It all started with two Wayne State University students from an investigative journalism class who were assigned to look into the controversial Riverside land swap involving billionaire Matty Moroun.
Joe Guillen of the Detroit Free Press writes that the students went to Mayor Mike Duggan's office May 12 and 14 to get records of the deal, but were repeatedly denied access to the contract even though the contract they wanted is a public document that had been signed by Duggan more than a week earlier.
Guillen reports:
A receptionist in Duggan’s office, after discussing the students’ request with communications director John Roach, told the students on May 14 that the contract was not public, because it had not been submitted to the City Council for approval.
“Young man, one of the things I shared with you is until it is submitted to City Council, it is not a record or document until that point,” receptionist Kitty Whitfield told the students after speaking to Roach, according to the students’ audio recording of their May 14 visit.
The exchange puts into question Duggan's vow of transparency.
The Freep writes:
Although Duggan has pledged more transparency in Detroit government since taking office in 2014, lawyers who specialize in open records law said withholding public records until they are sent to City Council is inconsistent with Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act — the law that provides citizens with access to public records. There is no provision in the state law that exempts public records from disclosure based on which branch of government is in possession of the records.
Yet Duggan seems to have set a policy that the City Council gets contracts such as the Riverside Park land transfer before the public, even if those contracts are public records.
Duggan's office acknowledges that the contract was a public document, but defends the practice of withholding such documents it concedes are public.
“Mayor Duggan has worked hard to build a relationship with City Council based on mutual respect. This administration always shows the Council the respect of sending any proposed contract first to the City Council as soon as it is final, and then releasing the document publicly,” the statement from Duggan’s office reads.
Robin Herrmann, a Michigan Press Association attorney, told the Freep: “I would be concerned about a situation where any member of a public body would withhold public documents until a particular other person saw them.”
The Freep reports that Duggan announced the agreement with the Moroun company on April 29 to transfer part of Riverside Park in southwest Detroit to the Detroit International Bridge Company. The mayor signed the deal on May 4 and it went to the City Council on May 14 in the afternoon after the students visited Duggan's office. On July 28, the council approved the transfer of land.
One of the students, Alex Franzen, editor of the South End, the student newspaper, said told the Freep that he felt the mayor’s office unfairly hindered the class’ analysis of the deal. Despite that, the class published story on the deal on The South End’s website.