By James Windell
One of the responsibilities of South Haven’s Mayor Annie Brown is to nominate people to boards and commissions where there is a vacancy. Once nominations have been made it is up to the City Council to confirm or reject the nominations.
Which is why at the May 18, 2026, regular meeting of the City Council, Mayor Brown presented a list of 14 people nominated for various boards and commissions. Those nominations were:
Jordan Alsup to the Downtown Development Authority for a 4-year term
Ryan Servatius to the Downtown Development Authority for a 4-year term
Kevin Conway to the Harbor Commission for a 3-year term
Mary Kilpatrick-Hall to the Housing Commission for a 5-year term
Patricia Hudson to the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum Board for a 3-year term
Kirk Wiley to the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum Board for a 3-year term
Sondra Sutton to the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum Board for a 3-year term
Kent Brindley to the Parks Commission for a 3-year term
David Kingsbury to the Parks Commission for a 3-year term
Ryan Servatius to the Planning Commission for a 3-year term
Clark Gruber to the Planning Commission for a 3-year term
Bob Sherman to the Planning Commission for a 3-year term
Brian Sheehy to the South Haven Water Sewer Authority for a 4-year term
Lisa Stegall to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a 3-year term as an alternate
The City Council was asked to consider approval of Resolution 2026-18, a resolution to approve all nominees. Councilman Jeff Arnold made a motion to approve the resolution. The motion was supported.
Before there was a vote on this motion, Councilwoman Letitia Wilkins raised a question: “I have a question,” she began. “I noticed that there’s one person that is on two committees, and I wanted to know were there not any other applicants to fill those spots?”
“There were other applications for Planning Commission,” Mayor Brown responded. “And I’m appointing Ryan Servatius.”
“I understand that, but why would he also be on the DDA, too?” Wilkins asked.
“Because he applied for that,” Brown said.
Councilwoman Mary Hosley raised her hand to comment. “Yes. Along the same lines as Councilwoman Wilkins, you know, for Planning Commission, by state law, the membership is supposed to be representative of the entire territory,” Hosley said. “Over the last two or three years, it’s gone from three women and six men to two women and seven men. And now with this appointment, it would go to one woman and eight men – which is not representative of our community, which is more than 50 percent women. And there were other applicants, and I am concerned that this just doesn’t convey engagement of our community, especially when there are more applicants than there are positions, and one applicant is then allowed to sit on two boards. It doesn’t engage the community, and I get concerned with regard to the state law, having a representative board of the community, and especially when there are other qualified candidates who do come to meetings before applying.”
Hosley went on to say that appointing people to multiple boards when there are multiple applicants for those boards is disengaging of the community and does not bring diversity to boards and commissions. “Therefore, I am not able to support the recommendation for the full Planning Commission.”
At this point, City Attorney Dave Eberle weighed with a comment. “I don’t share Member Hosley’s concerns regarding the state law for the appointment of planning commissioners,” Eberle said. “If it’s okay with the council, I’ll go ahead and read that excerpt from the Planning Enabling Act. ‘The membership of a planning commission must be representative of important segments of the community, such as the economic, governmental, educational, and social development of the local unit of government in accordance with the major interests of the local unit of government, such as agriculture, natural resources, recreation, education, public health, government, transportation, industry, housing, and commerce. The membership must also be representative of the entire territory of the local unit of government to the extent practicable.’”
Councilman Eddie Polk got in the discussion saying, “I think we need to be clear when we talk about diversity and bringing diversity to a board or commission. We have to look at the needs of the city and what’s the role of that [commission], and look at the unique qualities that that an individual brings.”
“I have no doubt that you did consider that in your choices. Am I correct?” Polk said to Brown.
“Right,” Brown replied.
A roll call vote was called for and with Councilwoman Hosley voting no, the resolution for the slate of nominees was passed by majority vote.
Responding to the passing of the resolution approving all 14 nominations, Ryan Servatius posted on Facebook that it was an honor to be reappointed to another term on the Downtown Development Authority and to be added to the South Haven City Planning Commission.
“I’m looking forward to bringing my past experience from the South Haven Township Planning Commission, my years in the housing industry, and my background as a small business owner to the table,” Servatius wrote. “I am excited to collaborate with my fellow members to ensure we work toward a positive future that benefits our entire community.”
