Piana’s Mayoral Run Means Change on Ferndale City Council, Additional Seat on Ballot
(Crystal A. Proxmire, May 17, 2019)
Ferndale, MI- Ferndale City Councilperson officially announced her candidacy for Mayor Thursday,  welcoming community members to an open house on Wednesday, May 22 from 5:30-7:00 PM at Treat Dreams, 22965 Woodward.
Piana, who has served on Council since 2010, will have to resign from her position on council in order to run.
City Clerk Marne McGrath explained, “The City Charter requires a council member whose term is not expiring to resign from their council seat at least 10 days prior to the July 23 filing deadline if they choose to run for mayor.
“A resignation is considered effective if it is accepted by City Council.
“The last meeting prior to July 13 (ten days before the filing deadline) is July 8.
“If Council Member Piana submits her resignation and it is accepted on July 8, Council must appoint a replacement within thirty days, and that person would serve until the end of the year. The partial term for the remaining two years of the vacancy would be on the November ballot.”
The City Clerk keeps track of who has pulled petitions. Since Oakland County Times first reported the list on April 29, Councilperson Dan Martin announced that he will not be seeking re-election.
“It’s been a true honor to serve this community over the past eight years,” Martin said. “I have made a personal decision to move on but will continue to stay involved and work and serve in other ways.”
Councilperson Raylon Leaks-May has pulled petitions to run for re-election.  Others who have pulled petitions as of May 16 are Brian Stawowy for Mayor and Dustin Bowerman-Hagfors, Beau Perry, Nada Daher, Kat Bruner-James, and Dennis Whittie.  Pulling petitions does not necessarily mean that the person will have their name on the ballot. They may decide not to run, or they may fall short in signatures.
According to the City of Ferndale website, The deadline to submit nominating petitions is Tuesday, July 23 at 4pm at City Hall.  The State has official petition forms which are available at City Hall.  Nominating petitions cannot be printed at home.
According to the website, “Per Chapter IV of the City Charter, prospective candidates must submit nominating petitions bearing no fewer than 100 and no more than 150 signatures of registered Ferndale voters.”
Voters should be aware that if they sign more petitions than there are available seats, their signature won’t be counted for any of the candidates.  For example, there is only one Mayor position.  So if someone signs on the petitions for two mayoral candidates, their signature won’t count.  There are two seats available for City Council, so residents should only sign the petitions of up to two potential candidates. If things progress as expected and a 2 year term is on the ballot, people can sign for that person as well since it is it’s own separate position.
The website also recommends that candidates turn in more than the minimum, stating “There are many statutory reasons a signature may not be valid. It is highly recommended to exceed the 100-signature minimum, keeping in mind no more than 150 can be accepted.”
The City Clerk has 5 days from being turned in to determine the sufficiency of the signatures. Candidates will be notified in writing immediately if they do not have at least 100 valid signatures. As long as the July 23 at 4 p.m. filing deadline has not passed candidates may submit more signatures to make up the deficiency.
Election Day is Nov 5, 2019.
The City of Ferndale website has more information on elections here.
The Oakland County Clerk website has information about campaign finance reporting and other election-related information.
Oakland County Times 2019 Election page has ongoing coverage of local elections. If you value the work we do, please consider chipping in here.