Madison Heights Mourns Loss of Councilperson Bob Gettings
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Nov. 20, 2021)
Madison Heights, MI – The Madison Heights community is mourning the death of Councilperson Robert (Bob) Gettings.
Mayor Roslyn Grafstein said in a statement “On behalf of myself and the City Council, we are sad to learn of the passing of our friend and colleague, Councilman Bob Gettings. From his time in the City’s Recreation Department to his time on City Council, his life was dedicated to public service and making Madison Heights a better place to live. City Council, staff, and I extend our deepest condolences to his family during this difficult time.”
Gettings graduated from Madison High School in 1970 and had owned his home in the city since 1987. According to the city’s website, He was a graduate of Macomb County Community College with an Associate Degree of Applied Science in Recreation Leadership, and also a graduate of Wayne State University holding a Bachelor of Science Degree in Recreation and Park Services.
Bob worked as an employee through a Federal Program for the City of Madison Heights in the summer of 1967 and was later an employee of the City of Madison Heights as Recreation Coordinator from the summer of 1969 until he retired in July of 2001. He has been a member of the Madison Heights Jaycees, Volunteer Coach for the Little League Football Association, Volunteer Coach for the Little League Baseball and also Volunteer Coach for Youth Basketball. Bob served three years on the Community Round Table and eight years on the Madison Board of Education. Bob served as a City Council Member from November 2009 to November 2013, and returned again to fill a vacant seat in Aug. 2015. In the 2019 election he lost by just three votes, but was appointed to again in 2020 when Grafstein became Mayor and her council seat became vacant.
According to the Madison Heights City Charter, the vacancy will be filled by the candidate who was the highest runner up in the previous election, which in this case is Quinn Wright. Wright will join in serving on council with Mark Bliss, Sean Fleming, Mayor Pro Tem Robert Corbett, Emily Rohrbach and David Soltis on the council along with Mayor Grafstein.
This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available. Note: A previous version of this story said Gettings was reappointed in 2021, and has been corrected to say 2020.
Learn more about the City of Madison Heights at https://www.madison-heights.org.
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