Findings on Fouts’ appointee sent to AG

Roe criticizes actions of council during past year

After conducting its own investigation into the appointment of Republican political consultant Jamie Roe to a clerical position at City Hall, the Warren City Council announced Thursday it would submit its findings to State Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Roe, who resigned from his job with the city last week, was appointed to the clerical technician position by Mayor James Fouts in March of 2020 for which he was reportedly paid $44,000 per year. The council alleges Roe was working as a political consultant while on the clock for the city and that he called in to several Zoom council meetings using various pseudonyms to criti

cize members of the city council.

In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, the council indicated that information about social media posts made by Roe during normal business hours and links to recordings of Roe speaking at council meetings under assumed names were included in the information sent to the Attorney General’s office. The statement from council said its investigation revealed that more than 100 political posts were made by Roe during work hours, adding Roe was not listed in the city’s employee directory and did not have a city email address.

Documentation provided by Zoom showed that the email jroe23@ icloud.com was used to access council meetings by eight different speakers from September 2020 through March 2021.

“Council members are deeply concerned that Mr. Roe was put on the city payroll to provide political consulting services to the mayor, which would violate the law,” said Council President Patrick Green. “Mr. Roe has the right to speak out, and he has. But the mayor does not have a right to use tax dollars to pay a political consultant that is working for his own political interests. The mayor’s deception and dishonesty by deploying a city employee to use fake identities to further his political agenda is appalling.”

Upon learning of the council involving the Attorney General in its investigation, Roe issued a statement criticizing the priorities of the city council and saying he did not reveal his true identity during some Zoom meetings because of the council’s “attacks on city employees like Ethan Vinson and Amanda Mika.” Vinson is Warren’s city attorney; Mika is the mayor’s executive assistant.

“I watched as the hardworking employees of Warren worked their way through COVID-19 with no diminishment in service while this council did nothing but sue the city, waste taxpayer dollars and attack the administration that was doing its job to serve the people,” said Roe.

Fouts said the council is targeting people in his administration and trying to silence anyone who speaks out against it. He called the continued investigation into Roe “harassment.”

He also issued a statement in response to the council’s actions regarding Roe.

“Their release has misinformation if not blatant outright lies designed to destroy Jamie and anyone who would dare to speak out against this council,” said Fouts via the statement. “Their unprecedented lawsuits against the city will cost at least a half million dollars or more.”