She is “ready to have a life” after serving 16 years on Detroit’s legislative body beginning in January 2006.
Council President Brenda Jones is ending a four-term career on a council that has seen its highs and lows.
In an interview with the Michigan Chronicle, Jones said she never imagined she would have such an extensive stay and she credits her deep care for citizens, integrity and Detroiters understanding her firm and sometimes unpopular decisions as to the staying power she has held.
“Each day you work, it’s like an election,” said Jones. “Each election, you don’t know whether or not if you’ll be re-elected, so each day you’re out fighting for your life.”
Jones says she can recall the days when people would make remarks on grabbing popcorn to gather around the television set to watch city council sessions. Before having an interest in running for an elected seat, she didn’t understand the comments at the time but it became clear when she watched the council sessions herself. The only reaction she could give was to shake her head in disbelief of the sometimes lack of professionalism from elected city officials.
But Jones would eventually do more than shake her head in disappointment and of embarrassment in how officials represented council. She recalls what her late mother often remarked, “you can be a part of the problem or part of the solution.”
Instead of sitting back and talking about what others were doing wrong, she decided to take the lesson her mother taught and apply that to her journey to run for city council and be a part of the solution.
She credits late Council President Marianne Mahaffey for being influential and welcoming when she ran for the office, even inviting her to her office. “If you’re running and have questions, always feel free to call me to get the answers.”
Jones also recalls having a close working relationship with the late councilman Kwame Kenyatta, adored the late councilmember Barbara Rose-Collins, and heavily relied on information from her next-door office colleague, Sheila Cockrel.
“Anytime I had questions, I would go and ask Sheila ‘could you give me the history of this?’ One of the things that I was taught by my mom [was] ‘in order to know where you’re going, you have to know where you’re coming from.’” She describes Sheila as always being willing to giver her the history on issues of city government matters despite Cockrel and Jones oftentimes voting differently on policy.
The tables have turned for Council President Jones as she now holds the veteran role and has always held conversations with newly elected members of council and shared with them her institutional knowledge of the legislative body and answering their questions on issues.
“As you are about to take a vote, you need to know facts and you need to know the history. I’ve always told my colleagues I will tell you the history but I will not tell you how to vote.” A lesson she also gave some new incoming members.
During Jones’ career her office has sponsored over 20 ordinances, such as the Community Outreach ordinance which requires meetings in the community to inform and engage residents on projects in the pipeline that impacts the area in which they live. Jones also introduced the Supply Schedule ordinance and Invest in Detroit Procurement amendments to open opportunities for Detroit-owned businesses.
One of the many things she worked on was the implementation of the Dangerous Dogs legislation, named after Xavier Strickland and Emma Hernandez who were attacked by loose dogs which escaped their owners’ property.
“I was definitely impacted when we lost two children who were viciously mauled by animals,” Jones shared. “Those maulings definitely shocked our community.” The ordinance now puts tougher rules in places for animal owners in the interest of public safety.
Jones retires at a time when city hall faces a cloud of corruption. In recent months, the FBI has conducted search warrants of some councilmembers’ homes, investigations and court admissions that have led to resignations and even jail time for councilmembers in past times.
“One of the things I like to do during orientation is to bring in FBI agents to talk to councilmembers on the dos and don’ts. I’ve brought in Rev. Nicholas Hood Sr. to talk about the investigations that took place during his tenure on city council.”
The idea behind this specialized session was to give councilmembers information and tools to help steer them away from a road previous officials had traveled which cost them jobs and landed them in the criminal justice system.
Jones briefly served a five-week stint in Congress, representing the 13th congressional district, which was once served by the late John Conyers Jr. “I was proud to serve. It was an honor.”
Following Jones’ retirement from City Council she plans to make a return to Washington, D.C. as a private citizen. “I want to take the opportunity to return to D.C. and speak on the floor [of Congress] on some of the things that impact Detroit.”
Jones says she was crowned with the title, “Citizens Voice” by the community she felt understood that she cared for them. It’s paramount to how she wants to be remembered as she departs Detroit City Council after 16 years of service. “One of things I tried to do in bringing civility back to city council was showing respect to the constituents. I wanted to let the people of Detroit know they are important and that their voice counts. I wanted to do the most I could do help the people.”
About Post Author
