Michigan Firefighter Told He Must Resign Either Firefighter Job Or City Council Position

From The Oakland Press, January 12

PONTIAC, MI – Firefighter Marc Seay's election to the City Council might not be enough to keep him there.

Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said Seay may have to step down from one of his two positions - firefighter or councilman - to comply with a state attorney general's opinion. However, the prosecutor said, his office is still researching the issue and is not ready to release an official opinion.

Former Councilman John Bueno filed the request for an opinion with Gorcyca in November. Bueno said he was contacted Tuesday to be interviewed by an investigator with the prosecutor's office.

Gorcyca said late Tuesday, "This is being researched, but my initial reaction is, if that city councilman is a fi refighter who has control over (the fire department) budget, it would be in direct contravention of an attorney general's opinion."

In reaction, Seay said Wednesday, "People have made a lot of allegations. We feel the same way we felt from the beginning. Gorcyca is going to do whatever he has to do and we will respond accordingly." He would not give specifics on what he would do.

Seay has said he and his attorney have been ready for any official challenge since before the election, but none had come as of Wednesday. However, a letter to the editor in Tuesday's Oakland Press questioned whether he could hold office.

Seay was just sworn in to his four-year term on the council Jan. 1 and has attended only one meeting. He said he has kept his campaign promises, including not taking a city car, credit card or cell phone. He has given up his role as president of the Pontiac Fire Fighter's Union, and has leased a home in District 3, which he represents, a requirement under the Pontiac City Charter. Seay also said he would abstain from voting on fire department issues to avoid a confl ict of interest.

But Gorcyca said, "It's inappropriate for him to abstain on those issues (affecting the fire department) because he would be in dereliction of the duties of that position.

"He would have to resign one of the two positions," said Gorcyca.

A copy of an earlier attorney general's opinion on a similar, but not exactly the same, case was provided to The Oakland Press late last year. It stated a fi refi ghter could be on a city council as long as the community was under 25,000 population and as long as the council member was not a full-time firefighter. To get an opinion specific to Seay's case would take a request by a state legislator or a county prosecutor, a spokesperson said then.

As he promised during his campaign, Seay said he will soon move from his current home in District 1 into District 3, which he was elected to represent. On Tuesday, he provided The Oakland Press with a copy of a oneyear lease he signed Nov. 21 for a home in District 3 in the Franklin-South Boulevard neighborhood.

"I'm renovating," Seay said. "I've had a signed lease ... since November. I waited for the people to get out, and now I'm in the process of painting and putting in new carpeting ... and an alarm system," under an arrangement with a landlord. He said he expects to move in by early February.

Even in his short time on the council, Seay has initiated a resolution that might create controversy. At this time of a $43 million deficit, including $30 million in the general fund budget, Seay's resolution would require department heads to come before the council to talk about their spending and accounting of funds in open hearings.

But at the urging of former council President Everett Seay, the resolution ended up in a subcommittee instead of coming to a vote immediately as Marc Seay had wanted.

In reaction, Marc Seay said he wants to make it clear to the public that, although he and Everett Seay have the same last name, the two are not blood relatives.

A cousin, he said, never would have stopped the vote on his resolution last week to require department heads to come before the council to talk about their spending in open hearings. Marc Seay maintains there is no time to waste because it is his understanding the city is spending $30,000 a day. His resolution, based on the city charter, said each person called to the hearing would be given 10 days' notice of the charges.