Salem Township settles free speech suit with ACLU

The ACLU sued on behalf of residents Robert Uherek and O’Neill Muirhead in U.S. District Court in March 2008. The residents said their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated during the incident. Salem Township and Supervisor Fred Roperti were named as defendants.

Attorneys also said the incident violated the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Last May, the court denied a motion to dismiss the case, which led to this weeks' resolution before trial.

Terms of the settlement specify the township will pay $27,500 to the ACLU and its clients. It also required the township to adopt a resolution, passed by the board Tuesday evening, pledging to “respect the First Amendment rights of its citizens” and to tolerate critical remarks.

“If the First Amendment means anything, it means citizens have the right to criticize the actions of public officials,” said Michael Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan legal director. “Now that Roperti is gone and there’s a new board, we hope this will be the end of the controversy.”

Bob Heyl was elected township supervisor last November.

The settlement also stipulates that Roperti hand over documents he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and refrain from obtaining the documents again. But Roperti said he will not sign the settlement and has every right to keep the documents.

“There’s information in there that the plaintiffs and the ACLU do not want to go out,” he said. “There’s no question all that stuff will go up on a Web site.”

The documents include depositions made by Uherek, Muirhead and police officials, according to Roperti, who served as township supervisor from 2000 to 2008. He said the settlement also stipulates that the township not release the documents.

Roperti said Uherek and Muirhead have a long history of abusing township board members, and many have been intimidated. 

“They know I’m not, and that’s why they hated me and wanted to get me out of there,” he said.

Roperti ordered Uherek from the board meeting after the 40-year township resident criticized the supervisor’s lack of “openness and transparency.” After police led Uherek from the room, Muirhead challenged the order and found himself also being led out.

An earlier revision to the township’s policy on public comments had already been made in 2007 following a complaint by the ACLU.

Roperti said the remarks by Uherek and Muirhead came at the beginning of the meeting when public comments are allowed only on items pertaining to the agenda. Public comments on other matters must come at the end of the meeting, he said.

The suit noted that between 2003 and 2007, there was “intense public criticism” over such matters as the awarding of contracts, construction of a new township hall and “conflicts of interest and nepotism in the hiring of township office and fire department personnel.”

Muirhead, who has lived in Salem Township since 1956, recalled that when officers led him from the meeting in January 2008, he thought, “Another day in the world of politics.” He said he participated in the suit because the township board was out of control.

“It was a lawsuit that should have never happened if the rest of the board would have taken more control,” Muirhead said. 

He said he believes the board should have immediately censured Roperti and issued an apology.

Uherek expressed satisfaction with the favorable decision, saying, “You must encourage people to participate, not drive them away.”

Ronald Ahrens is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.