What would Kim Janey’s powers as ‘acting mayor’ of Boston be?

City Council President Kim Janey wouldn’t have the powers of a full mayor if Mayor Martin Walsh leaves and she steps up in an acting capacity — but the interim position is still a powerful and influential job, and city attorneys are looking at the 1993 acting mayorship of Thomas Menino as a guide.

Janey, as the council president, would become acting mayor if Walsh, President Biden’s Labor nominee, is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The city charter’s language around what an acting mayor can do is limited to a single sentence: “The person upon whom such duties shall devolve shall be called ‘acting mayor’ and he shall possess the powers of mayor only in matters not admitting of delay, but shall have no power to make permanent appointments.”

A Walsh administration adviser said the law department is casting its eyes back to the transition between mayors Raymond Flynn and Menino. Flynn left in July 1993 to become ambassador to the Holy See, so Menino took the reins as acting mayor.

The law department pointed to the fact that when a School Committee seat opened up under acting Mayor Menino, he filled it on an interim basis until the end of the year — following the clause in the charter about appointments. Menino ran for mayor that year and won, so he made the appointment permanent.

The now-legendary Menino kept his seat as the district councilor from Hyde Park, but stopped presiding over meetings when he was acting mayor.

There’s no specific law about whether an acting mayor could fire political appointees like the mayor’s Cabinet, but the law department said that seems to be of a piece with the “no permanent appointments” clause, and that Menino didn’t shake up staff.

Walsh’s aide said Janey likely would have broad latitude to govern otherwise — especially in the middle of a pandemic, when city operations are more “not admitting of delay” than ever.

“It’s a really weighty office,” Walsh’s adviser said. “It’s a decision-making role.”

But people have sued successfully over whether an action by an acting mayor is legitimate. The Walsh camp noted that the Supreme Judicial Court overturned the actions of one acting mayor 109 years ago: Dimick v. Barry, in which resident Charles Dimick took issue with a move acting Mayor J. Edward Barry — filling in for a mayor unable to perform his duties for months due to illness — made in signing an eminent-domain land-taking in order to make a new street.

The SJC threw out Barry’s move, ruling that this wasn’t a matter so “not admitting of delay” that it couldn’t wait for an elected mayor to sign off on it.

Therefore, the law department said, the courts would have to work out any challenges to Janey’s moves.

If you wanted to create a new initiative that’s going to cost millions of dollars, that might be challenged,” said Sam Tyler, the now-retired longtime head of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau watchdog organization.

But that doesn’t mean the acting mayor will be particularly limited during the pandemic, he said he expected.

“For new issues that arise, the acting mayor would have to be able to address those,” said Tyler, who helmed the BMRB when Menino was taking power. Tyler noted that Menino did use his acting mayorship to effect change — he pushed back on proposals from the teachers union, sending the group back to the table.

Janey — who would become the city’s first Black and female chief executive — said in a statement, “My focus right now is on ensuring there is a seamless transition so that we can keep the people of Boston safe during this public health crisis. I am confident I will be able to do what’s needed to get our residents vaccinated, safely get our children back to school, and help our businesses start to grow so we can achieve an equitable economic recovery for all of Boston.”

Flynn told the Herald that Janey recently gave him a call, looking for advice, and they had a “very nice” chat.

“You now have a broader constituency and they all want the same thing: The mayor showing a level of respect and some help with the projects or problems they have,” Flynn said, advising her to work to earn the faith of city workers. “The transition is about trust.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3p7tUD0