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WARREN — An old fight over which events are held on city property was resurrected at the June 10 Warren City Council meeting.
The council unanimously voted for City Council Attorney Jeff Schroder to begin the process of drafting a policy for special events in the city.
Following action by the council last November, there was a moratorium placed on renting city spaces until a more concrete policy was drafted about usage.
The November moratorium attempted to address several concerns, including the long debated “prayer station” in the City Hall atrium. The station did not cater to a particular religion and a separate “reason station” was created for non-religious people. With the moratorium, both stations were removed from the atrium. This has sparked ongoing discourse, both for and against, during public comment at council meetings.
“What we want to do is frame constitutional policy for the use of the atrium to make sure that everybody’s treated uniformly and, in the meantime, reserve the atrium for its original intent, which would be as a government space,” acting city attorney Mary Michaels said at the council’s meeting on Nov. 12, 2024.
The City Council unanimously approved suspending atrium rentals at the November meeting. The suspension was to be lifted following a review by the Downtown Development Authority and a revision of the rules and policies for the rentals.
The issue was brought to the June 10 meeting following an Asian American & Pacific Islanders Heritage Month Celebration on May 17 at the Warren Community Center. Councilman Jonathan Lafferty, attempting to head off accusations of the city giving preferential treatment, drove conversation about the event at the May 20 City Council meeting. He made it clear the policy discussion had nothing to do with the celebration itself.
Lafferty touched on several questions he had for the mayor, regarding things like funding and sponsorship of the event. The mayor’s office responded to Lafferty’s questions in a May 30 letter, which stated the event was spurred by an Asian American student’s request to recognize the federally designated cultural heritage month.
“Following internal review and discussion between the Mayor’s Office, Community
Outreach Directors, and staff from Parks and Recreation, the decision was made to develop a no-cost, volunteer-led, community-accessible AAPI celebration,” the letter states.
Lafferty responded to the letter at the June 10 meeting.
“The explanation cites past practice and precedent and that’s what got us into trouble in the first place,” Lafferty said.
He suggested several requirements for events held on city property: a space to indicate that it is an internal government event, the name of the sponsoring department, the event name and description of purpose, the budget and general ledger account number if applicable, and sign off by the controller and the sponsoring department head.
“We don’t need this to be a burdensome process, but we need to have a check and balance,” Lafferty said.
Following the meeting, Lafferty explained the council’s role with respect to fees to use city property.
“The mayor doesn’t have the authority to waive fees, only the City Council has the ability to waive fees,” he said. “It has to come before us for consideration, if we’re going to waive anything. She’s exceeding her authority by waiving fees and she’s also creating an imbalance by doing so.”
Council Secretary Mindy Moore moved to create a special events ordinance.
“If I have a party at my house, I can invite anybody I want. But in the city, you can’t pick and choose who you’re going to charge or who you’re not going to charge,” Moore said. “It’s just not right.”
Moore’s motion to start work on an ordinance for special events was unanimously approved. The community center and the atrium are set to be included in the ordinance.
“It would apply to all city-owned property,” Lafferty said.
Melissa Melancon, vice president for Warren City Pride, spoke at the June 10 meeting. She said the June 14 event did not use the city’s atrium.
“Warren City Pride is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and we are 100% self-funded,” Melancon said. “We have paid for use of Warren city property, and we have no favors from the City Council, nor from the mayor’s office. There is nothing founded or funded by the city of Warren, and we are complying with all that the city requires.”
Melancon said Warren City Pride spent $11,000 on the event that was either raised or came from the organization itself.
“While last year was sponsored by the Cultural Commission, this year’s event is entirely grassroots organized,” she said. “We would appreciate all the support that our city could give us and not with just token words.”
Macomb County Commissioner Michael J. Howard II, D-District 12, explained that the city’s Juneteenth celebration, held June 21, is an extension of the Warren Cultural Commission’s summer concert series. Howard co-hosted the event in hopes of reaching a broader audience and to provide free meals for attendees.
“I understand the moratorium’s in place, but this is a city event hosted by a city organization,” Howard said, following the meeting.
He added that the event was factored into the funding for the commission’s budget.
“Residents and folks reached out to the Cultural Commission and some other elected officials and said, ‘Can we keep doing this?’” Howard said.
Economic development director appointment denied
Warren Mayor Lori Stone’s appointment for the economic development director position was denied by the Warren City Council at its June 10 meeting.
Tom Bommarito, who is also the director of the downtown development authority, was Stone’s pick for the position.
“Having grown up in Warren, he is a passionate and exuberant advocate for our city,” Stone said at the meeting, after reading a list of Bommarito’s accomplishments.
“I recognize there’s been some lingering concerns stemming from the previous administration, but I view this as a fresh start and an opportunity for us to work together to move Warren forward in a positive way,” Bommarito said.
Members of council did not believe Bommarito had the time to juggle his duties as DDA director with the proposed appointment. There were also members of the audience that criticized the appointment. Resident Lori Harris raised concerns about Bommarito’s time as DDA director during the administration of Mayor Jim Fouts.
“The mayor can appoint who she wants, but she’s waited a long time to appoint him, and I don’t think he’s worthy of this position,” Harris said.
The denial follows other mayoral appointments contested by the City Council. The building and safety engineering director, fire chief and fire commissioner appointments have all received pushback from council members.
At the meeting, Councilwoman Melody Magee made a motion to table the appointment to get more information. None of her fellow council members lent support to the motion. She was the lone vote against denying the appointment.
