The Melvindale City Council overrode the veto of Mayor Nicole Shkira (center) of the body’s appointment of former Mayor Wheeler Marsee to the council seat left vacant by Julie Rauser’s recent resignation by a 4-0 vote, with Councilmembers Dawn Cartrette (left), Joe Jackson (seventh from left), Stan Filipowski, and Scott Frederick in favor, and Councilmember Saleim Abuali (second from left) abstaining.
Melvindale Mayor Nicole Shkira
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE – The City Council Dec. 4 overrode Mayor Nicole Shkira’s veto of the body’s appointment of former Mayor Wheeler Marsee to the seat left vacant by Julie Rauser’s resignation.
The vote was 4-0, with Councilmembers Dawn Cartrette, Joe Jackson, Stan Filipowski and Scott Frederick in favor of overriding the veto, and Councilmember Saleim Abuali abstaining.
City Clerk Linda Land read aloud Shkira’s written statement in which the mayor stated her reasons for vetoing the council’s Nov. 20 motion appointing Marsee.
Shkira said that she filed the veto based on resident complaints, and cited then-incumbent Mayor Marsee’s loss in the 2023 election as proof of a resident mandate.
Marsee received 709 votes, or 48.4 percent (8.1 percent of registered voters), with Shkira receiving 751 votes, or 51.3 percent (8.6 percent of registered voters), a 42-vote difference. There were five write-in votes for other people.
Wheeler Marsee
In her veto statement, Shkira claims that select residents have threatened legal action if Marsee is seated on the council.
Frederick said that Wheeler had 48.4 percent of the vote for mayor in the last election, which he said “was nearly half.”
“He lost by less than 3 percent, so I think to say that the residents don’t want him and want nothing to do with him is disingenuous when he received nearly half the vote in the last election,” he said.
Frederick read the election vote tallies of the current council members, and said it reflects that the residents elected them to do what they think is in the best interest of the city.
“I believe that everybody up here on this dais is doing that when it comes to this, whichever way they are voting,” he said. “I believe that the council should have the final word on this and not the mayor.”
Abuali provided an Arabic translation of the motion for those in attendance.
Marsee, who did not attend the meeting, said he plans to take a low-key approach to his appointment to the City Council.
“I just want to get our city projects going,” he said. “I don’t care who gets the credit.”
Marsee said he hopes to improve his relationship with Shkira.
“I want to mend and try to get her to understand some things that will really make her look good,” he said. “My heart is in this city, and I’ll do the best I can.”