Flint City Councilman Eric Mays files lawsuit regarding suspension

Flint, MI – Flint City Councilman Eric Mays has filed a lawsuit against the Flint City Council following their meeting on July 31, 2023 where they voted to suspend him from council until September 1, 2023.

The lawsuit was filed in the 7th Judicial Circuit Court on August 1, 2023, the day after the meeting that suspended Mays.

Mays’ attorneys submitted a request for an expedited injunction, meaning they requested that their complaint be viewed more quickly, given the timeline.

“Once again, we find ourselves trying to prevent an injustice from being perpetrated by various members of the Flint City Council,” said Joseph Cannizzo, Jr., one of the attorneys representing Mays, in an Aug. 1 email statement. “The unlawful resolution – Resolution 230236 – which was passed by the Flint City Council yesterday is a disgraceful attempt by the Council to silence its most senior member.”

The suit alleges that suspending Mays was in violation of the Open Meetings Act, which states that, “A person must be permitted to address a meeting of a public body under rules established and recorded by the public body.”

The brief says that in that sentence, the word “person” refers to “persons in both their individual and official capacity.”

The written brief of the suit also references Kate Fields v. Flint City Council, where the council voted in 2021 to keep Fields, a former city council member, from speaking at meetings for 30 days, but still allowing her to vote. The court ruled in Fields’ favor.

Mays’ brief states that the situation in that case is, “nearly identical” to the current situation.

Flint City Council voted 5-0 at its special council meeting on July 31, 2023 to suspend Mays.

The resolution referenced a July 10, 2023 meeting where Mays “shouted profanities at the chair and other councilmembers,” and, “failed to conduct himself with appropriate decorum.”

The suspension resolution language, which was submitted by Council Vice President Ladel Lewis and Councilwoman Judy Priestley, states: “While suspended, Councilmember Eric Mays is prohibited from taking his seat or participating, in any meeting of the City Council or its committees, in his official capacity as a City Councilmember.”

“This is unfortunate that the taxpayers’ time and money is being wasted in this way,” Lewis told Flint Beat in response to the lawsuit.

Lewis, Priestley and Councilmembers Quincy Murphy, Dennis Pfeiffer and Eva Worthing voted to suspend Mays. Councilwomen Tonya Burns and Jerri Winfrey-Carter voted against it and Councilwoman Candice Mushatt abstained. Mays was not present to vote.

City of Flint Communications Director Caitie O’Neill wrote in an email on the morning of Aug. 2 that the city had not been served with the lawsuit.

No date has been set for a hearing.