Mayor Fouts delivers fiery final State of the City speech

WARREN — Mayor James Fouts blasted his adversaries, lauded his accomplishments, spoke about the future of the city and endorsed candidates at his last State of the City address, on June 22 at Andiamo Warren.

“The gloves are coming off,” said the mayor in the invitation to the speech. His opponents were unphased and pulled no punches, either.

The mayor blasted the Warren City Council, collectively and individually, referring to them as “the dysfunctional, accidental City Council.”

City Council President Patrick Green responded to the mayor’s attacks.

“Obviously, I disagree with him,” said Green. “This was supposed to be a State of City address talking about everything that has happened over the past couple years. And it just comes across as sour grapes.”

Green, along with other council members, were not in attendance and have never been invited to the State of the City address during this term.

The mayor cited an example of how the term limits were first challenged in the court.

“Which only came to be when a shill of (the) City Council challenged the way we select our council. We have two at-large (council members) and we have five (in) districts,” said the mayor.  “Even though previous courts had stated that this is the way to do it, this was fine, 12 years (are the) term limits for at-large (council members), 12 years in the district.

“One shill, who didn’t even make it on the council, went to the court and the court said, ‘OK we’ll hear it.’  Generally, if you make a complaint after the filing deadline, the court says it is too late.”

But Fouts said the court heard the complaint anyway.

“All the incumbents were off the ballot. The only people left for the exception of some minor candidates were this dysfunctional, accidental council,” Fouts said. “They won by accident because the court would not allow us to run new people. I say shame on the Supreme Court. You should have at least allowed new people to run.”

Fouts’ individual thrashings included Councilwoman Angela Rogensues.

“I was profoundly disappointed in her,” he said.

Fouts said he met Rogensues four years ago and she came to him for his endorsement.

“I got the idea that she would listen to me if I contacted her about something,” Fouts said.

An open pit burning proposal needed to be voted on and according to the mayor, on the advice of the Warren Fire Commissioner Wilburt “Skip” McAdams, it was not a good idea to pass this proposal.  Fouts said he contacted Rogensues for her support.

According to Fouts, Rogensues voted in favor of the proposal to permit burning, voted to enact term limits that would adversely affect him and was among the council members who voted to sue him.

“Supporting someone and endorsing them does not mean you are beholden to them and that you make decisions based on the will of the mayor,” Rogensues said. “When you are elected to City Council, you are elected to represent the people, the 137,000 in this city. He is just one of them. And you make decisions in their best interest and what you hear from them. It was not an open burning ordinance or open burning. It was for small backyard pits that families were having anyways. It just allowed the Fire Department to not have to go out and tell families to extinguish the s’mores fire they had in their backyard.

“Additionally, I am a supporter of term limits,” said Rogensues. “This is not a personal attack against him (Fouts). Folks have times when they need to step away. And new and fresh perspectives need to come in. These term limits are aligned with everyone else in the city.”

In response to the mayor’s statement that she was among those on the City Council who were in favor of suing him, Rogensues said, “The times that we had to initiate litigation is because he refused to do his job. For example, he refused to adapt City Council’s budget and as fiduciaries of the city, we are the body in which to approve the budget. The mayor thought it was appropriate to ignore our oath.

“The instances in which he has been taken to court is because the legislative, which is City Council, had to utilize the judicial branch to ensure that the checks and balances on the executive branch, which is the mayor, were actually enforced. Because he believes he can do what he would like. Unfortunately, that is not how democracy works. That is not how government works,” Rogensues said.

The mayor also spoke about the appearance of impropriety in the court system and about lawyers related to judges on the bench who are presiding over cases. He continued with how family lineages and names play a role on the court. He also said judges can stay on the bench more than 30 years and questioned their ability to rule on term limits for others. The mayor also said judges have made inappropriate comments about him having a $3 million dollar war chest and his frequency of litigation.

Recently, the Michigan Supreme Court opted not to hear a Michigan Court of Appeals decision that removed Fouts from the ballot this year.

“I am officially requesting that the (Michigan) attorney general investigate the decisions of both the Michigan state Supreme Court and especially the Michigan Court of Appeals,” said Fouts. “The questionable decision leaves voters at risk that a future legislative body can put forth an unfair proposal. If the attorney general will not do it, I am going to request that we look at having a federal investigation of the court system in Michigan.”

The mayor cited accomplishments of his administration that included the first growth in Warren’s population in more than 50 years. Two new fire stations will be built. The Fire Department just took delivery of a new fire engine and, according to the mayor, will take delivery of two ladder trucks, one in 2024 and the other in 2025. Fouts said the fire commissioner brought EMS transport service back to the city, resulting in $35 million in new revenue.

According to the mayor, McAdams is the first African American fire commissioner in Warren.

“We have the best fire and police departments in the state and even in the country,” Fouts said.

He said Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer implemented naloxone kits for patrol officers, which have saved countless lives from overdose. He said Dwyer also added body cameras for Warren police officers and that the Warren Police Department is now fully accredited. Under Dwyer’s tenure, the department has increased in diversity — women, African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans and Latin Americans.

Fouts said his administration’s accomplishments extended to the business community.  According to Fouts, he negotiated with Gardner White and brought an investment by that company to Warren. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors have expanded operations in Warren. There has been private investment from Ascension Hospital, Kroger, Meijer and other businesses.

In Warren’s neighborhoods, Fouts said plans for a skateboard park are underway and that it will be the best in Macomb County and even the state. Construction of a detention basin will reduce the potential for residential flooding, according to the mayor.

Fouts spoke about what he would like to see in Warren’s future, which includes artificial intelligence and strategies to combat global warming.

“I think it’s (AI is) the future, and I think our city should be the first city to engage in AI. It can help our workers out and it can help our residents out,” said Fouts. “It can make life better.”

He continued, “I think we have to work on proposals dealing with global warming. We need to start encouraging more trees in our city, and more green places atop buildings.”

Fouts ended the State of the City address by endorsing candidates: George Dimas, for mayor, and Sonja Buffa, for city clerk. He showed photos of the six City Council candidates he endorses as a collective, which are Adam Sawka, Dave Dwyer, Gary Boike, Donna Kaczor Caumartin, Britanni Tringali and Daniel Bozek.

“Everybody is calling all of the candidates and saying, ‘Where’s the diversity?’” said Melody Magee, who is also running for City Council.  “Are they still going to not address the lack of diversity at City Hall?”

The mayor gave what he called an “honorable mention” to City Council candidate Jerry Bell. However, Bell did not appear in the picture with the candidates the mayor endorsed for the council.

“If Jerry Bell is your choice, put him on your slate,” said Magee. “If you really care about diversity and equality, you will put that on the slate.”