Melvindale Mayor Nicole Shkira (left) listens as City Attorney Lawrence Coogan speaks about the damaging impact of her actions on the city during the Feb. 4 City Council meeting.
City to lose liability insurance in April
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE – City Attorney Lawrence Coogan publicly critiqued the poor decisions of Mayor Nicole Shkira and the damage he said she has caused the city during the Feb. 4 City Council meeting.
He also said that the only company willing to provide the city with liability insurance will be canceling its contract in April.
Coogan said that over the past several years he has repeatedly voiced his concerns about the governance of the city, and said he represents the mayor, the City Council, the residents and the department heads, and said there are issues that raise concern that must be addressed.
“The city charter is the law of our land and it places certain responsibilities on the mayor, the City Council, the city administrator, the DPW commission, the Public Safety Commission, the Building Department as well as the Fire Department and my office as city attorney,” he said. “The charter specifically states it shall be the duty of the mayor to see to it that all laws relating to the city and all ordinances and regulations of the city council are enforced.”
Coogan said as city attorney, he has the responsibility to look out for the residents, and that he cannot sit back and see the continuing abuses take place that jeopardize the financial well-being of the city.
“Therefore, it is my duty to notify the Melvindale citizens of some problems we have had associated with litigation and particularly as it associates with the mayor, unfortunately,” he said.
Coogan said the mayor is connected to a grievance that is associated with Department of Public Works employees involving calling rates she gave to certain employees.
“The mayor indicates that we violated the collective bargaining agreement, and that simply did not take place,” he said. “She made decisions that did violate the collective bargaining agreement and did violate the city charter.”
Coogan said Shkira took it upon herself to modify the contract and grant financial increases to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees employees, giving select individuals a $2-an-hour raise, $4,000 per year, for a total of $16,000 per year, which resulted in an unfair labor practices grievance being filed last October.
“The mayor received that document filed against the city, and as city attorney, I never received that document,” he said. “There was a hearing back in December and I went to the hearing without the paperwork to even defend the city.”
Melvindale Mayor Nicole Shkira (second from left) speaks during the Feb. 4 city council as City Official Richard Ortiz (left), City Attorney Lawrence Coogan and Mayor Pro Tem Joe Jackson listen.
Coogan said the city cannot operate its government that way.
“I reminded her back in March, May and June that she doesn’t have the authority to grant raises, as the charter speaks to the fact that the city council approves all pay increases and all contracts,” he said. “Her job as mayor is to enforce those contracts, not to circumvent or deny them.”
Coogan said Shkira indicated her reason for approving the agreements after she told the city administrator that she was going to deny the agreement but subsequently changed her mind.
“Now, here we are, more litigation, more attorney fees, more costs,” he said. “When there is a conflict between the mayor and the council, myself as city attorney cannot represent that litigation, which necessitates us going out and hiring more attorneys to litigate this case.”
Coogan said he hopes that “reasonable minds will correct this issue and do the right thing.”
He said it troubles him that Shkira did not discuss paying individuals more to be available for overtime with DPW Director Larrie Ordus or with him as corporation counsel.
“We can’t continue to have all this litigation,” Coogan said. “It never ends, and it gets bigger every day.”
He said the mayor also told former Police Chief Robert Kennaley that he could work from home while undergoing cancer treatment.
“No police officer has ever worked from home,” Coogan said. “They’ve never been allowed to work from home, and it is very difficult to see to it that our city is safe if they’re all at home,” he said. “So, Mr. Kennaley is now filing a lawsuit against the city, seeking his time used for sick time when he was off sick.”
Coogan said the decision by Shkira flies in the face of logic.
He mentioned the city’s moratorium on auto-related facilities, which was instituted by the city council, and now the city is being sued by businesses that have been denied their auto-related facilities.
