Warren political turmoil: Mayor faces recall over land bank dispute

This time, the problem was creating a land bank that would enable the city to purchase homes and vacant lots, repair them, and then resell them.

(FOX 2) Warren, Mich.The city council and Warren’s new mayor are at odds over a plan to establish a land bank in the city that would allow it to buy homes and undeveloped land.

The recall attempt is currently being driven by Mayor Lori Stone’s failure to act on the proposal, which was unanimously supported by the local government.

Council members claim that’s because it cost the city a million dollars.

According to Warren Councilman Jonathan Lafferty, “government moves quickly when you have an approved agreement by City Council, and it goes to the mayor’s office, and she had 96 hours to take action.” “If she didn t like it, she could ve vetoed it.”

In August, the council approved the plan. Stone allegedly failed to act quickly enough, depriving the city of the required land bank and a million dollars.

Stone claimed that because she was still unsure of the land bank’s effects, she did not veto the idea.

“I believed that we could have conversations and I needed to have answers to what the fiscal impact is,” she stated.

For locals who might recall the relationship between former Mayor Jim Fouts and the previous city council, it’s a moment of déjà vu.

“It s an unfortunate return to divisive politics in Warren,” Lafferty said.

Disagreement between the two parties resulted in several attempts to remove Fouts from office. When Fouts resigned from office owing to council-imposed term restrictions, Stone took over.

In the most recent dispute, a citizen petitioned this week to start Stone’s recall process. The proposal, she said, was a diversion.

To initiate a special election to recall the mayor, the effort’s supporters need to gather about 13,000 valid signatures.

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