Dearborn Heights council holds closed session on legal matter, follows legal counsel recommendation

The Dearborn Heights City Council moved into a closed session on June 11, 2025, to discuss a pending legal matter and, after returning to open session, voted to follow the recommendation of the city's legal counsel.

The action came during a special meeting called to order at 5:35 p.m. Councilman Hassan Ahmad moved that the council "move to our closed session at 05:38PM so that the city council may discuss the legal case"; Councilwoman Nancy Bridal seconded the motion, and the council approved it by voice vote. The council returned to open session at about 6:16 p.m. after the closed discussion. Councilman Ahmad then moved that the council "go with the recommendation of the legal counsel," a motion seconded by Bridal; the motion was approved by voice vote.

The meeting record shows a standard roll call at the outset. Councilmembers present included Hassan Ahmad, Moe Beydoun, Nancy Bridal, Denise Maxwell and Hassan Saab; Robert Constant and Tom Winslow were noted as absent. Mariana, identified in the meeting as the city's chief of staff, led the pledge of allegiance. The clerk conducted roll calls before and after the closed session. No public testimony or extended public discussion on the legal matter was recorded in the open portions of the meeting.

According to the transcript, the motion to enter closed session referenced a legal case by name, but the recorded phrasing of the case in the transcript was unclear. The council did not state any further details in open session about the substance of the closed-session discussion. The only formal, recorded open-session direction was the council's vote to adopt the recommendation provided by legal counsel.

Following the vote to adopt counsel's recommendation, Councilman Hassan Saab moved to adjourn; the motion, seconded by Councilwoman Bridal, passed by voice vote and the special meeting was closed.