Wheeler Wins; Certification Feud Brewing

Ann Arbor unofficially has a new City Council with Democrat Albert H. Wheeler at the helm, but when Wheeler and the newly elected council members will take office is unknown. City election workers finished tabulating the second choice Human Rights Party votes Wednesday with the unofficial tallies giving Wheeler a 100-plus vote victory over Mayor James E. Stephenson. The results won't be official until certified by the city Board of Canvassers, which began checking the totals this morning. This process is not expected to be completed until sometime Friday, if then. Wheeler and the five council members elected with him, three Republicans and two Democrats, cannot take office until the results are certified. And this has raised speculation about when the city board will de this, and even if it will cerThat speculation increased Wednesday night when the present Republican controlled council, which was supposed to be meeting for the last time, voted to extend the terms of, all council members until certification. This brought charges from council Democrats that Republicans are planning to stall certification to keep WheelI er from assuming office. The city .eanvassers nave two weeks to certify the results. If the four-member oard (two Republicans anil two Democrats) can't agree after two weeks the issue goes to the county Board of Canvassers. That board has 30 days to certify, after which the controversy would go to he state Board of Cahvassers. If both the city and county boards cannot agree to certify, it could take two mon'ths or longer tó get just the issue of certification resolved. After that the tedious process of an assured recouat and possible court action could further forestall completion of the election process. The resolution extending the terms of the present council will take effect only if the city eanvassers have not reached agreement by the time the new council members are to be sworn in Monday night. Republicans placed the item before council Wednesday night, citing the possibility the eanvassers could refuse to certify not only the mayoral race but also the five council races. This would leave council with only five council members, not enough to approve any type of legislation, they said. But Democratie Councilwoman Carol Jones said. ,"It looks like you know something we don't know . . . like your people (Republicans) on the Board of anvassers have already had I tions not to certify." Republican Councilman Louis D. Belcher denied the charge, saying the. certification is in doubt because of 13 ballot boxes which had seals that were either broken or without the-propêV I tification numbers. Belcher said there is a "great possibility" the results would I not be certified. Joining the Democrats in opposing the I term extensions was Human Rights I Councilwoman Kathleen Kozachenko. Democrats challenged the term 1 sions on several grounds bef ore losing I out on a 6 to 5 vote. Democrat Norris J. I Thomas said the meeting last night was I a special session of council and council I members must be notified of any newl agenda items at least.three hours before I hand. The resolution was invalid because Democrats were not notified, he said. Mayor Stephenson, however, ruled that the measure was a legitímate item for ' council action. Thomas challenged Stephenson's ruling and tried to have the mayor disqualified because of a conflict of interest. Besides having a dired interest in the outcome of the term extensión, Stephenson also had a conflict of interest because he would continue receiving his $3,000 per year during an extended térro, Thomas charged. (OVEH PLüriSS) BR WINS . . . Thomas moved to have Stephenson qualified from the voting, but lost on a 6 to 5 vote with Republicans, including Stephenson, opposing. Republicans voted to amend the extensión resolution for Stephenson to receive no pay during the extensión. Should the city canvassers fail to certify the results befóte Monday, Democrats may go to court seeking a writ of mandamus ordering the board to certify at least Wheeler's election. After Wednesday's council meeting the city clerk's office released final ence votes. The tallies showed only a two-vote difference, one vote for both Wheeler and Stephenson, from the originally released figures. The margin of Wheeler's victory is not exactly known because the clerk's office is still compiling how many total votes each candidate recéived. The approximately 100-vote difference was obtained by using second choice votes compiled by the Democratie and Republican parties during the counting process. According to Democratie figures Stephenson won by 101 votes, 14,660 er winning by 102 votes, 14,665 to 14,563. These figures were derived by adding the parties' second choice counts onto the final unofficial first preference votes released by the clerk's office.