Warren ― The Warren City Council has directed its attorney to file a lawsuit against Mayor Lori Stone unless she appoints members to a city commission by July 1.
Stone didn’t appoint members to the city’s Elected Officer Compensation Commission by Oct. 1 last year, which she was required to do under state law, said Warren City Council Attorney Jeffrey Schroder. The commission is supposed to meet every odd year to determine the salaries of Warren’s elected officials, though Stone said the city’s previous mayor didn’t do that and he wasn’t sued.
“This is about principle,” said City Council President Angela Rogensues at Tuesday’s council meeting. “It’s a law. It has to be done. … I believe it’s important that we move forward and move this item to some court action.”
The council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct its legal counsel to draft whatever documents are appropriate for a lawsuit. Schroder said that if Stone doesn’t appoint members to the Elected Officer Compensation Commission by July 1, the council will pursue legal action “just to enforce state law.” Schroder would file a complaint in Macomb County Circuit Court for a writ of mandamus, which is a court order that would make Stone appoint the members.
Stone said in a statement that she will be watching closely as “there is no precedent for City Council to take these actions.”
“The last two City Councils did not take legal actions against my predecessor, when Mayor Fouts did not seat the Election Compensation Commission in 2019, 2021, and again in 2023,” she said. “I am left wondering what is different?”
The vote on Tuesday is the latest clash between the City Council and the mayor over the commission.
This past winter, the council voted to authorize a subpoena to the mayor for documents relating to the Elected Officer Compensation Commission. At a March council meeting, City Council Secretary Mindy Moore called for the council to pursue possible misdemeanor charges against Stone if she is found to have violated laws by not appointing people to the commission.
Schroder said state law says that the mayor shall make the appointments, and the appointees shall meet during odd numbered years. The commission didn’t meet to set the salaries of elected officials last year because Stone didn’t appoint members to the body.
Schroder said the commission can’t act again until next year, but the council “wants the appointments done.”
“The council just wants to get ahead of this,” he said, “so the commission is ready to act in 2027 and do its job.”
Schroder said July 1 is the deadline for appointments because the council doesn’t want to “rush to the courthouse to solve this problem.”
“The council thinks the city should work out its problems with the mayor internally,” he said, “and that’s why they’re giving her an extraordinary amount of time to figure this out.”
A similar situation occurred in 2024, when Stone failed to sign a land bank agreement by the deadline set by the City Council. Soon after the council filed a lawsuit against Stone, she signed the agreement.
When asked earlier this year about not appointing commission members, Stone said she believed at the time that it “would be inappropriate” to move forward with a process “that could be perceived as seeking changes to elected officials’ compensation” while the city was asking residents to approve a police and fire millage renewal. The renewal was approved in November.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Warren council members plan legal action against Mayor Lori Stone
Reporting by Anne Snabes, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
