The Flint City Council is breaking the charter and the Ethics and Accountability Board must intervene

FLINT, MI (WNEM) – At 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, the Flint City Council will find itself in violation of the city’s charter after once again failing to meet a quorum during a special meeting Tuesday evening.

It was located in the committee room of the Genesee County Administration Building.

The council met to appoint a new 3rd Ward councilor to the seat following the death of Councilor Quincy Murphy.

“Once the quorum is broken and now the charter has been violated, that means the Ethics and Accountability Board becomes involved because we are responsible for ensuring that the charter is adhered to,” said William Harris, vice chairman of the City of Flint Ethics and Accountability Council.

The quorum was broken after Councilman Jonathan Jarrett, Ward 9, left the meeting due to a previous commitment. Councilman Dennis Pfeifer, Ward 8, was absent from the meeting. Councilors Jerri Winfrey-Carter, 5th Ward, and Tonya Burns, 6th Ward, cited safety concerns as reasons they did not attend.

“That safety plan that has been released is vague in content at best. It’s very vague in terms of content, and that’s not me, I don’t feel safe,” Burns said.

Burns referred to a security plan between the city and police, but said this only applied to City Hall and not the administration building, where the meeting took place.

“All we did was add a few more measures to the public safety request that we had to put in place,” said Ward 7 Councilwoman Candice Mushatt. “There is a plan in place and we are working with the Flint Police Department, and also with our city attorney, so we hope this will be the encouragement our colleagues need to show up.”

Now the matter will go before the Ethics and Accountability Board, which will hold a special meeting on Friday. Members are expected to discuss next steps for the council.

“To stay with them and make sure that, hey, you have to appoint. You have to appoint, whether that’s through a special letter, whether that’s by calling them up, whether it’s by having a special hearing, a formal hearing, an informal hearing, whether it’s by sending letters and things like that, our job is to hold them accountable,” Harris said.

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