Dispute over empty council seat is now heading to court

Rashad Almasmari has filed a restraining order to prevent a vacant seat on city council from being filled. He says the seat belongs to him, but the city administration does not agree.

By Charles Sercombe
It looks like it will be at least another week – and possibly even longer – before the vacant seat on city council is filled.
In a lively council meeting on Tuesday, the one thing that was finally agreed on by the council was acknowledging a vacancy on the council in the wake of Titus Walters’ death.
A majority of councilmembers prevented that seemingly simple task – as required by city charter — from being completed at a previous special meeting.
Just who fills that seat is not only a matter of debate, it’s now part of a lawsuit filed by Rashad Almasmari, through attorney Mark Koroi, who claims it’s his position.
Almasmari filed a restraining order in Wayne County Circuit Court just hours before the council meeting on Tuesday. Judge Robert Colombo will hear the matter on Oct. 23.
The issue has caused a deep divide among councilmembers and some members of the community.
City Manager Katrina Powell, acting on the advice of the city attorney, says the next person in line to fill Walters’ seat is Ian Perrotta. Perrotta was going to be sworn into office on Wednesday, but Almasmari’s legal action put the brakes on that.
What is causing the debate is how one interprets the city charter when it comes to filling a vacancy occurring on the council. It says the next person in line is the fourth-place finisher for council in the last general election.
But in the last general election in 2013, there were candidates vying for three seats with full four-year terms and candidates going for a term vacated by Cathie Gordon, who opted to run for mayor in the middle of her term.
When a similar vacancy occurred in 2007, then-City Attorney James Allen was tasked to determine who would fill a vacancy. At that time, the previous general election had two different races, one for four-year terms and another for two-year terms.
The city charter does not make a distinction when there are two different terms for council.
Allen argued that to determine the next in line in a case like this, the two election results are blended together.
In the current matter, Almasmari ran for a seat with a four-year term, which Walters also ran for and won, and Perrotta ran to fill out the remaining term of Gordon.
By blending the two races, the city administration says the seat should be filled by Perrotta.
Almasmari and his supporters say that since he ran for a four-year term, it should be him.
A week ago Almasmari said he was not “hungry” for the position and that he is busy. But according to the lawsuit, he took a different tone in an email he sent to the city clerk prior to a special council meeting held on Oct. 2 to declare a vacancy on council, saying:
“I was the fourth place on the last general election. I am claiming the vacancy seat and I am the one qualified for it.”
As it turned out, Councilmembers Anam Miah, Mohammed Hassan, Robert Zwolak and Abu Musa refused to second a motion by Andrea Karpinski to declare a vacancy.
The issue came back up at Tuesday’s regular council meeting, and this time there was no objection to vacating Walters’ seat.
At next Friday’s hearing in circuit court, both sides of the argument will be presented along with legal opinions in writing. Because of the complexity of the issue, the judge could decide to table the matter while he studies the opinions and fact checks any cases cited in the opinions