Three-way tie leaves Grand Rapids city commission unable to fill vacant 1st Ward seat

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Grand Rapids City Commission deadlocked on a 3-3 tie twice on Wednesday as commissioners failed to reach a consensus on filling a vacant 1st Ward seat.

Commissioners Milinda Yassi, Kelsey Purdue and Lisa Knight voted in favor of appointing former city commissioner Kurt Reppart to the open seat during an April 22 special meeting. However, they did not have the fourth vote needed to appoint Reppart to the seat.

Commissioners Marshall Kilgore, AliciaMarie Belchak and Mayor David LaGrand voted against the appointment both times.

The commission ultimately adjourned Wednesday's meeting following over an hour of deliberations because they were unable to reach a consensus. Now, the vacant seat is in limbo, leaving 1st Ward residents with only one representative, Belchak, on the commission.

The vacancy was created after former 1st Ward Commissioner Drew Robbins resigned with eight months remaining in his term to run for a seat in the state house of representatives.

The city charter does not provide a timeline for the appointment process, only requiring the commission to make the appointment. The commission held interviews with three finalists on Wednesday, with the intention of deliberating after and potentially making an appointment to the seat.

The finalists, selected from 10 people who interviewed for the job, are Reppart, Lindsay Perez-Plescher and Dan Cope.

Several commissioners favored the immediate readiness and track record of Reppart, arguing he would be able to step right in and hit the ground running because of his past experience on the commission. With the city facing an upcoming budget season and selection of a new police chief, Purdue said she wanted someone who could transition onto the commission quickly.

However, those who opposed Reppart's appointment said they wanted to pick someone with fresh new ideas who hasn't already served on the commission previously.

Kilgore, who represents the 3rd Ward, expressed concern with the fact that Reppart's name came up early in the process, before the city officially launched the appointment process. Yassi expressed strong interest in appointing Reppart to the seat back in March, before the city had opened up the public application process yet.

Yassi pushed back on that notion, saying commissioners shouldn't be villainized for communicating their thoughts and preferences early out of the gate if they are sure of their decision. Yassi said she supported Reppart early on because she wanted someone to come in with an understanding of the city's processes.

Kilgore and LaGrand said they were in favor of appointing Cope to the role, while Belchak initially expressed support for Perez-Plescher but did later vote yes for Cope. Ultimately, motions to appoint Reppart and Cope both failed to secure the necessary four-vote majority.

The commission ended up taking three votes on the matter: Two for Reppart, and one for Cope. Belchak abstained from the final vote for Reppart after expressing concern that she wasn't ready to make a decision yet.

Several commissioners said during deliberations that the main reason they did not support Perez-Plescher is because she is running for election to the seat this year, and they did not want to sway voters in that process.

Voters will be electing a new commissioner to the 1st Ward seat to serve the next four-year term in this year's election. There are three candidates who have filed to run in the race: Perez-Plescher, Steven Tibbe and Jordoun T. Eatman.

Each of the commissioners said they were overwhelmingly impressed with all three finalists, acknowledging that they are all hard-working, highly capable and deeply dedicated to the community.

Reppart, who works as a consultant at Proponents LLC and is a partner at a small real estate firm, said his primary focus areas if appointed to the commission would be affordable housing, holistic public safety and climate initiatives.

Perez-Plescher, a mental health worker, was praised by commissioners for her impactful work in the mental health, foster care and immigrant spaces. She is the founder and director of the Center for Immigration Studies and Education.

She said, if appointed to the commission, she would target the ongoing loneliness epidemic and teen violence by creating more youth programming for the city.

Cope, a professor at Grand Valley State University, was praised for her work around civic engagement. She has previously worked in the Kent County Prosecutor's Office and as deputy clerk for Grand Rapids Charter Township.

The city's 1st Ward encompasses all of the west side, as well as a portion of the city east of the Grand River. The section east of the river is generally bounded by Fulton Street to the north, the city's border to the south and Division Avenue to the east.

"It feels very deadlocked and I just want to acknowledge that," Purdue said after the failed votes.

"We all need some time to sit with this to have conversations and not continue to waste our time," she added.

The next regularly scheduled city commission meeting is Tuesday, April 28, but the appointment would only appear on the agenda if commissioners express support for City Manager Mark Washington to do so.