Clawson City Council searching for new member after resignation

CLAWSON — Matthew Binkowski has resigned from his position on the Clawson City Council for a reason none other than love.

On June 3, the Clawson City Council announced Binkowski’s resignation, paired with his resignation letter that states, “I resign from my position on the Clawson City Council, effective immediately.”

The Review attempted to call Binkowski but was unsuccessful.

Binkowski had served on the City Council since 2023. He posted on his personal Facebook page dedicated to his position as a councilmember, “Clawson Councilmember Matt Binkowski,” a long message on why he is resigning.

“Today, I resigned my position as councilmember for the City of Clawson. This certainly wasn’t in my plan when I ran for the seat in 2023. But a few months after taking office, I met an extraordinary woman and fell in love,” the post states. “Now we’re planning our life together. Unfortunately, we’ll be residing together outside of Clawson.”

He went on to thank those who voted for him, supported him and encouraged him during his time on the council. He also offered his hopes for the city.

“Clawson has a lot of challenges ahead of it and there are several things I hope the city can achieve,” he said on FaceBook.

Council member Glenn Shepard was not in attendance at the meeting due to being sick.

According to the agenda packet, “a vacancy in the office of mayor or city council member shall, within thirty days after such vacancy occurs, be filled by appointment by a majority vote of the remaining members of the city council.”

The appointee will hold office until the next regular city election, which will take place in November of this year.

Because of the recent passage of the new charter stating that the city of Clawson will now have seven people on the council, there will now be five council member seats up for election on the November ballot, including the two years remaining on Binkowksi’s original term. The mayor’s seat is also up for election.

“I don’t know what the easy answer is to any of this. I don’t think there is one,” Mayor Paula Millan said. “I did talk with Council member Shepard this afternoon; he can barely speak, and what he did articulate to me is that he would really prefer we not make a decision without him, that he would like to weigh in on this, and I think it’s really important we allow him to weigh in anyways before we make a decision.”

Millan went on to say she thinks it would be beneficial to at least come up with a rough plan of what the council would like to see happen before approving anything without Shepard.

“I know I personally received many texts, emails and a couple phone calls of whom they would like to see sit up here with us for the next five or six months,” she said. “I want to be very thoughtful and pragmatic in what we are doing, and I would like us to be able to understand what is allowed and what is not allowed.”

Mayor Pro Tem Susan Moffitt suggested that although Shepard was not in attendance, the council still should begin receiving applications from people who are interested in the position.

“If we were to solicit applications now, then that postures us with a whole pool or people who are interested so we know what our candidate pool is, and then we could at the next council meeting look at the candidate pool presented to us and then decide how we are going to select from that pool,” she said.

Millan said she would want to interview people following the application process.

“People present differently, we think we know everyone, but I would like to give everyone an opportunity to have a conversation and see how they interact with us,” Millan said. “Honestly, the most important thing to me is someone who is not coming in with preconceived stuff and is going to just want to kind of work with us and pick up and move along.”

Ultimately, the City Council decided 3-0 to move forward with receiving applications and interviewing applicants.

The deadline for applications was at noon on June 12. The next steps will include the City Council reviewing the applications at the 7:30 p.m. June 17 City Council meeting and announcing the finalists.

Following that meeting, the council will be announcing the process of interviews at a regular or special meeting, according to cityofclawson.com. Following the interview process, the City Council will make an appointment to fill the remaining term at a regular or special meeting; the date is yet to be announced.

Moffitt said that Binkowski had been a great addition to the council, and he will be missed by the city of Clawson.

“He resigned for love. He fell in love, and he’s moving out of the city, so what a more beautiful reason,” she said. “But you know, he was just an incredible asset to the council. He was through a lot, but he had some great ideas, and he will be sorely missed.”

For more information on the open seat, visit cityofclawson.com.