KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The next City Attorney for Kalamazoo could be the son of migrant farmworkers who first got to know Michigan by coming here as a child with his family to pick crops.
Last night commissioners voted 5-2 to offer the position to Aaron Leal, the current City Attorney in Royal Oak, pending successful contract negotiations.
The vote came despite a concerted effort by ISAAC, a local group that backed Lewis Smith, a former legal counsel for Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, who is Black. Nearly a dozen members of the group spoke in Smith’s favor.
Mayor Dave Anderson says Lewis actually hasn’t practiced municipal law in eight years and a lot has changed since then.
Vice Mayor Don Cooney and Commissioner Stephanie Hoffman also backed Smith, saying that as a Black man, he would fight housing discrimination.
Leal will also undergo an extensive background check before any final contract is signed.
The goal is to get the new City Attorney on board by early June.
reporting from John McNeill
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