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Clawson council votes to waive privilege and place Act 317 legal opinion on next agenda
Summary
After public questions about transparency, the council voted to waive attorney-client privilege for a written legal opinion interpreting Public Act 317, voted to add it to the next agenda to receive and file, and confirmed the opinion will be available through FOIA.
Councilors on Jan. 6 moved to waive attorney-client privilege for a written legal opinion that interprets Public Act 317 and to place that opinion on a future agenda to receive and file.
A resident raised concerns in public comment about the opinion’s availability and whether the city attorney had labeled it privileged. City Attorney Neuschein explained that lawyer-client communications are privileged unless council votes to waive that privilege; he told the council, “Council could very well have a motion right now to say we waive the privilege. Motion, second, vote and off we go.”
Councilor Tinlin (and other councilors) proposed a motion to waive privilege for the Act 317 opinion and to add the written counsel opinion by Attorney Cara Crofton to the next meeting packet so it could be received and filed. Council voted to approve the motion; the city clerk noted that, once privilege is waived, citizens can obtain the document through the city’s FOIA process.
City Attorney Neuschein and the clerk explained how FOIA applies to privileged communications: absent waiver, the written opinion remains an attorney-client communication and is not subject to FOIA. Under the council’s motion, the opinion will be placed on the next agenda and will be accessible to anyone who files the appropriate FOIA request or after the council receives and files it at a future public meeting.
Council framed the vote as a transparency step while preserving the formal FOIA process for document release.
