East Lansing Council Looking for “Independent” Legal Review of Anonymous Complaint
An anonymous complaint made to the City of East Lansing is the subject of two surprise agenda items for this coming Tuesday’s Council meeting. And it looks like the complaint may have something to do with at least some of the resignations that have been rocking City Hall.
The Council was expected to hold only a budget work session this Tuesday, April 25, starting at 4 p.m. But now the agenda has been changed to show two unexpected items.
The first is a vote on a “Resolution to Approve East Lansing City Council Joint Statement Regarding Anonymous Complaint.” The second is vote on a “Resolution to Approve Contract with Attorney J. Randall Secontine to Conduct Independent Review of Anonymous Complaint.”
No clue is given on the agenda as to the nature of the anonymous complaint. (The resolutions are not currently attached to the agenda.) But it is possible the Council’s actions relate to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by East Lansing Info (ELi).
On the morning of April 12, ELi received through its online portal an anonymous tip entitled “East Lansing Resignations” from a person who identified him- or herself only as “Anonymous Public Servant.”
The message said, “I would recommend you FOIA Anonymous Complaints made to the Interim or Acting City Manager going back 3 months. There is at least one that will add a great deal of context over why a lot of the executive leadership has left the City.”
ELi has been steadily tracking the substantial wave of resignations in City Hall. While FOIA requests have turned up exit interviews with lower-level employees showing a variety of reasons for departures, FOIA requests have resulted in no exit interviews with top staff. At last Tuesday’s meeting, Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro discussed possible methods for trying to retain more employees and said another resignation is coming soon, though he did not say whose.
Responding to the anonymous tip, on April 12, ELi filed a FOIA request to see “All anonymous complaints made to the city manager, acting city manager, and interim city manager since Jan. 1. 2023.”
On April 19, we received a response from the City saying, “Because of the need to search for and retrieve records, notice is hereby given that the City will require an additional ten (10) business days to respond to your request.” The request deadline is now May 3, 2023.
Yet it appears Council has seen at least one of the anonymous complaints for which ELi has been told by the City to wait, based on this week’s agenda.
At its meeting last week on April 18, Council went into closed session to discuss “an attorney-client privileged memorandum” on an unspecified matter with City Attorney Tony Chubb of the firm Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton, P.C. We can’t know whether this was related.
Secontine, the person poised to be hired for the review, is an attorney in independent private practice with a history in criminal defense law. To ELi’s knowledge, he has not previously done work for the City of East Lansing, and it is not clear how or why he was suggested for this task.
Recognizing the City has obviously located at least one anonymous complaint of the type we asked for via FOIA, ELi has today requested of City Council immediate release of that anonymous complaint.
Tuesday’s agenda also includes passing of a resolution proclaiming May 1 “Law Day” in East Lansing. This is a nationally celebrated event dedicated to appreciation of the law.
This is a developing story and may be updated.