DETROIT (WXYZ) — Six murals painted around downtown Detroit are gaining attention for the wrong reasons. On Tuesday, members of Detroit City Council voted not to pay for the work because of a contract mishap.
The city said Detroit Planning and Development Department Director Antoine Bryant signed off on a contract granting $215,000 to the nonprofit organization behind the six murals.
The work is complete.
Here's the problem: Bryant never presented the contract to city council. That's required by the city charter. City council must review and approve any and all contracts before payments can be made.
Bryant admitted his mistake during Tuesday's council meeting. Wednesday, the city said he wasn't available for comment.
7 Action News did speak with Detroit's corporation counsel, attorney Conrad Mallett Jr.
“It is the city council's responsibility to make the approval. That’s a crucial step that was not done," he said. “Let’s be clear: mistakes occur. This is a billion-dollar corporation. Occasionally, people do make errors."
When asked if the city still has an obligation to pay, Mallett replied, "So right now, in the absence of city council approval, we will not be responding to an invoice submitted by the vendor.”
The vendor is New York-based nonprofit Street Art for Mankind. It hired six muralists from all over the world to fly in and paint the murals.
The artists are not local. Mallet said that’s one reason city council may have voted down the contract, if council had a chance to review it in the first place.
Now, he said the vendor will likely sue the city in circuit court and demand payment because the planning and development director signed off on the contract.
"Our response to that would be, 'Your honor, that contract was not properly authorized by the Detroit City Council and we do not, as a city, have the legal authority to make that payment.' The judge may conclude that services were rendered for which the city of Detroit benefited and then may order the city to make payment," Mallett explained.
Fel’le, a Detroit-based internationally known artist told 7 Action News,“We don’t even mind other artists coming in. Just give us an opportunity. It wasn’t even brought to our door steps.”
He's one of a number of local artists who raised concerns about the project, the artist selection process and the relatively low pay.
Fel'le said he feels for the artists who did the work, but what’s happening now is an eye-opener.
“I think it’s good that they’re actually paying attention and getting on top of it because there’s a protocol," he explained.
7 Action News reached out to Street Art for Mankind and all six muralists individually. As of news time Tuesday, we have not heard back.
