05-02-2025
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@ Follow her: @DanaAfana.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit City Council approves $100K settlement in whistleblower case
