The city’s Board of Ethics is pressing for the release of legal memos it says are critical to its ability to operate independently.
Confidential memos produced by the Detroit Law Department and the Detroit City Council’s Legislative Policy Division explore whether the Board of Ethics can use independent legal counsel instead of an attorney assigned by the Law Department.
Board of Ethics Executive Director Christal Philips said “suppression” of the documents shows the “extreme lengths” to which the board is being prevented from being fully informed. She asked the City Council to vote to release the memos to members of the ethics board and staff.
“Any excuse given for why the board should not see these memos is a bad faith argument to prevent full transparency and hinder the board from doing its job of deciding on the best way forward to obtain independent counsel,” Philips told the council during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting.
“Hiring independent counsel is the single most important factor in ensuring genuine oversight at the city.”
Board members have expressed concern that using attorneys from the Law Department can create potential conflicts of interest when investigating members of the mayoral administration.
Philips said the board hasn’t been able to have an informed discussion, an example of how it is subject to administrative influence over its legal analysis and decisions.
A closed session was held on Feb. 3 for the council to discuss the memos in private. Philips said the full board was not invited to participate and have been blocked from seeing the memos.
“I was deeply disappointed when I had to inform my members and staff that they were prevented from attending the closed session meeting on Feb. 3 to discuss these memos,” Philips said. “I continue to be dismayed by the suppression of documents from the Board of Ethics.”
Miller, who serves on the Internal Operations Committee, said she’s unsure if she would act to make the memos public. But Miller said she is supportive of the Board of Ethics having independent legal counsel.
“Anytime there is oversight, it should be independent,” Miller said. “I support it.”
Funding was unsuccessfully requested by the board last year to hire an independent counsel during budget hearings.
The City Council recently waived privilege on two other previously confidential memos regarding it’s ability to close a concrete crushing facility and interactions between the Detroit Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.