Steve Neavling
The city of Detroit is violating the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.
The city of Detroit has a transparency problem.
In a little more than a year, the city has either ignored Metro Times’ Freedom of Information Act requests or taken months to respond, despite a state law that requires records to be produced within three weeks.
In September 2022, reporter Eddie B. Allen Jr. requested records about a 2008 arson from the Detroit Fire Department and Police Department. For nearly two months, the city said it was working on the FOIA request. But by the end of October, the city stopped responding to questions about the request.
On April 5 of this year, Metro Times editor Lee DeVito wrote an appeal to the city, noting that the request was made nearly seven months earlier.
“The City of Detroit, the Detroit Fire Department, and the Detroit Police Department have all utterly failed to fulfill their obligations under FOIA,” DeVito wrote in the appeal to assistant corporation counsel Ivars Steins, who handles FOIA requests. “In doing so, each has also thwarted the purpose of FOIA, which is to provide the people with ‘full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them.’”
The city never responded.
Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, municipalities are required to respond to a request within five business days. If more time is needed, municipalities can send a written notice extending the time by 10 more business days.
Any public body that “willfully or intentionally failed to comply with this act” is subject to a civil fine of between $2,500 to $7,500.
On Feb. 2, Metro Times requested records to determine whether Stellantis kept its promise to hire Detroiters after receiving tax incentives to build a Jeep plant on the east side. The city failed to turn over the records until April 11, even though it was just a one-page document.
Then on July 14, Metro Times sent another FOIA request for records of the salaries of top city officials. The city didn’t produce the documents until Oct. 6, well past the three-week statutory requirement.
In a written statement to Metro Times on Wednesday morning, Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett admits the city failed to produce records about the arson.
“While it did take us time to track down who had access to those records (some investigative records were with DPD, not DFD), the law department did receive them earlier this year, but admittedly failed to follow through after that,” Mallett said. “I have asked our attorneys to expedite this request.”
In response to the delinquent documents, Mallett said the city takes its responsibilities to produce records “very seriously,” but is often overwhelmed, handling more than 7,000 FOIA requests a year, “many of which can be complex and time consuming.”
“As hard as they try, it's not always possible to meet the 15 business day timeline, although we have made significant progress,” Mallett said. “In some cases there are delays outside of our lawyer's control, such as when departments provide them the responsive records. Despite our best efforts, we do make honest mistakes and try to address them honestly.”
Mallett pointed out that the city reduces the costs to produce documents by 5% for every day the records are late, up to 50%.
Metro Times is not alone in its struggle to get records from Detroit.
In July 2023, Circuit Court Judge Charles Hegarty slammed the city after it failed to disclose records to Grosse Pointe Moving & Storage, despite a court order requiring the city do so. The moving company had filed a lawsuit against the city earlier this year over a FOIA request for information about traffic near Stellantis’ Jeep plant.
"I don't know how to more clearly express the thought that this is a court order, not a court suggestion," Hegarty admonished city officials.
“These documents need to be produced and I can't understand what is going on,” the judge added.
Hegarty expressed bewilderment, saying, "It's possible the city of Detroit needs to sit down, evaluate how it addresses FOIA matters and fix that process.”
In March, Axios reported that the city “ignored” a March 9 deadline to produce documents identifying the potential locations for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Axios eventually received the records in April.
In August 2022, WXYZ-TV reported that the city began redacting police misconduct records that it once fully disclosed.
In 2020, the Detroit Free Press sued the city after it demanded $222,667 to cough up public records related to a city watchdog’s investigation that found Mayor Mike Duggan gave preferential treatment to a prenatal health program. The newspaper’s lawyer Herschel Fink said the city violated the state’s public records laws and suggested the fees and wait times were “clearly intended to chill the public’s right of access to public records.”
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