Jonathan Kinloch was appointed Thursday as the new Wayne County Commissioner for District 2, which includes downtown Detroit and surrounding neighborhoods, Belle Isle and the site of the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Center.
Kinloch was selected Thursday in a vote of the commission’s other 14 members. He was among nine candidates interviewed Monday and Tuesday by the commission’s Special Committee on Rules. Interviews were conducted virtually, via Zoom, as was Thursday’s vote to confirm Kinloch. All sessions were open to the public.
Kinloch will fill the two-year term of the late Jewel Ware, who passed away in December after being re-elected in last year’s general election. Ware, a former commission Chair, had served as Vice-Chair Pro Tempore during the 2019-20 commission session.
A Detroit native, Kinloch is political director of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, representing members of the Service Employees International Union, and is president of the Kinloch Group, Inc., a music publishing company.
“I want to thank everyone for their vote and their support,” Kinloch said. “I am appreciative and proud of the appointment and will serve District 2 residents with great honor.”
The vote on the appointment was 9-4, with Commissioners Tim Killeen, Monique Baker McCormick, Glenn S. Anderson and Martha G. Scott voting no. Commissioner Terri Marecki, the commission’s lone Republican, abstained.
Commission Chair Alisha Bell noted that replacing a commissioner between election and the start of their term represented a first for the commission and that commissioners leaving office during their term normally directly nominate a successor.
“Sadly, that wasn’t the case, so it was our goal to make the process as open and accessible as possible,” Bell said. “I know that our good friend Jewel Ware would not have wanted the people of her district to go without representation and that the appointment of Jonathan Kinloch will embody the spirit of Commissioner Ware to be the very best Commissioner he can be.”
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