City pauses meetings in wake of high court ruling
Council session is postponed amid concerns over Open Meetings Act
The City of Warren announced Tuesday afternoon that its city council meeting scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. that evening was postponed due to Monday’s Michigan Supreme Court decision regarding Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders issued under the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act.
The Supreme Court ruled that Whitmer’s emergency orders in response to COVID-19 have no continuing legal effect and denied a request to keep the orders in place through Oct. 30. Virtual meetings were allowed under Whitmer’s executive orders, but their removal makes it unclear if governmental bodies that hold virtual meetings are in violation of the Open Meetings Act.
“This is one of the unforeseen consequences of Monday’s Supreme Court action,” said Warren City Council President Patrick Green. “The governor’s emergency orders and various acts over the past couple of months suspended certain parts of the Open Meetings Act so we could hold open meetings on Zoom. Until we are sure that having a virtual meeting is legal, we are cancelling city councilmeetings.”
Green said all city meetings, including Zoning Board and Planning Commission, are also postponed. The Warren Planning Commission met via Zoom on Monday, Oct. 12 after the high court’s ruling and Green is not sure if any decisions made during that meeting are valid.
“Technically, the Planning Commission meeting was illegal if it was on Zoom,” said Green. “So anything that was decided during that meeting is questionable. We are just not going to take the risk of something coming back on us.”
Green noted that many cities and municipalities have followed suit and postponed all virtualmeet-
ings until this issue is resolved.
Senate Bill 1108, which would give cities and municipalities the option of holding virtual meetings in certain situations without being in violation of the Open Meetings Act, passed in the state House of Representatives and was returned to the Senate late Tuesday afternoon.
State Rep. Lori Stone said it would be at least a day before the bill was ready for Whitmer to sign.
Depending on how long it takes for the bill tomake its way through the legislature and be signed by Whitmer, Green says he is “cautiously optimistic” a resolution will come out of Lansing this week and that the Warren City Council meeting scheduled for Oct. 13 could be held on Oct. 20.
If virtual meetings are not to be allowed, that could present a whole different set of challenges.
“Parks and Recreation is in charge of the Warren Community Center and the communication department is in charge of the auditorium,” said Green. “So what are you going to do? Parks and Rec has to be in charge of social distancing. Do we have someone spray down the microphone between speakers during audience participation? These are things we will have to deal with.”
Green expects there would be a limit on the amount of people allowed into the Community Center auditorium, but could not venture a guess on what that exact number might be.
“The other issue is, will people feel comfortable coming to an in-person meeting?” said Green. “I think like with many things, you will have some people who are and some people who are not.”
While Warren paused its proceedings, the Clinton Township Board of Trustees was still scheduled to meet Tuesday night, according to Clerk Kim Meltzer.
Meltzer, a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, said township officials are taking the advice of their own attorney as well as attorneys with the Michigan Townships Association, which state the remote meetings can go on as scheduled.
“We have been told that we still have to abide by emergency orders issued by the Michigan Department of Health and have everyone keep a safe distance from one another,” she said.
“At our board meetings, we may or may not be able to accommodate that depending on how many people show up. We don’t want to be ‘OK, you stand outside’ while saying ‘you can come in’ to someone else.”
“This is one of the unforeseen consequences of Monday’s Supreme Court action. The governor’s emergency orders and various acts over the past couple of months suspended certain parts of the Open Meetings Acts owe could hold open meetings on Zoom. Until we are sure that having a virtual meeting is legal, we are cancelling city councilmeetings.”
— Warren City Council President Patrick Green —