Lawsuit claims city officials violated Open Meetings Act

Former Director of Public Works Steve Shaya is alleging in a lawsuit that the mayor and city council violated the state Open Meetings Act last November to discuss who should be the city manager of Hamtramck.

By Charles Sercombe
A former department head who filed a Whistleblower lawsuit against the city has another legal beef.
Steve Shaya, the former Director of Public Works, is now claiming the mayor and city council violated the Open Meetings Act by meeting privately to discuss who should be hired as city manager.
The lawsuit was filed in Wayne County Circuit Court in May, but it only recently came to light.
Shaya, a Chaldean-American, has an active lawsuit claiming that various city and elected officials made ethnic slurs against him. He also said that the police department falsely claimed he was involved in a hit-and-run accident in retaliation for him pointing out that while off-duty an officer was operating a tow truck service the department used – an apparent conflict of interest.
In his latest lawsuit, Shaya is claiming:
• On Nov. 7, 2014, Councilmembers Anam Miah, Abu Musa, Mohammad Hassan and Titus Walters met in the city hall office of Mayor Karen Majewski to talk about who should be hired as a city manager.
• They decided to urge Emergency Manager Cathy Square to hire Kathy Angerer, who was – and still is – the Director of Community & Economic Development.
• The group then went to Square’s office in city hall and told her their preference.
• Majewski and Miah then told Square that they did not want John Gabor hired as city manager, and that Angerer had the qualifications for the position. Gabor was a candidate for the job.
• Majewski and Walters also talked about discontinuing using Platinum Landscaping for its services. The lawsuit alleges there were accusations that Platinum was padding its bills.
• Square, the lawsuit says, told them to “trend (sic) lightly” because the company’s bills were clean and it was the lowest bidder.
• The lawsuit says that Shaya was against hiring Angerer and that by meeting outside of an open meeting he was denied his First Amendment right to speak out against it.
• The lawsuit noted that no minutes were taken of the meeting. Shaya is asking for his costs, attorney fees and to impose a $500 fine on the mayor and councilmembers as well as any other “relief” the court finds justified.
It is a violation of the Open Meetings Act for a public body to meet in private unless it’s a closed meeting that is sanctioned under the OMA. A public body is also forbidden to meet as a quorum without first giving advance notice of the meeting.
Asked to comment on the lawsuit, Mayor Majewski declined, saying she can’t because the matter is pending.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney M. Michael Koroi, is filled with misspellings of the names of councilmembers and other city officials.
For example, Councilmember Walters at one point is referred to as “Walker,” Councilmember Musa as “Mousa” and Cathy Square as “Kathy.”
What is not clear in the lawsuit is how Shaya knew of this alleged meeting. Koroi is also part of the law office of Salem Samaan, which is handling Shaya’s Whistleblower lawsuit.
Shaya had been Director of the Public Works until he admitted to former Emergency Manager Cathy Square that he was the uncle of the owner of Platinum Landscaping. Square fired Shaya after he revealed his relationship to the company.
Shaya scheduled and oversaw the work performed by Platinum as well as reviewed its bills.