The Games This City Plays

We’re hearing from a lot of readers who are outraged that the City’s Planning Director put up a major public asset for sale on eBay and told only a handful of people. (If you haven’t been following that story, you can read the latest here.)

The outrage has two bases: a feeling that the City picks favorites, and a concern that the City might have gotten less than top-dollar for the property when an income tax has just been instituted to deal with what we’ve been told is a major financial crisis in which every dollar counts.

For me, as the lead investigative reporter on this story, the challenge has simply been getting information out of the City. I started asking questions before the City Council voted to enter into the purchase agreement, but was brushed off by the Mayor. I tried again this week, and was brushed off by the Mayor again.

Two rounds of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have meant that we could bring you two rounds of findings (here and here). But even with that, there are many questions that have not been answered by City leaders.

This tooth-pulling is pretty much par for the course under the leadership of Mayor Mark Meadows, City Manager George Lahanas, and City Attorney Tom Yeadon. They talk about transparency. Sometimes Lahanas even makes moves towards transparency – as with the institution of a new FOIA system (which we praised) and his stated interest in expanding video recording of Council meetings (which we reported).

But in general, our experience is that key information is hidden from the public until it is too late for the public to weigh in, or in some cases, forever.

Take for example what another recent FOIA showed us with regards to deliberations over the City Manager’s contract.

Out of the blue, a Friday afternoon agenda showed up a contract renewal for Lahanas, who has come under criticism for multiple issues. We had to scramble to let the public know the issue was coming up two business days later for a vote.

Then, when it came time for the Council meeting where the vote would take place, an entirely different contract showed up on the agenda as an “add on” – leaving the public effectively no time to respond, and leaving us no time to report in advance.

I filed a FOIA request to see what had happened between Friday and Tuesday. Those results show what happened: Council worked behind the scenes to negotiate a new contract. (See the FOIA results here.) As so often happens with this Council, the peoples’ business was done behind closed doors, with the people informed when the Council was ready for a 5-0 vote.

That’s not how “open government” in Michigan is supposed to work.

Asked for comment, Daniel Jeon, the Jack Nelson/Dow Jones Fellow for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C., had this to say: “Contract negotiations for public officials should be done transparently in the public, not through private discussions outside of the public’s view.”

Council Members have not responded to questions from ELi about when they’re going to revisit the question of the City Attorney’s contract. We fully expect to be scrambling to report that also too late for you to weigh in.

Weird responses from the City in terms of FOIA requests are also par for the course.

You may recall when the City Attorney effectively claimed that even his letterhead is subject to attorney-client privilege and therefore we can’t see it. We appealed that silliness, and the Mayor caved – in the process moving to award himself more power.

This week at City Council, I asked why the City is giving me FOIA responses with redactions without following what the law says: when there’s a redaction, the cover letter needs to indicate why a redaction is taking place. It needs to name which legal exemption is being used to justify the redaction.

The Mayor said FOIA responses are reviewed by the City Attorney. I said, “It seems hard to believe the City Attorney doesn’t know the law.”

To this, Meadows responded, “I’m not sure he does or not. I think he probably does.”

Meadows and Lahanas told me if I don’t like getting FOIA responses with redactions without explanations for the redactions, I should file appeals.

To whom do I have to file an appeal? Meadows. City Council voted late last year to give Meadows the power to decide FOIA appeals for the City.

This week, I tried asking every member of City Council to look at what I got back with regard to the closed-door negotiations over the City Manager’s contract. I asked them to tell me if, in fact, I was given copies of everything I was entitled to under the law.

The Mayor didn’t like that.

He said he couldn’t answer my simple question – was there anything left out of this FOIA response? – because “Answering one way or another would call into question my ability to make an independent judgment should you appeal.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

There is an alternative, of course. We could sue the City under FOIA law. We haven’t yet done that, because we aren’t interested in costing the taxpayers money when we feel City officials should just follow the law.

Meadows, Lahanas, and Yeadon know that’s our position, and presumably they see it to their advantage.

What’s to your advantage? We really believe in our mission of bringing you the news you deserve. These problematic behaviors in the City just help us – and you – see the importance of a free and independent press for our community. We deeply believe in your right to know. This administration's attempts to intimidate us don't work.

We just keep shining a bright light on important issues, like when the City fires a whistleblower, saying they can't find a job to accommodate disabilities his doctors believe he acquired from unsafe conditions at the City's wastewater treatment plant.

Our Managing Editor Ann Nichols has given me permission to tell you the following:

Tomorrow is my 53rd birthday. If you’d like to help undo the aging this administration has cost me, you could pitch in a few bucks today in honor of my birthday by clicking here. I don’t get paid by ELi, but your support helps keep the entire operation going, and helps me take care of my awesome team. Thank you.