HOUSE BILL No. 5953

 

 

November 12, 2014, Introduced by Reps. Kesto, Crawford, McCready, Haines and Kowall and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

 

     A bill to amend 1973 PA 139, entitled

 

"An act to provide forms of county government; to provide for

county managers and county executives and to prescribe their powers

and duties; to abolish certain departments, boards, commissions,

and authorities; to provide for transfer of certain powers and

functions; to prescribe powers of a board of county commissioners

and elected officials; to provide organization of administrative

functions; to transfer property; to retain ordinances and laws not

inconsistent with this act; to provide methods for abolition of a

unified form of county government; and to prescribe penalties and

provide remedies,"

 

by amending section 9 (MCL 45.559), as amended by 2003 PA 281.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 9. (1) A Except as otherwise provided in subsections (6)

 

and (7), a county executive who is a qualified elector in the

 

county shall be elected on a partisan basis for a term of 4 years

 

concurrent with the term of the county prosecuting attorney, county

 


clerk, county register of deeds, county treasurer, county sheriff,

 

elected county auditors, and county drain commissioner. If Except

 

as otherwise provided in subsection (7), if a county executive is

 

elected at an election different than the election for county

 

officers, his or her first term shall extend only until the January

 

following the election for county officers.

 

     (2) The first county executive may be nominated in the same or

 

next primary or general election held after the election in which

 

alternate B is approved. The county executive shall then be elected

 

in the next regular primary or general election occurring not less

 

than 30 days nor more than 90 days after the date of the election

 

in which alternate B is approved or in which he or she was

 

nominated. If a primary or general election is not scheduled during

 

that period, the board of county commissioners shall call a special

 

election to elect a county executive. The Except as otherwise

 

provided in subsections (6) and (7), the county executive shall be

 

nominated and elected pursuant to the laws applicable to the

 

nomination and election of other county officials.

 

     (3) If the first election of a county executive is a special

 

election for that purpose only, and only 1 candidate for each

 

political party qualifies to have his or her name appear on the

 

primary ballot, a primary election shall not be held, and the

 

candidate qualifying shall be certified as the nominee of the

 

political party for which he or she filed.

 

     (4) Except as provided under section 9a, if the office of

 

elected county executive becomes vacant due to resignation or

 

death, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment of the board of

 


county commissioners until the next general election. A new county

 

executive shall be elected at the next general election after the

 

resignation or death of a county executive and in the manner

 

provided in this section for the election of county executives. The

 

newly elected county executive shall serve a term equal to the

 

balance of the term for which the county executive who resigned or

 

died was elected.

 

     (5) The salary of the county executive for the initial term

 

shall be established by the board of county commissioners at least

 

6 months before the effective date of the optional unified form of

 

county government, containing alternate B. The salary shall be

 

established by the board consistent with the procedures established

 

for other elected officials. The county executive's salary shall be

 

commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the office.

 

The salary of a county executive shall not be reduced during his or

 

her term of office except as part of a general salary reduction.

 

     (6) At the general November election in 2016, for a county

 

with a population of more than 1,000,000, a county executive who is

 

a qualified elector in the county shall be elected on a partisan

 

basis for a term of 2 years beginning on January 1, 2017 and ending

 

on December 31, 2018.

 

     (7) At the general November election in 2018 and every fourth

 

year after that, for a county with a population of more than

 

1,000,000, a county executive who is a qualified elector in the

 

county shall be elected on a partisan basis for a term of 4 years

 

beginning on January 1 following the election.