Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – The court case Mayor Bill Bazzi brought against Act 78 Police and Fire Civil Service Commissioners Stephen Lobkovich and Stephen Popp was dismissed Aug. 28, following a settlement.
Michigan Act 78 of 1935 established a Police and Fire Civil Service Commission for cities, villages and municipalities with full-time paid fire or police department employees, and it provides exams and investigation into fitness for appointment, employment and promotion. It also deals with the transfer, reinstatement, suspension and discharge of police officers and firefighters, and prescribes penalties and remedies.
The Dearborn Heights Act 78 commission found itself at the center of the controversy as a result of Bazzi’s firing of former Police Chief Mark Meyers. Bazzi contends that as mayor, he has the right to remove the police chief without cause, citing that the police chief is an at-will appointment.
Meyers, however, said he joined the department under the Act 78 provisions, and was promoted to every position, including police chief, through the actions of the Act 78 commission.
When the city’s Act 78 commission acted to reinstate Meyers, Bazzi did not respond to the commission decision. Instead, he sent a letter on Dec. 2, 2022, to Lobkovich and Popp saying he was suspending the city’s Act 78 Commission meetings because he could find no mention of the city adopting the Act 78 commission.
Bazzi, not the city of Dearborn Heights, initiated the suit against the Act 78 commissioners. Therefore, the mayor could drop the suit without a vote of the City Council.
However, the mayor cannot approve the payment of a settlement to the Act 78 commissioners without the approval of the council.
Since it does not appear that the mayor obtained the relief he sought through the lawsuit, it could be seen as a positive outcome for the Act 78 commissioners. However, the terms of the settlement are unclear.
According to legal experts, there are three likely outcomes.
• If the lawsuit was dismissed without relief to either of the parties, the Act 78 commissioners could see it as an outcome in their favor, since they did not lose anything and the mayor did not gain anything. Since the city settled with Meyers for an undisclosed outcome, a legal declaration in favor of the Act 78 commission would be moot.
• If a deal to settle with the Act 78 commissioners was established, they could have received legal fees and court costs, for which the City Council would have to approve the payment.
• Likewise, a deal could have been made to settle the case, with the commissioners again receiving relief for their legal fees and costs. The City Council’s public approval of the deal could have been worded vaguely in open session, following a closed session, to prevent those watching the meeting from understanding what was approved by the council.