Detroit City Council OKs $100K settlement in whistleblower case against ex-Duggan employees
The Detroit City Council on Tuesday voted to approve a six-figure settlement with a former city employee who claimed in a whistleblower lawsuit that she was fired for reporting violations of federal rules in Detroit's Motor City Match program, as well as claims of city officials deleting emails related to work done on behalf of the Make Your Date nonprofit.
The City Council approved a $100,000 settlement without discussion for Kennedy Shannon, a former assistant director in the Office of Development and Grants. Neither Shannon nor her attorney, David Robinson, could be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
Shannon filed the lawsuit in 2019 against the city, former chief development officer Ryan Friedrichs and former director of grants Katerli Bounds in an effort to show the public the consequences she faced for speaking up, she previously told the Free Press. An attorney for the city, however, said at a hearing in August 2022 that Shannon was fired because she "was not doing her job well" and was repeatedly put on notice for poor performance. The attorney had asked a Wayne County court judge to dismiss the lawsuit, but the judge allowed it to proceed.
"The City still maintains that the actions taken by these employees with respect to Ms. Kennedy were fully appropriate and justified. However, the law department made a decision in the interest of taxpayers to enter into this settlement rather than incur more significant costs in the form of ongoing litigation," Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett said in an email statement Tuesday.
Shannon claimed the city began retaliating against her and searching for ways to terminate her, after she reported some of the Motor City Match expenses were improperly filed and refused to sign off on the packets. Bounds told Shannon she could be terminated for insubordination if she did not sign off on them, The Detroit News previously reported. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also issued a report identifying several components of the grant applications that were out of compliance with federal regulations. As a result, city officials said they updated the program's procedures to address the shortcomings identified in HUD's findings.
Shannon, who was suspended without pay for 30 days in May 2019, allegedly for getting paid while she wasn't working — she said she was getting paid while not at work because she was absent under the Family and Medical Leave Act — said she had contacted the city's inspector general to discuss the issues with the Motor City Match program. And, at a later meeting with an investigator in the inspector general's office, also described how city staffers were improperly ordered to delete emails related to the Make Your Date prenatal health program.
Mayor Mike Duggan came under fire after a Free Press investigation revealed that emails showed the mayor ordered Friedrichs, the city's former chief development officer, to raise money for the program. The same investigation also showed Duggan's former chief of staff, Alexis Wiley, ordered city employees to delete emails to conceal the extent of the city's support for the nonprofit tied to Duggan's now-wife Dr. Sonia Hassan.
Friedrichs, who is married to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, quit his job in 2020 to pursue another role. Detroit's inspector general determined Friedrichs was among one of the city officials who abused his authority by being complicit in a plot to delete city emails.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit City Council approves $100K settlement in whistleblower case
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Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership President Melissa Radovanic supports 'paramount' upgrades to aspects such as electricity, infrastructure, sidewalks and data that will help her organization put on the annual holiday display with a 36-foot-tall animated Christmas tree as the focal point. But she is 'highly disappointed' that the annual Christmas village will be mostly located in the new Park Place walkway, as opposed to being spread throughout the entire property as in the past. NEW CENTRAL PARK NO CHRISTMAS VILLAGE In contrast, Mike Messina, owner of Chameleon Bookstore, said the planned placement of the village buildings is 'wonderful for me' since it will bring visitors right to the front door of his business after the Gazebo Park street is closed and converted into a pedestrian zone. Overall, though, he thinks there 'could have been a lot more grass' in the final design. Numerous city residents, businesses and nonprofits have offered support for the project, believing it will help make the downtown a more inviting place for people to live, work and recreate. But one business located next to the town square, The Write Cup Coffee Shop, is relocating out of downtown, with the owner citing 'park-nado' among the reasons why in a recent Facebook post. State Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, and Republican Party mayoral nominee John DeBartola are among the loudest critics, opposing doing the work at all and expressing that the money could be better spent in other ways. Central Park | Downtown Johnstown View of Central Park and Main Street in downtown Johnstown on Thursday, June 12, 2025. Photo taken from the fifth floor of the AmeriServ corporate office building. Representatives from The Sweet Spot and Roots Kitchen + Juicery, two restaurants located near Central Park, made a video of themselves chained to a tree and questioning why money was being spent on changing the park in a city with a high poverty rate and other needs. They also noted that the time the park is closed for construction with no events taking place will affect their businesses. 'A lot of this is obviously in the eye of the beholder,' Johnstown City Manager Art Martynuska said. 'It's interesting. It's one of those darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don't kind of things. 