This week, the Flint city council is scheduled to pick a replacement for a councilman who recently died. But whether the council will actually meet remains a question.
Several council members boycotted the last meeting over concerns about safety.
Council President Ladel Lewis said she plans to work with Flint police on a safety plan for future meetings.
“Things been this tense for quite some time. It has hit a head with the gun,” Lewis conceded last week.
The October 14 Flint city council meeting ended when a person in the audience allegedly brandished a weapon during an argument.
Flint city council meetings are often punctuated by shouts and catcalls from the audience directed at council members and others in the audience. Council members nearly as often respond similarly.
City council rules allow for disruptive individuals, including council members and people in the audience, to be removed. But council members say the rules are not applied evenly, leaving some boisterous disruptions to continue to delay meetings.
Last year, a lawsuit successfully knocked down a move to make Flint city hall a “gun-free” zone, claiming the ban violated Michigan’s open meetings law.
Still, council member Tonya Burns said she is willing to attend council meetings.
“But not at the risk of my life; I’m not doing that,” said Burns.
