Effect of a 2020 City Charter amendment to change the mayor’s term to the same limits of other elected city officials; Interpretation of a statute or a municipal charter; Whether the language was ambiguous; “Terms served prior”; Retroactivity; LaFontaine Saline, Inc v Chrysler Group, LLC; Hughes v Judges’ Ret Bd; Declaratory relief; Writ of mandamus

Concluding that plaintiff-Warren City Council (the Council) had shown it was entitled to a writ of mandamus precluding defendants from certifying nonparty-Mayor Fouts as a candidate, the court reversed the circuit court’s grant of summary disposition to defendants, and granted the Council’s complaint for a writ of mandamus in this election matter. The case concerned “the effect of a 2020 amendment to the Warren City Charter to change the mayor’s term to the same term limits of other elected city officials.” The specific issue was whether the Mayor of Warren, Fouts, whose fourth and current term expires in 11/23, “is eligible to run for a fifth term in office in light of the voters’ approval of a 2020 charter amendment limiting mayors to the greater of three terms or 12 years.” The court held that “the relevant charter sections’ failure to specify that time in office before the 2020 amendment will be counted does not make them ambiguous.” Nor did it “find dispositive the fact that the ‘terms served prior’ language was not in the ballot proposal question itself, where the language actually was on the ballot within the proposal section. Additionally, a prospective application of the charter is applied here, and its reliance on antecedent events does not run afoul of the general rule against retroactivity.” It also found the materials reflected “that the Council has shown that it has a clear legal right to the correct application of the charter language, that the city election defendants have a clear legal duty to not certify Mayor Fouts for the ballot, that the duty is ministerial, and that mandamus is the proper remedy.” Finally, defendant-Buffa in her capacity as Election Commissioner was ordered “to immediately disqualify Mayor Fouts as a candidate for mayor in 2023 and not place his name on the ballot for election. A public question being involved, no costs may be taxed under MCR 7.219. This opinion shall have immediate effect pursuant to MCR 7.215(F)(2).”