BUFFALO, N.Y. — If Mayor Brown steps down and accepts the job at the Western Region OTB, he will be the first Mayor to step down mid-term since 1973—when Mayor Frank A. Sedita resigned amid health concerns.
When that happened, Deputy Mayor Stan Makowski stepped into the role until he was elected to a full term in 1977.
Fast forward to 2024, a lot has changed within the common council. The governing body eliminated the role of 'councilmembers-at-large' which were part of city-wide elections.
Historically, the 'at-large' council member was often voted or selected as council president.
If Buffalo still had 'at-large' members of the body, perhaps this article wouldn't exist.
Nonetheless, the city council eliminated 'at-large' members in 2002 and unknowingly created a situation where a district could go without representation if a Mayor were to step down in the middle of a term.
Tuesday afternoon, councilmembers debated a resolution introduced by majority leader, and Ellicott District councilwoman, Leah Halton-Pope that asks corporation counsel for the city to provide a formal opinion about whether the city charter could be amended to fill a potential district vacancy.
"So my question was, legally, what can we do?," Halton-Pope said in council chambers. "Can we be without a ninth member? Would that mean one district would not have a voice at the table?"
The entire common council was in attendance for the committee meeting, including council president Chris Scanlon.
The nearly 20-minute debate on the topic revealed a bit of a divide between lawmakers.
Those who want to fill the seat temporarily, and those who want to follow the city charter as it is written.
"You can't legislate over our referendum, because it's the direct voice of the people," Fillmore District Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski said. "But it does prevent very complex issues that the majority leader brings up."
Nowakowski says the council did receive an informal response from the corporation counsel for the city, and that there technically won't be a vacancy if Mayor Brown accepts the job and Scanlon is elevated to mayor.
"It's one of those situations where the remedy might not be imminent," Nowakowski said. "It may be in charter revision. It might need to be how we thoroughly think this out since it is rare and obscure."
Niagara District Councilmember David Rivera also said that his colleagues should tread lightly when proposing amendments to the city charter.
"We may not agree with it, the language, it may not be perfect, just like in any other form of legislation that we have before us, that is not perfect, but that was the will of the people," Rivera said.
It was a public referendum in 2002 that eliminated 'at-large' councilmembers and established the current line of succession for the office of Mayor.
"If we're going to go back and look and clean this up, I think we have to do it make sure with good intentions and there's safeguards in place during this whole process of perhaps bringing some clarity to certain parts of the charter," Rivera said. "But I think we need to tread very carefully when we talk about overturning a vote of the people, I would not be in favor of that, and I certainly wouldn't support it."
The legislation committee approved the resolution with councilmembers Halton-Pope, Feroleto, and Golombek voting in favor of it. Councilman Rivera voted against it.
The full common council will vote on the measure next Tuesday.