Lawsuit Questions Grosse Pointe Park's Meeting Practices

Grosse Pointe Park city officials are dealing with a lawsuit filed by a resident alleging decisions about the purchases of residential properties not being made in open meetings. The lawsuit was detailed in the Detroit Free Press Sunday.

The resident, Robert Payne, is joined by Grosse Pointe Shores resident Charles Leahy, in filing the lawsuit in Wayne County.

During the city's most recent city council meeting, the Park's attorney Dennis Levasseur addressed the audience briefly at the end of the meeting. City council members were preparing to go into a closed session to address pending litigation--one of the reasons allowing closed door meetings by city councils--when Lavasseur announced it was not necessary.

The closed session was not on the city's original agenda for the meeting but was included in an updated agenda available at the meeting. Lavasseur stopped the council and said a closed meeting was unnecessary and then continued by addressing the lawsuit filed by Payne and Leahy.

Lavasseur addressed the audience and essentially described the lawsuit as frivilous and not of concern. He said Payne and Leahy, who had been in attendance at the meeting but left near the end, of filing lawsuits as a shell game to collect attorneys fees.

Leahy has drawn attention in the past related to open meetings violations including in Grosse Pointe Park and Grosse Pointe Shores. His complaints in the past have mostly been related to the Board of Review for all of the Grosse Pointe cities.

Last year he filed a formal complaint with the state about the Grosse Pointe Shores Board of Review conducting deliberations behind closed doors after he was repeatedly kicked out of the meeting. .

His complaints yielded changes in Grosse Pointe Park in 2011, where the hearings were previously held in a small conference room that was unwelcoming to the public. Now the Park is holding the Board of Review hearings in a much larger space with more seating.

Lavasseur reported that the city was trying to get the lawsuit dismissed as frivilous, noting that Leahy has frequently accused the city of violating the open meetings act.