“The mayor took it upon herself to sign an authorization for another corporation in the city of Melvindale to expand their business into a used car lot,” Coogan said. “So, we are being sued by them for not allowing a used car lot, we’re being sued by the people because we won’t allow it, and we’re on both sides, and the star witness in each case against the city is unfortunately the mayor.”
He said it is frustrating to him as corporate counsel to not be able to defend the city appropriately, and to not have discussion and meaningful dialogue with the mayor.
Coogan said he has been the city attorney for 18 years and has worked for five different mayors and knows what is going on in the community.
“Mayor Shkira and I, outside of these council chambers, have probably had four conversations, maybe five, in two years,” he said. “I normally talk to mayors on a weekly basis, at least several times.”
He said Mayor Pro Tem Joe Jackson was prosecuted criminally, causing additional financial concerns for the city, and said it is worth noting that Shkira testified and the judge warned her that, based on the trial transcripts, that she was evasive and perjuring herself, which is lying under oath, which is a crime.
Coogan said integrity and honesty should always be the guiding principles of any elected official.
He said the mayor was a key witness in the Jackson case, for which the mayor pro tem was exonerated.
Melvindale police officers listen to the Feb. 4 City Council meeting from the hallway outside of the chamber.
Coogan said that recently the city council passed a resolution to have the Dearborn Fire Department provide the city’s emergency response.
However, two weeks ago, when an emergency happened in the city, he said the mayor did not notify or contact the Dearborn Fire Department, as directed by city council, and she went to Wayne County, and Homeland Security came to handle an emergency situation in the city.
Coogan said the mayor’s actions are resulting in multiple lawsuits against the city and more are coming.
“The insurance carrier just notified us that they are going to be canceling our insurance,” he said. “I have warned this situation for two years was coming, so the city will be uninsured at this point, and we are now scrambling to try to find someone to do it.”
Coogan said Liberty, the city’s current carrier, was the only company that would provide liability insurance for the city for the past few years, and it is no longer interested in doing so.
He said it means the taxpayers will have to cover any levies against the city that occur as the result of a lawsuit.
Coogan said he pays taxes in the city, and implied that Shkira does not.
He said the city staff, including the city administrator, the director of the building department, the DPW director and the city attorney could have provided knowledge to prevent these lawsuits.
“You have me as legal attorney, and you don’t even talk to me, and you make situations worse by making decisions that cause litigation in our community,” he said. “I am asking you to please work with the professionals that you have so that we can help this community all together, and let’s all work together.”
Coogan said he grew up in Melvindale, his father was mayor, his grandfather was the first city clerk for 19 years before dying of pneumonia, his grandmother followed as city clerk for 26 years; and he cares about the community.
He said the mayor had a section on the agenda under her comments about AFSCME contract violations which she failed to discuss with him as city attorney.
Shkira said litigation had already begun for the situation.
Coogan asked why the mayor had not contact him or the city manager about the situation, and said the DPW director was not informed about the situation.
“No one is going to say under my watch that I didn’t inform the city what’s going on,” he said. “I have a duty to do so, and can’t just sit back and watch this continue.”
Coogan said it is important to him that things are done correctly and the city charter is followed.
Jackson called for Shkira to step down, citing in part the impending loss of the city’s liability insurance and “a lot of fires that have to be put out.”
Shkira claimed the AFSCME violation could be cleared up before it goes to arbitration.
Coogan said it should be discussed at his office and not in an open meeting.
Shkira said she has lawsuits against the city council for what she claims are misappropriation of funds, and said she is paying for the legal action herself.
She said it makes her job difficult when the people she is supposed to trust don’t communicate with her.
“There are situations that are going on in the city that I was made aware of by other employees,” she said. “It’s disheartening because I should know about these things – they are extremely sensitive situations.”
Shkira agreed that she and Coogan do not talk to each other.
“It’s very hard to trust somebody when there have been things that have taken place during the election, after the election, and he doesn’t really talk to me, either,” she said.
Shkira said their communication is primarily by email, and communication has to work both ways.