Dearborn Heights council holds closed session on lawsuit, then votes to follow legal counsel recommendation

Dearborn Heights — The Dearborn Heights City Council moved into a closed session at 5:45 p.m. on May 27 to discuss a pending legal case identified in the meeting as “lehi lion versus Dearborn Heights,” and after returning to open session at 6:21 p.m. the council voted to follow the recommendation of its legal counsel.

Councilman Hassan Ahmad moved during the special meeting that the council go into closed session “so the city council may discuss the legal case of the lehi lion versus Dearborn Heights, which may, include the city council, mayor Bezier, chief of staff Hernandez, and corporation council.” The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote and roll call; the clerk confirmed a six-member affirmative vote to enter the closed session.

Nut graf: The council’s only recorded substantive action tied to that closed session was a formal vote after the session to adopt the legal counsel’s recommendation. The meeting record does not include details of the closed session discussion; the council cited its confidential proceedings and then approved following counsel’s advice as the board’s formal direction.

After the closed session adjourned and the meeting returned to open session, Councilman Ahmad again moved that “the Dearborn Heights City Council to follow the recommendation of the legal counsel in the closed session. That happened in the closed session.” The motion was seconded by Councilman Tom Wenzel and carried by the council. When the clerk conducted a roll-call vote after the initial motion to enter closed session and again after the follow-up motion, the transcript records all members present voting in the affirmative.

According to the meeting transcript, participants who were identified as potentially present in the closed session included Mayor Bezier, Chief of Staff Hernandez and the corporation counsel. The transcript does not include any substantive description of the legal counsel’s recommendation or of the matters discussed during the closed session; the board’s public action was limited to approving the recommendation.

The special meeting opened and conducted routine items including roll call, the Pledge of Allegiance and agenda approval before the closed session; there were no public comments on agenda items recorded. The council adjourned the special meeting at 6:22 p.m.

The council’s public record for this meeting identifies the legal matter only by the phrase used in the motion. The transcript does not provide further documents, motions, or votes that change or elaborate on the legal recommendation the council approved to follow.