The Boston City Council will take up a resolution this week that calls for disgraced Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson’s removal from the body in the wake of her guilty plea to two federal corruption charges tied to a City Hall kickback scheme.

Councilors Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn plan to introduce a non-binding resolution at Wednesday’s meeting that calls for the Council to “formally address the matter of Fernandes Anderson’s continued service,” after her federal conviction last week.

Murphy and Flynn sought to introduce the measure as a late file at last week’s meeting, but it was blocked by Councilor Julia Mejia, an occasional ally of Fernandes Anderson, preventing it from being added to the agenda for possible action. This week, it’s part of regular business that is up for discussion.

“The residents want to know where we stand on it,” Murphy said after the resolution was blocked last week. “This would have been an opportunity to go on the record of where we stand on this behavior that is unacceptable.”

Flynn said Monday that the Council has “lost the moral high ground needed during this critical time.” He said “comprehensive ethics reform” is needed for the body to “regain some credibility” with city residents.

Mejia said last week that she objected to the late-file measure because Fernandes Anderson, who represents Roxbury-centric District 7 and cited a “family emergency” in an absence letter, was not present for the discussion. Fernandes Anderson, like the other 12 councilors, is paid a $120,000 salary.

“I decided to speak against it because not all individuals are in this chamber, and we’re talking about something that’s in reference to a colleague,” Mejia said at the time. “Out of respect for that process, I think that’s a conversation that either needs to go to a hearing or we need to have it while all councilors are present.”

Fernandes Anderson, who had pled guilty to, and was therefore convicted on, two federal corruption charges two days prior, was the only councilor not present for last Wednesday’s meeting. The charges are tied to a $7,000 kickback scheme Fernandes Anderson carried out at City Hall in June 2023, per the indictment.

Shortly after entering her plea, Fernandes Anderson told reporters outside the Boston federal courthouse that she intended to officially resign next month after the City Council budget process, which typically wraps with a vote in late June.

Council President Ruthzee Louijeune filed a communication for this week’s meeting that sought guidance on a procedural City Council rule that was used in the past to remove a councilor convicted of federal felony charges.

“Rule 40A of the Boston City Council rules states that ‘[t]he council president shall automatically refer a matter to the council upon a felony conviction of any member by the state or federal court,’” Louijeune wrote to City Clerk Alex Geourntas on Monday.

“Given that this rule preceded the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Turner v. City of Boston, 462 Mass. 511 (2012), which states the City Council does not have the authority under the city charter or any state law to remove a member from the body, I asked the city’s corporation counsel for their interpretation of the rule.”

Louijeune’s letter was referencing Chuck Turner, the last Boston city councilor investigated by the feds. Turner was convicted in October 2010 by a federal jury, following a 12-day trial, and sentenced to three years in jail for pocketing a $1,000 bribe from an informant who claimed to be seeking a liquor license.

Turner sued the city for $350,000 after being booted off the City Council in 2010 following the conviction, and settled for $106,000 three years later, after the courts ruled that the Council violated its own rules because under state law, elected officials can only be removed from the body after sentencing, not conviction.

Adam Cederbaum, the city’s corporation counsel, wrote in a letter to Louijeune that the Supreme Judicial Court held that “Rule 40A was procedural only, and created no substantive authority to remove a councilor.”

“Further, the court noted, the Legislature has specified that an individual holding public office is ‘automatically removed from office only when he or she is sentenced to prison on a felony conviction,’” Cederbaum wrote.

In this instance, Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to two of six corruption charges that had been leveled against her in a December 2024 federal indictment, as part of a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office that dismissed the other four charges and saw the councilor waive her right to a jury trial.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled Fernandes Anderson’s sentencing for July 29, and last week warned the councilor that she could opt to impose a harsher penalty than what prosecutors recommended in the plea plea deal.

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley recommended that the second-term councilor be sentenced to a year and a day in prison, and ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution.

“As in the Turner case, the relevant statutes and case law … do not permit the City Council to remove Councilor Fernandes Anderson from the Council prior to her being sentenced to prison, which, as of the date of this memorandum, has not occurred,” Cederbaum wrote. “However, the Council may take other administrative action, such as removal from committees, as happened without issue in the Turner case.”

Fernandes Anderson was removed from all Council committees by Louijeune after her plea deal became public in federal court filings in early April.

Whether the Council president’s Rule 40A referral to the Council will necessitate further action by the body was unclear. Louijeune did not respond to the Herald’s requests for comment on Monday.

Murphy acknowledged that the law is clear on the matter, in terms of councilors being removed only after sentencing, but insists that it is still important for council members to make their stance on Fernandes Anderson’s job status known by voting on the resolution she and Flynn have put forward.

“The resolution I filed wasn’t about forcing anyone out,” Murphy said after it was blocked last week. “It was about taking a stand. We pass non-binding resolutions all the time, from global conflicts to international sanctions. Why is it suddenly ‘not our place’ when it involves public trust here at home?

“The people of Boston are watching. They’re asking why a councilor who pled guilty to federal corruption charges is still voting on city policy and collecting a public salary. We owe them more than silence.”

Louijeune, Flynn, Murphy and two other councilors called for Fernandes Anderson’s resignation upon her indictment and arrest last December.