Brooklyn Park council member sues mayor, council after censure and call for mental health evaluation

Brooklyn Park City Council Member Maria Tran is suing the mayor and fellow council members, claiming the officials defamed her and violated her constitutional rights when they censured her and publicly asked for a mental health evaluation.

Tran also accuses officials of violating open meetings law and misusing city funds, stemming from the council holding a closed meeting after an employee filed a complaint against her. The city spent $11,000 on an outside investigation into the allegations, which led to the council in June voting to censure Tran.

The lawsuit, filed in late November in Hennepin County District Court, names Mayor Hollies Winston and four of the five other council members as defendants.

The only council member not listed in the suit is Boyd Morson, the only one who didn’t support Tran’s censure and the council’s call for a mental health evaluation. Morson, who has been censured twice during his time on the council, previously said council members are not mental health experts and should not be playing that role.

“I work tirelessly for my constituents, not for the other elected officials or City staff,” Tran said in a statement. “The unlawful and unjustified censure by the Mayor and a majority of the Council Members was unjust and must be rescinded.”

Her attorney, former Minneapolis City Council Member Paul Ostrow, issued a statement saying: “In all of my years both in politics and in following politics I have never seen such an abuse of power to quiet a voice of dissent in municipal government in Minnesota.”

Brooklyn Park spokeswoman Risikat Adesaogun said the city is aware of the lawsuit but cannot comment on the claims: “Our focus is delivering excellence in our core services and advancing our strategic initiatives to make Brooklyn Park a vibrant and thriving community.”

The mayor and council majority in October signed on to a letter saying that Tran was displaying a pattern of “increasingly disturbing behavior,” which had escalated in recent months, and they would like her to receive a mental health evaluation. The letter listed several examples, including that Tran allegedly claimed the council and staff were plotting to hurt or kill her.

The situation escalated, the letter read, when Tran allegedly asked the police chief about obtaining a gun for protection from council members. The letter alleges she took initial steps toward acquiring a firearm.

In another example, Tran sent a Sept. 18 email to City Manager Jay Stroebel and wrote there “was a conspiracy to shut me up, with a subject line that read, “Mafia in City Chamber.”

The letter, which Winston read aloud at an October meeting, said officials were increasingly concerned about safety risks and Tran’s wellbeing. It stated that Tran had filed several police reports, which were determined to be unfounded. The letter also claims Tran spread an accusation that drug use led to a death at City Hall, which was proven false.

Tran’s lawsuit argues the mayor and council members made several false and defamatory statements about her, and says that she does not have a mental illness and does not pose a danger to herself or others. The suit claims Winston, for example, falsely stated that Tran wanted to bring a gun to council meetings.

The lawsuit says Tran has endured “widespread bullying and harassing behavior, including the use of the Police Chief to falsely imply that the Plaintiff presented a danger to members of the public.”

Months earlier, in January, a staff member filed a complaint against Tran accusing her of creating a hostile work environment and violating city policies by disparaging the employee’s performance. The council later held a closed-door meeting to discuss the allegations, where members agreed to issue Tran a letter of reprimand.

Tran, whose term is up in 2026, objected to the letter at a public meeting, and the council later censured her. The conditions of the censure included Tran being barred from serving on committees or commissions and representing the city at events.

In her lawsuit, Tran argues the council violated open meetings law, claiming an investigation of an elected official was not a valid reason for moving a meeting behind closed doors, including because Tran is not an employee under the council’s authority.

She also alleges that paying for the investigation was a misuse of city funds, an expenditure not approved by the council and one that “primarily served a personal or political purpose.”

The suit claims the city code of conduct, which bars officials from making derogatory comments or publicly criticizing individual employees, is overly broad and vague. It argues the code was applied in a way that violated Tran’s constitutional rights and restricted her free speech, saying she was retaliated against for criticizing city decisions and the reprimand against her.

The lawsuit seeks $50,000 in compensatory damages, as well as other damages and fines.

Winston and council members named in the suit either declined to comment or did not immediately return the Star Tribune’s request for comment.