DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit City council meeting ended abruptly after several people in attendance became unruly.
One man was even cursing at City Council President Brenda Jones.
The meeting ended following a profanity laden statement, when council members stood up and walked out.
As people were leaving there more yelling among those who attended the meeting.
All this after Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan unveiled his budget proposal.
He outlined more money for the rainy day fund, animal control, and pension funds.
Duggan also addressed blight issues and a new program for eligible tenants to have legal representation in eviction proceedings.
One of the bigger focuses was to recruit more police officers to keep the streets safe.
The goal is to hire 400 officers a year.
“Budget increase of $7 million for the police budget and that includes, everything. It includes raising the officers pay to $42,000,” Duggan said.
After the interview with the mayor we heard commotion in the meeting.
Photojournalist Mike Glover ran back in with his camera rolling on the chaos.
That’s when we heard DeMeeko Williams yelling.
He and many others were escorted out. The shouting continued in the hallway.
It started when Duggan left for another meeting instead of staying to hear public comment.
“He never wants to hear the residents speak, he always has something to do.”
Mayor Duggan says he had to leave because he had a meeting with lawmakers to discuss universal pre-K legislation.
We caught up with Williams on the phone to ask why he was upset at council members.
“This would have been a great time for council to display their leadership and they failed. That’s why I’m upset,” he said.
Williams says he wanted city council to hold Duggan accountable for overtaxing homeowners by $600 million.
And with fears over the coronavirus Williams wanted the Mayor to address concerns about water shut offs.
“He needs to come up with a...a solution to stop our city from further damage. So, what happened today, that just made me, as a voter, kick-off a campaign to remove Mike Duggan,” Williams said.
And as for the budget, city council is expected to vote on it in April.
