Wayne County Commission taps former state rep to fill vacant seat

A split Democratic-dominated Wayne County Commission on Thursday tapped a Millennial-aged Latino from Taylor to fill a vacant commission seat.

Former State Rep. Alex Garza was chosen to succeed former Commissioner Raymond Basham to represent five Downriver communities on the commission. Basham, 78, resigned in December, citing health concerns. Nine commissioners approved of Garza' appointment while four abstained.

Garza, 29, will represent the commission's 14th District, which includes Brownstown Township, Gibraltar, Rockwood, Woodhaven and Taylor, for the rest of the year. All commission seats are up for election in November.

Garza is a former Taylor City Council member. Elected at 20, he was the youngest person ever elected to the council and served from 2013 until 2018. He was later elected as a Democrat to the Michigan House of Representatives and served two terms.

"I have years of service to my community, the Downriver community," Garza said at Thursday's commission meeting. "I want to thank everyone here for those who supported me and those who didn't. I look forward to working with each and every one of you in order to ... move the county forward."

Two of the commissioners who abstained from approving Garza didn't raise concerns about Garza, but said the commission bucked its own tradition of allowing the outgoing commissioner to nominate his or her successor for the remainder of the elected term.

To fill his seat, Basham wanted another Taylor politician, Herman “Butch” Ramik, a longtime Taylor City Council member who resigned from the council in December in expectation of becoming a county commissioner.

Instead, the commission quickly moved to vote on appointing Garza without considering other candidates.

Another commissioner who abstained Thursday said he did so because he promised to support Basham's desired nominee, Ramik.

Commissioner Tim Killeen wanted to nominate another candidate but was not given the chance because a vote had already been called to appoint Garza. Killeen didn't name who he wanted to nominate.

"We have a long-standing tradition as far back, I think, as anybody can remember that when a member of the commission retires in the middle of their term, they bring forth the name to replace them," Killeen said. "As far as I've known, the commission has always approved that name."

But Killeen and fellow Commissioner Monique Baker McCormick pointed out that tradition isn't backed by a written rule or guideline.

"It's way past time that we actually passed an ordinance delineating how these vacancies are going to be filled, so that the public and everybody knows," Killeen said.

Ramik, a Democrat, said Thursday he believes his vocal support of former President Donald Trump during the 2016 election, along with previous criticism of U.S. State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, likely cost him the county commission seat. Ramik said he didn't support Trump in 2020.

Ramik said he intends to run for the county commission in the upcoming election.

laguilar@detroitnews.com

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