DETROIT — City Council chambers in Detroit are heating up as elected representatives prepared to face down Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick over a resolution chiding his deputy mayor for signing questionable contracts with the owners of the Ambassador Bridge Company.

As TodaysTrucking.com reported last week, Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams was warned his would be asked to resign if he continued to sign deals that “bind (the city) to long term contractual obligations” without council’s legal consent.

Council subsequently vetoed two agreements Adams made with Matty Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge and Ambassador Port Corp.

But Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick responded by vetoing council’s resolutions, according to the Detroit Free Press, saying the agreements are part of his administration’s goal of rebuilding the region.

Council yesterday called an emergency session to vote on overriding Kilpatrick’s veto.

It’s not clear where the balance of power ultimately lies.

“I didn’t expect the mayor to veto something that is clearly illegal and possibly criminal,” Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins, told the Free Press.

One source close to the issue guessed City Council might have to eventually take the administration to court to resolve the issue. “It sure is an odd affair,” the source told TodaysTrucking.com.

The debate stems from a “Springing Interest Agreement” Adams signed last spring with the Ambassador Port Co. The deal gave Moroun rights to operate and build new projects on the Port of Detroit for 99 years after the port property was transferred from Detroit Marine Terminals to the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority.

There’s still some debate over the second deal vetoed by Council. That controversial contract would have given the Ambassador Bridge operational control of the U.S. side of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel starting in 2020.

It was reported last year that the plan was cancelled by Kilpatrick after pressure from his own council, the city of Windsor — which owns the Canadian side of the tunnel — and Transport Canada.

However, some suggest the plan was only “temporarily put on hold” — thereby requiring a council motion to veto it.

Dan Stamper, president of the Detroit International Bridge Co., told the Free Press the company “acted in good faith” in both agreements.

— with files from the Detroit Free Press