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Royal Oak Mayors
throughout history
VersagiVoice's editorial snippet last week
described my support for term limits backed by making four years the minimum term for
any elected office -- at all governmental levels from national to local. The
national election is over, so the politically insatiable among Royal Oakers are
already focusing on November 2009. One reason is
renewed residents' interest in, or concern about, the tone of recent CITCOM
meetings.
One direction that focus has turned is,
"How long have Royal Oak mayors served?" Some
who ask the question have interpreted my labeling Mayor Ellison "too
nice" as a call for his replacement. Others interpret my recommendation
for a 4-year minimum term for mayor as a desire to keep Ellison in
office. Both groups and others simply wonder how many terms previous
mayors have served.
I turned to the city's website to extract the following
summary.
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Each of our first three mayors (Dondero, Miller,
Codling) served one term.
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Since then, we've had two more: Bangham (1937-38) and Urich
(2001-2003).
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There have been numerous 2-term mayors. Among them: Storz, Hayward, Horn,
Stocker, Hallman, Paruch.
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Among 3-term mayors we have Renton, Kelly, Potter, Cline, Lewis.
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The first 4-term mayor was
Lloyd Clawson, 1929-37. The second and latest
4-termer was Dennis Cowan, 1993-2001. -- FJV: 12 Nov 08
Royal Oak Fire
Chiefs throughout history
A couple of months ago, I published a brief report about
previous
mayors who served
multiple terms. A city commissioner or two asked that I develop a
similar report about commissioners. That takes a bit more
time, and I've begun extracting the information from lists
available on the city's website. In
the meantime, here is a list of past Fire Chiefs.
| Name |
Service Date |
| William Sullivan |
1908 - 4/3/1912 |
| William J.
Folland |
4/3/1912 -
2/10/1913 |
| J. Frank Codling |
2/10/1913 -
6/1/1924 |
| Martin Bishop |
6/1/1924 -
11/1/1928 |
| Charles Henning |
11/1/1928 -
6/13/1954 |
| Clyde Wray |
6/13/1954 -
winter 1958 |
| Wilfred Speas |
8/13/1959 - 10/3
t/1972 |
| Clayton Nicholes |
11/3/1972 -
3/1/1976 |
| Ronald Nancarrow
|
3/1/1976 -
5/31/1983 |
| William Crouch |
6/1/1983 -
5/31/1996 |
| Donald Stanford |
5/31/1996 -
11/12/1999 |
| Richard Strehlke |
1/26/2000 -
11/01/2005 |
| Wil White |
11/14/2005 -
Present |
See the Fire Department's website at:
www.ci.royal-ok.mi.us/fire/chief.html.
City Commissioners through
the years
Royal Oak has had 44 two-year sessions of its city commission since
the first session in 1921. Each session is named a numbered
"Commission." Counting the current 44th session,
entering its last few months in 2009, 94 persons have served as
commissioner. The first woman, Mabel Baldwin, served a 2-year
term in 1923-1925.
Appointments, deaths, resignations, procedural
interruptions make it best to track the number of sessions in
which individuals have served. Here is a list of those commissioners
who have served in five or more sessions, not always consecutively.
|
5 Sessions
Arthur Lawson*
Fletcher Renton
Jacob Sparks
Patricia Paruch
Michael Andrzejak
*Two Lawsons served:
Arthur and James. |
6 Sessions
William Hayward
Ellery Laidlaw
James Johnson
Tom Kuhn7 Sessions
Vernald Horn
Arthur Fries
W. Peter Kramer
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8 Sessions
Evert Bangham
9 Sessions
Alice Schoenholtz |
City Managers through the
years
The City of Royal Oak has had seven city managers. Our latest city
manager, Tom Hoover, lasted less than five years, ending in
early 2009. His predecessor, Larry Doyle, was manager for 10
years. Before Doyle, Bill Baldridge served about 19 years.
The record for longevity was Ed Shafter, 28 years. Tom
Trice served as Interim City Manager for several months in 2004.
Phillip H. Beauvais, 1921-1925
Raymond J. Whitney, 1925-1933
Edward M. Shafter, 1933-1961
Bruce W. Love, 1961-1975
William J. Baldridge, 1975-1991
Lawrence M. Doyle, 1991-2004
Thomas Hoover, 2004-2009
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