By Jim Bloch
Tensions are reaching a boil in Port Huron between City Manager James Freed and Mayor Anita Ashford.
Freed sent an open letter to Ashford condemning her as “hostile,” “grossly unprofessional” and “nearly incoherent” and accused her of “making false and slanderous statements” and a “failure to govern” ahead of the special meeting set for June 9 at 5 p.m. to discuss the city manager’s evaluation.
According to the city’s website, that meeting has now been cancelled. The regular meeting of the city council is set for 6 p.m.
The letter was dated June 1.
“I wish to formally express my concerns regarding your actions and conduct as Mayor,” wrote Freed. “In mid-April, without any prior notice or discussion with the Council, you entered the City Clerk’s office, handed her a completely new evaluation form, and directed her to mail it to the entire City Council to initiate a performance review of the City Manager. Notably, it had not even been nine months since the completion of my previous performance evaluation. Firstly, this action was grossly unprofessional, as a direct subordinate of mine should have no role in my evaluation process and never has. Secondly, you lacked the authority to direct a city employee to take such action. Furthermore, the Council had not authorized such a review to be performed… Lastly, you never discussed your desire to change the evaluation process or even to begin the process with me.”
During the May 12 meeting, Ashford asked for a discussion of a new performance review for Freed, but none of her fellow council members moved to introduce it.
“(Y)our request failed to gain a motion or support, apparently because you had never discussed the matter with any other member of the Council,” Freed wrote. “They were completely in the dark about what you were seeking…”
Near the end of the meeting, Ashford tried to talk about her proposal, but member Jeff Pemberton’s called for a point of order, arguing that it could not be discussed because the motion to discuss it had failed.
Despite his point of order and City Attorney Todd Shoudy’s explanation that the city council controls the agenda, Ashford said, “I’m going to have my say.”
Freed had left the meeting early to attend a community town hall.
Ashford asserted that the city manager controlled the agenda, which had “been staged to make me look bad.”
Freed called Ashford’s comments part of her “long history of making false and slanderous statements about myself and City staff.”
“(Y)ou falsely claimed that I had somehow controlled and altered the agenda without your knowledge,” Freed wrote. “More egregiously, you told the public audience and live television broadcast that ‘this is the very reason you don’t trust City government.’ You went on to use the words ‘childish,’ ‘antics,’ and ‘child’s play’ to somehow blame me for your own inability to govern.”
Ashford has not publicly addressed the accusations.
Some of Freed’s assertions appeared to veer somewhat from the facts.
Freed accused Ashford of “age discrimination,” which at best appeared to be an exaggeration.
Freed is a 40-year-old white man making more than $168,000 per year. Ashford is 74-year-old Black woman who earns $65 per council meeting.
On Feb. 10, 2025, “you told the public I wasn’t ‘fully grown up enough,’” Freed said.
That night, he accused the mayor of insulting the city clerk, but a review of the recording of the meeting did not support that accusation.
That was the meeting during which Freed packed up his laptop and walked out while Ashford was speaking.
Freed accused the mayor of at least two other instances of slander; he threatened to sue her and demanded an apology.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
