By Jim Bloch
Even before Deputy City Clerk Kelsey Roelens took attendance at the regular city council meeting Feb. 24, Mayor Anita Ashford asked that a resolution of censure against City Manager James Freed be added to the agenda. In response, city council member Jeff Pemberton asked that a resolution in support of Freed be added to the agenda.
After several tense moments during the Feb. 10 council meeting, Freed accused Ashford of insulting City Clerk Cyndee Jonseck, no evidence of which could be found on the recording of the meeting. Freed then walked out of the meeting before it had been formally adjourned.
“You don’t walk out on your public or your council,” said Ashford, as heard on the recording of the Feb. 24 meeting posted on YouTube. “But the last thing I want to do is divide our city.”
In what appeared to be a semblance of unity, the council took no action on either resolution.
“I don’t want to vote on either of these,” said council member Barbara Payton. “I think they divide us, and we need to come together.”
Payton moved to table both resolutions but received no second.
Ashford’s resolution of censure died without a motion of support. After lengthy discussion, Pemberton moved to withdraw his motion.
Freed expressed contrition.
“I have great respect for Mayor Ashford,” Freed said. “You have my pledge, Mayor Ashford, to work with you.”
The question of race never came up formally but percolated under the surface of the interaction. Ashford is Black. Freed is white.
“Anita Ashford was elected mayor,” said resident Mary Williams. “Get over it. Get over it. Help her out when she needs help. Stop talking over her when she’s asking a question.
Keep your mouth shut until she gives you the go-ahead. Let’s move the city forward. Let’s stand behind her.”
Most of the dozen residents who spoke during public comment urged the council members to quit quarreling among themselves.
“I’d like it to stop,” said one woman.
“It’s critical that we get through these differences we have right now and look for what’s best for the city of Port Huron,” said a developer.
“A city divided cannot stand,” said another.
But is the acrimony between Freed and Ashford over?
Ashford suggested at the end of the meeting that there were other things going on behind the scenes that she had not yet made public.
Pemberton kept reiterating his support for the mayor but then said that Ashford’s lack of communication with him and Freed was “preventing us from being a cohesive body.”
Mayor Pro Tem Sherry Archibald said that she did not support either resolution but added that she “would not sit up here and publicly ridicule or humiliate our city manager for the sake of a show.”
It did not appear that Ashford saw her resolution to censure Freed as “a show.”
Her resolution asserted on Feb. 10, Freed exhibited “unprofessional and disrespectful behavior toward Mayor Anita Ashford, the city council and citizens of Port Huron.” Freed “violated parliamentary procedure and meeting rules, the personnel manual of the city of Port Huron and his employment contract which requires the city manager to conduct himself with highest standards of … integrity, professionalism, accountability and transparency.”
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com