'There are still folks out there that don't want anything done, still folks out there that wanted the Scape concept, and other folks who are in agreement with the plans that we put forth. Hopefully the compromise will lie somewhere in the middle of all three of those.' Construction is expected to begin around Labor Day. 'Move a project forward' The approved plan includes a redesigned pavilion on a concrete surface, trees and flowers, lawn space, benches, a monuments display and a water feature. A sidewalk dividing the lawn is one of the most noticeable design changes. Clark preferred the 'very spacious grassy area' and 'disagreed' with adding the cement walkway, but said he understood it was put into place under the assumption that people would cut across and make a path anyway. 'I still don't like it, but here we are,' Clark said. 'Sometimes there's compromise that has to go on to move a project forward.' Converting Gazebo Park into a pedestrian walkway is one of the biggest transformations. Messina enthusiastically supports the change that will create a place for people to stroll, sit and spend time together. But, in a Facebook post, The Write Cup's owner viewed it as a potential negative, writing, 'So by closing down our little street more parking will be eliminated and people won't even have the ability to circle the block to look for parking.' All monuments currently in the park will remain, except the historic firemen's bell that will be displayed at the Johnstown Firefighters Memorial Park that is being developed near the Franklin Street Bridge. Central Park | Downtown Johnstown Downtown visitors stop to view the fountain at Central Park in Johnstown on Thursday, June 12, 2025. The bust of founder Joseph Johns, who included the town square in his original design in 1800, is staying, but the faux cannons on either side of the monument will be taken out. The gazebo will be removed, officials said. The Pasquerilla Fountain, which was installed in the 1990s, is going to be transported to Sandyvale Memorial Gardens and Conservancy in the city's Hornerstown neighborhood. 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No Christmas display will be in the park this year due to the pending construction that will get underway after the work is put out to bid and contracts are awarded. 'This year's going to be tough,' Radovanic said. Messina added: 'It's going to be brutal. It will be hard. I'm going to lose Christmas (this year). We all are here. It's a shame, but it can't be helped. It can't be helped.' Radovanic said the partnership is 'pursuing all of our options' in an effort to find a temporary home for the Christmas display in 2025. All of the Central Park work is expected to be completed in time for the 2026 Christmas season. NEW CENTRAL PARK WITH CHRISTMAS 'Change in the plan' The projected total cost is between $6 million and $8 million. Johnstown City Council decided to put that money toward the park from the $30.7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding it received for COVID-19 pandemic relief. 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Central Park | Downtown Johnstown Downtown visitors sit to talk near the Union Veterans of the Civil War statue at Central Park in Johnstown on Thursday, June 12, 2025. All ARPA money needed to be allocated by Dec. 31, 2024; therefore, any funds set aside for the Central Park work must now be spent on that project. ARPA dollars need to be spent by Sept. 30, 2026, a date that was recently moved up from Dec. 31, 2026. DeBartola suggested the city should just return the money set aside for the park to the federal government. Clark considered the idea, too. 'That would just hurt the city so much,' Clark said. 'It would be very difficult to get funding moving forward because we would have proven that we can't even get a project done once we get the money for it. At the point that we're at now, even though I believe from the get-go there was too much money to spend on Central Park and all that, we're past that point. 'We've got to move forward with the project that we have, get something good done for the people even if I disagree with some aspects of it, and move this project forward.' Clark also emphasized that the project needs to remain within budget, regardless of what unexpected situations might be encountered when construction is taking place, 'because the council will not allocate any more money for the park. This is it.' 'Changes in leadership' Scape displayed the general proposed design for the park in August 2023. Since then, City Manager Ethan Imhoff resigned, then Melissa Komar and Robert Statler served as co-interim city managers, before Martynuska took on the position full-time. There have also been three Department of Community and Economic Development directors over the same period. That coincided with what publicly appeared to be a period of inactivity on the project. 'Those changes in leadership just created disruptions,' Huchel said. Messina said he has been 'disturbed' at the pace of the remodel and how the process has been handled. 'It's been a long process,' he said. 'I was on the original Main Street project team (appointed by City Council). We had a big meeting. There was like 25, 30 of us there. We were all excited about it. That was years ago. And nothing happened. We heard nothing for a couple of years. I was very disappointed. Essentially, that was disbanded.' Thaddeus Pawlowski, an urban designer who is originally from the Johnstown region, helped Scape in the early part of the process by soliciting local involvement and keeping the public aware of what was occurring. 'I probably should have been like, 'You know what, I should just stay involved the whole time,' ' Pawlowski said. 'That's on me. I have other things to do with my life, but obviously I care deeply about this project being successful.' Pawlowski added: 'I think, in retrospect, there were some lessons learned. 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