The Detroit City Council held confirmation hearings on February 5, 2026, for seven mayoral appointments requiring council approval: Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallet, Chief Financial Officer Tanya Stodemyer, Planning Director Alexa Bush, Housing and Revitalization Director Julie Schneider, Police Chief Todd Bettison, Fire Commissioner Charles Sims, and Human Resources Director Denise Starr. The council also briefly discussed the proposed Executive Organization Plan (EOP). The meeting began with public comment and included individual interviews with each appointee, followed by votes.
Madam Clerk, will you please call the role? Councilmember Scott Benson. Scott Benson. Councilmember Letitia Johnson. Councilman McGindsil McCampbell. Present. Councilman Renetta Miller. Councilman Gabriela Santiago Mero. Present. Councilmember Mary Walters, President. Councilmember Angela Woodfield Callaway. Council President Coleman. Here. And Council President James Tate. You have a quorum, President President. Thank you so much. We have a quorum, which means we're now in session, colleagues. Uh today and to the public. These are the confirmation hearings that we have for the seven individuals who are being appointed by Mayor Sheffield that require uh city council approval. Uh we're going to uh have a number of discussions uh with these individuals, interviews if you want to call them that. Um but before we do that, we're gonna start off with public comment. If there's anyone from the public who would like to speak, please raise your hand now. If you're either in the committee of the whole or at home, please raise your hand now. If you want to provide public comment, raise your hand now. Going once, going twice, going three times. The collection of public comments have now concluded. Uh, we're also going to have a brief discussion about the EOP that has been presented to us as well. Noting again, when I say brief, it is going to be brief because the major discussion is going to take place in uh IOS in the committee. Okay. All right. We'll now go into public comment. How many callers do we have online? Five. Okay, we got five, and we have how many in public? Just in person? One. All right, so the text is a six. So we're gonna give uh everyone two minutes for general public comment. We'll start off with Mr. Barrett. The floor is yours, sir. Yeah, Adam Barrett, Southwest Detroit. Um I oppose the reappointment of Duganera artifact con Conrad Mallet. Um we have a record high amount of settlements costing taxpayers. Uh we've spent millions on solar farm lawsuits, countless indemnifications for cops, and other wasted lawsuits. Um it was instrument, he's instrumental in the nuisance abatement program, which has been a weapon for land theft from black detroiters. Meanwhile, he's dropped city uh lawsuits against slumlord speculators. Uh he stood in the way of important grassroots reforms and served as the legal hitman who dug and called out to kill anything that threatened the corporate gravy train in the in Detroit. Um he refused to hand over documents to the investigator general in the Antoine Bryan ethics investigation. Uh he recently said that he would not investigate uh DPD cooperation with ICE.