Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Lawmakers in Buffalo are already beginning preparations for how representation in city government will be affected when Byron Brown is set to resign as Mayor and Chris Scanlon takes over as Acting Mayor.
The Buffalo Common Council adopted a resolution on Tuesday that looks to address the effects of the mayoral vacancy on representation within the Council. This comes just a day after Brown announced his intentions to leave office as Mayor to become the next president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting (OTB).
The City Charter specifies that in the event of a mayoral vacancy, the President of the Buffalo Common Council will assume the role of Acting Mayor until the next general election. However, this transition creates a potential vacancy within the Council itself, leaving the district represented by the Council President without direct representation.
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The adopted resolution directs Corporation Counsel to draft an amendment to the City Charter to ensure that no district is left unrepresented during this temporary transition.
"We adopted that [resolution] today that simply asks for a formal opinion on the record so that there's transparency for the entire City of Buffalo, for the constituents to understand this is what we can do or cannot do," said Buffalo Common Council Majority Leader Halton-Pope, who sponsored the resolution. "These are our limitations and why, and also to do a draft charter amendment. It's not something that would be voted on, but to have something prepared in the event that we needed it."
The adopted resolution includes the following directives:
1.) Formal Opinion on Mayoral Vacancy Procedures: Corporation Counsel is directed to provide a formal written opinion on the process to be followed in the event of a mayoral vacancy on the record with the Council.
2.) Draft Charter Amendment: Corporation Counsel is tasked with drafting an amendment to the City Charter, to ensure that any Council seat vacated by the Acting Mayor will not remain unrepresented, with proper procedures in place to appoint an Acting Council Member for the interim.
"The charter doesn't seem to address the question of temporary vacancies, or vacancies in the interim, and to put that on the record would be to allow us to know, as council members, what we can do or cannot do," Halton-Pope explained. "The second part would be to draft an amendment that should we need to pass something to address the issue, could we do it? It doesn't contemplate the charter, it doesn't contemplate mandatory referendum or a permissive referendum, and that's something we would need a legal opinion on."
It is unclear, at this time, whether or not the Common Council will have anyone replace Scanlon as the South District Council member, but Halton-Pope is not super worried about the potential of a deadlocked Council, when it comes to a voting standpoint and having only eight lawmakers.
"I know that my colleagues and I are very deliberative in trying to make sure we provide the best service we can to the city of public servants. It's our job to represent them well and adhere to their needs, so I'm not worried about that," Halton-Pope said with WBEN. "This didn't come from a concern that we would be deadlocked. It's more about representation for that district that would not have it. That would be issues regarding infrastructure, or if you think about stores or resources that could come in, like a food store or an Airbnb or something like that.
"I don't live in the South District. I represent and live in the Ellicott District, and so therefore I can speak about the issues that matter to my district. I have stakeholder meetings in my district, I have communications with my district on a regular basis. While I will 100% look out for the South District, I cannot be guaranteed that I'm going to get a fair assessment of the entire district. That is where I would have a few questions about that, and would like that to be resolved one way or the other."
This resolution, adopted by the Council with a vote of 6-3, is an important measure to maintain stability and continuity within the Buffalo Common Council, ensuring that the city remains fully prepared to meet the needs of all its residents during the mayoral transition.
While Halton-Pope is unsure why the resolution faced some opposition, she believes it might have to do with some concerns that she was trying to force a decision on the charter, as opposed to a formal opinion outlined in the resolution.
"That's why I keep speaking on it very clearly so that the public understands what the question is with clarity," she said.
"Transparency, for me, is very important. I think communicating and overcommunicating, exhaustive communication with the public, as a whole, is really important for public service. This isn't about building names for ourselves. This is about serving the City of Buffalo and the residents that live here, and hoping that I'm doing the best thing that I can do."