Mayor Mary Sheffield never seems to miss an appearance at a ribbon-cutting or a groundbreaking in the city of Detroit, even if she had nothing to do with the event itself. On the other hand, she apparently couldn’t find the time to attend board meetings where millions of dollars of public money were at stake.
She was a member of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy Board while William Smith embezzled millions of dollars, though she rarely attended meetings, stating she had a very busy schedule. Now, it has come to light that, as a board member, she did not attend a single Detroit Transportation Corp. meeting between 2023 and 2025. During this time period, according to the FBI, hundreds of thousands of dollars were embezzled.
There are many lessons here for both board members and the organizations themselves. If you can’t fulfill your duties as a board member, resign from the board. Organizations should appoint members who will actually fulfill their duties, or designate non-participatory board members as honorary, non-voting members.
Thomas E. Page
New Center, Detroit
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Where are board members when it matters? | Letter
Reporting by Letter to the editor / The Detroit News
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