YPSILANTI, MI - The mayor of Ypsilanti is responding to a censure resolution on the agenda for a Tuesday city council meeting.

If approved, Mayor Amanda Edmonds would be censured for her involvement in a trip to China that public officials later discovered was funded by a developer interested in the city's Water Street property.

Edmonds said in an emailed document Tuesday, April 17 that the resolution calling for her censure is "uncalled for," and based on a report by Plato Law Firm that does not suggest any wrongdoing on her part related to a 12-day trip taken by several city officials last fall.

A censure is a formal act of disapproval that can be adopted by a majority vote in parliamentary procedure.

The trip to China was described as a fact-finding mission by city officials related to the $150 million to $300 million proposed development in Ypsilanti called International Village, a project that proposed financing through foreign investors.

Edmonds, Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Brown, Police Chief Tony DeGiusti and Economic and Development director Beth Ernat traveled to China from Sept. 21 to Oct. 3 in 2017.

City council voted Oct. 11 to investigate the trip after hearing hours of testimony from the officials involved, and questions arose about how the trip was financed.

Ernat's contract was not renewed as a result of the report, said City Manager Darwin McClary.

Edmonds argues that she believed the trip was being funded by scholarships from the Wayne State University Chinese Students and Scholar Association, and that Ernat and her staff were coordinating details of the trip such as acquiring visas.

She also said she voted in favor of a purchase agreement for International Village on Sept. 18, before going to China as part of the fact-finding trip with other city officials.

Edmonds said she asked to have the vote delayed, but the developer requested it be approved ahead of time to continue negotiations.

"I understood that Council would have multiple other changes to approve or disapprove of the project moving forward, including before the end of 2017 through a Development Agreement. If no Development Agreement was put in place, the project would end," Edmonds wrote in response to the resolution.

Edmonds said concerns about the funding of the trip only arose after council members Peter Murdock and Brian Robb issued a FOIA request after the group left for China.

"If that suggests that they had reason to suspect or knowledge of something amiss with the source of funding, and did not bring it up to council or staff, then I have serious concerns about their behavior," Edmonds said.

The Plato report recommended the investigation be referred to the Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for review.

According to Steven Hiller, chief assistant prosecuting attorney for Washtenaw County, no charges had been filed in connection with the report's recommendation.

The Ypsilanti city council meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 17 at 1 S. Huron St.