New Berlin officials reach no decision on petition to remove Mayor Ament
New Berlin officials reach no decision on petition to remove Mayor Ament
New Berlin officials met behind closed doors on Tuesday night, Sept. 29, to discuss a petition calling for Mayor Dave Ament's removal. This comes weeks after Ament apologized for anti-Muslim posts shared on his personal Facebook page.
NEW BERLIN, Wis. - New Berlin officials met behind closed doors on Tuesday night, Sept. 29, to discuss a petition calling for Mayor Dave Ament's removal. This comes weeks after Ament apologized for anti-Muslim posts shared on his personal Facebook page.
Special meeting
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The special meeting to discuss the future of Mayor Dave Ament went into closed session, lasted only an hour, and ended with no decision made or announced by the Common Council.
This meeting comes after folks filed a petition seeking his removal after a series of anti-Muslim posts were found on his personal Facebook page.
The petition calling for Ament's removal centers around two things: the social media posts and claims the approval of a Milwaukee Rescue Mission facility violated open meetings laws.
Folks present at the meeting consisted of organizations and neighbors who called on Mayor Ament's removal, some holding posters that said New Berlin deserves better and others straight up calling out his removal.
New Berlin mayor anti-Muslim posts, community calls for resignation
New Berlin’s mayor is facing calls to resign over anti-Muslim posts shared on his personal Facebook page. Faith leaders and groups said the mayor's actions are unacceptable.
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Just last month, Mayor Ament gave a public apology during the city's Common Council meeting following public comment where a number of neighbors spoke out and voiced their wishes for his resignation and removal. Ament was not present for the rest of that meeting.
"We have a lot of people come to meet the community and to get to know us and apologize for something that they had nothing to do with none of the common council members showed up, and the Mayor didn't show up and so well our question is is this the culture of new Berlin? Is this the government culture of new Berlin?" said Janan Najeeb, executive director of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition.
"There's no place for hate. The mayor's comments have been extremely disappointing. I voted for him as long as he's been here and never known he had this much hate," said Mohammad Fareed, a Muslim New Berlin resident.
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FOX6 News asked Common Council members if they plan to have another meeting where this matter will be revisited and folks will get a direct answer, but FOX6 News was told they are not commenting at this time nor sharing any details spoken during closed session. Mayor Ament was also not present during the meeting.
Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Abril Preciado and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from a petition for removal, the New Berlin Common Council, Janan Najeeb, executive director of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition and Mohammad Fareed, a Muslim New Berlin resident.