Residents removed from City Council meeting
President requested ouster by police officers
Warren City Council President Angela Rogensues requested that two citizens be removed from Tuesday’s meeting by Warren police after they continued to speak past the three-minute time limit during audience participation.
Residents Jerry
Bell and Joel Vanderlinden both questioned why Rogensues did not give a one-minute warning prior to the expiration of their three minutes and continued to talk beyond the limit. Vanderlinden said Rogensues allowed residents at prior meetings to speak beyond three minutes and told the council president she had “lost control” of the meetings.
Rogensues told Bell, who spoke before Vanderlinden, council is not obligated to give residents a warning as to how much time they have left to finish speaking. His offering was critical of the council and in particular, Council Secretary Mindy Moore who he accused of bullying Mayor Lori Stone and former City Attorney Ethan Vinson.
“I don’t have to give a warning, Mr. Bell,” Rogensues said. “Your time is up; please have a seat.”
Bell finished his comments and told the City Council members to “have a good night” before sitting in the front row of the Warren Community Center auditorium directly behind the podium. It was after Bell was seated that Rogensues
told him to leave the meeting, then called for the police to remove him.
“Mr. Bell, you can leave the meeting,” Rogensues said after calling the next resident to the podium. “You are welcome to leave now; I am asking you to depart the meeting.
“If you are not going to follow directions you are not going to be welcome in this meeting.”
Bell responded he was seated and was not being disrespectful toward the City Council. Rogensues countered he already had been disrespectful and “if you do it again you will not be welcome in the meetings.”
“Oh, you would like that, wouldn’t you?” Bell said.
At that point, Rogensues called for the police to escort Bell from the auditorium.
Warren City Council meetings have two opportunities for residents to speak; one at the beginning of the meeting where speech is limited to items on that night’s council agenda and one at the end of the meeting where residents may speak about any topic.
Rogensues prevented Bell from speaking after he approached the podium during the first agenda-only session because he would not say which agenda item he was addressing. She told Bell he was welcome to speak during the second audience participation session.
Vanderlinden also spoke during the second audience participation session on a variety of topics and challenged Rogensues for not giving him a one-minute warning.
“You didn’t stop no one from talking for five minutes at the last council meeting,” Vanderlinden said. “You broke the council rules that this council agreed to and let people come up and talk without properly filling out the (registration) sheet.”
Rogensues then called for Vanderlinden’s removal.
“I’m going to have to ask the police to come and help you have a seat or you are not going to be welcome here as well along with Mr. Bell,” Rogensues said.
Vanderlinden continued to speak.
“I will leave, but you are not going to kick me out of this meeting,” Vanderlinden said.
Rogensues did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is not clear if City Council policy going forward will be to remove any resident who speaks beyond the three-minute time limit or if the council president will no longer warn residents when they have used two minutes of their time and simply alert them when their complete three minutes has expired.
Many public bodies have a specific time limit for individual speakers during audience participation. Some have a digital time clock visible from the podium so that speakers can keep track of their time.
In 2022, four Eastpointe citizens filed a federal lawsuit against then-Mayor Monique Owens alleging their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when they were not allowed to speak during audience participation at a city council meeting. The citizens were interrupted while speaking and told not to speak and at least one was threatened with removal from the meeting.