeting.
"I put Boyce on the Finance and Taxation Committee and made him chairman without thinking it through," he said. "I saw Mike was struggling in his role as chairman. It was unfair for Mike and for the committee with the direction things were going. They were not in sync with the way we run the budget process."
Ross said he mulled over his decision for a couple of weeks before deciding it was the best course of action.
He said he chose to appoint Henke, who is a member of the committee, as the committee chairman, because Henke has more experience to take the city through the budget process.
Henke is running for the 80th Assembly seat in the Nov. 2 election. If elected, he would resign in January, and Ross said he would appoint another member as chairman.
"I can't say it wouldn't be Boyce," he said.
Aldermen Charles Koch and Paul Hannes also serve on the committee, and Thurston Hanson is the alternate member.
Boyce said he thinks there was a different reason for his removal as chairman. He said he believes the change was brought about by his continued push to enforce a city ordinance that gives only committee chairmen the authority to call meetings and set items on their agenda.
On that issue, Boyce was ready at the council meeting to read into the minutes the wording of the ordinance, saying the ordinance was "routinely disregarded."
"It is one of the few powers of aldermen," he said.
He finished his statement by saying his dismissal from the chair of the Finance and Taxation Committee was "direct result of my asking this ordinance be enforced."
Boyce said he had spoken with Ross; Carol Stamm, city clerk; and Rex Ewald, city attorney, about how he could get the ordinance enforced.
Reading the ordinance into the minutes was one way to shatter the custom and traditional method of the city clerk scheduling meetings and setting agenda items, and assert his prerogative as chairman, he said.
Now that he has been removed from the committee chair, his power to assert that authority has also been removed, he said.
Hanson said, though it is customary for the clerk to schedule meetings, he has always received a call from the city clerk's office about the need to schedule a committee meeting.
"Mike was never given that courtesy," he said.
Boyce and Hanson said the mayor's explanation that new aldermen are not typically appointed to chairman positions is not true. Ross appointed Mike Rivers, who was also elected in April, to chair the claims committee. Rivers resigned from the Common Council on July 28.
Kent Kallembach, who replaced Rivers, said he assumed the chairman duties of the Finance and Taxation Committee when he was appointed in December 2007 to fulfill the term of Mike Capesius. Kallembach was elected in 2008, and was re-appointed as chairman of the committee by then-mayor Ron Marsh, where he served for his full two-year term.
Aldermen Neal Hunter, Keith Ingwell and Charles Schuringa declined to comment after the council meeting. Henke was absent.
The Finance and Taxation Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. today to discuss the 2011 budget with the department supervisors. Based on that meeting, the committee will set the final operating budget in preparation for it to be presented for council approval.
Ross appointed Alderman Dan Henke to replace Boyce as chairman. Boyce remains on the committee as a member.
Ross made the announcement during the Common Council meeting Tuesday, saying the replacement was effective immediately and did not need the council's approval.
Ross also struck from the council agenda his appointment of Boyce to the Ad Hoc Technology Committee and postponed the item until "a later date."
Boyce said he was not told about the change until "immediately before" the council met.
In his announcement, Ross said he had made a mistake when he put a newly-elected alderman in charge of a committee. Boyce was elected to present the Third Ward in April.
"Typically, you give brand new aldermen a year to get their sea legs under them," Ross said in an interview after the council meeting.
"I put Boyce on the Finance and Taxation Committee and made him chairman without thinking it through," he said. "I saw Mike was struggling in his role as chairman. It was unfair for Mike and for the committee with the direction things were going. They were not in sync with the way we run the budget process."
Ross said he mulled over his decision for a couple of weeks before deciding it was the best course of action.
He said he chose to appoint Henke, who is a member of the committee, as the committee chairman, because Henke has more experience to take the city through the budget process.
Henke is running for the 80th Assembly seat in the Nov. 2 election. If elected, he would resign in January, and Ross said he would appoint another member as chairman.
"I can't say it wouldn't be Boyce," he said.
Aldermen Charles Koch and Paul Hannes also serve on the committee, and Thurston Hanson is the alternate member.
Boyce said he thinks there was a different reason for his removal as chairman. He said he believes the change was brought about by his continued push to enforce a city ordinance that gives only committee chairmen the authority to call meetings and set items on their agenda.
On that issue, Boyce was ready at the council meeting to read into the minutes the wording of the ordinance, saying the ordinance was "routinely disregarded."
"It is one of the few powers of aldermen," he said.
He finished his statement by saying his dismissal from the chair of the Finance and Taxation Committee was "direct result of my asking this ordinance be enforced."
Boyce said he had spoken with Ross; Carol Stamm, city clerk; and Rex Ewald, city attorney, about how he could get the ordinance enforced.
Reading the ordinance into the minutes was one way to shatter the custom and traditional method of the city clerk scheduling meetings and setting agenda items, and assert his prerogative as chairman, he said.
Now that he has been removed from the committee chair, his power to assert that authority has also been removed, he said.
Hanson said, though it is customary for the clerk to schedule meetings, he has always received a call from the city clerk's office about the need to schedule a committee meeting.
"Mike was never given that courtesy," he said.
Boyce and Hanson said the mayor's explanation that new aldermen are not typically appointed to chairman positions is not true. Ross appointed Mike Rivers, who was also elected in April, to chair the claims committee. Rivers resigned from the Common Council on July 28.
Kent Kallembach, who replaced Rivers, said he assumed the chairman duties of the Finance and Taxation Committee when he was appointed in December 2007 to fulfill the term of Mike Capesius. Kallembach was elected in 2008, and was re-appointed as chairman of the committee by then-mayor Ron Marsh, where he served for his full two-year term.
Aldermen Neal Hunter, Keith Ingwell and Charles Schuringa declined to comment after the council meeting. Henke was absent.