Michigan Advisory Opinions March 19, 1981: AGO 5861 (March 19, 1981)

AGO 5861.

You requested my opinion on the following question:

If a regional board of education member other than the member who received the highest number of votes is presently serving as chairperson and the regional board does not elect a chairperson at its January meeting, does the present chairperson continue to serve or does the chairpersonship revert back to the member who received the highest number of votes?

Your question regards service as chairperson of a regional board of the School District of the City of Detroit. That school district is divided into eight regions. Each region elects a five member regional board of education. The chairperson of each regional board also serves as a member of the district board of education. Members of regional boards are elected for four year terms. Pursuant to the School Code of 1976, 1976 PA 451, Sec. 412(4); MCLA 380.412(4); MSA 15.4412(4), the regional board member receiving the highest number of votes serves as regional chairperson during the first year after the election of the regional board members. Thereafter, the regional board may, each January, elect by majority vote of the members serving on the regional board any of its members to serve as chairperson.

1976 PA 451, supra, Sec. 412(4), is derived from 1969 PA 244, Sec. 2a, as added by 1970 PA 48 and amended by 1975 PA 166. This subsection, as originally added by 1970 PA 48, provided that the candidate for regional board member receiving the highest number of votes would serve as chairperson during his or her term of office. If a vacancy occurred in the position of chairperson for any reason, the member who received the next highest number of votes became chairperson.

As rewritten by 1975 PA 166, 1969 PA 244, Sec. 2a was amended to provide that the member receiving the highest number of votes at the election of regional board members would serve as chairperson but the regional board was empowered in its discretion to elect a new chairperson at a meeting of the board in the following January of each year thereafter. 1975 PA 166 was introduced as House Bill No. 5161 to require the regional board, by majority vote, to elect a chairperson for a two year term. The bill eliminated any tie between service as chairperson and the number of votes received by the member at the election of members to the regional board.

As finally enacted, 1975 PA 166 took a middle ground between the original provision under which the member receiving the highest number of votes automatically served as chairperson and the proposed amendment which would have placed full discretion to select the chairperson in the board. Under 1969 PA 244, Sec. 2a, as amended by 1975 PA 166, and substantially reenacted as 1976 PA 451, Sec. 412(4), supra, the member receiving the highest number of votes serves as regional board chairperson only during the first year of his or her term and until the regional board elects a new chairperson at the following January meeting. The Legislature so provided in 1976 PA 451, Sec. 412(4), supra:

'. . . At the first regularly scheduled meeting of the regional board held in January of each year following the year in which the terms of the regional board members begin, the regional board, by majority vote of the members serving, may elect 1 of its members as chairperson in place of the regional chairperson serving at the time of that meeting. . . .'

The regional board may, but is not required to, elect a new chairperson each January to serve '. . . in place of the regional chairperson serving at the time . . ..' The only construction this sentence may be given, particularly in light of the legislative history of the subsection, is that if the regional board does not elect a new chairperson, the current chairperson continues to serve to at least the following January when the regional board is empowered, in its discretion, to elect a new chairperson.

It was the legislative intent that the chairperson continue to serve until, at a January meeting, the regional board elects a new chairperson. Further, where the legislative law does not expressly or by necessary implication prohibit it, officers hold over until their successors are elected. Messenger v Teagan, 106 Mich 654; 64 NW 499 (1895).

It is, therefore, my opinion that where a regional board member is serving as chairperson of the regional board and the regional board does not elect a new chairperson at its January meeting, pursuant to 1976 PA 451, Sec. 412(4), supra, the present chairperson continues to serve in that office.

Frank J. Kelley

Attorney General