City Council votes to sue Fouts
Unanimous decision comes in response to mayor’s attempt to implement own budget
The contention between Warren Mayor Jim Fouts and the city council elected last year will play out in a new arena soon: the courtroom.
At a 9 a.m. special session Saturday, officials unanimously approved a motion authorizing litigation against Fouts and any other city officials involved with what members say is an attempt to implement a budget other than what council approved.
Council members say instead of vetoing the budget they approved, the mayor altered a state document and went about implementing the budget he presented
to them, a claim Fouts is denying.
Acting on a motion introduced by Mindy Moore and supported by Jonathan Lafferty, officials voted 6-0 to authorize the action. Eddie Kabaczinski was excused from the meeting, which officials said was posted Friday in compliance with state law that requires meeting notices to be posted 18 hours before they are held.
“He (Fouts) has taken it upon himself to move forward with what is his budget,” Moore said.
She went on to say that if Fouts did not approve of the budget, he could have vetoed it within 96 hours of council’s June 30 approval. Instead, she accused the mayor of altering a document filed with the state setting forth the budget.
“This is an illegal act,” Council President Pat Green said, accusing Fouts of using “Wite Out” or another redaction liquid to cover up Green’s name and substituted his own in its place.
“This is a terrible, terrible thing,” Green said.
Ron Papandrea, the only member of council that was not voted in last year, encouraged his peers to work with Rick Fox, city controller, to resolve the issue.
“Many times in the past there have been conflict and they have been resolved by having representatives of the city council meet with the city controller. We ignore his advice at our own peril,” Papandrea said.
Moore responded by stating the mayor has informed council members they are not to meet with city employees, a claim Papandrea suggested officials have taken too literally, adding his understanding is that the mayor wants to know when council is reaching out to employees and be part of those discussions.
Previous reports regarding the budget have focused on the elimination of a position Fouts said has been held by Amanda Mika, his executive administrator. While that issue was not raised at Saturday’s special meeting, council members said the reduction of the city library millage from .8275 to .6 mills they approved is being undone by Fouts.
“This is totally beyond us,” Moore said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Moore added that in recent months she feels Fouts has abdicated his role as the city’s top administrator. Unlike most cities in Macomb County, Warren has a strong mayor form of government that calls for the elected leader, and not a hired administrator, to direct daily operations.
“The mayor is not running the city,” she said. “We’ve heard that from several people.”
That was not necessarily the view of Councilman Garry Watts, who had his own criticism of Fouts.
“He continues to think he’s the king ruler,” Watts said.
Officials also suggested the matter be forwarded to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office for consideration of criminal charges against Fouts.
Not all participating in Saturday’s council session — held on the Zoom video conferencing app as allowed under a state order during the COVID-19 pandemic — was in favor of the action.
Resident Greg Donahoe questioned the urgency of holding the session on a Saturday morning with little notice when it could have been added to the regular council meeting agenda Tuesday.
“This has been a pattern of this council,” he said.
Fouts could not be immediately reached for comment following the meeting. However, he did submit a statement via email to The Macomb Daily.
“The accusations coming out of the Warren City Council meeting early this morning have escalated to the point of becoming ridiculous. They accused me of signing a tax form the city submits to the county in an illegal manner, when in fact it was done in the exact same legal manner this form has been submitted for the last 20 years.”
Fouts added if his submission of the form was illegal, the forms submitted with signatures from Mayor Mark Steenbergh, Warren City Clerk’s Sonja Buffa, Paul Wojno, and Richard Sulaka, Sr. over the past 20 years have also been in error and that their receipt by county clerks Carmella Sabaugh and Fred Miller was also an illegal act. In the email to The Macomb Daily, he included copies of each form from the past 20 years.
“These are serious times and the people of Warren need a city council that will act in a serious manner. I stand ready to work with the city council, but they need to end these ridiculous games. Whomever the outside sources are pulling the strings on this council are clearly incompetent and did not do their homework,” Fouts said. “A simple call to my office would have gotten them the correct answer rather than an incorrect answer.”
He called on council for “collaboration and cooperation” to solve the serious issues facing the city and nation.