City Council approves all mayor's re-appointments
Jun. 16, 2010 · 3:42 a.m.
After much procedure, Ypsilanti City Council approved six mayoral re-appointments to city boards and committees Tuesday, including the two postponed from earlier...read more
Council postpones two reappointments
Jun. 4, 2010 · 4:57 p.m.
Two of Ypsilanti's volunteer board members were not reappointed on schedule Tuesday night, owing to a 4-2 vote by City Council to delay the appointments until...read more
Downtown properties to be rehabilitated
Jun. 4, 2010 · 10:40 a.m.
Three recently-vacated properties in downtown Ypsilanti, two of them condemned, will soon be renovated owing to recent purchase by a local development company and...read more
Ypsilanti Township authorizes litigation against Liberty Square
May. 28, 2010 · 6:53 p.m.
Residents living in the Liberty Square complex of townhouses will see a sticker appear on their homes Tuesday, when the Ypsilanti Township Building Department places...read more
Ford plant granted tax exemption by township
May. 24, 2010 · 5:44 p.m.
New machines and equipment will soon be wheeled into Ford's Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti Township as it begins manufacturing a line of batteries for the new global...read more
Photo by ewashtenaw.org
County Commissioner Ronnie Peterson (above) and his housing manager, Glen E. Johnson, are being sued in federal court for alleged sexual harassment.
Peterson, Glen E. Johnson sued for sexual harassment.
Jan. 29, 2009 · 6:11 p.m.
County Commissioner Ronnie Peterson, D - Ypsilanti, and his housing manager, Glen E. Johnson, are being sued in federal court for alleged sexual harassment.
The complaint, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges that Johnson, who was responsible for the day-to-day management of Peterson’s 11 Ypsilanti rental properties, “has been subjecting actual and prospective female tenants…to discrimination on the basis of sex.”
Johnson, according to the text of the complaint, allegedly entered apartments of female tenants without notice, denied tangible housing benefits based on sex and took adverse action against tenants when they refused or objected his sexual advances.
The defendants are being sued under the Fair Housing Act as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Although the complaint does not allege Peterson personally committed any of actions in question, it does say he is liable because he should have known of the discriminatory conduct of Johnson.
If found guilty, Peterson and Johnson face the possibility of monetary damages as well as other civil penalties.
"No woman should have to live in fear of sexual harassment in her home," Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King said in a press release. "Landlords should be on notice that the Justice Department vigorously enforces the Fair Housing Act throughout the United States."
“We are taking action because no one should face such inappropriate harassment in their own homes,” added Terrence Berg, acting U.S. attorney.
Peterson has served on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners since 2001. According to the complaint, Peterson has retained Johnson’s services since 2005.
Peterson’s attorney, Don Ferris, could not be reached by the time of publication.
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