DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Michigan (CBS DETROIT) – Dearborn Heights Police Chief Jerrod Hart has resigned amid a conflict with city council members, Mayor Bill Bazzi announced Wednesday.
Bazzi said he has accepted Hart’s notice of “constructive termination,” effective immediately. He has been police chief since February 2022.
According to a press release, Hart said the firing was a result of “the continued intimidation, retaliation, withdrawal of funding from key positions and other unprofessional tactics that my leadership and I have endured from several members of the Dearborn Heights City Council.”
Director Kevin Swope has been named the new police chief.
“I am devastated by the loss of Chief Hart,” Bazzi said in a statement. “He was a respected key figure in the transformation and improvement of our police operations, resulting in many creative and innovative initiatives that helped protect our community while providing our officers with opportunities for professional growth. He will be greatly missed and I wish him the very best.”
This comes as the city government and council clashed over the approval of the 2024-2025 budget. City services were set to close on July 1 if the council did not approve the budget by then. the board voted 5-2 during a special meeting on Friday to approve, but not before a $75,000 cut in overtime for police officers and firefighters.
In the days leading up to the meeting, council members and Bazzi blamed each other for the delayed approval. Bazzi accused the council of seeking confidential information, such as copies of W-2 forms, and of seeking grant increases for certain people; however, the council alleged that the administration withheld information needed to approve the budget.
Chairman Mo Baydoun told CBS News Detroit that the budget contained discrepancies, including a $2 million deficit, when it was first presented in April.
According to Bazzi, the council violated the city’s own charter by not approving the budget by the first Monday in June.
He said Hart’s resignation “could be the first of a number of organizational changes he will implement within the city’s leadership.”
