Eric Mays speaks up at city council meeting despite recall petition language approval and suspension being back in effect

By Tanya Terry

The Genesee County Election Commission voted unanimously on Monday, August 14 to approve recall language Flint City Council 1^st Ward Councilman Eric Mays. Mays therefore became the fifth council member who is facing approved recall petition drives seeking to remove them from their positions.

For this to happen, petition circulators must first collect signatures of at least 25% of the number of votes cast in their ward for all the governor candidates in the last gubernatorial election. Then, a special recall election would take place.

The first petition language states: “On July 31, 2023, Eric Mays was suspended from the city of Flint council pursuant to its authority under section 3-103 of the Flint City Chamber.”

The second petition language states: “Eric Mays was convicted of disorderly conduct in Genesee County District Court on March 10, 2023.”

After the county board approved the first two sets of language, the 1^st Ward resident who filed three sets of petition language against Mays dropped the third proposed petition.

Recall language for 2^nd Ward Councilwoman and Council Vice President Ladel Lewis, 4^th Ward Councilwoman Judy Priestley, 8^th Ward Councilman Dennis Pfeiffer and 9^th Ward Councilwoman Eva Worthing has also been approved.

Additionally, on Monday, August 14, Genesee Circuit Judge B. Chris Christenson dissolved an injunction preventing the Flint City Council from enforcing suspension of Mays until September 1.

Mays attended an August 9 meeting while a temporary injunction on his suspension was in effect.

But, also on August 9, the Flint City Council filed a motion to dissolve the judge’s prior order to prevent the suspension.

Among other arguments, the motion made the argument that the Flint City Charter says the council “shall determine its own rules of procedure, may compel attendance of members and may punish its own members for misconduct.”

Christenson’s decision later came over Zoom to side with the council and reverse his previous decision.

Despite it, Mays spoke during the August 14 Flint City Council meeting about the Brownfield Redevelopment Plan for the Flint Commerce Center. Mays said he believed aspects of the plan needed to be looked into more, but the plan was approved by the council.