Dexter Township puts policy in place to help fill the supervisor vacancy and potentially others

Dexter Township is moving forward with a plan to replace the outgoing supervisor, who is stepping down on May 12, and it is also putting a policy in place for future replacements.

The township board met on April 3, for a special meeting to discuss elected official compensation, a policy on board of trustees’ vacancy and the Supervisor’s letter of resignation.

The Sun Times News (STN) followed up with the township board to clear up what the next steps are. STN connected with trustee Karen Sikkenga.

She said the board approved a policy regarding filling vacancies on the Board of Trustees.

By email to STN, Sikkenga said, “In a nutshell, we decided that for executive positions, we will offer current board members an opportunity to apply for the vacancy. If no such applications are received after five days, or if none of the trustee applicants are approved by the full board, the vacancy will be advertised and a competitive search conducted. For non-executive trustee roles, a competitive search will be conducted.”

Executive roles on the board are supervisor; clerk and treasurer, while non-executive are the four trustee roles.

Of some of the discussion, Sikkenga said two reasons for giving existing trustees the first opportunity to fill executive roles were: for consistency in operations; and because the electorate selected existing elected officials.

There was also an emphasis during the discussion about making sure things are transparent and there is a public process.

Dexter Township Board Trustee Lonnie Scott provided STN with the exact wording of the decision:

"The policy of the Dexter Township Board of Trustees is that if at any time an executive office is vacated the Board will seek candidates from the current Board of Trustees for a period of 5 days. If at the end of that 5 day period no candidates have been identified, a competitive public search will be initiated. If an internal candidate is identified but fails to secure a majority vote of the Board at their next public meeting a competitive public search will be initiated.

If at any time a Trustee position is vacated a competitive public search will be initiated."

In the discussion of supervisor Diane Ratkovich’s resignation letter, Scott, the newest member on the board, said he wanted to thank the supervisor for what she has accomplished along with the other elected officials during her time on the board. He said there have been some ups and downs, but there’s been some incredible things done, including addressing roads and getting a farmland and open space land preservation program in place.

“None of these things happen without someone leading the charge,” Scott said to Ratkovich.

His comments were seconded by the others on the board.

To see the previous story on the resignation, go to: https://thesuntimesnews.com/g/dexter-mi/n/151711/dexter-townships-supervisor-diane-ratkovich-stepping-down