Saunteel Jenkins
The Detroit Board of Ethics admonished Detroit mayoral candidate Jenkins in 2015 for becoming CEO of The Heat and Warmth Fund (better known as THAW) less than one year after she voted, as a council member, to approve Community Development Block Grant awards that included $100,000 for the nonprofit. THAW helps people in need pay their utility bills, Detroit Free Press investigative column M.L. Elrick writes.
The vote was a split decision, Elrick notes, based on Detroit's charter addressing a revolving door policy, which states: "For a period of one (1) year after employment with the City, a Public Servant shall not accept employment with any person or company that did business with the City during the former Public Servant’s tenure if that Public Servant was in any way involved in the award or management of that contract ..."
Jenkins left her post as City Council president early to take the job with THAW. Her annual salary doubled when she left council and eventually rose to $255,000 in 2024 before she left to run for mayor.
Jenkins tells Elrick she consulted with Portia Roberson, a city official whose duties included overseeing the Board of Ethics. Jenkins said she was told: "No, there isn't an issue." Elrick confirmed that’s what transpired.
"This was never meant for nonprofits," she told Elrick. "The intent of this language was to prohibit folks from going to work for contractors, not grantees."
The board later voted 2–1 in 2015 to admonish her, saying she had violated the charter. But it doesn’t appear anything happened to her as a result.
She tells Elrick:
"I followed the rules as I knew them when I learned about it. I sought advice. I was given advice. ... From that point on, I abstained from voting on anything related to THAW. And then I went to do this important work for our most vulnerable residents of the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan."
