By TEREASA NIMS
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK – After nearly two years of litigation and a trip before an ethics committee, the City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday to censure fellow Councilman Angelo DeGiulio for his part in a 2012 hallway name calling session.
“I have to do nothing,” DeGiulio said Thursday referring to the censure.
Among the censoring resolution items delivered by the council were suggestions that DeGiulio take anger management, apologize to those involved, reimburse the city for costs and fees, remove himself from committees and not be appointed to new ones.
The resolution said DeGiulio should do the above items, but it didn’t mandate he do any of them. The resolution also included that the council would like to move forward in rebuilding the city.
Councilman Dennis Hayes voted against the censure.
DeGiulio said the resolution isn’t surprising given that only he and Hayes don’t have police officer ties, citing that the other councilors are related in some way to a police officer.
The censure stems from comments made in a hallway after an August 2012 City Council meeting. The comments were made toward Police Officer Wayne Albright, retired Officer Russ Pillar and Pillar’s wife.
While DeGiulio admitted he commented to Pillar, he said he didn’t address Pillar’s wife or the other officer.
“I called (Pillar) the worst cop and later changed that to dumb and stupid in the ethics hearing,” DeGuilio said.
DeGiulio said the trio alleged that he said when people shoot arrows at him, he shoots back, and that he breaks people’s bones if they mess with him.
The 70-year-old councilman has repeatedly denied that.
“I passed two polygraphs,” DeGiulio said.
Months after the incident DeGiulio was found guilty of an ethics violation, but it isn’t clear if that pertained to all the remarks or just the ones he admitted to making.
After the guilty verdict, DeGiulio asked the Wayne County Circuit Court to bar the council from reprimanding him. The case was dismissed in May allowing the city to handle the situation as it saw fit.
“Either way, I’m not relieved, I’m not happy,” DeGiulio said. “It doesn’t matter.”
(Tereasa Nims can be reached at [email protected])