DETROIT – Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has issued an order to suspend Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh's salary, wages and compensation effective July 7.
View: Orr's order to strip Pugh's pay, duties
According to Orr's order signed on Thursday, Pugh will remain a member of City Council but has no power to act as a councilmember. The emergency manager does not have the power to remove Pugh, an elected official, from his office, but he can strip him of pay and duties.
Read more: Pugh could lose livelihood amid absence, allegations
Pugh has been absent from several City Council meetings over the past few weeks. He has closed down a couple of his social media accounts. Orr gave him a deadline -- 5 p.m. Wednesday -- to say whether he could fulfill his duties. He did not meet that deadline and has not been heard from all week.
Orr said this order was on the way, but Pugh still hasn't stepped forward.
Meanwhile, Pugh is at the center of a lawsuit that claims he had an "inappropriate relationship" with a 17-year-old boy while mentoring him at Douglass Academy.
Read more: Pugh's alleged scandal is latest for beleaguered city