WARREN, Mich. (WWJ) – Mayor Jim Fouts has filed a lawsuit against the Warren City Council, claiming they did not follow proper procedure when adopting the 2021-2022 budget, a violation of the Warren City Charter.
While Fouts said he was disappointed he had to file the lawsuit, he claims he was forced to because “we can’t get anything done in Warren.” The mayor says he simply wants the judge to get the city council to follow the process “so that we can all better serve and protect the citizens.”
Fouts was taken to court over the handling of the 2020-21 budget, claiming he published the incorrect budget on the city’s website and followed that instead of the one that had been approved by the council.
Last year, the City Council again did not approve the mayor’s proposed budget, but instead made multiple amendments and the council passed its own budget. The mayor’s “recommended budget” for this year still remains on the city’s website.
In an interview with WWJ on Thursday, Fouts said the council’s decision to pass its own budget has created “chaos and conflict.”
He likened their decision to do so Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“One of the key essences of this budget process is that it involves compromise and instead it’s like a unilateral approach,” Fouts told WWJ’s Brooke Allen. “It’s almost like what Putin has done in Ukraine, where instead of negotiating with Ukraine and other governments, he’s taken a unilateral step and said ‘I’m taking over Ukraine and disregarding the problems involved in chaos and conflict and human tragedy.’”
He says that’s what the council has done – chosen “not to compromise, just take a unilateral, inflexible approach without following the process.”
Fouts also alleges the council talked directly to department heads in regards to the budget, instead of going through him. He says that’s in violation of the city’s charter.
Fouts’s lawsuit comes as the Warren City Council this week announced it has launched Rehmanm Corporate Investigative Services (CIS) of Troy to audit the Downtown Development Authority.
The council says they had reduced the DDA’s proposed budget of $615,000 to zero, but Fouts ordered that money to be transferred anyway.
Fouts says the lawsuit poses five major questions he wants answered by the court:
• Can the Warren City Council unilaterally amend the mayor’s recommended budget?
• Must the council consider the mayor’s modified recommended budget and put it on the agenda?
• Has the council violated Sec. 5.5 of the Warren City Charter by directly contacting department heads regarding the budget, instead of him?
• Is Ethan Vinson the legitimate, active City Attorney?
• Is Council’s all-purpose reliance on Plunkett & Cooney proper?
Fouts had appointed Vinson as Warren’s city attorney, but the council has not recognized him as such and has instead relied on the law firm Plunkett and Cooney for services, something he says is a clear violation.
The mayor told WWJ he is still waiting for a judge to be named to hear the case. It was not clear when proceedings will move forward.
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