Warren City Council Ordered by Court to Pay Legal Bills – Taxpayers Pick Up the Tab
Total Cost to Taxpayers of City Council Initiated Legal Action in First 65 Year History of Warren? $0
Total Cost to Taxpayers of Current City Council Gang of 5 Initiated Legal Action? Over $600,000 and Climbing!
Warren, MI – On August 8, 2022, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Julie Gatti Issued an Order to Compel Payment for lawyers associated with legal action initiated by the Warren Council. She took this action because the City Council had been refusing to pay bills accrued as a result of their actions. Last night the Council finally paid the latest installment on the tab, totaling over $200,000. This pushes the total cost to taxpayers of this council’s legal actions over $600,000. The total cost of legal action initiated by city council in the entire history of Warren prior to this council is $0.
Mayor James Fouts issued the following statement addressing this needless waste of scarce taxpayer money:
“While Warren residents are struggling to emerge from the pandemic and are dealing with skyrocketing costs due to inflation, the Gang of Five on the council, Green, Moore, Lafferty, Watts and Rogensues, continues to waste valuable taxpayer resources,” said Fouts. “I’ve been saying since the Gang of Five took office that they seem to be hostage to their handpicked lawyer and the Plunkett Cooney law firm which has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of this council’s continuous legal action. Clear evidence of this is the fact that no previous city council in the history of our city has spent $1 dollar on outside legal bills to be paid by residents, but the Gang of Five has driven the resident’s legal tab north of $600,000 in less than three years.
“The people of our city deserve so much better. While the Gang of Five continues to rack up legal bills, they are failing to address needs that support our residents like maintenance of our parks, the new downtown, needed training and equipment for our police and fire departments, and many other aspects of our city life that don’t include paying their expensive law firm,” Fouts continued.
“This is the fourth city council that has been empaneled since I’ve been mayor, but the first that has ever sued the city. I have worked together in a constructive manner with each previous council to achieve agreement and solve problems so our city could move forward. The fruit of that hard work was found in the 2020 census which showed Warren had achieved population growth for the first time in 50 years as we worked together to make our city strong. That momentum is now being squandered by the Gang of Five which refuses to take any action that doesn’t include litigation and more large bills paid to their handpicked attorney. Enough is enough, the Gang of Five needs to end the litigation, stop sticking the taxpayers with the bills, and work with me and the other members of the council to move our city forward,” Fouts concluded.
